Australian Tennis Magazine - August 2015

THE BUSINESS EDITION Make a winning plan

The

BUSINESS OF BEING

STARS BUILD THEIR BRANDS CRAFT A CAREER Off-court options DAVIS CUP The Aussie fight back

WIMBLEDON WRAP 2015

SERENA SLAM 2.0 The Grand Slam next?

NOVAK DJOKOVIC Top of his field AUGUST 2015 A$7.50 / NZ$8.40 / US$7.50

Plus THE ART OF ANTICIPATION / TACTICAL MISTAKES TO AVOID / MASTER STROKES

tennismag.com.au

AUGUST 2015 VOL 40 No. 8

contents

41

FIELD OF DREAMS

Relying on their tactics, talent and sheer tenacity, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams became repeat champions at Wimbledon.

FEATURES

18 LIFE AFTER TENNIS

While the world’s best players are adding to their title counts, they’re also thinking about a life after tennis.

25 EARLY MOVERS

All great movers on the court are great anticipators – and it’s a skill that all players can develop early.

26 THE BUSINESS OF WINNING

Match plans are a must have, but so too is a flexible approach in changing them when they no longer work for you.

30 LET’S GET SOCIAL With Facebook, Twitter and other mediums, the social side of tennis has never been stronger.

48 A NEW ERA

Lleyton Hewitt staged his last Wimbledon run but other Australians are stepping up with career-best runs.

14

PLAYERS INC.

Today’s top stars are building their personal brands as carefully as they’re creating tennis history.

AUGUST 2015 AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE

3

AUGUST 2015 VOL 40 No.8

34

DAVIS CUP: THE DREAM CONTINUES

It took a trademark Lleyton Hewitt fight back and some Sam Groth heroics, but in securing a World Group semifinal, Australia’s Davis Cup campaign continues.

REGULARS 8 BREAKPOINTS 12 THE HITTING WALL 23 STROKEMASTER 54 TENNIS 360 60 FROM THE CLUBHOUSE 64 RANKINGS 66 SCOREBOARD 68 20 QUESTIONS 70 IN FOCUS 72 KIDS’ CLUBHOUSE 74 LAST WORD

56

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

How Sam Stosur and other top players play an active role in administering and marketing the game.

4

AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015

EDITOR Vivienne Christie ASSISTANT EDITOR Daniela Toleski FOUNDING EDITOR Alan Trengove GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Andrea Williamson Carli Alexander

ADVERTISING MANAGER Nicole Hearnden ADMINISTRATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Daniel Heathcote PHOTOGRAPHS Getty Images, John Anthony, Image(s) licensed by Ingram Publishing COVER PHOTO Getty Images COVER DESIGN & PHOTO EDITING Andrew Hutchison, FourFront

Australian Tennis Magazine is published monthly by TENNIS AUSTRALIA LTD, Private Bag 6060, Richmond, Vic 3121.

Ph: (03) 9914 4200 Email: editor@tennismag.com.au Distributed by Network Distribution Company Printed in Australia by Webstar The views expressed in Australian Tennis Magazine are not necessarily those held by Tennis Australia. While the utmost care is taken in compiling the information contained in this publication, Tennis Australia is not responsible for any loss or injury occurring as a result of any omissions in either the editorial or advertising appearing herein.

Bringing in the MONEY… Forbes magazine’s annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, based on a calculation of prize money and endorsements, is always fascinating.

Here are some points that show how tennis has become such big business: TOP 10 HIGHEST PAID ATHLETES LLERS

FE

RS

2

SOCCER STA

RS

amount Floyd Mayweather Jnr. (the highest earning athlete according to Forbes) is reported to earn each year.

RS

GOL

TOP 10 HIGHEST PAID ATHLETES

$300 MILLION

2

K

BA ET

XE BO

BA S

3

1 TENNIS PLAYER Roger Federer

2

67 MILLION

MILLION

ROGER FEDERER EARNS EACH YEAR

MARIA SHARAPOVA EARNS EACH YEAR

29.7

TOP 100 TENNIS PLAYERS

The following players appear on Forbes top 100 list for 2015:

26 13

ROGER FEDERER $67M

NOVAK DJOKOVIC $48M

JUST THE …

TOILET? For Kei Nishikori, tennis success comes with a golden ticket – or make that a golden toilet, given that’s among the products he endorses after signing his latest deal with Lixil Group Corp.

