World-class coach lauds SA sisters

Thomas Hogstedt, one of the world’s most prominent tennis coaches, has identified two South African sisters as potential Grand Slam champions and has taken them under his wing.

The Swede, who has guided the likes of Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Caroline Wozniacki to the pinnacle of their careers, was invited by Tennis South Africa to conduct a clinic in Stellenbosch last November.

At the clinic he came across the then 10-year-old Zoe Kruger who immediately caught his eye.  “I saw from the first day I could transform Zoe Kruger into one of the best players in the world,” said Hogstedt.

He then discovered that Kruger, who comes from Pretoria, has an equally talented younger sister, Isabella, who is just eight years old. Hogstedt has an uncanny ability to recognise what it takes to turn a pre-teenager into a champion as he proved when coaching Wozniacki as a 13-year-old. He took her to No 1 in the world.

“Zoe plays an aggressive game from the baseline but she can play with high spin and angles. She also likes to come to the net and serves well so she has a great all-around game and has a liking for all surfaces.“Isabella reminds me of Martina Hingis. She plays a very fast, flat game and has great feel for the ball. Her favourite shot is the volley but she also hits a very good drop shot,” says Hogstedt.

Hogstedt comes to South Africa whenever he is able but has a coaching team who work with the girls when he can't travel. The girls also go to Hogstedt’s facility in Sweden for training camps and he and his coaching team travel with the girls when they play on the international circuit

Zoe has no peers in her age group in South Africa which she demonstrated by winning the SA National Under-12 Championship when she was just 10 years old. Last month she reached the final of an Under-12 tournament in Canada, winning five of her six matches.  

“She has worked fantastically during the time since we met. When we started in November she lost to the No 42 in Canada and a month ago she beat the Canadian No 1,” said Hogstedt.

Zoe also helped South Africa to a third place finish in the Under-12 team championship in Canada.

Isabella is already regarded as one of the best eight-year-old players in the world. She reached the final of highly regarded Little Mo tournament in the Under-8 age group when she was just seven and lost the final in three sets to Russia’s No 1 player.

Hogstedt knows what it takes to play at highest level of the game. In his 14 year professional career he beat in various ATP events all 3 Swedish players who were ranked no 1 in the world at some stage during their careers namely Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg. Hogstedt also beat other no1 ranked players like Rafter, Courier, Kafelnikov and Vilas. He won the US Open Junior event in 1981 and reached a career-high ranking of No 38 in the world.

As a coach he has worked with some of the top names in the sport, including Germany’s Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer. Hogstedt alos coached the three top Swedes Jonas Bjorkman (ranked 4), Magnus Norman (ranked 2) and Thomas Johansson (ranked 9).

His almost three-year coaching relationship with Maria Sharapova came to an end in July this year.

And, as Hogstedt says: “I took Wozniacki, Li Na and Sharapova to the top. Next it will be two young sisters from South Africa, Zoe and Isabella Kruger, who I will make Grand Slam champions for South Africa!”

(File Photo:Gallo Images)

- ECRSportswave - Jon Haughton

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