Coach Jan Studenic has one important ambition

Jan Studenic is coaching Tereza Mihalikova since she was 9, very rare in tennis these days. Starting at HTO tournaments, Mihalikova has won grandslam under him. "It is all about hard work, respect and understanding. Both player and coach are developing. Everyone has its own input. We both need to work hard, to improve," says about the reasons of their long term cooperation going so well. 

Studenic recently joined EMPIRE Tennis Academy together with Tereza Mihalikova, does not count years he has spent with her. "One needs to look forward. My ambitions were to shape a world class player. We started well. Our main goal was to play at 10K tournaments and from there reach higher level tournaments. There is also one goal we have – graduation," says Studenic about their recent challenges.

There is no big difference between Tereza and WTA players higher in the ranking, says Nitra born coach. It is not so much about technique of play but the difference shows in mental strength and stability. "They need to show good performances for six, seven days. If a player wants to win a tournament, they cannot slip up. Also flexibility and ability to adapt to different surfaces. Good players is able to get used to playing on clay in one or two weeks. We want to achieve, it will not take too much attention off Tereza, and we need to work on it with her. We need to work on playing at the net, she needs to be more convincing," names Studenic all the aspects of their future work and also admits Mihalikova reflects on the professionality in tennis.

"Tereza is different, very friendly. But friendship between players is not so welcomed at the bigger tournaments. There is a lot at stake – both money and points. Players are not so open to friendships and people don’t communicate as much. It is an individual sport. Every player takes what they achieve. She needs to get over it, we need to have very disciplined professional approach, not as friendly as nowadays, then her performance will improve," added Studenic. 

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