6

AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2015

47

22

5

RAFAEL NADAL $32.5M

$4500 PRIZE MONEY ROD LAVER WON AS AUSTRALIAN OPEN 1969 MEN’S CHAMPION.

$3M PRIZE MONEY FOR NOVAK DJOKOVIC AS CHAMPION 46 YEARS LATER.

MARIA SHARAPOVA $29.7M

SERENA WILLIAMS $24.6M

DRIVEN TO BE GENEROUS …

In 2005, Maria donated proceeds of an auction for the Porsche she won at the season-ending WTA Championships to victims of a school siege in Russia.

92

64

ANDY MURRAY $22.3M

KEI NISHIKORI $19.5M

Number of Porsches that Maria Sharapova has won as Porsche Grand Prix champion.

FIRST SERVE

The business of the best …

T

here was the completion of a second historic Serena Slam, a third Wimbledon title for Novak Djokovic and Australia’s fighting return to a Davis Cup World Group semifinal.

As one of the busiest periods of the tennis calendar concluded, it was clear that the business end of the 2015 season couldn’t play out any better.

The biggest question for many was whether Serena, who claimed her fourth consecutive Grand Slam and third for 2015, will complete the calendar year Grand Slam with victory at the US Open. A feat last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1988, it’s a milestone that’s occurred only twice in the modern women’s game.

Pressure can be a brutal leveller, but with Serena historically holding more than double the number of rankings points of her nearest rival, Maria Sharpaova, you can’t help concluding she is ready to claim one of the few records missing from her bulging resumé.

Djokovic’s dream of completing that elusive milestone ended with his loss to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final but he made a spectacular return to form in triumphing again at the All England Club. With Roger Federer, Andy Murray and other accomplished opponents demanding an increasingly superb standard for Djokovic to maintain his hold as world No.1, the Serb is bound to star in many 2015 storylines yet.

Meanwhile, all Australian eyes are on Davis Cup following the team’s spectacular charge to the September World Group semifinal. With the Murray-led Great Britain standing in the way, the dream of progressing all the way to the final seems far away – but then, so too did a quarterfinal victory when Australia trailed Kazakhstan 0-2 after the opening day. It took

some Sam Groth heroics and another famous Lleyton Hewitt fight for the Australian team to claw back to a 3-2 victory, marking the first such recovery in 76 years.

There were many remarkable takeaways from the dramatic weekend, but the most notable one was the long-lasting impact of Hewitt as he sealed the victory in the second reverse singles rubber. At age 34, he’d claimed just one singles win for the year and despite his 17 years in the competition, had never contested a live fifth rubber.

But then, saving his best for Davis Cup is what Hewitt does best. “The last three or four years, Davis Cup has been as big as any Grand Slam for me personally,” he said. “When I make my schedule, everything has worked around the Davis Cup and trying to get the most out of myself.”

So many compelling storylines, so many memorable stars to play them out in the final months of the season. Any wonder tennis is such big business.

It’s a theme we’ve explored extensively in this issue of Australian Tennis Magazine, with the business edition examining the marketability of the game and the players who star in it. From the entrepreneurial approach of our cover star Maria Sharapova to the value that Federer and others are adding in other ways, it’s clear that there are many elements to our global game.

Even when they’re not winning, today’s top players are winning. And as the business end of the year approaches, the sport is all the better for those many layers of success.

18

Vivienne Christie Editor

Nexnt th mo

MATCH DAY

Arm yourself with a match plan, top fitness and advice from the world’s top players in our special “match day” issue.

Available from 1 September.

The business of winning means the joy of celebrating for Wimbledon champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.

AUGUST 2015 AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE

7

FEATURE

The social side of tennis might mean afternoon tea or a post-playing barbecue in some circles, but for today’s professional it’s something very different.

NICK McCARVEL explores how online profiles can be as important to top players as their on-court personas.

O

n the Saturday before Wimbledon this past June, Roger Federer strolls around the grounds of the All England Club with a phone in his hand and a digital audience of thousands watching his every move.

