Saviano Tennis is one the best tennis academies in the U.S.
I am often asked by the readers of the blog “What is the best tennis academy in America?” or “Which tennis academy do you recommend for our kid?” Last year, I tried to answer these questions and wrote an article “The Best Tennis Academies in the U.S.”
Recently, I have reviewed all information I used during the research about the tennis academies. I think that today one of the best tennis academies in America is Nick Saviano tennis academy. I have analyzed top 100 in men’s and women’s tennis and figured out that Saviano tennis academy has more active top players, who were trained in the academy at least for several years, than any other American tennis academy. Look at top 60 women tennis players and you will find four players: Stephens, Bouchard, Robson and Puig. Look at top 20 and you will see rising stars #16 Sloane Stephens and #19 Genie Bouchard; both of them are youngest among all today’s elite tennis women players.
I also recommend you to read the following article “Rising stars Sloane Stephens and Genie Bouchard honed their strokes on Broward courts” was written by Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel.
Over the past few years local hackers at Plantation’s sprawling 28-court Veltri Tennis Center would wonder who were those teenage girls exchanging warp-speed groundstrokes while a bow-legged, 50-something, gentleman wearing sunglasses and an Australian gaucho hat offered words of advice.
What they couldn’t have imagined is that those now 20-year-old young women have become arguably the WTA Tour’s top two rising stars, 18th-ranked Sloane Stephens and 19th-ranked Eugenie Bouchard, legitimate contenders for the upcoming Sony Open title.
And the now 57-year-old, intense coach was Nick Saviano, a former Top 50 player who has helped shape some of the sports legends, such as Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Jennifer Capriati during his 29-year career as a molder of tennis champions.
“You’re always excited when you see them perform well, especially when you know them since they’re little girls,” said Saviano just before a practice session with Bouchard Saturday morning on one of two hard courts at Veltri.
“There’s a sense of pride. I’m also elated for the families because I know the sacrifices involved. I don’t like to say I developed them because of the parents and other [coaches], but rather be a positive contributor to their tennis and their lives.”
Bouchard, a native of Montreal who’s living with friends in Weston during the Sony Open, trained full-time with Saviano from 12 to 15 when his High Performance Tennis Academy was in Sunrise before relocating to Plantation in 2011.
“It was a good move for my career because tennis isn’t as big in Montreal as in Florida because I had to play indoors all the time and the variety of players wasn’t great,” said Bouchard, who skyrocketed from 144th to 32nd in 2013 to be the highest-ranked teenager.
This year she hired Saviano to travel with her to the four Grand Slams and a few other Premier Mandatory events such as Indian Wells and Key Biscayne.
“Nick helps me with all parts of my game, my technique, strategy and mental aspects,” said Bouchard, whose coming-out-party took off after a semifinal run at the Australian Open in January. “He’s very wise and gives me great tennis and life lessons about being in the moment, enjoy the moment, play with passion and that could be applied to life.”
Saviano met Bouchard while coaching Stephens, a Plantation native, at the Eddie Herr junior tennis championships in Bradenton nine years ago when she was playing against a young British girl named Laura Robson.
The Robsons introduced Saviano to Bouchard and soon all three were training together. Robson, 20, who cracked the top 50 last year after a fourth-round finish at Wimbledon, still works with Saviano during down times in her schedule.
Before Stephens, in November, hired renowned coach Paul Annacone, who guided Sampras and Roger Federer to several Grand Slam titles, she regularly checked in with Saviano for tune-ups.
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I like the fact these players are a real product of Saviano’s academy. Many academies, including the most well known, work with players who arrived to those academies already developed and take full credit for the work of others. I do not denied they could also have positive influence on those kids, but they never recognized the job from the previous coaches that may have easier their job.
I don’t belief in the study that which academy created players reaching top 40 or top 20 is the best tennis academy. I would rather see a study where how many players can maintain at those ranking or continue to move up. For my personal consideration of which would be the best academy is how many #1 players have they created.
The best academies are those where desire or passion thrives, dedication is of high standard, discipline is a normal attitude and determination is installed within every member of the academy!
