Sven Groeneveld Working with Nathalie Dechy Through Success –THE BADGE CHRONICLES #2 of the Series

THE BADGE CHRONICLES

Sven Groeneveld, is one of the tennis world’s best coaches, motivator and consultant. He has a way of looking at the overall player performance and always has a master plan for improvement. One the first players he worked with was French player Nathalie Dechy. Sven shares with us a bit of that time frame. We know the readers will really enjoy the small snippets from Sven’s life on the tour.

“In 2004 Nathalie Dechy asked me if I would work with her. She told me she wanted to break the mold and work with a foreign coach (most French players work with French coaches).”

 “She believed I could help her reach new goals. Part of what I do as a coach I always build a team around the player and look what makes them improve in areas they are already great at. Improve their strengths and the rest will follow. “

“Allistair Mccaw at that time was a young ambitious physical trainer that was added to the team and we designed the entire pre-season in order to get Nathalie to tap into her physical potential. Her Husband (Antoine) always helped all of us to create the best program from training to tournaments to rest and travel. At the 2005 Australian Open, Nathalie reached her first and only singles Grand Slam semi-final losing to Lindsay Davenport in 3 sets. Nathalie at the end of the year also reached her highest-ranking number 11 on the WTA. “

“What I am most proud of is that Nathalie continued to accelerate after we stopped at the end of the season (Adidas job was offered and I wanted to travel less )! Nathalie ended up winning her first Grand Slam US Open doubles title in 2006 and defended in 2007 plus won a mixed doubles Grand Slam title at her home slam at Roland Garros. I am very proud of that period of my career and the work Nathalie did with our team!”

“To this day we are great friends and actually Nathalie and Antoine really supported me when I had the choice to go with Adidas and I asked them for advice on taking the job with Maria Sharapova in 2013. (After 8 years with Adidas). The rest is history and the memories last forever!”

 

*All the information for this article was attained through explicit permission from Sven Groeneveld to be published on 10sBalls.com – no lifting or reusing is permitted.