:Nick Bollettieri

Born in Pelham, New York, to immigrant Italian parents, Nick Bollettieri attended Pelham Memorial High School. He was a charter member of the Beta Lambda chapter of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity and he graduated in 1949. In 1953, he graduated from Spring Hill College (Mobile, Alabama) with a degree in philosophy. After serving with the United States Army and attaining the rank of First Lieutenant in 1956, he turned to teaching tennis after dropping out of the University of Miami Law School. Bollettieri's first students included Brian Gottfried. His first formal tennis camp was at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.{{Cite book|last=Kotinek|first=Gordon|title=Tennis: The Game|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|year=2013|isbn=978-1489512161|pages=15}}

Though he had only dabbled in the sport in high school, Bollettieri was the tennis director at Dorado Beach Hotel in Puerto Rico in the late 1960s when it was a Rockefeller resort.

Moving to Longboat Key, Florida, in 1978, Bollettieri served as an instructor for the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. In the early 1980s, Bollettieri opened the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy (NBTA) in Bradenton, Florida, on {{convert|40|acres|ha}} in unincorporated Manatee County on the west coast of Florida, about fifty miles south of Tampa.{{Cite web|last=Goldstein |first=Richard |date=December 5, 2022 |title=Nick Bollettieri, Groomer of Tennis Champions, Dies at 91 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/sports/tennis/nick-bollettieri-dead.html |access-date=December 5, 2022|website=New York Times|language=en-US}}

Seeing a template for other sports, International Management Group (IMG) bought the academy from Bollettieri in 1987, but Bollettieri continued to manage and play a pivotal role in the development of the tennis academy and ancillary programs.{{cite web|title=IMG Academy Bollettieri Tennis Program|url=https://www.imgacademy.com/boarding-school/athletics/tennis|access-date=November 8, 2019}} In his final years Bollettieri coached top-tier players at the academy, and spent most of his time in Bradenton.

Bollettieri continued to teach and hold public speaking engagements worldwide, including a visit to teach students at Tri-State Athletic Club in Evansville, Indiana. He was also the instruction editor of Tennis magazine. Over the course of his life, Bollettieri wrote two memoirs: My Aces, My Faults with Dick Schaap in 1996, and Bollettieri: Changing the Game in 2014.

Bollettieri also wrote a 2001 instructional book, Bollettieri's Tennis Handbook, which covers everything from stroke techniques and strategies to skill development and physical and mental conditioning.{{cite book|last=Bollettieri|first=Nick|title=Bollettieri's Tennis Handbook|year=2001|publisher=Human Kinetics|isbn=978-0-7360-4036-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bollettieristenn00boll/page/456 456]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/bollettieristenn00boll/page/456}} Additionally, he was featured in the Nick Bollettieri DVD Collection, a set of ten instructional DVDs that cover a wide range of practice methods.{{cite book|last=Bollettieri|first=Nick|title=Nick Bollettieri DVD Collection|year=2005|isbn=978-0-7360-7000-3|pages=519 minutes}}

Bolletieri personally trained the majority of the controversially loud grunters in tennis, leading to repeated accusations that he has been deliberately teaching grunting as a novel tactic in order to give his later generations of students an edge in competitive play.{{cite web|author=Mark Hodgkinson |url=http://www.thetennisspace.com/on-court/special-report-nick-bollettieris-grunting-document/ |title=Special report: Nick Bollettieri's grunting document |publisher=The Tennis Space |date=2012-01-04 |accessdate=2013-09-13}}

Bollettieri has denied teaching grunting as a distraction tactic, and says grunting is natural, "I prefer to use the word 'exhaling'. I think that if you look at other sports, weightlifting or doing squats or a golfer when he executes the shot or a hockey player, the exhaling is a release of energy in a constructive way".{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8110998.stm |title= What a racket |publisher=BBC News|author=Tom Geoghegan|date=2009-06-22|accessdate=2009-07-06 }} In 2011, after Danish player Caroline Wozniacki (then world no. 1) publicly accused Bollettieri's students of cheating by grunting, Women's Tennis Association Chairman Stacy Allaster stated that the WTA would be "talking to the Bollettieri academy" about the predominance of loud grunters from that institution and how it could be eliminated from the next generation of players. One year later, a division of Bollettieri's academy released a document calling grunting "unsportsmanlike" and acknowledging that it obscures the sound of string impact (as noted by Navratilova), resulting in "an increase in an opponent's decision error, and a slower response time".

