Dejan Kalinic
DEER Park Tennis Club has announced former Australian junior number one Chris Singh is joining the club as a coach.
The 25-year-old’s promising junior career was cut down by a serious shoulder injury before he moved into coaching.
The hitting partner of Russian star Maria Sharapova during the 2005 Australian Open, Singh hopes to help build the Hot Shots Tennis Academy and give players the right guidance.
“I’ve been around the guys that have pretty much made it,” he said.
“I know what it takes to make it, how much hard work it takes and discipline, as well as the mental attitude you need.”
Singh was the number-one ranked junior player for his age group in Australia for four years, representing Australia, Victoria and training with the Davis Cup team.
He praised the facilities at Deer Park and is confident players will benefit from playing on different surfaces.
“They just need the right guidance, the right training and I think Deer Park is a good club because they’ve got three different surfaces to train on,” Singh said.
Singh, who has been coaching for eight years, said he wanted his players to be disciplined, self-motivated and believe in themselves.
“It’s not all about on-court stuff and hitting. The fitness plays a big part, the warm-up and the cool-down are a big part, rather than just rocking up for your lesson, playing and going home,” he said.
“Something I’ve learnt over the years is you can be friends but once you hit the court, they (players) have got to know who the coach is so they don’t cross that line.”
Singh practiced with 2006 Australian Open men’s singles runner-up Marcos Baghdatis as a junior and has visited academies in Spain, a tennis powerhouse.
