“If the player feels you are scared to lose your job, then you have lost already. “I don’t fear being fired,” adds De Witt. That gave me the confidence to trust in the other decisions we made.” “He was very good at communicating his confidence, knowledge, and vision in what I needed to do to improve my game. “What he said had an impact,” says former World No. “I sent him (Tursunov) home on his very first practice here, because he was late,” remembers De Witt. What happened on the first day would have wrecked most coach and player partnerships. Nearing the end of his playing career in 2017, Dmitry Tursunov sought out De Witt for help. As the coach, you need to know when to do it.” And, at other times, someone to push you to do the right thing. I trust him completely.”ĭe Witt insists, “There must be somebody who stops you from making a mistake. “A coach can destroy everything with just one sentence. “Because I did not trust them,” admits Basilashvili. Nikoloz Basilashvili had never had a full-time tennis coach before working with De Witt. Trust is a word that comes up a lot when players talk about De Witt. That made it very easy for me to trust him.” I felt he was more interested in my long-term development and not just the moment. And then sometimes, when I lost, he would be very pleased with what I was trying to do. Sometimes, when I won a match, Jan would tell me that the way I played that day is not going to help me achieve my goals. You might not like it at the time, because sometimes it is negative. “Jan is very honest and very clear,” says former World No. But, if he sees that the player is not trying, then he will not compromise in any way, not for his money nor for fame.” On the contrary, they seem to prosper because of his ‘take it or leave it’ attitude.Ĭorrado Tschabuschnig of Topseed Management, who has worked with De Witt since he brought Viktor Troicki to him 13 years ago, says, “If he feels that the player is trying, he will push him patiently. Yet, despite all that, it does not appear to have harmed the relationships with his players or colleagues over the many years he has been coaching on the ATP Tour. The German can be gruff, demanding and at times brutally honest. He does not chit chat, have a Facebook profile or use WhatsApp. Jan de Witt is quick to say hello and even quicker to say goodbye.
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