The earliest Bollettieri pupils to reach No. 1 were Monica Seles, Jim Courier, and Andre Agassi.{{ cite web|url=http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2018/12/podcast-nick-bollettieri-maria-sharapova-andre-agassi-img-academy/78416/|title=TENNIS.COM PODCAST: AN IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH NICK BOLLETTIERI|date=December 20, 2018|website=tennis.com|access-date=December 20, 2018}} Later, Marcelo Ríos climbed to the top while associated with Bollettieri.{{Cite web|title=Nick Bollettieri: ´Marcelo Rios was the greatest talent I Ever had´|url=https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Tennis_Interviews/22885/nick-bollettieri-marcelo-rios-was-the-greatest-talent-i-ever-had-/|access-date=November 24, 2020|website=Tennis World USA|language=en}} The Williams sisters had a long-standing relationship with Bollettieri, having visited the academy for years, and they have often prepared for Grand Slams there.{{Cite web|last=Harwitt|first=Sandra|title=Serena, Venus, Maria share this part of their journey to tennis greatness|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2018/06/29/serena-williams-venus-maria-sharapova-nick-bollettieri/745135002/|access-date=November 24, 2020|website=USA TODAY|language=en-US}} Mary Pierce and Anna Kournikova also trained at the academy.{{Cite web|author=Sheena McKenzie, for|title=Anna Kournikova: How 'marketing monster' seduced world|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/09/sport/anna-kournikova-tennis-sport-marketing-sponsorship/index.html|access-date=November 24, 2020|website=CNN|date=November 9, 2015 }} More recent students who trained with Bollettieri include Maria Sharapova (who moved from Russia at the age of nine) and Jelena Janković (from Belgrade, Serbia, aged 12); both became no. 1.{{cite web|url=http://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/columns/story?columnist=garber_greg&id=3572727|title=Garber: Bollettieri one of the most prolific and effective coaches in history|date=September 6, 2008|website=ESPN.com|access-date=December 13, 2017}} Max Mirnyi, who trained with Bollettieri{{cite web | url=https://www.atptour.com/en/news/mirnyi-retirement-tribute-2018 | title=The Legacy Of Max 'The Beast' Mirnyi | publisher=Atptour | work=Andrew Eichenholz | date=December 18, 2018 | accessdate=December 6, 2022}} for 17 years, was ranked world number 1 in men's doubles. Bollettieri's most famous coaching roles while travelling as a tour coach were with Andre Agassi from 1986 until Bollettieri ended the arrangement following the 1993 Wimbledon tournament,{{cite web | url=https://www.planetsport.com/tennis/news/andre-agassi-leads-tributes-tennis-world-pays-respects-coaching-great-nick-bollettieri | title=Andre Agassi leads tributes as tennis world pays its respects to coaching great Nick Bollettieri | publisher=PlanetSport | date=December 6, 2022 | accessdate=December 6, 2022}} and with Boris Becker from December 1993 to August 1995.{{cite web | url=https://switzerlandtimes.ch/sport/becker-mourns-the-third-ex-coach-in-two-years/ | title=Becker mourns the third ex-coach in two years | publisher=Switzerland Times | date=December 6, 2022 | accessdate=December 6, 2022}} Before becoming a wildlife-related personality, Frank Cuesta had also attended Bollettieri's academy, and became a tennis coach himself in Thailand to open one of Bollettieri's academies there.{{cite news |last1=Pascual |first1=Alfredo |last2=Villarreal |first2=Antonio |title=La verdadera historia de Frank de la Jungla donde lo menos salvaje son las serpientes |url=https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/ciencia/2019-02-24/frank-jungla-verdadera-historia_1836966/ |access-date=December 27, 2021 |work=El Confidencial |date=February 24, 2019 |language=es}}{{cite news |last1=Gallo |first1=Isabel |title=Dialogando con la jungla |url=https://elpais.com/diario/2010/10/02/radiotv/1285970403_850215.html |access-date=January 5, 2023 |work=El País |date=October 2, 2010 |language=es}}{{cite news |title=La salvaje vida de Frank de la jungla |url=https://www.cuatro.com/frank-de-la-jungla/salvaje-vida-frank-jungla_18_1273125012.html |access-date=January 5, 2023 |work=Cuatro |date=August 23, 2011 |language=es}}

