ITF

Hingis, Lopez and Murray headline biggest ITF World Coaches Conference 42 Winter 2021 ITF World sport science and participation. Murray, who famously raised two boys to become world No. 1s in singles and doubles, respectively, highlighted the opening day with her keynote presentation on 'building skills, growing confidence and developing a love for the game'. Murray, a former British Billie Jean King Cup captain who has developed a range of grass-roots tennis initiatives, explained her coaching philosophy: essentially to create games and activities that do the teaching for you. A huge believer in "skills before drills", Murray explained that a tennis journey does not always have to start with a racket in hand. Her ethos is centred around creating key coordination games in a small space to encourage accuracy, control, rhythm and timing – beneficial skills for any developing young player to master in a confined area before they expand to a larger space. Feliciano Lopez took part in an open conversation on day two, providing views from an active professional about the importance of players finding their own solutions on court, the state of the game today and how it has changed over the years. "When I started, the game was more tactical," said Lopez. "You needed to think more about preparing the point and how you would create winners. I think now the biggest difference is the power and physical condition of the players overall." Former world No. 1 Martina Hingis also took part in an open conversation with Swiss tennis colleague Jurg Buhler on day three, providing insight into the importance of developing an all-court, and all-surface, game. "In Switzerland, it was very natural to grow up on different surfaces, so you naturally become very flexible to the surfaces, to the balls," she said. "You have to naturally become an all-round player because you have to play well on fast courts as well as on clay. "I think this is really cool because you learn the groundstrokes, you learn how to play from the middle of the court and you learn how to play at the net. These are the natural basics that we have in Switzerland." Hingis, Lopez and Murray were just three of the 64 speakers across the three-day conference, providing a host of insightful contributions across a broad range of topics. The ITF World Coaches Conference by BNP Paribas enjoyed its most successful staging yet in November, with over 1700 participants from 151 nations taking part in the first virtual edition of the event. The biennial conference, which has been held on 22 occasions since its inaugural staging in Florida in 1982, regularly attracts over 600 participants from across the globe. As a virtual event, the showpiece of the ITF's Education Programme was able to reach a far broader audience. A high-profile and expert cast of speakers added the stardust to the 2021 edition, with the likes of Martina Hingis, Feliciano Lopez and Judy Murray all delivering presentations alongside other industry leaders in tennis coaching, coach education, player development, NEWS ROUND-UP W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 The conclusion of the 2021 Super-Seniors World Individual Championships in October brought down the curtain on an action-packed two months on the ITF Seniors Tour. The last day of the 2021 event at Font de sa Cala, Mallorca began with the Men's 80 singles final, with Chilean Jaime Rene Pinto Bravo defeating doubles partner Peter Pokorny in straight sets to add to his two previous world championship gold medals. In front of a healthy crowd, Daniel Waldman of the United States conquered the Men's Singles 65 competition for a ninth overall world title – completing an impressive comeback over top seed and Dutch favourite Fritz Raijmakers from 3-0 down in the first set. Alfred Boeckl won the Men's 70 singles after beating Frenchman Bruno Renoult to complete a dominant week, with the German losing just one set across six matches. Another German, Herbert Althaus, impressively swept the Men's 85 singles by defeating American Herman Ahlers in 2021 Super-Seniors Individual World Championships concludes action- packed Seniors calendar

• Cover