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By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday December 12, 2018

 
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Coach Philippe Dehaes and Daria Kasatkina gave us engaging changeover chats that were instructive and inspiring.

Photo credit: Kremlin Cup Facebook
 

Welcome to the inaugural Tennis Now 25, where we celebrate the best popcorn moments of the 2018 tennis season, and award 25 “Popcorn Awards” to honor the most breathtaking and memorable performances of 2018.

About the Awards:


The #TN25 is designed not simply to remember the best matches, comebacks or Grand Slam performances. What we aim to accomplish here is to dig deeper into the archives so that we may celebrate some of the more offbeat and difficult-to-quantify performances.

This is our first time doling out these awards, and our attempt to veer away from the typical year-end rundown is genuine in that we feel it echoes the season of giving. What we aim to give is praise and thanks to those who made the season memorable on many levels...

Surely, with this being a new process for our editorial staff, there will be a few bumps along the road. Here and there we suspect that our valued readership may find a few things to disagree with (surprise!). If that’s the case, take to social media using the hashtag #TN25 and tell us what we missed or where we could have done better.

As the players like to say after they win their titles--none of this would have been possible without you guys, and that’s why we are going to put some of the awards to a Twitter vote in December, so stay tuned for that.


Now, our next installment…

True Confesssions: Daria Kasatkina and Philippe Dehaes

Tennis Express

The True Confessions Award goes to the player-coach tandem who inspired us most during candid coaching changeover visits.

And the winners are... Daria Kasatkina and coach Philippe Dehaes.

Coaching consultations can fortify player confidence.

Dehaes and Kasatkina built mesmerizing point construction and memorable moments of zen truth in Moscow.

When Kasatkina trailed Alize Cornet, the coach convinced his charged not to be the ball, but to be the WALL.



The great wall of Russia rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Cornet.

Facing a one-set hole in the final, Kasatkina again called out Dehaes, who asked the Moscow native how she felt then delivered a spirited strategical shift spiking with unified defiance and ending with a fierce "Do it!"

The Russian No. 1 roared back fighting off qualifier Ons Jabeur, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, to capture the Moscow title—her first WTA championship on home soil—and crack the Top 10 for the first time in her career.




Spirited changeover exchanges between these two can be instructive, inspiring and insanely entertaining.

Dehaes’ poetic pep talks can pop with the passion of Shakespeare scripted soliloquies or cut straight to the core detailing how decisions can carry dire consequences.

Communication is key to their changeover chats.

The pair share almost constant eye contact. Kasatkina is direct and honest stating her sutation and Dehaes direct and empowering delivering simple solutions. You’re never alone on court when Dehaes is in your corner—the veteran coach exhorts his charge with the “we can do it” mantra.



There’s a method to the coach’s metaphorical flights into motivational air—Dehaes knows sometimes simply getting his charge to smile and engage in the problem-solving is a form of stress relief itself.

I don’t know about you, but when the grim reaper holds match point in the ultimate end game, I don’t want a nurse, bodyguard, lawyer, last rites or a bottle of Grey Goose by my side.

I just want a pep talk from life coach Philippe Dehaes to beat back the eternal exterminator.









Kasatkina and coach Dehaes show us creativity, critical thinking and common sense can help us solve competitive critical conditions.

And whether you feel like the ball or the wall, you can always bounce back when you believe.




 

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