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Peter Graf Dies & The Dissapearance of the Famous Wrathful Tennis Papas
22 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
The New York Times reported today (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/sports/peter-graf-volatile-father-of-tennis-great-dies-at-75.html?hpw&rref=obituaries) that Steffi Graf’s dad, Peter, died due to pancreatic cancer yesterday. Steffi and her dad had endured an infamous blowout after he squandered much of her career earnings and then supposedly fathered a child with a Playboy Playmate, but she was said to have visited Peter six days before his passing.
With Papa Graf’s passing and then disappearance of such infamous tennis dads like Andrea Jaegers, Mike Agassi, Stefano Capriati and Peter Graf–do any others most prominently come to mind? Karolyi Seles had for the most part, a favorable reputation–we’ve come to an era where tennis fathers aren’t making much of an impact. What happened to the days when you couldn’t watch a big Johnny Mac match without seeing his father, John Sr., chewing his sleeve, wearing a doofy white Long Island tennis cap atop his head? Vince Spadea’s dad, Vincent Sr., never could bare to watch his son play a full match, but he was the architect of Vince’s game without having much of a tennis background. This was also the case most famously of Richard Williams, who was also always in the spotlight, saying outrageous things that ended up coming true and always in the camera’s eye, defiantly dancing in the stands at Wimbledon.
Now, who do we have? We have Papa Fed, but he’s not much of a presence. I’ve seen Stan Wawa’s dad and mom at some of his matches on tv. Of course there’s Papa Nadal, who always looks gravely serious at his son’s matches and Djoko’s father, who has basically disappeared along with his mom lately. Djoko Senior and Mama Djoko had great potential for following in the long line of the ridiculous and absurd tennis parents. They wore t-shirts of their son to matches. They denounced Fed and once drew his ire when he told them to shut up at Monte Carlo. There was real potential to Djoko’s parents being a real interesting side show, and then, poof, they suddenly disappeared and now we’re left with the much less entertaining entourage of Djoko’s fiancee and his his three beefy coaching/physio sidekicks. No the tennis dad today is as boring as Milos Raonic’s scientist father.
Of course, there was real potential with John Tomic, but right when he started making things real interesting, bopping Bernie’s practice hitting partner in the head, what do the tennis powers do? They ban the colorful guy. They should have popularized the Aussie bloke, but instead they shackled him That was quite a shame because who now, among the tennis fathers has a chance to give us a Jelena Dokic tennis father moment, when he went berserk, knocking over a lunch buffet at Wimbledon?
Of the American crew, what father stands out? Maybe Ryan Harrison’s papa, but with Harry taking a nosedive we haven’t seen much of him. I don’t even know what Izzie’s father looks like and Papa Querrey is a stale Valley dad. There used to be James Blake’s distinguished dad, usually toting a big book when he sat down to watch his son’s matches. Donald Young’s dad lets his mom attend and coach DY’s matches. I long for the quality, eye-catching tennis dad of yore, like Brad Gilbert’s, who used to walk around the Open in JP Penny tennis togs watching Brad’s matches with more intent than even Brad played them.
No, tennis dads have drifted into the bleachers or unfortunately know better than to make a big scene. With the passing of Peter Graf and the diminishing of every other fun lunatic tennis dad, we’re left with a real hole in the tennis landscape. The tennis dad has been kicked to the gutter, ostracized to outside the camera’s gaze, become like Andy Murray’s long-lost, never-was-there, coulda been a contender dad.
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bjk · December 4, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Jim Pierce.
Scoop Malinowski · December 4, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Pat Harrison is a very very nice man, really a good guy. Sam Q’s dad is often around, he watches intently and is well mannered, seems like a good guy. Hewitt’s father still pops up now and then. I think Djokovic’s dad had a health scare, saw him in Key Biscayne this year walking with the mom in that part on the edge of the town. Never spoke with him but have big respect for his proud and passionate support of his son. One of my favorite tennis fathers.
DanM · December 4, 2013 at 10:59 pm
Jim Pierce was the one who started me feeling sorry for his daughter, Mary. He was such a nut and clearly abusive. The only tennis dad that seemed to rival him in uncouthness was maybe Dockic’s dad and now Bernie Tomic’s papa is looking just as violent and wacky.