“OK guys, let’s see what questions you have,” he says, looking at the screen with anticipation, his famous hair ruffled high over his head. It’s a modern-day press conference with perhaps the most famous tennis player that has ever lived: Federer is hosting a Periscope live video stream, blasted out from SW19 (via the phone that he’s holding) to anyone with an internet connection and a love for the seven time champion.

The social media world has grown and changed much quicker than the modern game of tennis in the last decade, but the sport’s players – for the most part – are doing a stellar job of keeping up. More than ever before, players’ personal and professional lives are available on a variety of channels, offering fans the opportunity to get to know their favourite stars.

Like Federer.

It took the prolific champion a while to warm-up to social media, but since then he’s embraced it: He joined Twitter in 2013 and now has over three million followers there; after signing up for Instagram in August of 2014 he has over 700,000 followers. The accounts link Federer with his fans in a variety of personable ways, but it

While Petkovic may have been first, she’s not the only player who has excelled in the social space. Federer (and his penchant for emojis) has become a social media star, as well. It’s a tennis top 10 list that doesn’t go by any sort of rankings: Novak Djokovic, Ivo Karlovic, Victoria Azarenka, Andy Murray, Nick Kyrgios, Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Tomas Berdych and Thanasi Kokkinakis are a few Getting to Know #You players who have excelled on Andrea Petkovic rocketed to social media, each in his or her internet fame as her alter-ego, own way.

“Petkorazzi,” on YouTube, “There are many people where the German – who plays around the world that watch a straight-forward brand of tennis … and (social media) is one baseline tennis on the court – of the ways to give them back, demonstrated her not just on the court by quirky and creative ALWAYS ENGAGING: playing good tennis, side in a series of While an Andy Murray but also by interacting fan shows how the videos. She was a “selfie” is becoming with them,” Djokovic reporter, a travel the modern-day commented in Miami. blogger, a dance autograph, stars like “I post video or picture Roger Federer (left) instructor and more. are providing new content that would It was perhaps the insights to supporters give them a different first time a tennis through social media. look at my personality. player had used social Not just what they see on the media to broadcast his or her personality in such an organic TV when you're playing tennis, way – and the global audience but something else, to present responded. yourself as a person.”

“I need this stuff to stay true “Well, whatever you see there, to myself, otherwise I would go it’s real,” Berdych told Tennis Now crazy,” Petkovic said in 2011 of last year. “On court, I’m not the her social sharing. “Tennis can guy that can be laughing or doing be really one-dimensional and funny stuff like, let’s say, Monfils.

I'm not one-dimensional. I need Everyone does what’s best for these other things to live myself the style, but I need to be focused to the fullest, not only on the and concentrating. I could see court, but off the court as well. I that people were bored with that. really feel like with social media, You cannot talk to the umpire with Twitter and Facebook, I about what kind of music you like have it under my control and I (laughing). That’s the thing I’m can give as much personality as I trying to show them on the social want to the public. media, and I hope they like it.” also makes for good business for his partner sponsors like Nike, Wilson, champagne maker Moet & Chandon and more.

“I feel like I try to give them a different insight,” Federer says of his social media accounts, which includes a Facebook fan page with over 14 million fans. “It's a different way to communicate with them. I just try to have fun with it.”

AUGUST 2015 AUSTRALIAN TENNIS MAGAZINE

31

MOM N UMSPECIAL

POWER TO NEW HEIGHTS

START OVER

FORWARD NG THINKI Goal setting

Top tactical

turnarounds

secrets

POWER PLAYS Gain the

NEVER MISS

BOUNCE BACK Learn from

STAYING

a loss

G N O STR

momentum and keep it

LLEYTON HEWITT A new life NOVAK IC DJOKOV ?

E The L B PPA Slam in Grand O T sight?

S N U S WILLIAM MADISON IS SERENA KEYS Making

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WIMBLEDON

FIELD OF DREAMS

PHOTOS BY JOHN ANTHONY / ISPA

If the dream of triumphing at Wimbledon seems like a fairytale, the reality is far different – requiring tactics, talent and sheer tenacity, it’s the toughest task in tennis.

Having displayed those qualities by becoming historic repeat champions in 2015, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic seem certain to add to their impressive records yet.

By VIVIENNE CHRISTIE