Second Serve Tennis

Legendary Tennis Coach Rick Macci (One Thing To Do Before Hitting The Ball!)

• Second Serve with Carolyn Roach & Erin Conigliaro • Episode 263

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We were thrilled to talk to Hall of Fame tennis coach Rick Macci!

What is the ONE THING adult rec players should do before they hit the ball? What was it like to meet Venus Williams and Serena Williams as children? Can you get a lesson with the Hall of Fame coach?

If you're an avid tennis fan or a rec player looking to improve your game, this episode, brimming with profound insights from a tennis legend, is a must-listen.

Rick Macci has trained and worked with Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati, and many more! Five of his players have reached number one in the world and he has coached eight Grand Slam Champions.  His junior players have won 322 USTA National Championships and currently over 60 WTA and ATP players work with Rick on a regular basis.

You can contact Rick at info@rickmacci.com or learn more about programs at https://rickmacci.com.

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Carolyn:

Hi, this is Carolyn and I'm here with Erin, and we're honored to have on the podcast Hall of Fame tennis coach Rick Macci. He has trained and worked with Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriotti and many more. So, Rick, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Rick:

No, I just jumped off the court. I'm ready to go. We're going to have a lot of fun.

Carolyn:

Great, great, Okay. So, Rick, we know you've coached the best players in the world five that have reached number one and multiple Grand Slam champions but can you give regular adult recreational players like Aaron and me a few pieces of tennis advice?

Rick:

Yeah, listen, I'm glad you asked me that question because people ask me all the time like who's my favorite student of all time? And they think it might be one of the people that you just mentioned. But it's really who's on the other side of the net that hour, that minute, that second, and that's kind of been the staple of how I kind of do things. So, to answer your question, I could help you guys out so much. I might have to do reconstructive surgery, I might have to reverse engineer some things, but no, I love helping anybody, anytime, anywhere, and I work with hundreds of adults.

Rick:

I don't just work with like I work with little kids the best kids in the country, people on the pro tour and adults. But the best advice would be enjoy what you're doing, don't make it bigger than what it is, and every time before you hit the ball, smile. It's a game changer because your nervous system will be totally different. Trust me, it changes everything, because the club player has a tendency to be more uptight and the best way to relax is to smile.

Erin:

Yeah, yeah.

Rick:

Listen, you want to practice and get out of your comfort zone, to get in the end zone. You know, probably some people stand in the same place for 10 years on their serve or their return from the same place for 10 years, or they stand in the same place in doubles. You've got to mix it up. The the best of the best of all the rest they experiment. You have no idea the people on the tour how they're always tweaking. You know, even if they're one in the world like Djokovic, I got to get better. They're always adjusting when the club player they don't like you know to change, or maybe they don't have the time to practice. But do things differently, because if you don't try, you're never going to know what you're capable of doing. That's like the best advice I can give anybody, because everybody sticks with the same thing and you got to rattle the cage a little bit.

Erin:

Yeah, we. So my background is I didn't start. I didn't never touched a racket till I was 40 years old. I know I only look like I'm 40 now, but I'm 51. That's right, Erin, that's right. But I'm good at tennis because I was athletic. But my strokes are terrible. My serve is abysmal but I got to the. I went from a 2.5 beginner to 4.0. Carolyn and I both got bumped. We both got bumped the year we were starting the COVID year, to 4-0, but strictly based on athleticism and Carolyn's a great athlete. So are you saying that you could actually fix my strokes and I could be better than a 4-0?

Rick:

Listen, you have no idea. It's like that's kind of what I do, different than anybody in the world. I can kind of correct the problem. I got so many tricks in the bag and I can kind of correct the problem. I got so many tricks in the bag and I can kind of expedite the learning curve. So the technical part is the easiest, even though you started later or a lot of people come with bad habits. You know, I can change the muscle memory, reprogram the reflexes, and I love challenges. So both of you would probably be a challenge, but I like that part of it and people feel things they haven't felt in the longest period of time.

Rick:

But to back up the truck a little bit, because you're an athlete, you can run, you can get set, you're competitive. That's one of the things I look for when I evaluate young kids. If they have that in their pocket and that's why a lot of kids they might have a better forehand, a better backhand, a better serve, and they're going Rick, how'd I lose to that guy? 6-2, 6-2. Because the other person's there and more competitive and you're on balance. So but you got the internal stuff or the genetic stuff. You just need to clean your act up a little bit.

