Coaching in tennis is considered to be advice, communication, or instruction of any type, visible or audible, to a tennis player.
In team events in which a team captain is sitting on-court, he or she could be a tennis coach and coach the player (or players) during a set break as well as when the players are changing ends at the game's end. The exception is when the players switch ends subsequent to the first game of every set and the period during a tie-break game.
Coaching is not permitted in all other matches.
Coaching philosophy in sports has for many years been based on the domination of a reductionist approach - the persistence on analyzing things down to their fundamental components - and lines of influence between knowledgeable coaches and those evidently without knowledge. This approach walks hand in hand with the rejection of the natural, the intuitive and the instinctual, and has held back coaching sports in sports in US and elsewhere by approximately 20 years.
The assumptions and beliefs that some coaches grow up with are the very ones that undercut learning, enjoyment and performance. They can be demonstrated by the following declarations:
• If one tries to learn something without professional's help, he will build up bad habits.
• An average person can't learn a new ability without being shown and/or told by a professional.
• There is a proper technique for the majority of activities, and that is one that must be taught.
• Bad habits and errors can only be identified and improved by an expert.
• Intellectual comprehension is a prerequisite of learning a good technique.
Coaches have to be specialists in the specific activity or sport that they coach.
Certainly, these are improbable to be stated as categorical in a debate, but it is in this unconditional form that they support the position that the gigantic majority of coaches adopt, unconsciously or consciously.
Coaching tennis players at all levels requires a diversity of skills; dependent on the support structure, tennis coach is supposed be technical expert, motivator, psychologist, administrator and manager, to mention but a few of the evident roles.
It appears to be that successful coaching philosophy of high-level tennis players involves a much more coordinated process than just the do-as-I-say tactics, which may be used for novices. High-level players necessitate having much more contribution into goal setting and the organization of training process. They also necessitate being more responsible for controlling themselves.
Sensitivity and effectual managing of stress is also an essential aspect that makes difference between great and poor coaches. High stress surrounding leads to the burnout of a player. A good tennis coach is the one who can recognize this as well as appreciate the other commitments placed on his players, whether they are full-time professional players or first-rate novices, who have to balance sport career with employment or study. Players who have fine communications with the tennis coach are more likely to perceive the surroundings as less stressful.