Basilashvili coach Jan de Witt - "Hard to make for the top players"
Jan de Witt , coach of Nikoloz Basilashvili , in a tennisnet interview about the relocation of the French Open, training opportunities with his player and his experience at the ATP Cup.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Mar 18, 2020, 01:38 pm
tennisnet : Mr. de Witt. On Tuesday, the French tennis association announced the postponement of the French Open in September 2020. Your first reaction?
Jan de Witt : It is like that of many others: very surprised. When you are at home, you don't notice that much. Nevertheless, I would have expected that there would be considerably more coordination. I called my player the evening before the decision - and he didn't know anything either. I think more communication should have taken place here. We cannot now proceed to the fact that everyone simply does what is best for them individually. We have a calendar that has grown over the years. Whirling around in this way is certainly not a good idea.
tennisnet : The organizers of the Laver Cup immediately stated that they would not hand in their appointment. Who will win this showdown?
De Witt : I don't know. I can only express my amazement at how this decision was made. I can understand that the French are in a difficult situation. But the way they did it, we shouldn't do it in our sport. I am very excited to see how the players react now because ultimately they are the key players for an event. Even the French Open can forget that - when the players say we stand by our agreements with the ATP and with the other tournaments. There is the problem that you would have to play through two slams within five weeks, which is physically difficult for the top players. We have often seen how difficult it is to move the calendar for even a week. I would not be surprised if this leads to further protests.
tennisnet : So the information policy of the French Tennis Association has been less than optimal. What about ATP these days?
De Witt : We don't get so much current information from the ATP. You talk on the phone with people you know very well and try to make yourself smart. I was personally not in the USA, but there was still the opportunity to speak to the ATP. Only: The people who were there and drove home without doing anything are no smarter than me. I think the ATP itself doesn't really know what to do next.
De Witt - "The soccer players just get on the bus"
tennisnet : You are known to be active in several disciplines, including football with your involvement at Werder Bremen. Can you make comparisons?
De Witt : We have a big advantage and a big disadvantage compared to football. If the situation improves again at some point, the soccer players have the advantage that they can simply get on the bus, i.e. the 20 people plus the staff that is really necessary. Then they drive to the next city and play there, probably without spectators. The big disadvantage, however, is that there is a lot of physical contact in football. And so the chance of a broadcast is much higher than that of our tennis players.
tennisnet : So tennis is an advantage?
De Witt : From a purely sporting point of view, tennis can be played much earlier than all team sports. No physical contact is relatively easy to ensure in tennis. Tennis is of course also a perfect TV sport - the whole world squats at home and would like to watch something, but there is nothing. Those responsible will certainly be concerned. Our big disadvantage is traveling. Our players come from all over the world. If travel cannot be carried out, the picture I have drawn will of course not work.
tennisnet : How is your work with Nikoloz Basilashvili at the moment?
De Witt : I currently cannot work with my player. He was with our fitness coach in the USA and then flew home. Niko is now in Georgia. But even if I had a tennis hall, it couldn't even come here because the EU is closed. However, we assumed that the break will last longer than six weeks. And our plan was and is that we do a second season preparation because in December after Niko's elbow surgery we didn't have time to go through with our plan one hundred percent. We got him fit for competition, but nothing more than that. Now the idea would be that he did rehabilitation and fitness for another four weeks, only to be completely fit and resilient afterwards, that if we can see that we'll be playing again, we concentrate fully on tennis.
tennisnet : Perhaps based on this: as coach of Nikoloz Basilashvili you were also part of the Georgian team of supervisors. What impressions did you take with you?
De Witt : I was totally thrilled. I thought the event was great, the idea too, the implementation. It was well organized. I played soccer and volleyball myself, so I come from team sports, and how it was organized at the ATP Cup with these team benches, I thought that was great. The communication with the players and with the fans was great. And we had this highlight that we started against Nadal in the night session in Perth. And then you sit on the pitch and finally you can officially coach. The influence was significantly larger and better. The only criticism I can understand was that the teams were so unevenly strong. We had a so-called one-man team at the start. With a player who is 20. And the next one only to 500. Nevertheless, this player then got a point. And our double too. With two guys who have almost no ATP points. And still be able to play great tennis. It was a great thing for the players and also for the country of Georgia to be on this stage.