Erin:

Yeah, what I'm hearing is I'm just like Serena and Venus because, kidding, not in a million years. But I did listen to another podcast that you were on, that you talked about when you went to see them and really it was that, that fight, that once you said competition, right, then they were in it but the stroke production needed work. But you saw that, you saw that fire in them. Can you tell us about that a little bit?

Rick:

Yeah, first off, you can imagine how people wanted to know why I took a chance. A lot of people saw the movie. I didn't just say I like you or I believe in you. When you put up your own money and you're taking a big chance, I could have been wrong, they could have got hurt. I just saw something and remember I had Jennifer Capriati. She's the most dominant junior player ever. Listen to this. At 12 years old she won the National 18 Hardcore and Clay Court as a 12-year-old. That never will happen again and that's a record from 1988 that still stands today. So my blueprint for greatness was probably better than anybody in the world, just from Jennifer. And then she was top 10 in the world at 14.

Rick:

So when I went out to Compton and I have no idea why I went Richard convinced me. I thought what am I doing here? Because there was arms and legs and hair beads were flying off their head and Serena was like looking at the birds and waving at them and you know, venus was kind of locked in, but I didn't see it. I didn't see it on the outside. And it's a great lesson for any coach or parent or anybody you don't judge a book by the cover. The cover could be amazing and the book bad, so I didn't see it. They were all over the place technically Right, but I saw they could run and they were kind of quick. But I see that movie all the time with kids.

Rick:

Then when I said let's play competitive points and it was me and Serena, because she was like a little prankster, venus was almost 5'9". Ok, when I said let's play competitive points, the whole landscape changed. I never saw two little girls try so hard. Venus's nose was that far off the ground trying to get a ball. She was 5'9 and Serena. Both of them had like a rage. There was something. When I said compete and we're going to keep score, it was like almost scary maybe not to me. I just said this is crazy. You know what I was seeing the burning desire. And when I saw that, listen, I have a lot of kids that try hard, but that doesn't mean you're going to be number one in the world, that doesn't mean you're going to be a pro. But I saw they were bulletproof. What I meant by that they would handle pressure better because they were all about the competition.

Rick:

And right then, and there I'm looking at these two little pipsqueaks and I'm going six feet, 160, 5'10", 145. And I go, richard, come here. This is after we competed. I mean they were popping the popcorn extra better. Their feet were amazing, their preparation got better. It was still a train wreck, semi-train wreck. It got better, but it wasn't like filet mignon, it wasn't like wow.

Rick:

And I told Richard and this was in the movie I said, let me tell you something. You got the next female, michael Jordan, on your hand, and he puts his arm around me, goes no, brother man. I got the next two. And then listen to this. Venus goes, daddy, and they were hugging and kissing, just like you saw in a movie, a close-knit family like no other. And Kai go to the bathroom. So Venus, he goes, yes, v. Venus goes out the gate, walks on her hands for five feet I'm going, listen to her Then does backward cartwheels, because I looked at her body and I thought she should be running track or gymnastics. And I'm sitting there going whoa, whoa, whoa.

Rick:

Now this was 1991. And if you were big and strong, you weren't nimble. I thought. Not only could these two little kids, in my opinion, be number one in the world. With the right help and the right financial backing, they could transcend the sport, because you didn't have that type of athlete back then. Now, everybody's kind of like that. So three months later, we teamed up. What was going to happen next was a mystery, but at the end of the day, we changed history.

Carolyn:

That's so cool. So, rick, can you take people like us and turn us into Grand Slam champions? Older women with children. I could have you watch them on TV or.

Erin:

I could get you a ticket.

Rick:

I don't know about playing, but we know. We're just kidding, we're just kidding.

Rick:

When people watch the pros, I think the number one thing they should watch is their feet, how they keep popping the popcorn extra butter their feet. You know what I'm saying? Because the strokes are going to be hard to imitate because you're kind of locked in with the muscle memory. Unless you come see me, I can definitely change a lot of stuff. But the footwork, you know what I mean. Just stay alive on your feet and that's why if you played other sports, you kind of have that baked in extra crispy already.

