{"id":2259,"date":"2022-12-15T20:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T20:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/?p=2259"},"modified":"2022-12-15T20:16:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T20:16:00","slug":"remembered-tennis-star-nick-bollettieri-has-passed-away-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/foreverinourhearts\/2022\/12\/remembered-tennis-star-nick-bollettieri-has-passed-away-at-91.html","title":{"rendered":"Remembered: Tennis Star Nick Bollettieri Has Passed Away at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Leonard Zhukovsky \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was announced that legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, who worked with stars like Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova and others during his career, has died at the age of 91. The announcement was made to the <\/span>Associated Press<\/span><\/a>\u00a0through Bolletieri\u2019s manager, Steve Shulla. \u201cWhen he became sick, he got so many wonderful messages from former students and players and coaches. Many came to visit him. He got videos from others. It was wonderful. He touched so many lives, and he had a great send-off,\u201d said Shulla. The self-proclaimed \u201cMichelangelo of tennis\u201d was famous for his work revolutionizing the sport for youth, as well as coaching no less than ten players into the number 1 world rankings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those number ones, Andre Agassi, paid homage to Bolletieri, writing on his <\/span>Twitter<\/span><\/a>, \u201cOur dear friend, Nick Bollettieri, graduated from us last night. He gave so many a chance to live their dream. He showed us all how life can be lived to the fullest\u2026 Thank you, Nick.\u201d Matthew Syed, writing for\u00a0<\/span>The Times<\/span><\/em><\/a>,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0remembered Bollettieri\u2019s coaching style, saying, \u201cHe wasn\u2019t the most astute teacher of the technical side of the game, but he was a keen student of human nature with an uncanny ability to make you want to do your best.\u201d He remembered a conversation he\u2019d had with the coaching legend, who said, \u201cThe trait that is extremely important in sports or business is to read people. And what you try to do is find a way to reach them. No two people in the whole world are the same, and the trick is to find out a lot about that person because that will tell you how to motivate them, how to find their triggers, how far you can push them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Born<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Italian immigrant parents on July 31, 1931, in Pelham, New York, Bollettieri\u2019s involvement in the sport did not begin until after high school. In the 60s, he became the tennis director at the Dorel Beach Resort. By the 80s, he had opened up the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. The International Management Group (IMG) later bought the academy from Bollettieri in 1987, where he continued to have an impact and continued pioneering the concept of a tennis boarding school. In 1983,\u00a0<\/span>The Miami Herald<\/span><\/em>\u00a0wrote an article\u00a0<\/span>entitled<\/span><\/a>, \u201cCourting Fame: Nick Bollettieri Says His Grueling Tennis School Is the Wave of the Future for All Sports. He May be Right. But is it Right for the Kids?\u201d The article questioned the high intensity of Bollettieri\u2019s tennis camps, where \u201cIt turns out that tennis isn\u2019t merely a game. It\u2019s an industry. It\u2019s life. And near death. It hurts.\u201d Bollettieri\u2019s model would soon become the model throughout the country and would go on to impact other sports. In 2014, he was just the fourth coach to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In reflecting on his legacy after being inducted, Bollettieri said, \u201cI forged my own path, which others found to be unorthodox and downright crazy. Yes, I am crazy. But it takes crazy people to do things that other people say cannot be done.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bollettieri died at his home in Florida after a prolonged illness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was announced that legendary tennis coach Nick Bollettieri, who worked with stars like Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova and others during his career, has died at the age of 91. The announcement was made to the Associated Press\u00a0through Bolletieri\u2019s manager, Steve Shulla. \u201cWhen he became sick, he got so many wonderful messages…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":2262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRemembered: Tennis Star Nick Bollettieri Has Passed Away at 91<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The tennis star sadly passed away in his home last week from prolonged illness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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