Bob Brett facts for kids

Bob Brett (born 13 November 1953 in Melbourne, Australia – died 5 January 2021) was a very famous Australian tennis coach. He helped many top tennis players become champions. Bob Brett started his journey in tennis as a ball boy for famous players like Arthur Ashe and the well-known Australian coach Harry Hopman in the 1960s. Besides coaching individual players, he also started a tennis academy in San Remo, Italy, and worked with the Japanese tennis federation.

Becoming a Tennis Coach

Bob Brett was born in Melbourne on 13 November 1953. He loved tennis from a young age. In 1965, he went to big tennis tournaments like the Victorian Championships and the Australian Championships. There, he met George MacCall, who was the captain of the United States Davis Cup team.

MacCall gave Bob a job as a ball boy for the team's practice sessions. This allowed him to work with top players like Arthur Ashe. Around this time, he also met the legendary Australian coach Harry Hopman. The next year, Hopman made him a ball boy for the Australia Davis Cup team.

Bob Brett couldn't become a professional tennis player himself. So, in 1971, he became a postman. But he still loved tennis coaching. In 1974, he wrote to Harry Hopman, asking to work with him. Hopman agreed and invited Bob to join him at the Port Washington Tennis Academy. Bob helped Hopman with tasks and learned a lot from him and other coaches. He also watched famous players like John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis during their training. This helped him learn even more about the game.

Coaching Top Players

In 1978, Harry Hopman suggested Bob Brett for a coaching job. Bob became the coach for three players in the Peugeot-Rossignol tennis team. During his six months with them, he helped Andrés Gómez improve his world ranking a lot. Hopman was impressed and let Bob create his own coaching team.

Bob kept Gómez on his team and added other great players like Johan Kriek and José Luis Clerc. Later, he also coached Mats Wilander and Tim Mayotte. Bob learned a lot from Hopman's coaching style. He said that Hopman's methods really influenced him.

Coaching Boris Becker

In November 1987, Bob Brett joined the team of German tennis star Boris Becker. Becker was a two-time Wimbledon champion but had a tough year due to injuries. Bob first worked as his fitness coach and practice partner. Becker took a break from playing to get back in shape.

Becker called Bob his "first real trainer." He said Bob's hard work was like Harry Hopman's. Under Bob's coaching, Becker got back to his best form in 1988. He reached the final at Wimbledon and won the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. Becker thanked Bob, saying he found "the right words" for him.

Becker won three Grand Slam titles while working with Bob Brett. He even became the world number one in January 1991 after winning the 1991 Australian Open. Bob and Becker decided to stop working together in February 1991 when Bob's contract ended.

Working with Goran Ivanišević

Later in 1991, Bob Brett started coaching Croatian player Goran Ivanišević. Goran was 19 years old and known for being a bit inconsistent. He sometimes had emotional outbursts on the court.

Under Bob's guidance, Goran became mentally stronger. He learned to control his emotions better. Bob and Goran worked together until 1995. During this time, Goran won nine titles. He also reached the Wimbledon finals twice, in 1992 and 1994. Bob and Goran remained friends. Bob was even there to watch when Goran finally won the Wimbledon title in 2001.

Helping Many Other Players

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bob Brett coached many other players. He worked with Andrei Medvedev, who reached the 1999 French Open final. He also helped Nicolas Kiefer reach the world number 4 ranking and coached Mario Ančić.

In 2002, Bob started his own tennis school in San Remo, Italy. It was called the Bob Brett Tennis Centre. From 2000 to 2006, Bob also coached Japanese men's tennis players. He helped develop many of Japan's top players, including Kei Nishikori. He also helped the Japanese Davis Cup team. From 2004 to 2008, he worked with Tennis Canada as a performance consultant.

Coaching Marin Čilić

In 2004, Bob met his next long-term student, Marin Čilić from Croatia. Marin was 15 years old when Goran Ivanišević brought him to Bob's academy in San Remo. Bob coached Marin for the next nine years.

Marin Čilić won the 2005 junior title at the French Open while working with Bob. He also rose to world number 9. They stopped working together in 2013. But when Čilić went on to win the US Open the next year, he said Bob Brett was a "big part of this success."

Later Years and Awards

After coaching Marin Čilić, Bob Brett worked for the UK Lawn Tennis Association in 2014. He was the Director of Player Development. He left the next year, but he made a strong impact on some British coaches.

In 2020, Bob co-founded a non-profit group in Australia called the Kent Yamazaki & Bob Brett Tennis Foundation. Later that year, he received the ATP Tim Gullikson Career Coach Award. This award recognized his "excellence, leadership, respect, and a true love for the sport of tennis and the art of coaching."

Bob Brett passed away from cancer on 5 January 2021, at the age of 67. He had two daughters. His brother, Arthur Brett, is a two-time World sailing champion.