That’s nice to hear that Pat Harrison is a nice man, but if he’s had any hand in picking Harry’s coaches, he’s done his son an injustice. No one seemed to go above and beyond helping his son have success than Djoko’s dad, but he always seemed a bit of a weeny. Peter Graf seemed abusive as well, but Steffi was such an automaton during her career, I didn’t really feel sorry for her like I did a Mary Pierce because Steffi and her dad seemed like a good pair for each other. They both were ambitious and apparently cold-blooded.
Harold · December 5, 2013 at 10:05 am
Not a father/coach, but just read a tweet by Brad Gilbert, that he is in Boca working this morning with R Harry and Kudla
Dan markowitz · December 5, 2013 at 10:19 am
Geez, Harry and Kudla sure could use the work and guidance. They both finished the year off with a whimper, especially Denis. When you think about it, BG has really dropped in who he coaches, Agassi, Roddick, Murray, Nishikori to Harry and Kudla. I feel a bit sorry for the guy. It’d be like Phil coming back to coach the Knicks now .
Mitch · December 5, 2013 at 10:51 am
BG also coached Querrey for a little bit. I think coaching is secondary to broadcasting for him now, so he may never take another high profile engagement, unless it’s from someone who can really pay him the big bucks.
Dr. Bartoli was another character, but he’s gone now. Isn’t Wozniacki’s dad Piotr her on/off coach? Don’t know if he’s crazy or not. I think Radwanska also recently ditched her dad as a coach. Can’t really think of any male players, though I believe Istomin is/was coached by his mom.
Dan markowitz · December 5, 2013 at 11:04 am
Don’t kid yourself Mitch, BG would be back in coaching box in a flash if a guy like Tsonga hired him. There’s Dolgos dad, but he keeps low profile. My favorite dad coach was Srichiphan’s dad. He seemed cool and fly.
Andrew Miller · December 8, 2013 at 12:31 pm
We’ll see how Kudla, Harrison do with Gilbert. At his best BG streamlines his charges’ games, makes them play like slam winners. We haven’t seen BG’s best coaching since the Murray experiment ended – Murray became a force under BG. Even assuming Nishikori benefitted from the coaching, BG’s coaching cred has fallen off a cliff, so to me for BG and Annacone both, the new coaching starts have to work out otherwise we can say the coaching world has changed and both are only coaches for players that already know or well on their way to winning slams.
We call that cherry picking. It’s up to both coaches to prove otherwise. Today’s game is about progress from here on out, you can’t dine off of past success forever.
Gaurang · December 8, 2013 at 1:07 pm
From where I see, coaching skills do not change. Brad Gilbert, if once a great coach, will always be a great coach.
If he fails for a few players, it would mean either their chemistry did not work out or the players needed to work on different aspects of their game which Brad did not specialize in.
From the commentary box, Brad looks like always having deep insight and understanding about the game, esp on the strategic and tactical angle. Nobody can take that away from him.
If he can coach the youngsters on a longer term basis, I am sure he can increase each of their rankings by 50 rungs, just single-handedly. But he would have to spend a year or two with them, not one morning.
Gaurang · December 8, 2013 at 1:09 pm
“At least 50 rungs” I meant to say!
Andrew Miller · December 8, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Gaurang – I hear you – and I think BG’s coaching cred has fallen a bit. He does better with star players, but no steady gig since Murray fired him. Sub-top players have marginal results under Gilbert (Bogdanovic, Querrey, Nishikori) – maybe they have less talent, but maybe Gilbert’s not as good as we make him out to be. If you read Winning Ugly, it’s pretty easy to see that Gilbert’s mostly about the $ first, tennis second (and if you look into his career, you see the Compaq Grand Slam Cup final was the highlight of it). None of this diminishes the obvious – Gilbert steered two top players either to or well into their potential (Agassi, Roddick), and nudged one other one towards it (Murray) but has done less impressive work otherwise where you’d think coaching matters (Querrey, Nishikori, Bogdanovic). Some players found they simply didn’t need him (Hingis, Golovin) and others soured on him (Roddick, Murray).
But you look at other players who keep their coaches – Querrey with Nainkin, Roddick with Stefanki, then you look how Gilbert went from a long term deal with Agassi to more or less short-term gigs ever since. I think Roddick would have slammed a 2nd time with Gilbert (at that time I thought Gilbert had it down) but for whatever reason he just hasn’t made the same impact since coaching Roddick to the 2003 US Open title.
Gilbert’s results mirror U.S. tennis’ decline. He rose with it, and he has fallen with it too. That said I think Kudla and Harrison have potential – so this is a good test for Gilbert to show his ability to motivate players. They are both older than Murray and Roddick was when they hired Gilbert, both of them have talent, though both are lower profile and less polished.
