Tennis mourns the loss of former Becker and Ivanisevic coach Brett
Bob Brett, one of tennis' most respected coaches and a former director of player development at the Lawn Tennis Association, has died of cancer.
The Australian, who was 67, shaped the careers of Goran Ivanisevic and Marin Cilic and guided Boris Becker to three grand slam titles and the world No 1 ranking.
Brett had a short-lived playing career but found his callin gas a coach and learned the trade under one of coaching's greatest names, Harry Hopman.
He initially worked with a group of players including 1981 Australian Open champion Jo hanKriek, Mats Wilander, Guy Forget, John Lloyd, Peter Mcnamara and Paul Mcnamee and his growing reputation attracted the attention of B ecker.
After parting ways with the German in 1991 he worked with Iv anise vic for four years, during which the Croatian reached two grand slam finals, and also enjoyed success with Andrei M edvedev,NicolasKie fer and Mario Ancic.
Brett set up his own acad - em yin San Re mo, Italy, in 2002, and two years later Ivanisevic brought a 15-yearold Cilic from his home town of Split to the Australian' s base. Brett worked with Cilic for the next nine years alongside spells helping theJapa ne se federation and Tennis Canada. He was brought to the LTA in 2014 follow
ing chief executive Michael Downey's move from Canada to Britain but was not a natural fit behind a desk and left the following year with the country' s high-performance programme in disarray.
On the court, though, Brett' s legacy cannot be disputed and he was awarded the Tim Gulliks on Career Coach Award in the 2020 ATP Awards.
The LTA was among those paying tribute, saying in a
statement :" The LTA was saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Brett, one of the sport' s most respected coaches.
"Bob supported the LTA int hero leofp layer dev elopment director from 20142015 and during a career that spanned almost five decades he achieved so many successes, including guiding some of the game's greatest players to reach their highest potential.
"Our thoughts go out to his
family and friends at this difficult time."
Judy Murray wrote on Twitter :" Bob Brett gave me so much of his time+ advice over so many years + I will always be very gr ateful for his words of wisdom + encouragement."
Mar tina Navratil ova also paid her respects, writing: "Bob Brett fought long and hard-he was a goodmanRIP Bob-please keep coaching up there ."
A moving tribute came from Serena Williams' coach Patrick M our a tog lou, who eventually took over Brett' s academy outside Paris.
He said: "I was just star ting out as a coach and he was my star - one of the b est coaches in the world. ? He trusted me, believed in me, took me under his wings and taught me the job. He was my mentor and I can' t thank him enough .? Rest In peace, my dear friend Bob Brett ."