Merchiston Tennis Academy alumni Jacob Fearnley has made headlines for an exceptional performance at both Wimbledon 2024 and the Australian Open in January this year. Our Tennis Academy has a long history of sporting success, with many talented athletes honing their craft in our exceptional tennis facilities – including a first-class tennis dome.
We spoke to Tennis Academy Director Simon Pender, himself a former ATP world ranked tennis player and Junior Olympic medallist, about the Academy’s success, what makes a world-class tennis player and how the tennis programme here at Merchiston allows players to unlock their true potential.
Q: In your opinion, what sets Merchiston’s Tennis Academy apart from other coaching programmes?
Mr Pender: We provide a highly individualised training programme that focuses on each player’s strengths and goals. Our boys have 13 hours of squad training plus 2 hours of personal coaching every week that complements their studies.
Our approach is systematic, specific to each player’s development and aligned with their academic timetable, allowing the student to play their very best.
Q: Merchiston alumni Jacob Fearnley recently made headlines for exceptional performances at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. What role did the Tennis Academy play in setting boys up for long-term success?
Mr Pender: A very big role. The attention the boys receive helps hugely with their development as players. The school also helps them to develop independence and responsibility, which is very important on the tennis circuit.
There is a high level of expectation from the Tennis Academy and consequently, the demands on the individual are raised around personal behavioural standards. You cannot call yourself a tennis player if you have poor personal standards.
Q: You have worked with countless tennis players. What, in your eyes, is the most important element of coaching young and ambitious athletes?
Mr Pender: I always look for ‘Total Players’, that is, the personal characteristics, performer characteristics and player characteristics as part of my evaluation. The personal comes first, which includes qualities such as work ethic, commitment and coachability plus an ability to communicate with those around them. I coach people to play tennis, and that is always an important starting point for me.
Q: Can you share more about the player pathways for the Tennis Academy?
Mr Pender: There are two academies, the performance academy and the development academy. Both offer a comprehensive programme; the performance academy offers 15hrs/week and the development academy 10hrs/week. We also offer individual tennis lessons for other players who may just want to experience tennis and see if they like the game.
Furthermore, we offer tennis matches at the weekend where we can submit results to the governing body. To complement the boys’ training we also offer internal Matchplay.
Q: How do you balance a player’s rigorous training programme with his academic studies?
Mr Pender: Currently 81% of the performance boy’s individual tennis lessons happen during free periods, a stat we are very proud of. The school is also excellent at providing additional support and remote session for the players who are travelling to tournaments. We are very careful to accommodate tournaments with the boys’ academic timetables so they do not miss academic lessons.
Q: You have worked at Merchiston’s Tennis Academy for five years. What has been your greatest achievement here to date?
Mr Pender: One Individual achievement would be seeing David D win the Road to Wimbledon Championships. 15,000 players entered the event, and David won the whole tournament!
One team achievement would be seeing the Year 9/10 team winning 2nd place in the Schools National Competition. I really like the team competitions and I’m hopeful we will have even more to come over the next few years.
Q: How does the Tennis Academy prepare students for major competitions, like Wimbledon?
Mr Pender: I would say that the training and nature of the weekly programme really does give the boys an experience of what it is like on ‘the tour’. Physically boys have to be fit to keep training and competing each week (which mirrors the tour) and training before school twice a week builds their resilience and helps train them to become ‘comfortable being uncomfortable’. You can never completely recreate the experience of the top tour but for boys between the ages of 8-18 years we do a pretty good job.
Interested in finding out more about Tennis at Merchiston? Visit our Tennis Academy page.