(August 30, 2023) FLUSHING, NY – Tennis Panorama News caught up with Rick Macci on the grounds of the 2023 US Open. Macci has coached the likes of Serena and Venus Williams and Andy Roddick.
Tennis Panorama News: How do feel about the state of coaching these days in terms of on-court coaching?
Rick Macci: “At the end of the day, I always liked that the players had to figure it out for themselves. That’s what I liked about this sport. I feel that all the heavy lifting and breaking things down microscopically should be done on the practice court and then you go into combat to figure it out by yourself.
“But all that being said, there is a lot of coaching going on in the past I just they just said ‘what the heck’ let’s just let it play out. To me it was always about the player and it’s not about the coach, then I think it’s fine. They are giving it a shot and so far, so good.”
TPN: How do you like new addition to Coco Gauff’s coaching team in Brad Gilbert?
RM: “So far so good, you know a different voice, maybe how you say it, why you say it, when to say it. So whatever message has been sent, he’s done an amazing job and the other coach. This is a marathon and not a sprint, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. I’ve been pretty much on the record; I just think biomechanically her forehand is a little complicated.
“I’ve had many discussions with her dad, we still might do something at the end of the year to try to put this together a little differently technically, cause you’ve got to take time off, can do it in the middle of the tour. But I think right now at least she’s authoritative. It’s one thing to be aggressive, but it’s one thing to stick with it. So, I think that just that alone, from what I’ve seen in the last three weeks, she seems more committed and she’s not letting it bother her as much.
“But, that being said she was six in the world, and she was No. 1 in doubles. Her backhand is money in the bank. She has one of the best serves in pro tennis, it’s trending like the great Serena (Williams). It’s one of the best I have seen. Not afraid to volley and a brutal competitor, an Olympic sprinter with a racquet in her hand. I love Coco. So, she’s checked enough boxes, and she has enough fiber inside her to be where she’s at.
“All I’m saying is if the forehand technically was rewired, I think I can make it her best shot. But that has to come from her. It’s not easy to change muscle memory but what her team has done just mentally to get her to believe to make things simple, they have done an awesome job.”
TPN: Twenty years ago, Andy Roddick won the US Open. How far away are the American men from winning a major again?
RM: “Let’s back the truck up, as you know, when I had Andy (Roddick) he was No. 1 in the nation in the 12 and under and if anybody would have told me, when he was a little pipsqueak, even though he was feisty and he was fiery and he had the ATP forehand even back as a 12-year-old.
“Great competitor, probably one of the best male competitors, I’ve ever taught. His thirst for competition was like no other and when we talk about Roddick, in my opinion he overachieved. He wasn’t going to be (Pete) Sampras or Agassi or those guys. He never had any bad losses, he always showed up. And that being said, he also when he grew, his serve became nuclear. The difference now is that you throw in Frances (Tiafoe) or (Sebastian) Korda or Tommy Paul or Taylor Fritz or Ben Shelton. Even though Shelton has the can opener, he has the gun, Roddick had that big serve so he could kind of blast his way through some matches on a bad day.
“So can an American win one of these, absolutely. It’s right around the corner, they think they can, they expect themselves to do it, where before then you had like Murray, Nadal, Federer and Djoker (Novak Djokovic) still in there. It’s like, ‘I hope I don’t get one of those guys early.’ Now it’s like ‘Why not me?’
“When you go into a tournament expecting you have a chance to win it, instead of hoping, that’s a whole different mindset. I think that any of those guys. I think that Sebastian Korda is the most talented of all of them, even though he’s been a little hurt. I know he lost the first round here but all the guys could grab one or two, I think it’s around the corner, but the draw would have to open up. You know with injuries and stuff like that, you never know what’s going to happen to Alcaraz, you don’t know what’s going to happen to Djokovic, so it could open up. You’re not playing the best in the world, maybe in a round of 16, maybe you are now getting them in the quarters or the semis and then anything can happen as you know. So, I think it’s around the corner that one of these guys can definitely win a grand slam.
TPN: As a coach, what would you want to tweak if anything in the top players – Alcaraz and Djokovic?
“Alcaraz – First off, his serve biomechanically, there could be a little adjustment, I don’t want to get too much into that. I think his serve, even though the vertical component off the ground is all good, I just think his serve could be modified a little bit, but other than that, this guy is a generational talent. It’s something that the world has never seen. I called this three years ago – I said that this guy is a combination of (Andre) Agassi, Djokovic, (Rafael)Nadal and (Roger)Federer all wrapped in one.
“But at the end of the day there is a lot of gratitude, a lot of humility. His parents did an amazing job, they may both be his two best weapons. But what I love about Alcaraz is, this is why I went on the record three years ago saying that this is something we’ve never seen, he loves the competition so much. He’s a Broadway performer. He’s an artist. He’ll lose a 20-ball rally and he’ll smile at you. He can flip pressure. Is he gonna lose – yes. Does he get nervous – yes, we are all human. But at the end of the day, the youngest ever at age 19 to be No. 1 in the world in the Open Era. He already has two grand slams under his belt and 12 titles. It’s something we’ve never seen.
“His make up speed, once he starts running, we’ve never seen anything like it. Everybody is fast, everybody is quick, everybody is kind of efficient, but his turbo speed is another gear. What does that mean in tennis? If you can get there, you’re going to get there with options, if you have options, you can deliver quality off of quality where the rest of the world might chip it or lob it. So it’s a different animal, but at the end of the day, it’s what’s inside. Tennis is a game of inches from ear to ear and Carlos Alcaraz is something like the world has never seen and the best is yet to come because he is 20 years old.“
TPN: Djokovic probably needs no tweaking at all, he doesn’t really have a weakness.
RM: “The only weakness he has, he’s 36, which he turned 36 in May, you are one injury away, because your body takes on more to recover. He’s the rubber band man. He’s taken such good care of himself, he health through diet. Nutrition, he’s done it all. But more importantly he’s the best competitor we’ve seen, he’s the GOAT. I mean it’s undisputed, he’s on Mount Rushmore.
“What he did in Cincinnati took it to another level. Listen, he could retire. He doesn’t need to play. It’s not about anything, other than I want to knock you out. That’s the way he’s been wired, he’s trained himself to have that Kobe Bryant mentality. He’s trained himself to think different. He goes in the woods and hangs out with the wolves. He eats some grass, because he is the GOAT. People don’t understand these people at the top that are the best of the best, they’re a different animal and I think that showed loud and clear in Cincinnati.
“He has a lot of respect for Alcaraz as he does anybody. But the way he competes and what happened in Cincinnati is a great example for all young people. The one thing you still have is hope as long as you don’t give up and there is no one better at that then Djokovic.”
Karen Pestaina is covering the 2023 US Open on site for Tennis Panorama News. She’s worked in media in the New York City market since she was 15, from board-op to News Director/anchor/reporter, from print to broadcast in news and sports. Follow her court-hopping on the site’s twitter @TennisNewsTPN.
