‘Overbearing parents are a major issue’

WAYNE Ferreira, once the poster-boy of South African tennis, has warned that overbearing parents could be detrimental to the development of children who have designs on a professional career.

Ferreira enjoys the rare distinction of World Top 10 berths in both singles and doubles. As a junior, he also accomplished that feat although he fared marginally better because at one time he was the world’s No 1 doubles player.

Since his retirement in 2005, the US-based Ferreira has maintained a connection with tennis on several fronts. He has served in various capacities at US academies. He has also assisted touring pros like Croatian Marin Čilić (a former world No 3) and American Frances Tiafoe.

Nothing has brought him closer to grassroots tennis than travelling with his son Marcus to tournaments in the US and abroad. It has opened a facet of tennis development which may well have been lost on Ferreira.

“You see so many overbearing parents out there at tournaments,” said Wayne who was interviewed by Marcos Ondruska, the SA Davis Cup captain.

“Many parents ask advice, and this has caused me to think about my early life.

“My experience was very different. My parents enjoyed watching me play and were supportive.

“There wouldn’t be a problem if I wanted to quit tennis. I didn’t experience that pressure. My parents knew that I loved tennis.”

Ferreira said mental strength was a crucial area of a player’s development and should not be neglected.

“I had on occasions felt that I lost to players who I should have beaten and this something I became aware of much later in my career,” said Ferreira.

“Often I would take the first set easily and then I became bored. I would lose interest and then sometimes didn’t recover sufficiently to win the match.

“During the time that I’ve been at tournaments to watch my son (Marcus) I can see that the mental side of things is the biggest problem.

“In my senior career, I often came from behind to win because of my belief and the will to win.”

There is also the matter of exposing young players to a core group of talented players to stimulate the desire to improve. During Ferreira’s later years as a junior, there were several South Africans like David Nainkin, Pietie Norval, and Jason Sher who were slightly older but were among the world’s best in their agegroups.

According to Ferreira, he was in a group of 11 of then-current South Africans who were ranked in the top 100 of world doubles.

“There is something to be said about being part of a core group which includes excellent players,” said Ferreira.

“I saw players like Nainkin, Sher and Norval and I thought they were pretty amazing. These players kept pushing each other and at one stage I was part of this group. It helped to make one work really hard, and that made it easier to be successful later on.

Ondruska expressed the same sentiments. “I was in a group of players in an age-group just below Wayne,” said Ondruska. “We were amazed at Wayne’s success. We used to say that if Wayne could achieve that we could reach those heights as well.”

Since Ferreira retired, South Africa has not produced a player in the top 10 world rankings in both singles and doubles.