Erin:

So what do you do? So do you have an academy? It sounds like you train. I know you train world class athletes and I know you're training kids. You know kind of coming up through juniors and that you know could easily potentially be number one, you know, in the future. But you also train adults. Is that correct?

Rick:

Well, yeah, I have an academy. It's Rick Macy Tennis Center here in Boca Raton. I've done this since 1985. Other than IMG, which was originally Volitary. I'm like the last of the Mohicans. I'm still standing. There's no billion dollar company behind me. You know amazing business.

Rick:

We don't do a glorified, boring school. I still teach 50 hours a week, Very hands on, A lot, lot of staff and with me like eight to 10 years, which is unheard of. You know what I mean. And we do things different. You know we do. It's more hands-on, you know it's more boutique, even though it's a bigger boutique. But no, we do adult private lessons. People come in from all around the world and they're blown away. And I do a lot of video analysis with people.

Rick:

But I teach little kids four years old, I teach seven-year-olds. I put Humpty Dumpty together and they have a foundation like no other. They can learn more in one hour and they put it on their phone. They have a blueprint for the future. It's amazing. And then I have some of the best kids in the world that obviously want to be pro probably over 30 girls I work with on the tour and their coach. You know I coach the coach, who's with them all the time. So just everybody, but a lot of adults.

Rick:

I love helping the adults. You know why? Because they learn more than anybody, because they've been locked in to a muscle memory for so long They've been doing the same thing. I change the elbow and they're going oh my God, they freak out. Or I change something easy and they experience it, and it's all about feeling. Once you feel it, then you can deal it. You know what I mean.

Rick:

So I love helping adults. I do that all the time. I hit hundreds and hundreds a year. They come, they email me, they want to come in, whether it's for a day or a couple of days. I do privates with them. They want to bring their friends. We could put something together. I just need to know a couple of months in advance. Like I said, I teach seven days a week. I get up at three o'clock. I open up the park every morning at five o'clock. At 68 years old, I'm a park ranger I've just put that on my resume, like five years ago, and I start teaching at five or six o'clock the kids before school. But no, I love helping adults because they're so appreciative, because they've been stuck and it's not just like vanilla. I might give some vanilla, but it has the best sprinkles in the world, so it's a different vanilla that I'll do for them.

Erin:

So when Carolyn and I can travel to Florida, we'll come see you.

Rick:

That's right 15 minutes you'll go. Oh my God.

Erin:

Okay, I love it.

Rick:

I can just tell you what's going on, so then you'll know what to practice on.

Carolyn:

That would be great. I need that. I definitely need that. So people would just email you and we can put your email in the show notes a couple of months in advance, and then you would get back to them to let them know how to do this.

Rick:

My email. It's info at rickmacycom. I get back to her by within 24 hours. People text me like people call me all the time, even for the business, because my number's out there it's very different and they go wait a minute, is this Rick Macy? Then they hear my voice, they go it is you know, or I go bang like a movie. So no, it's so hands-on and when they talk to me they can get the questions answered, whether it be about their child or what they're looking for, right away. And, more importantly, they don't really get that from someone whose name's on the door anywhere in the world.

Rick:

But I do it not because I have to, I do it because I want to and that's kind of been how I've been put together my whole life. You know, very hands on, genuine people, person, and it doesn't matter what they're calling us. It's not the Venuses of the world or Sharapovas, that's the window dressing. I want them to come and have the best experience. And what's unique about what we do? The methodology, like the teaching methodology.

Rick:

My partner, dr Brian Gordon. He has PhD in biomechanics. We put this stuff together 15 years ago, cutting edge, all backed up by science, and then I can explain it and throw in the one-liners and connect the dots and explain it very different. And a lot of the staff's been with me like eight to 10 years and they know it inside out. So that's why they're super busy with privates, especially with young kids. Because they put the technical base, they look like little superst kids. Because they put the technical base, they look like little superstars and they're seven years old. No bad habits. It's easier with a kid, it's like a piece of clay. But that's part of what I do. But I do it for guys like you and I love it just the same.

Carolyn:

We really appreciate Rick coming on the podcast. We have another episode with Rick where he will give mental tips for adult recreational players and also the best advice he's ever given and received. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.