During my many years spent coaching tennis for a living, I can’t tell you how many times I would be told that I was the “luckiest person alive”, to have such a glamorous career working with the game I loved.

“Isn’t tennis coaching just hitting a tennis ball around for a living rather than being stuck in a stuffy office - therefore surely tennis coaching must be bliss?” Well to be honest, I have some very mixed views on this, based on the wonderful benefit of hindsight.

As a UK tennis coach, I enrolled on and passed all the available coaching qualifications in the 80’s (see LTA Coaching careers). These qualifications along with a half decent reputation as a player, meant that I was in the mix for some good head pro positions at various leading British tennis clubs. Having successfully come through the interview for a very big club in a lovely London suburb, I was then to find out the truth about being a head tennis pro.

Tennis coaching - the juggling act!

Within a year of taking this new position I soon realised that successful tennis coaching required juggling many important factors. Below are some of the commitments that were a factor:

1. Fitting in all the private and group lessons required by junior and senior club members

2. Running senior’s club night and team training

3. Running junior night

4. Stringing all broken rackets for club members

5. Travelling to tournaments to watch my leading juniors play matches

6. Coaching the British Mens number 2

Tennis coaching with no covered courts and a very English climate!

Whilst my club was a leading British club with a large membership, unfortunately there were no covered courts. The club did have some floodlit courts, which meant to keep members happy and meet their demand for lessons, many of my lessons had to be conducted under lights on a cold damp winter’s night. Many times I would arrive home from the club at 9pm with 5 rackets to string for the following morning. With the last racket still in the stringing machine at 1am and the following day’s first lesson at 8.30am - the schedule was demanding.

I would be on the court 6 days a week, with my day off generally taken up with more racket stringing or watching match play.

The other telling factor was that many of my good juniors were playing at National level and so would require a really good workout in their lessons. We would also play many practise sets in the lessons adding to the increasing work load and fatigue.

Variation on the theme!

For me, one of the most difficult aspects of a typical days tennis coaching was the way my lessons could change from coaching a leading junior, to a lesson with a complete beginner and then a two hour session with a British Davis Cup player. Whilst variation can be a good thing it is also inevitably tough.

Coaching performance players

Although my forte was in working with performance players, I needed to hold on to my position as the club’s head pro and all the commitments that went with it to pay the bills.

Around this time (late 80’s) I found that having a large crop of good performance players was not a good thing financially. The reason for this, is that on the whole the parents could not afford to finance the numerous days I spent watching their children’s matches. As a result I travelled to the tournaments out of my own pocket and also missed out on my coaching income back at the club. Once I returned to the club there would also be a backlog of lessons and rackets to string.

Nowadays there are jobs specifically for performance coaches who can concentrate solely on their pupil’s lessons and schedules without the financial need to hold down a head pro position. This is a great improvement (see Developing performance players).

The physical strain

My 20 years in tennis coaching definitely took its toll on me physically and resulted in a 6 year period where injury prevented me from hitting a single ball. Having said that, there were many fantastic times. A clear blue sky and an English grass court, or maybe a victory against the odds by one of my juniors, made it all worth while.

Would I do things differently?

Yes - Maybe I would insist that I could take on an assistant coach to help with the work load (my club didn’t allow this). Maybe I would hold firm and not book in that 9th hour’s lesson of the day because a club player is upset that they can’t seem to get a slot. Maybe I wouldn’t physically work so hard in my lessons. Maybe I would not run a stringing business along side my coaching.

The problem for most club coaches is that there is a limit to what they can charge per hour and lots of lessons are required to earn a decent living. This is especially the case when coaching at an outdoor club in the UK as many lessons get cancelled due to to bad weather. Stringing rackets and a small pro shop can certainly help make the coaches’ income more healthy.

I feel blessed to have had a long career in the game I love but it’s certainly not been a bed of roses!

John Key

performance players, tennis coaching, tennis coaching for a living