Guest: Carl Maes, elite performance coach and former mentor to 4-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters.
“Carl is at the top of the list when I play tennis now. I still at times hear some of his comments and things that I have to focus on.”
1 episode appearancesAcross 1 podcast
Guest: Carl Maes
Appeared on:Served with Andy Roddick
1 episodes · 5 quicklets · Page 1/1
Quotes & Clips from Guest: Carl Maes
5 on this pageThe Clay Speed Paradox: Counter-intuitively, players must be faster on clay than on hard courts because loading rotational power and generating pace takes significantly more time.
“I say you need to be faster on the clay court because your loading of the shots takes a lot longer. You can't use the pace of the ball; you need to produce that pace.”
Rethinking the Nadal Blueprint: Elite clay success is defined by dominating the '0-4 shot' rally window through error-minimization, rather than just surviving long-distance grinds.
“Nadal was the king of that... he just wins the majority of the points in 0 to 4 because he doesn't make any mistakes. You have to be more patient.”
The Coaching 'Wild West': Elite tennis partnerships lack corporate hierarchy, leading to a ruthless 'carousel' where top coaches often depart without direct communication.
“Tennis is kind of the wild west in that way because every single arrangement is different. There isn't the normal corporate hierarchy to work within.”
Technical Ground Force Shifts: Moving from hard courts to European red clay requires a fundamental mechanical change in how players use ground force reaction and balance.
“Being able to position yourself in a good way and still use that ground force reaction is completely different on a hard court and a clay court.”
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