Dissecting High Performance In Tennis · Adam Blicher, Tennis Coach

#58: Sarah Stone – Creating Trust with a Player

July 4, 2017·29 min·2 clips

Sarah Stone reveals why only 20% of tennis coaches are female and how this impacts player trust.

This episode features host Adam Blitzer interviewing Sarah Stone, a veteran WTA Tour coach and co-founder of the Women's Tennis Coaches Association (WTCA). Stone discusses the nuances of coaching relationships, with a particular focus on building trust with players. She shares insights drawn from her decade of experience coaching professionals like Anastasia Rodionova and Alexa Glatch. Stone explains the WTCA's mission to provide resources and community for coaches, especially women in a field where they represent only about 20% of coaches globally. She emphasizes that trust is the foundational element of any successful coaching partnership. Stone argues this trust-building process can be uniquely critical and challenging when coaching female athletes. She describes specific strategies, such as consistent communication and demonstrating unwavering belief in the player, as essential tools. The conversation covers the entire coaching lifecycle, including how to professionally manage the conclusion of a coaching relationship. Stone advises coaches to handle separations with grace, prioritizing the player's ongoing career trajectory. She reflects on lessons learned from her own transition from a professional player, with career-high rankings of 600 in singles and 131 in doubles, into coaching. A key insight is that a coach's role extends far beyond technical instruction to being a steadfast support system during a player's low points. Stone reveals that a coach's belief in a player can sometimes be the only thing sustaining the player's self-belief. She notes the professional tour's inherent instability, where a player's results directly impact the coach's job security and income. The discussion highlights the emotional complexity coaches navigate when a player they have invested in decides to move on. Stone provides a pragmatic perspective, viewing relationship endings as a natural part of the high-performance sports ecosystem. She underscores the importance of coaches maintaining their own professional network and identity outside of any single player. The tone is conversational and educational, blending personal anecdotes with practical advice for coaching professionals. The style is direct and experience-based, focusing on the human dynamics behind high-performance tennis. This episode is ideal for tennis coaches at any level seeking to improve their player management and relationship skills. Listeners primarily interested in technical stroke analysis or fan-centric content might find less relevance here.

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