You may remember him from his prolific pairing with Robert Seguso, with whom he won four Grand Slam doubles titles (two Wimbledons, two U.S. Opens). His rise to the No. 1 doubles ranking in ’85. His Olympic gold medal performance at the ’88 Seoul Games. His successful run as a U.S. Davis Cupper. Or even the world-class mullet he sported in his heyday.
But what you may not know about Ken Flach is that, at 46, he remains as passionate about the game as ever, especially when it comes to developing the next generation of American tennis champions. Today Flach, who as a player won three straight NCAA D2 singles titles at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in ’81, ’82 and ’83, and as a coach guided Vanderbilt to the SEC title in ’03, is still molding young talent. In March, he took the tennis director’s slot at the Rolling Hills Club in Marin County, Calif., where he’s busy working with aspiring juniors.
INSIDE TENNIS: It was a pretty seamless transition for you coming off the pro tour into the coaching ranks. Was that always a calling for you?
KEN FLACH: I was fortunate to have some really good coaching growing up in St. Louis. I got to take lessons from Jimmy Connors‘ mom, Gloria, for about four years. I worked with Butch Buchholz, who was a top-10 player and later went down to start the big tournament in Key Biscayne, the Sony Ericsson Open. There were several other pros in the area who really helped bring my game together. When I got the job at Vanderbilt, my goal was to recruit just American kids and treat it, in a way, like a mini academy — take 10 guys and really go to work, be very meticulous about fundamentals, technique, the whole gamut. We did yoga, nutrition, video analysis. It’s the only way to go about it because tennis is such a high-skill-level sport. If you want to get to a high level in the game — like figure skating and gymnastics — you’ve got to put in the hours. And it’s got to be done where you’re not wasting any time. It’s all very productive and heading in the right direction.
IT: Do you buy into the argument that we should mirror the philosophy of countries like Spain and France, who have more of a centralized approach as far as bringing players together and homogenizing their games? Or is that unrealistic?
KF: There are so many layers to the onion. I would never have taught Chang to play like Sampras, or Courier to play like McEnroe. There’s a certain tool set you’re given as a coach and you have to work within those parameters based upon the player’s God-given abilities, their overall genetics — eyes, shape, style. You’ve got to allow for a certain amount of personal creativity, some artistry, to keep their game from getting too stale, or they’ll burn out. You can’t mass-produce robots or machines.
IT: As much as we’d like to think we can.
KF: I was just reading an article about Nicole Vaidisova [the once promising Czech star who once rose to No. 7, but recently called it quits at age 20]. When I was recruiting [at Vanderbilt], I stayed away from the academy kids. I was burned a couple of times early and I realized that some of these kids, when they get to college, they’re done. They’ve done their work. Their parents got a return of some of their investment.
IT: They just want to kick back after getting the scholarship?
KF: They want to party. They’re no longer aspiring to get better. They don’t have that same passion. I looked for kids who still had that passion and loved to be out there and wanted to get better, wanted to work hard. You can’t teach desire.
IT: It used to be that guys like Connors, Ashe and McEnroe played college tennis. Whether they stayed all four years or not was another thing, but they viewed the collegiate game as an important stepping stone. Now the Donald Youngs of the world are turning pro at 15.
KF: Who’s career would you rather have right now — John Isner‘s or Donald Young’s?
IT: In addition to raising the level of his game at the University of Georgia, John had a chance to experience the college life, the camaraderie of having teammates…
KF: The experiences of a lifetime. Some of my fondest memories are of playing in college. I think it’s a big mistake. I’ve never seen somebody turn pro too late, but I’ve certainly seen a thousand players turn pro too early. Go to college. If you win the NCAAs your freshman year, then move on if you want. But why rob yourself of that experience?
IT: I imagine guiding Vanderbilt to the SEC Championship ranks among those fond memories.
KF: Definitely. We went up against John Isner, actually. We took them out at Georgia. Who woulda thunk it? We beat Florida, Ole Miss, all the Swedes, we beat all the French from Mississippi State, we beat all the Germans from Baylor. It was like a mini Davis Cup.
