Best Way to Prepare Your Future Wimbeldon Stars

With Wimbeldon in the rear-view mirror, its grueling matches and slippery surfaces, it makes you wonder what it took for those players to get there.  Tennis stars, like most professional athletes, have been honing their craft since youth.  Wimbeldon, the historic venue, knocked out many of the favorites early, leaving Andy Murray and a relatively unknown 28 year old French woman, Marion Bartoli, as the last two standing.

“"This is what I've dreamed of since I was a girl,” said Women’s Champion Bartoli to reporters.  "Now that it's here, I don't believe it."  Soon it will sink in for Bartolli, winner of approximately $2.4 million dollars in prize money.  She and others from the tournament will pack their bags and do it again at the next tournament, earning a living in an increasingly lucrative profession.

If you’re like Richard Williams, well-known father of Serena and Venus Williams, you might even try to push your children to tennis at a young age to ensure they make it to the tour.  Serena started playing tennis at age 3 and by age 10 had a serve that topped 100 mph.   What kind of commitment, dedication and athleticism does it take to make it to the collegiate and professional levels?

Local tennis coach and owner of the Wexford, PA based Pennsylvania Tennis Academy, Frank Baritot, knows.  He trained his daughters, Kelly and Dena, both girls earning full scholarships at NCAA Division 1 Texas and Wisconsin.  Kelly competed for the National Championship and now joins her dad coaching and training many top-ranked junior players.  Each year they place a number of players into top college tennis programs, and even boast a current Women’s Tennis Association tour player, Alison Riske, among the list of alumni that have trained at the Academy.

“Dedication is the key ingredient,” says Baritot.  “These kids are out here every day of the summer, from 9 am til 3 pm.  They work on their strokes, they work with personal trainers on speed and agility, then they take a short break for lunch, and they’re back on court the rest of the afternoon.”  A number of students at the Academy are home-schooled so that they can focus on their tennis year-round.

“In tournament play, it’s not unusual for these players to play multiple matches in a day and matches can easily last two to three hours.  In the summer heat, conditioning becomes the most important factor.”  Conditioning became a key factor in this year’s Wimbledon tournament, with a record-breaking semi-final match lasting almost 5 hours long.

So what can you do to prepare your child for a college tennis career or even a pro debut?  “Start young.  Most of the kids that go on to competitive play have been playing tournaments since they were 10 years old.  Learning the proper techniques and strokes at a young age builds positive habits and it is much easier to build upon those as they grow,” says Baritot. 

New programs introduced recently by the United States Tennis Association such as the QuickStart program make it easy for young kids to get into tennis.  Similar to the concept of t-ball for baseball, the Quickstart program has made the courts smaller, the nets shorter, and the equipment kid-sized to allow them to get into the game more quickly. 

Even if your child doesn’t become a collegiate athlete or Wimbeldon player, the skills they learn as a youth tennis player will certainly allow them to enjoy the lifelong sport of tennis.

Pennsylvania Tennis Academy (PTA) is the premier developmental tennis facility in Pittsburgh, offering a full variety of Junior and Adult Tennis programs on an on-going basis. Classes and lessons are offered for all ages and ability levels. For more information, visit www.patennisacademy.com or call 724-799-8450.