IN MEMORIAM: HALL OF FAMER NICK BOLLETTIERI
Written by Joel Drucker, ITHF Historian-at-Large
Nick Bollettieri, a highly charismatic tennis coach who worked with 10 players ranked No. 1 in the world and is one of a select few coaches enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, died on Sunday, December 4 at the age of 91. A relentless passion for tennis, coupled with a movie star-like persona and a 24-7 work ethic, made Bollettieri one of tennis’ larger-than-life personalities for decades.
The Bollettieri portfolio of students includes six Hall of Famers: Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Boris Becker, Martina Hingis, and Mary Pierce. Add to this several likely to be enshrined once eligible for induction: Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova, among them. Bollettieri also greatly aided the growth of dozens of players who cracked the top-20 in the world in singles and enjoyed productive careers, including Paul Annacone, Jimmy Arias, Carling Bassett, Tatiana Golovin, Brian Gottfried, Tommy Haas, Kathleen Horvath, Jelena Jankovic, Anna Kournikova, Aaron Krickstein, Sabine Lisicki, Xavier Malisse, Max Miryni, David Wheaton, Anne White, and many more.
To take in this vast range of backgrounds, personalities, playing styles and generations of excellence begs the question: What made Bollettieri such an effective coach? Bollettieri himself freely admitted that there were many tennis coaches who understood the game’s technical nuances more deeply. But when it came to connecting with these ambitious men and women and finding the ability to motivate them, none surpassed Bollettieri.
“Everyone is special and everyone has something to offer,” he once said. “The trick is to understand who a person is and then reach them the right way. Some players want encouragement. Others need a kick in the butt. Some people like to hear a lot of words and ideas. Others want as few as possible. And it varies even with the person, from one situation to another. Coaching is not a science. It’s an art.”
No wonder Bollettieri once referred to himself as the “Michelangelo of tennis.”
Beyond his individual work with players, Bollettieri was an innovator, in the late ‘70s creating what eventually became tennis’ first full-fledged academy. What began with Bollettieri personally housing and coaching several ambitious juniors soon sprouted into a year-round facility, complete with 52 courts on a sprawling campus located in Bradenton, Florida. In 1987, the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy was sold to International Management Group, in time evolving into the IMG Academy – a 600-acre training ground not just for tennis, but for a full range of sports, including football, baseball, basketball, soccer and golf.
Nick Bollettieri was born on July 31, 1931. His father was a pharmacist, a man Bollettieri always credited with showing him the value of always treating people with kindness. A zealous athlete, Bollettieri loved competing in all sports and in time turned his eyes to tennis. Bollettieri went on to earn a varsity letter from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.
Soon after graduation, Bollettieri explored several career options, including a stint as a paratrooper and the start of law school at the University of Miami. But he had also begun to teach tennis. Upon realizing that tennis instruction was his true calling, Bollettieri ended his legal career. “I didn’t want to be Perry Mason,” he joked, “I wanted to be Fred Perry.” Indeed, the legendary British player happened to be based in Florida at the time and became one of many Bollettieri mentors.
Throughout the late ‘50s and ‘60s, Bollettieri taught at facilities all over the United States, including being present at the start of Port Washington Academy, the New York-based venue that was the spawning ground for such pros as John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe, Vitas Gerulaitis, and Mary Carillo.
Thanks to a kindly gesture Bollettieri extended to a woman named Dora Pasarell, mother of Hall of Famer Charlie Pasarell, Bollettieri earned the chance to interview for the prestigious position of tennis director of the Dorado Beach Hotel in Puerto Rico – a major venue owned by one of America’s powerful families, the Rockefellers. He held that position every winter from 1959-76. Bollettieri soon began to spend summers at the Rockefeller estate as the family’s personal tennis pro. During that time, Bollettieri crossed paths with the legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi. As Bollettieri recalled, “He saw me teaching and said, ‘Young man, you should be working with children.’ It was an inspiring message and, in time, that’s exactly what we did with the academy.”
Even more than the many professional players he worked with, Bollettieri took pride in the way his coaching techniques had helped inspire thousands of young tennis players of all skill levels. In 1987, working alongside fellow Hall of Famer Arthur Ashe, Bollettieri created the Ashe-Bollettieri Cities Tennis Program, a project that provided lessons, academic tutoring, health education and collegiate financial aid to 15,000 youngsters in a six-year period. It was just one of many Bollettieri community-based projects.
Added to that were the thousands of Bollettieri students who used tennis as a springboard for success in a great many other disciplines.
As Bollettieri said in his 2014 International Tennis Hall of Fame induction speech, “The fuel that has sustained me to the summit is without a doubt my passion to help others become champions of life, not champions just on the tennis court, but champions of life. Nothing makes me happier than when I run into a past student or receive a kind note telling me how I changed their lives, that they are better parents, lawyers, doctors, CEOs and people because of the impact that I made on their lives.”
Bollettieri is survived by his wife, Cindi Eaton, seven children, and multiple grandchildren.
