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Sven Groeneveld working with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario –THE BADGE CHRONICLES #5 of the Series

Sven Groeneveld will be the first to admit that he has had many great influences in his personal and professional life. One of which was Mark McCormack from IMG. Sven was able to work and coach Arantxa Sanchez Vicario as a young coach because of Mark –  together (Arantxa and Sven) they were able to grow and reach triumphs. Due to Sven’s mentors and great work ethic he has been able to become the, “Tennis Architect”.    

THE BADGE CHRONICLES

“Arantxa Sanchez Vicario


After Wimbledon 1993 the late Mark McCormack, “IMG Tennis Founder” asked me if I would be interested to work with one of their most talented players. He believed in me a great bit and this confidence he had in me, I took that with me and have been the greatest gifts he has given me.

Sven Groeneveld with the Sanchez Vicario Family

Aranxta and I started working in Barcelona where her family was living. During that first year she won her first US Open in doubles with Helena Sukova and she lost at the WTA year-end Championships in the finals to Stefanie Graf in 4 sets (these were the times where best of 5 was played at the year-end Championships on the WTA which, they should bring back either at slams or at their own year-end event)! In 1994 Arantxa lost the finals of the Australian Open again to Graf and this defeat (6-0 6-2) hurt a great deal. This also caused some friction in the team. I set some new guidelines and during the Lipton in the Miami Open we had a real heavy discussion about the future. I set some new guidelines. Arantxa lived up to these and won her world championship doubles with Novotna at Saddle Brook Tennis and won her tournament in Amelia Island beating Martina Navratilova.

Virginia Slims Championships
Ford Australian Open Women’s Championships match statistics

 

I was still very young as a coach and made the decision to stop. I must admit and did so to Aranxta, for making a mistake. I should have continued but I did not and the rest is history.”

*All the information for this article was attained through explicit permission from Sven Groeneveld to be published on 10sBalls.com – no lifting or reusing is permitted.