Sven Groeneveld Coaching Nicolas Kiefer –THE BADGE CHRONICLES #13 Of The Series

“Tennis Architect” Sven Groeneveld shares with us a memory of his life on tour working with Nicolas Kiefer. We know the readers will enjoy the small insights on how it was working with Kiefer.

THE BADGE CHRONICLES

Nicolas Kiefer

In the summer of 2000 I was asked to coach my 2nd German Player, Nicolas Kiefer, after having coached Michael Stich 1995/1996. Patricio Apey, London based, who started his own management company (Ace) after leaving SFX, asked me, if I would be interested. He had seen my work with Rusedski and thought I would be a good match. Nicolas was coached by Bob Brett for many years and reached his biggest success under the watchful eyes of Bob. Just like, with Mario Ancic, I had to fill the shoes of Bob. Nicolas one of the most talented and gifted players I have ever worked with was also a hard worker outside of the court.

However as a competitor, in my humble opinion, did not achieve all he could have. However we did have some good results, a quarterfinal at the @usopen in 2000 and a win in Hong Kong (his last singles tournament victory of his career) following the Olympics in 2000 where he lost in the first round. Although the loss was tough to take, the experience of being a small part of the Sydney Olympics I will never forget. We stopped our work in Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in 2001. I was happy for Nicolas when he did get his Olympic success in 2004 winning silver in doubles with Rainer Shüttler. The rest is history.

TBT Guess who in the 3rd picture taken in Toronto Rogers Cup Remember Peter Lundgren when we were in Sydney?

*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.