They give Bollettieri for dead and he comes out to deny it

The world of tennis has experienced in the last few hours a bizarre situation that has had as its protagonist Nick Bollettieri, one of the great trainers in the history of tennis at his academy in Brandeton (Florida) where tennis players of the stature of Monica Seles, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Marcelo Ríos, the sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Boris Becker, Anna Kournikova, Mary Pierce or Tommy Haas among others.

On the afternoon of this Sunday various media echoed the alleged death of Nick Bollettieri at 91 years of age, to shock the tennis world. Nevertheless, A few hours later, Bollettieri himself published a story on Instagram in which he denied his death.

Bollettieri published this message in which he said that he remains with his loved ones and thanked them for the expressions of affection and encouragement received in recent hours. “I want to assure everyone that contrary to what you have heard, I am alive and well. There’s not much that can keep this weak old Italian for so long. I have my family and many visitors here, and that makes me very happy! I love all the messages that you have sent me, the calls and the voice messages that you have left me. I always say ‘it’s not easy’, but it sure is worth it. I’m a lucky guy. I wish you all the best. nick”.

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The tennis guru

Lean and with a permanent tan from his many hours outdoors, The coach born in Pelham (New York) began in the late 1960s as tennis director of the Hotel Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico. From there he went to another in Florida. And from there, he to inaugurate his academy in 1978, on land destined to grow tomatoes. A boarding school to make numbers one. The first with that ‘philosophy’. That of separating talented children (or money) from their parents to squeeze every last drop of effort and talent.

Agassi, in his autobiography Open, defined that academy as “a place that people like to call a military camp, but in reality it is a glorified prison camp.” His tyrannical father, Emmanuel, the one who made him return balls to the insane ‘Dragon’ he made, he saw a report on the NBTA and decided to send his son there. A report in which the boys were seen sleeping on cots, eating little, cleaning the facilities and even the sports boss.

When Bollettieri saw the kid from Las Vegas, he told his father he could stay for free. Later, he would become Agassi’s coach for a decade, but before that he had to tame the boy who painted his nails, had his hair and smoked and drank in that ‘jail’ where the first commandment was to be competitive. And Agassi was. Like Monica Seles, that girl who came from Novi Sad, from the former Yugoslavia, with her demanding family. At the age of 16, due to her friction with her parents, he broke up with her. But she shot up winning it all. Like Maria Sharapova, a similar case, of which Bollettieri said that “you had to kill her to beat her.” She came to him with “seven hundred dollars rolled up in a pocket.” Her ‘products’ were so good that the multinational entertainment and representation agency IMG bought the Academy from her in 1987. to model his talents, but Bollettiri never relinquished command.

Without great technical knowledge, the one who would later become a guru and member of the Hall of Fame, trained or advised ten world number ones: Agassi, Courier, Seles, Becker, Ríos, Jankovic, Hingis, Sharapova and the Williams sisters. A controversial genius, an iron sergeant. But a guarantee of success. In his biography he left a revealing sentence: “I wanted to be the best and most famous tennis coach in the world. Well, I admit that I also wanted to be rich. He accomplished both.