To me a great test. I don’t think Gilbert’s playing with house money anymore. This time he’s in the casino so he loses, he loses big.
Dan Markowitz · December 8, 2013 at 4:11 pm
It’s hard to say how much a coach matters or doesn’t matter in tennis because often the traveling coach–the guy we see in the seats at the matches–isn’t the coach who’s doing the work on the practice court. I think it’s difficult to judge BG’s work as a coach since Murray because he was the last player BG traveled with. I didn’t see him out with Nishikori or Q-ball. He’s seemingly done more touch up work since.
I must admit, the way Roddick dumped him to the curb and the way Murray used to yell at him mid-match, was strange for a legendary coach. You didn’t see that happening with Annacone, who seemed to have a more dignified relationship with his players. I don’t know if it was the players Gilbert coached or something in him that infuriated those players, but he seemed to draw their ire often rather than gain their trust and confidence.
Scoop Malinowski · December 8, 2013 at 5:28 pm
IT’s not debatable, BG is a great coach. A GREAT COACH. Read his book Winning Ugly, see his work with Agassi Roddick Murray. It’s all a matter of does he have the talent to work with. Great coaches can’t turn every player into a superstar. Of course BG is going to have some misses. Hey it seems the US players are having a sort of camp down in Boca, at least some of the players Kudla Rhyne Williams Harrison Smyczek maybe others. Maybe USTA reads Tennis-prose.com ) Really hope they are putting in the “Hard Yards” this winter.
Scoop Malinowski · December 8, 2013 at 5:37 pm
I have a question: Which coaching example do you consider the GOAT. Pete Fischer with Sampras? Mike Agassi with Andre? BG with Andre? Karolji Seles with Monica? Peter Carter with Federer? Richard Williams? Larri Passos with Guga? I say maybe it’s Passos with Guga. He’s the only coach of Guga from the beginnig to the end. All other coaches stepped back and let their prodigies receive outside/additional coaching. From what I know Passos and Guga were together straight through. Off the top of my head I nominate Larri Passos as unofficially maybe the greatest coaching job in tennis history.
Mitch · December 8, 2013 at 7:43 pm
What about Uncle Toni?
Scoop Malinowski · December 8, 2013 at 7:47 pm
You’re right Mitch, somehow I forgot about him.
Andrew Miller · December 8, 2013 at 10:02 pm
Given BG’s gigs from 2001-on (short term with players who seem to either resent his influence or decided that they couldn’t handle the BG plan) I think his cred is very much on the line.
Sorry but Gilbert right now seems like a cherry picking coach. I believe he and Roddick would have gotten a 2nd slam (Gilbert would have maintained Roddick’s power game and gotten him out of rally till you drop) but the 2004 US Open five set pim-pim loss (roll of the die) and the Nadal 2004 Davis Cup loss (probably a PMac error) was the end for BG.
But we’re 10 years later here. The game’s changed and Gilbert hasn’t been relevant (Querrey and Nishikori, fine players but no real great results under BG). I think he’s a great coach. But why isn’t he out there – he doesn’t have the
Andrew Miller · December 8, 2013 at 10:02 pm
cachet of higher profile coaches like Connors, Lendl. Gilbert’s gilbert. Maybe he’s lost the edge.
Dan Markowitz · December 9, 2013 at 8:48 am
You consider Connors a high-profile coach?
Scoop Malinowski · December 9, 2013 at 10:32 am
BG is not a full time coach anymore, he’s part time coach, PT TV analyst. Rumor has it that he’s going to take over IMG Academy in Bradenton FL when Nick’s contract runs out next year.
Gaurang · December 9, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Among coaches you would have to include Marián Vajda for Novak and Uncle Toni for Nadal. (Uncle Toni even works overtime: off the court, and on the court! :-p )
How much did Brad help Querrey and Nishikori? Was he their full-time coach for a few years? 1 year? several months? few months? One morning? 🙂
Gaurang · December 9, 2013 at 2:18 pm
Picked this up from somewhere on the internet: “Whereas Querrey worked with Brad Gilbert, too, for a while in 2012” Looks like Gilbert worked with Querrey for some part of 2012 (dont know how big a part). And also it was on a part-time basis.
Also Nishikori — I think he has overachieved…. Perhaps Gilbert’s (part-time) coaching played a part in making him reach a ranking of 11 this year?