Big Brother

Coach Brad Gilbert revitalised Andre Agassi, and now he is guiding Andy Roddick towards the Wimbledon title

Those blessed with sufficient morning fortitude to breakfast with Brad Gilbert reveal that much of his trademark verbosity stems from his habit of drinking four, or often five, double espressos to start the day. The man in black can certainly speak. As one of the BBC radio commentary team who shared the box with him at two recent Wimbledon championships recalled: “The hardest task of the day was not to describe the events going on in front of my eyes accurately, but to curb constantly Brad’s loquacious enthusiasm for talking throughout every point of every game of every set.”

He can irritate people. Jimmy Connors, the architect of the seniors tour, so detested Gilbert that he refused to let his fellow American compete on the circuit. John McEnroe recalled: “Perhaps there was something about Gilbert that made me look into myself and think, ‘Oh my God, can I possibly be that unbearable?’ ” Yet Gilbert the coach is blessed with the ability to take the most gifted tennis player and improve him, turning him into an even more ruthless, focused and complete competitor. He hauled Andre Agassi from the depths of 144th place in the world rankings to reassume top spot within 18 months and recapture the eminence required to win five more Grand Slam titles.

Now the author of the best-selling book Winning Ugly � which teaches ordinary players to maximise their potential by fair means and sometimes almost foul � is the mentor of Andy Roddick, Wimbledon’s second seed, the US Open champion, the world’s fastest server and the man most likely to continue that winning American dynasty which includes Connors, McEnroe, Agassi, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras.

Caffeinated, opinionated, loquacious as ever, Gilbert relaxed in some welcome Wimbledon sunshine after preparing Roddick for another victory last week, taking the opportunity to speak his mind on footballing matters that not everybody really wanted to hear after the events of the night before.

While most were debating the courage of Sven-G�ran Eriksson’s substitutions and the parenthood of referee Urs Meier, Gilbert felt sufficiently knowledgeable about the sport to insist that the offside law should be abolished, goals should be made bigger and the particular player fouled in the penalty area should always take the spot kick.

Showing a glaring disregard for the coronary resilience of a nation, he concluded: “You know what? Wouldn’t it be great if so many more matches finished off with penalty shoot-outs? That would be neat.”

As a footballing administrator, it is probably fair to say that Gilbert makes an excellent tennis coach. Nobody else currently working in the men’s game has taken two players to the world No 1 ranking. But although his methods with both men are the same, he views the two tasks differently. Back in the mid-1990s, Agassi was already an established champion when Gilbert was recruited. Roddick, in contrast, was an electrifying prospect, but even at a young age he was clearly somebody who knew his own mind. There were no guarantees that things would work out when Gilbert flew to London to meet his new employer before last summer’s Stella Artois Championships at Queen’s.

“After achieving what I did with Andre, I really wanted to work with somebody with the potential to win the big prizes but who was still at the beginning of his career,” he said. “I had studied Andy’s game from a distance for several years. He was one of a very small group of players I yearned to coach, and when the opportunity arose, I accepted willingly.

“The kid has such amazingly great skills and an infectious attitude. As a coach, I set out to be a motivator, a big brother, a friend, an adviser, a go-getter, a fixer. I do what has to be done. What I’m really good at doing is getting him ready for matches. I work out the Xs and the Os, we formulate tactics and game plans. I provide him with the necessary information on his opponent. Sure, I make suggestions about his game, but I really make sure that his head is right. He never walks on court feeling anything but perfectly prepared.”

As a player, Gilbert once attained the world No 4 ranking and amassed almost $4m in prize-money, but he never got beyond the quarter-final of a Grand Slam tournament in 32 attempts. He views his current job as far more satisfying and insisted: “I like coaching more than anything I’ve done. And I’m in it for the long haul. I’m not one of these coaches who hangs around for just a few months. With Andre it was eight years, and I intend to be with Andy for just as long.”

Gilbert, who insists on always wearing predominantly black because of his devotion to the Oakland Raiders American football team, bases his coaching ethic on a wide spectrum of influences. However, the most influential was Tom Chivington, who first instructed him a quarter of a century ago in the art of triumphing against the odds on court at the small Californian college called Foothills. Chivington recalled that his charge had many flaws in his game but also a resolute determination and an acute awareness of things around him.

Consequently, Gilbert is prepared to go beyond the call of duty to reward his players. Agassi made bizarre demands of his coach when it came to victory celebrations. After winning the 1994 US Open under Gilbert’s tutelage, the smooth-skinned champion insisted his hirsute coach should have all his body hair waxed. Roddick was even more exacting, striking a bet that involved the pair hurling themselves out of an aircraft at 13,500ft if he were to win a Masters Series title. “It was miserable, but since Andy follows everything I suggest, the least I could do was give in to this,” Gilbert said. “After the chute opened, the last six minutes were the worst of my life. Once we got down, I was sweating profusely and got heavy motion sickness. I lay down for 20 minutes and then was in a car for about 500m before having to pull over. I just lost it, and Andy said it was the first time he had seen me not saying a thing.

“Still, that’s what you have to do. Coach ‘Chiv’ always taught me there was no future in hammering a guy when he’d done something wrong, because it’s all in the past. As Andre used to say, there is no use in getting stressed about the things that have happened because you can’t change them.

“By the same token, sometimes in life you have to do some things you don’t want to do, to make a player think that they are doing what they are doing only to make you do what you don’t want to do.”

Such verbose theories are doubtless formulated from the grounds of that sixth cup of strong morning coffee, but that is Brad Gilbert’s way. Not everybody finds him tolerable, but who can argue with the results?