IT: Where do you fall in the debate over how many foreign-born college players should be allowed to occupy roster spots in the U.S.? As you’ve pointed out, there are many examples out there of American kids losing out on scholarship opportunities.
KF: In the SEC it was 80 percent foreign. That was with my 10 American guys. Georgia did a pretty good job at getting the Americans kids. South Carolina and Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas — seven of the 12 SEC schools were 100 percent foreign. I think it’s a shame. In Germany — the Bundesleague — they allow only one foreigner on their teams.
IT: Is that a good model? Should we be applying a cap here in the U.S.?
KF: Even if they made it so each team had to have at least a couple of Americans, 20, 25 percent — especially the state schools. All the tax dollars. That seems like a no-brainer to me.
IT: Tennis is not the revenue generating sport on college campuses the way football and basketball are. There’s certainly less pressure to produce a winning program. You don’t see many coaches getting fired for falling short of the post-season. You would think there was less incentive to go looking for talent overseas.
KF: I quickly learned that I wanted to work with guys who I felt really, really wanted to be there and had earned a spot there, who knew what the SEC was and had a desire as a kid to compete in those types of venues. By the time the NCAA tournament rolls around, a lot of the foreign guys are ready to go home.
IT: It doesn’t mean the same thing?
KF: No. They don’t grow up in this system. They don’t know the difference between Sacramento State and UCLA or Stanford. They don’t know the tradition.
IT: But the change has to come from here. It’s hard to blame those kids. Maybe you grew up without much money in an Eastern Bloc country and here a school in Fresno, California or Oxford, Mississippi — a place you’ve never even heard of — says they’ll pay for you to come to the U.S., play tennis and get a free education.
KF: That’s true. You can’t put the blame on the kids. It goes to the system, the NCAA, the schools, the individual coaches. I preferred to work with kids from the area. I did bring one kid in from Denver, but typically it was kids from the Southeast. But the crux of it is, many of these coaches don’t want to coach. They want to bring in complete players, guys who have been traveling the world playing Satellites and Futures since they were 15. Now they’re 19, 20 and they’re men. My guys weren’t even shaving yet. They had no idea how to make a bed, do laundry. They would pack two left shoes. I had to teach them hygiene. [Laughs] But that even made it more gratifying. I was like a surrogate father to them, a mentor. It was really special. They’re like family now.
IT: Given your experience, I would guess that they really looked up to you. You did the grind. You toured, traveled, won…
KF: There isn’t anything I haven’t experienced in this game since being the No. 2 seed at the Boys’ 12s Nationals, then college and playing on the tour, Davis Cup, the Olympics. I was really able to impart that knowledge. Some of the most important things they learned were on some of the long van rides home. They would quiz me, drill me with questions. Over time, they all kind of got my knowledge through osmosis almost. It was poured over to them, and they became more composed, they had a certain confidence about them because I was there to assure them: “You’re going about it right.” I enjoyed that.
IT: How much work have you done with the USTA over the years?
KF: When I first got off the tour, I did a stint of about six months down in Key Biscayne with Nick Saviano, Tom Gullikson and Stan Smith. I’ve been in touch with Jose Higueras and Patrick McEnroe. American tennis is certainly a passion of mine and I’d love to see us producing champions at the rate we used to. I’d love to do my part.
IT: Before we go, I’ve got to ask you about throwing out the first pitch at Busch Stadium – not once but twice. As a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan, that must have been a thrill.
KF: I’ve got a Cardinals tattoo on my right shoulder. I was named after [former St. Louis slugger] Ken Boyer. I have a picture of myself sitting on his knee as a kid in a little Cardinal outfit. [Laughs]. That was really cool. I threw out the first pitch in ’85 when we won the U.S. Open and in ’88 when we won the gold medal. You can’t live in St. Louis and not be a Cardinal fan. You know who caught me the second time? Jack Buck [the late broadcaster]. I threw a perfect pitch right down the middle, right into his glove. It hit the center of his mitt and it dropped. He made me look like a total putz.
