Pierce checks in with Training Centre players

Two-time Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce is taking part in a series of conference calls with players based at three ITF Training Centres in Morocco, Kenya and Fiji.

Earlier this month, Pierce, who is a member of the ITF Board of Directors, spoke at length with the boys, girls and coaches who have been based at the ITF Training Centre in Casablanca throughout lockdown.

And on Wednesday 24 June she will host another call with the players and coaches at the training centres in Nairobi and Lautoka. These calls follow in the footsteps of Spanish star Garbine Muguruza, who held a mentoring session with some of the world’s top juniors last month.

Pierce – one of two athlete representatives on the ITF Board alongside Mark Woodforde – wants to give everyone at the ITF Training Centres the opportunity to learn from her years of experience as a professional player at the top of the game because she explained that growing the game of tennis is something she is “really passionate about”.

Addressing the players in Casablanca, Pierce said: “It probably hasn’t been very easy with the Coronavirus and the lockdown. But being at the training centre during lockdown might be a blessing in disguise. There’s a lot of tennis players I’m sure that would have loved to have been able to have the facilities, to continue their training and fitness and everything else that you have there.”

During the call Pierce explained how she was late to start tennis but that she had a natural affinity for the game that saw her rise dramatically from a beginner aged 10 to being a Top 30 player in the world at the age of 16.

She credited the importance of gaining sponsorship at the age of just 13 and the pivotal switch from being coached by her father to being part of a more professional set-up at the Nick Bollettieri Academy at the age of 18.

“Having a professional structure, you see how the results came,” she explained. “Nineteen first Grand Slam final, 20 my first Grand Slam, then six months after the Australian Open I was No. 3 in the world.”

But Pierce didn’t paint an unrealistic picture of life on Tour. She stressed the need for players to know why they are putting in so much effort to live what can be a very lonely existence on the road, highlighting the key role that coaches play in making players feel like part of a team.

“Being a professional tennis player is hard,” she said. “You travel a lot, you’re away from your family, your friends, your loved ones – that’s why it’s really important to have a great team around you. But it’s all worth it.”

Pierce spoke to the following players in Casablanca: Sada Nahimana (BDI), Salma Loudili (MAR), Anna Lorie Lemongo Toumbou (CMR), Yasmine Kabbaj (MAR), Manal Ennaciri (MAR), Aya Elaouni (MAR), Kenza El Akili (MAR), Gloriana Goreti Nahum (BEN), Eliakim Coulibaly (CIV), Bruno Nhavene (MOZ), Christopher Fok Kow (MRI), Toky Ranaivo (MAD), Mohamed Amine Oueslati (TUN), Connor Henry Van Schalkwyk (NAM) and Marko Milosavljevic (ZIM).