ATP Coach of the Year Michael Russell on his coaching craft

Q: Now that you’ve had some time for it to sink in, how does it feel and what does it mean to you to be named the ATP's Coach of the Year?

Michael Russell: It's just extremely gratifying and rewarding. The outreach and support from my friends, family, other coaches and fans has been really humbling. I've had 500, 600 messages, which is really satisfying. It shows how many people care and are paying attention to all the work that you do, sometimes behind the scenes.

Q: Taylor's improvement is easy to measure by all the success on the court and the career-high ranking of year-end world No. 4—an amazing achievement for both of you. For you personally, how have you improved in your craft as a coach in recent years?

Michael Russell: You're constantly trying to learn, whether that's just from gathering data, analyzing all the information that we have access to with the analytics, or watching hours of video. A lot of it is specific to working on Taylor's game because that's obviously the player whose talent I'm trying to maximize.

Also, just the experiences of working with so many unique players and personalities over the years—that allows you to grow as a coach and as a person and work on your communication skills, your ability to be empathetic. There are just so many factors that go into not only being a good coach, but continually trying to learn and grow as a human being.

So it's just been a constant, steady progression of learning and transferring my own professional playing skills, and meshing that with higher coaching levels. I think it's been a good symmetry and it's been a good synergy working with Taylor as well.

Q: In an interview earlier this year, you said you have to be sort of a "benevolent dictator" as a coach, which I thought was an awesome line. How do you strike that balance between being empathetic but also being firm to create structure and accountability?

Michael Russell: It's understanding the player. Everyone's unique—their physicality, their ability to withstand stresses and adversity. And I think that's the biggest factor: knowing when to push a little more, when to hold back a little bit, when to allow certain graces.

Obviously we're always concerned with mental health, and the professional tennis season is so long and grueling. It's important that the players are motivated and excited to step on court and to step in the gym. Of course that doesn't always happen, but that's where the empathy comes into play—knowing, OK, this is going to be a little bit of a challenge of a day, there's a little more fatigue, a little more burnout... and understanding other things that are happening in the player's lives.

Being able to factor in all those elements to try to maximize each day to continue to progress, I think that's the ultimate challenge as a coach. You need to continue to progress and move forward and work on things while still having the player stay healthy and buy into the process. That's where transparency has to come into play, and that's why the synergy exists, because the player has you as the coach to remind them of those accountability features and the idea that that's why we're working so hard; the sacrifices that we make is to find those next levels.

Q: I know Taylor really enjoys analyzing the strategic part of the game. How nice is it for you as a coach to have a player who’s eager and open to those dialogues and really getting into the details in terms of film and different tactics?

Michael Russell: It's great. He's very transparent. He's got a good tennis IQ and is very communicative, which usually is a good thing. Even post-match, win or lose, we like to discuss what transpired—what were the advantages, what were some of the things that we need to continue to work on? Then we plan for the next day or days ahead right after.

Every player is different; some take a little more time depending on what happens in the outcome of the match. But with Taylor, the fact that he does like to discuss everything is refreshing because nothing is held back and there's no hidden agendas. Everything is transparent, the communication's there, and that makes it a lot easier.

Q: Taylor's net game is one area where you made some really big improvements this season. Do you have any go-to routines or drills you like to work on in terms of his net play?

Michael Russell: It's just a constant microdosing of trying to get as much transition work in as we can during the season. So whether that's five minutes in a warm-up for a match or 15 minutes in a practice session, it's just creating that muscle memory. The more he can do it and get comfortable, the better and more confident he will be in the matches.

This year he did a good job of trying to come to net a little more and his percentages were higher, and you could see that his success rates in some big moments really paid off.

Q: More generally, are there any drills you do with Taylor or other high-level players that could be adapted for recreational players?

Michael Russell: I think the main goal is just the intensity. A lot of the drills, I don't think they differ that much from level to level. The main thing is just having the intensity and making sure the accountability is there, making sure there's a purpose to each drill, that you're not just hitting balls.

There's that specific goal—whether it's transitioning, movement, or recognizing a short ball to attack. It's more important to spend the time and have a quality drill than it is just to hit a lot of balls. You want to create that quality muscle memory and ability to continue to improve.

Q: Finally, I was going to ask if you have any advice for young coaches or any coaches looking to improve. That seems like a big one right there, quality over quantity on the practice court.

Michael Russell: Definitely quality over quantity. Also, just continue to learn: read, watch video, and then just learn about each player. Spend the time and be patient. It's not always about what you want to do—it’s that constant communication, so there’s a benefit from both ends.