__________ ***Pierre Lamarche has been an outspoken proponent of Canadian tennis and how the sport should have a major place in the Canadian sport landscape. He believes this

Who doesn’t want to coach a player to be smart? One of the first questions I ask when watching a match (especially with junior players) is, “Are these players actually playing tennis, or are they just hitting balls?” The game is rampant with ‘hitters’. Player who just slug the ball (usually trying to overpower their opponent). Don’t get me wrong, one can be quite successful in tennis just being a ‘hitter’. However, developing a hitter (as opposed to a player) may doom them to a limited world competitively. The problem with being a hitter is there is always a bigger hitter out there (just ask all of Serena Williams opponents). When you meet them, you have nothing to overcome the challenge. Interestingly enough, a player who had good success against Serena (even when Serena was in her prime) was Justine Henin. Justine was definitely a ‘player’. She was able to use the court, vary ball direction, trajectory and speed, to hit shots that nullified Serena’s big game.