Bollettieri was married eight times, and had seven children.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/sports/tennis/nick-bollettieri-dead.html | title=Nick Bollettieri, Nurturer of Tennis Champions, Dies at 91 | work=The New York Times | date=December 5, 2022 | last1=Goldstein | first1=Richard }} He was survived by his eighth wife, Cindi Eaton, whom he had married on April 22, 2004. The same year, they founded Camp Kaizen, a nonprofit fitness camp.{{cite news|last1=Robson|first1=Douglas|title=Nick Bollettieri still going, still controversial, at 80|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/story/2012-08-29/nick-bollettieri-still-going-at-80-still-not-going-to-hall-of-fame/56189202/1|access-date=January 15, 2015|work=USA Today|date=July 15, 2012|ref=wives}}

Bollettieri died at home in Bradenton, Florida, on December 4, 2022, at age 91.{{cite news |last1=Ciotti |first1=Lorenzo |title=Nick Bollettieri has passed away: the farewell of a tennis legend |url=https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Tennis_Stories/125086/nick-bollettieri-has-passed-away-the-farewell-of-a-tennis-legend/ |access-date=December 5, 2022 |publisher=Tennis World |date=December 5, 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Morse |first=Ben |date=December 5, 2022 |title=Nick Bollettieri, famed tennis coach, dies aged 91 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/05/tennis/nick-bollettieri-death-tennis-coach-spt-intl/index.html |access-date=December 7, 2022 |website=CNN |language=en}}

On May 18, 2008, Bollettieri was honored at the New York College of Health Professions with an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters for his contribution to the world of sports, fitness, and wellness.{{Cite web|first=Anuradha |last=Abeysekara |url=https://www.dailynews.lk/2017/01/24/sports/105587/legendary-coach-bollettieri-uplift-lankan-tennis |title=Legendary coach Bollettieri to uplift Lankan tennis |website=Dailynews.lk |date=January 24, 2017 |access-date=December 5, 2022}}

In 2014, he was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url=http://www.itftennis.com/news/172808.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143652/http://www.itftennis.com/news/172808.aspx |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |title=ITF Tennis – ABOUT – Articles – Davenport elected to International Tennis Hall of Fame}} The following year, Bollettieri became the first white man to be inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-2015-nick-bollettieri-its-time-for-big-john-isner-to-produce-the-goods-to-go-with-his-10362387.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220619/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-2015-nick-bollettieri-its-time-for-big-john-isner-to-produce-the-goods-to-go-with-his-10362387.html |archive-date=June 19, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Wimbledon 2015: Nick Bollettieri – It's time for big John Isner to|date=July 2, 2015|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=January 8, 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.nickbollettieri.com/ Official website]
• [https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/nick-bollettieri Nick Bollettiere] at International Tennis Hall of Fame
• [https://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/biofile-with-nick-bollettieri/ Nick Bollettieri bio interview]

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Category:1931 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees

Category:United States Army officers

Category:Military personnel from New York (state)

Category:Sportspeople from Pelham, New York

Category:Spring Hill College alumni

Category:University of Miami School of Law alumni

Category:People from Longboat Key, Florida

Category:Tennis coaches from New York (state)

Category:Tennis coaches from Florida