The direction the academy sets for itself and lines out for its members/players and its compatibility is of extremely importance for the succesrate!
How much does it cost per year to train at Saviano compared to other academies?
In my opinion, the success of a U.S. based tennis academy should be primarily measured by the number of kids that go on and play college tennis. Anyone that plays beyond that requires a freak component, proper funding, and a 4 leaf clover.
Any kid can play college tennis, even the most mediocre. I have seen kids who never won a tennis match as juniors playing college. And I do not mean NCAA III, I mean NCAA I. It is not easy to measure success. At least in the sense we are talking about. But perhaps a successful tennis academy is the one that makes healthy confident kids/adults regardless if they became number one or not. Regardless if they went to college or not. What kind of healthy adults those academies developed should be measurement.
“Any kid” can play D1 college tennis? Kids that have “never won a match” in junior tennis? I know several college coaches that disagree with your position.
As for the healthy adults comment, that is the responsibility of the parents. At least that’s how it is in my house.
It was matter of speak. But believe me. I have seen juniors losing over and over in the first round (most 6-0,6-0) and now playing Division I. They hit the ball beautiful in practice, they impress college tennis coaches (that sometimes are desperate to fill up the team), make the team and never win a match again. They last one or two years in the team and then they lose the scholarship. The first year they get the benefit of the doubt because it is the first time away from home, new experiences, and so on. The second year the coaches learn those kids would never win because those kid’s head is their worst opponent. Very impressive ground stroke and very weak mind. It happens more often than none. Those kids are usually the product of a not so productive environment (parents, coaches, etc.) who for years have planted nothing but doubts and low self-confident in those kids. But believe, they are in Division I College and only in tennis.
When a tennis academy promotes itself using motto like ‘Train like champions’ or ‘Play with the champion’ and place on the home page pictures of top 50 players it means that it gives ‘a hide promise’ to a kid to make him/her a high-level player. I think the promise is much higher that just to develop an average college player. Many talented kids dream to go to the tour, and an academy, in most cases, supports and exploits these dreams. I not often meet a coach who honestly tells to parents that their kid has no chances to become a pro, because the coach knows that he/she can lose a client after he/she expresses his honest opinion.
A honest coach tells the parents, from the beginning of the relationship, that if their kids get a good level to get their kids into college, this is a realistic goal and this should be the main focus. If, after that, their kids can become pros, IT IS A BONUS. That is a coach who does not exploit anybody or any dream. Unfortunately, it is usually the opposite and the results are obvious.
I’m sure it happens but I think it’s the exception and not the rule. If you truly believe exploitation is the norm, what does that say about the integrity of the coaching profession? Or are only the academies guilty of making empty promises?
Unfortunately it happens with independent coaches as well, not just academies. It is sad to say that where ever there is a way to make money, transparent honest people, as well as not so honest ones, would try to make business. It happens everywhere not just in tennis. We can only hope we do not run into the bad ones.
To Tennisconsult: I guess this is your lucky day. You just met a coach that would tell parents that their kid will not play pros or college. I have told many parents their kids will not make it to the pros or to play college tennis. I also have told parents that their kids have possibility of playing a certain level of college tennis. Usually when I evaluate a junior player I would have to consider their age, athleticism, and desire before giving my opinion to the parents. But I have no problems telling the parents their kids will not make it. My reasoning is when you come to me for training you are developing a skill that will benefit you in the future. I’m not a baby sitter; if you have no desire to learn, lacking any athletical skills, and your age factor is an issue; I would go ahead and let the parents know they are wasting their money.
This is just my opinion. If you send your kid to a tennis academy, you are not expecting your kid to become a mediocre tennis player. If you just want your kids to be healthy and confident there are classes you can take to help you do that. It would also be more reasonable just to put your kids in an exercise program. If I pay $50,000 a year for a kid to attend an academy for tennis, I would expect my kid to be playing outstanding tennis. Also average college cost is between #30,000 and $60,000 per year depending on where you go. If I’m paying $50,000/yr for a tennis academy and not getting any return from it; I should just save that money and use it for his college education. $50,000/yr will get the kid into a great college.