NICK BOLLETTIERI is weighing up Andy Murray's chances at Wimbledon, going through a check list in his head, ticking boxes. Serve: excellent. Return of serve: not quite Andre Agassi standard but getting there. Groundstrokes: wonderful. Creativity: among the best. Determination: the kid's a street fighter, goddamn it. Anticipation: the fella's got a nose like an elephant.
A nose like an elephant? "Yeah, this boy smells the court, you know what I mean, partner? He just knows where to be and when and he does it naturally. He moves on instinct. You try and teach that! It's not easy, I'm telling you. You can teach a lot
of things but that thing that Andy has, that lovely movement around the court, you either have that or you don't. And this kid's got it."
Bollettieri is a month away from his 78th birthday. He is tanned and healthy, gets up to play tennis at 5am most mornings and has the most positive outlook on life. Wouldn't have got to where he is today by getting down. Wouldn't have become the most prolific coach of young talent in the history of the game if he wasn't full of encouragement and wisdom.
Who's he coached at his Academy, a boarding school for tyros built on an old tomato field in Bradenton, Florida? Well, Boris Becker was the first of his people to make it to World No.1. Then there was Monica Seles and after Seles, Jim Courier, Agassi, Marcelo Rios and the Williams sisters. After them came Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic. All champions. All nurtured along the way by Nicky B.
He's lived some life, Bollettieri. Later in the year his latest autobiography is coming out and there's quite a lot to pack in there. He can't quite remember how many marriages he'd racked up by the time his last book was published but there's been eight in all. Yes, eight.
There was Phyllis (lasted five years in the 1950s) and Nancy (another five years in the 1960s). Jeri was his wife for 12 years, the split coming in 1977. In 1979 he got married and then divorced from Diana. A year later he married Kellie. That one lasted 12 years. In 2002 Elizabeth became his wife, in 2003 she became his ex-wife. In 2003 it was Bobbie's turn but that one went bust in 2004. Later the same year, Cindi Ann became his eighth wife.
"Beautiful, every one of them," he says.
If relationships don't appear to be his forte, tennis most certainly is. "You see things sometimes that remind you of other players," he says. "For instance, I see some of Andre in Andy. I see the hunger, the warrior. Both of them had great starts in life in that they had the support of a strong parent.
"Andre's dad was important and Andy's mother has been a huge influence from what I can see. She knows the game but she's happy to let Andy do his own thing. I can't tell you the number of young tennis players I've seen that have been damaged by parents."
One of the more high-profile ones was Mary Pierce. Back in 1988, seven years before she won the first of her two grand slam titles, she passed through Bollettieri's academy, much to the chagrin of her father, Jim. "You know what's gonna happen if we leave her with Nick," said the most notoriously destructive tennis dad, "she's going to be wearing a button on her collar and asking, 'Do you want fries with that, Sir?'"
Bollettieri hasn't forgotten the Jim Pierces of this world. "Andy's lucky to have Judy in his corner, I'll tell you that for nothing. You ask me can he win Wimbledon this year? Well, of course he can. He has the game, we all know that. He has all the shots and he has the temperament to win big matches. He has presence now that he didn't have so much a year ago. The improvement the kid has made in 12 months is incredible. Last year at Wimbledon he got taken out in the quarter-finals by (Rafael] Nadal and he didn't even get a break point on Nadal's serve. That's how big the gulf was back then. You telling me that would happen now? Not a chance."
Having the ability to win and actually winning are two different things, of course. Grand slam titles are savagely difficult things to acquire, particularly in this era of Federer and Nadal. "At least the game of golf has only one Tiger Woods. We've got two of them!"
Of the last 24 grand slams, Federer has won 14 and Nadal six. Going back six years there's only been four other guys who have managed to break the extraordinary stranglehold of the Swiss and the Spaniard: Andy Roddick at the US Open in 2003, Gaston Gaudio at the French in 2004, Marat Safin in Australia in 2005 and Novak Djokovic in Australia in 2008.
"You know, before the Australian Open this year Roger was asked about Andy's chances and he was very honest. He said Andy was a fine player who'd been knocking on the door for a few years now but who'd never won a Slam. He said they're not easy things to win. And he was right. He was so, so right. I don't think his words went down all that well in Britain but he was spot-on. He wasn't trash-talking, he was pointing out something obvious.
"Andy has the game but he's got to be careful. He's among the true elite now. He's top three in the world and he deserves to be there. But that means there's a hundred guys wanting to kick his ass and these guys are good players. Tommy Haas will go well this year. I have a feeling for Ivo Karlovic as well. Andy's got to watch out for these fellas because they could trip him up. Week one is going to be a minefield. That's the genius of Federer and Nadal. They rarely get caught out."
He's got his fingers crossed for Murray. "It would be something if he won, wouldn't it? Hell, Wimbledon would go crazy. I'd like to be around to see that."
