Philipp Kohlschreiber is on his way to Tenerife – with his coach Markus Hipfl, who, in a conversation with tennisnet, assesses the current form of his protégé prior to his departure.
The Tennisbase Oberhaching is not yet a home game for Markus Hipfl, but as coach of Philipp Kohlschreiber the former Austrian Davis Cup player comes to the south of Munich at regular intervals. Kohlschreiber practiced with Florian Mayer, a meeting of veterans in familiar surroundings, one day before his departure for the joint training camp with Dominic Thiem to Tenerife on Court 5 in the base with Florian Mayer. Markus Hipfl has observed and commented, now he has a few minutes to take stock of his alliance with Germany’s longstanding number one.
tennisnet: Mr. Hipfl. They have been working with Philipp Kohlschreiber for about half a year now. What is your résumé for this time?
Markus Hipfl: We can definitely be very satisfied. When we started, Philipp was ranked 60th in the world rankings, had a difficult time with little self-confidence, including some physical problems. We got to grips with this quite well, then the first successes helped with the semi-finals in Hamburg and the tournament victory in Kitzbühel. We have stabilized Philipp’s game, he has found his way back to his base and self-confidence. And he once again enjoyed training and tennis in general. So it must have been three very, very good months. And finishing in the top 30 also means it was a very good year.
tennisnet: What do you do with an experienced player like Kohlschreiber in the off-season?
Hipfl: We have changed a few details, worked on the slice and forehand, including the serve. But I didn’t make any major technical changes, but rather consider how to use the strokes a little bit differently. At the first serve, for example, Philipp gave in a little bit more slice, thus gaining greater security at the end of the year. This worked especially well in Vienna at the Stadthallen tournament. But in general we tried to get Philipp back to what made him great: stable play, positive attitude. And when the self-confidence is there, that he plays more aggressively and takes one step into the field.
tennisnet: In the longer training phase, they like to experiment with the material. To what extent has the Kohlschreiber/Hipfl team tried something?
Hipfl: Nothing at the bat. I think Philipp’s been playing with the same bat for 15 years. With the strings he is now recorded, Philipp tried something new last year, which he didn’t like so much. With the basic things we went “back to the roots”, where Philipp feels comfortable. We have tried new approaches to fitness training. He is now well recovered, has trained superbly, is excellent at strength. Now we have played tennis for a week and are looking forward to twelve intensive days on Tenerife.
tennisnet: Where did Philipp Kohlschreiber get the basics for 2018?
Hipfl: In Kitzbühel, Philipp worked with Patrick Koller on the conditional principles. This is a former ski-crosser who is a sports scientist and builds up the training very well. After that Philipp spent a week with me in Wels in my Academy, now we are here for two days.
tennisnet: And now it goes to Günter Bresnik and Dominic Thiem…
Hipfl: Exactly. That’s what Philipp did last year. Intensive training is good, we just make it a little shorter. We are also looking forward to the better weather, and Philipp is looking forward to January when it finally starts again.
tennisnet: In addition to Dominic Thiem, Jerzy Janowicz, Sebastian Ofner and Denis Novak are also on Tenerife. How does the coordination with Günter Bresnik work?
Hipfl: I was part of Günter’s team last year, now I’m driving from Philipp as coach. Günter Bresnik has been a kind of mentor to me for many years now, and I get along very well with him even outside the course. I’m really looking forward to it now. As in the past year, there will be a real sense of optimism. Then it can only be good.