MELBOURNE, Australia - Recently retired Australian star Casey Dellacqua is helping out at a tennis camp in her homeland, coaching 16 of the next generation's most promising players.
Since hanging up her own racquet, Dellacqua has been working with Tennis Australia on player development - and this week she is helping out on a camp with attendees including Destanee Aiava and Jaimee Fourlis.
“I’ve kind of had a theme with the girls this week, and that’s been volume – in terms of being on the court and concentrating for a length of time, hitting a lot of balls and giving them a picture of what Top 100 looks like, and the level they need to perform at on the practice court, day in and day out, to reach Top 100,” Dellacqua explained to the Tennis Australia website.
“For a lot of them, they haven’t played at that level. So I’m just trying to create a sense of what is needed to be one of the best in the world. Hopefully they take something from it this week.”
Australia has been enjoying plenty of success on the WTA Tour, with its female players including Ashleigh Barty and Daria Gavrilova, and Nicole Pratt – the country's head of professional women’s tennis – hopes Dellacqua's input will help inspire the youngsters.
"I think it’s critical (to have involvement from players like Casey)," she said. "Integrating a past player or recently-retired player is something we’ve been trying to implement within all of our programs; not only do they bring such value on the court but it’s actually more (about the things) off the court, and talking about their experiences, their journeys.
"Someone like Casey has had such a successful career, a long journey, it’s had its ups and downs. And because of Casey’s natural openness as a person, she’s sharing those stories with the girls, and that"s invaluable."
