Tennis-X Book Review: I've Got Your Back by Brad GilbertView Comments (2) | View Discussions
Posted on August 30, 2004
By Richard Vach
"Bro', I got an ego
Yo, talkin' to me?
No. Oh."
-- Rob Base, "It Takes Two"
If Brad Gilbert is not familiar with this fast-talking rap hit from the late '80s, I'm sure his young charge could fill him in. It is almost the theme song for Gilbert's new book, I've Got Your Back.
This book is about ego, or to be more exact, the putting aside of ego in successful coaching. And with Brad Gilbert, that's a lot to put aside.
Gilbert's motto is that coaching is "putting aside ego in pursuit of excellence." Co-authored with James Kaplan, the co-author of You Cannot be Serious with John McEnroe, Gilbert details the learning process he went through in first coaching Andre Agassi, and currently Roddick, and how putting aside the ego for the betterment of the team pays dividends, for any coach.
"He's a master of what I call situational coaching," Roddick says in the forward. "If I do X with that ball at a given point in a match, then my opponent's going to do Y...When the moment comes that we have serious business to do, I not only feel completely comfortable; I completely believe in what Brad tells me. That's genius coaching -- simple and complicated at the same time."
But Gilbert has a great deal more to offer A-Rod, and the reader, than Xs and Os.
The book opens with Gilbert running out to get breakfast for Roddick, all the while discussing the intricacies of putting his charge at ease and developing a caring relationship. You also get the full-on "Beej" (as various ATP staffers and others call him) attitude descriptions first-hand.
"I'm wearing my Reebok warms-ups against the slight chill of the morning," Gilbert describes himself making the breakfast run. "My trademark black shades are propped up on top of my head."
You get the picture. Pure Beej, love it or not. If you're seen Gilbert's visits in the USA Network studios during their coverage of the US Open, you've witnessed the man who is never at a loss for words.
"I got an idea, that I wanna share,
you don't like it, so what, I don't care."
-- Rob Base, "It Takes Two"
"I've always been a major talker," Gilbert says. "Maybe it has something to do with being the third child: When you come along at the end of the line, you want to make sure you don't get lost in the shuffle. But I also like to think the number of words that come out of my mouth have a direct relation to the number of ideas in my head. I may be wrong, I may be right, but I'm always thinking about things -- all kinds of things -- and I always have an opinion."
Those opinions are what hooked a slumping Agassi into pairing with Gilbert, who had no coaching experience at that point. They also turned Roddick, a middling Top 10 player in the midst of slump, into the youngest American to finish the year at No. 1 on the ATP Rankings.
Gilbert is big on his Raider-fan-wearing-black persona, which he says adds, in a way, to the success of Team Roddick.
"When you see me on television, I'm wearing black and looking calm," Gilbert says. "It may not look like I'm doing anything but watching a tennis match. Look again. In fact, I'm working hard. My job is to covey a mental strength and solidarity to Andy with the absolute minimum of movement."
You've seen Darth Raider and Gladi-Raider, now you've got Buddha-Raider.
Aside from the valuable team-building insights and a mentality he aspires to from his first coach, Tom "Chiv" Chivington of Foothill Community College where he first went to school, the real meat in I've Got Your Back is in the stories.
Rambling, off-the-cuff stories such as a run-in with Australian Bob (not Llleyton) Hewitt, who wanted to beat on Gilbert when the jr. Raider was a 10-year-old let judge at a pro event; talking (more like dragging) Agassi into playing the 1999 French Open which he went on to win; answering shots taken at him by McEnroe in his book You Cannot be Serious; a failed coaching experience with Mary Pierce, and butting heads with Agassi, for the betterment of both coach and player.
Throughout the stories Beej weaves the omnipresent themes of paying attention, hard work and positive thinking. Gilbert is also refreshingly honest about hooking up with two of the most talented players the game has seen.
"I know that if I started working with a player who was No. 60 in the world, I would have to do the greatest coaching job in the history of the world to take him, say, to No. 27 -- and everybody would be surprised and disappointed that I hadn't made him No. 3," Gilbert says. "You work with what you have."
"It takes two to make a thing go right,
It takes two to make it outta sight
Hit it!"
-- Rob Base, "It Takes Two"
Agassi first benefited from Gilbert's insight ("I knew enough about what I did for a living to realize that while I had talent," Gilbert said on pondering ending his playing days to coach Agassi, "Andre hit a tennis ball the way God intended it to be hit."), and now Roddick is reaping the benefits of their partnership. It takes two to make a No. 1, Gilbert has now shown on two occasions. His theory of putting aside ego and taking one for the team has produced one of the most, if not the most, successful coaches of the last 20 years.
I've Got Your Back is a veritable tribute to the art of coaching, Gilbert's labor of love that will appeal to readers looking for coaching insights and good storytelling alike.
Release date: Sept. 2, 2004
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