'Even at 5-0 I'm still worried,' David Sammel reflects on almost 40 years of coaching
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Having coached Liam Broady, Arvind Parmar, Barry Cowan, Andrew Richardson, Miles Maclagan and Jamie Delgado across some of the biggest stages in tennis, David Sammel opens to Talking Tennis' Fergus Gavin up about almost 40 years of coaching, the pressure of match moments, and how mentality shapes champions.
Mentality in sport is arguably the defining factor between success and failure. Stress, pressure and anxiety are words all associated with tense moments in any athlete's career — and tennis players are no different.
But what happens, as a coach, when you find yourself a mere 10 metres away from your player, who is going through these exact, nerve-jangling moments?
David Sammel has been a tennis coach for 37 years and has been sat in the coach’s box of some of Britain's finest players.
Among them was Miles Maclagan, a Zambia-born British tennis player who reached the second round at Wimbledon in 1993 and 1995.
But it was in 1999, that Maclagan had arguably his biggest moment, the the first round at SW19 as he played on Centre Court against one of the titans of the sport — Boris Becker.
Maclagan managed to take a two set to love lead against the three-time Wimbledon winner, and had three match points on Becker's serve in the fourth set, before eventually losing in five sets.
"The first match point he didn't have a shot at. Becker serve and volleyed after a good first serve. But the second match point i knew Boris was going to go down the T with the serve and Miles had been picking that all day, on big points." Maclagan, however, had other ideas, trying to second guess Becker, thinking he might go wide with his serve on this occasion. The German didn't, and Maclagan reacted late, and "didn’t make a good return," Sammel lamented almost three decades later. But Maclagan still had a chance as Becker's next shot "wasn't great" and the Brit had a chance at a pass that was "centimetres" from landing in. Becker won the set and Sammel admitted he knew the match was done. "There was no way Miles was winning that fifth set."
"He (Maclagen) said afterwards, “I don’t know why, but I thought that suddenly, I’ve been picking that, he’ll go the other way," Sammel said of the post-match conversation he had with his player, reflecting on the T-serve that Miles didn't anticipate.
Post-match after such a brutal loss — and Sammel has witnessed those aplenty during his near four decades as a coach — is always a tough one.
"I usually go and sit next to them and wait for them to make the first move, because they are going through a whole lot of turmoil in their head and huge disappointment," Sammel explained. "Often they won't say anything and they get up, shower, and when they come back I'll say something along the lines of "tough one today, let's talk when you're ready.""
A mentally draining loss can be devastating especially as someone who was on the brink of a slice of history.
However, having that drive to go again is what Sammel has built a career on.
Taking positives from such moments can be a big ask.
"For me personally, I was disappointed, but also pretty excited. If you can play like that all the time, lets go! A big pillar of my coaching philosophy is that i show up the same every day, win or lose. Players have such an emotional rollercoaster and if as a coach you are also like that it becomes very difficult for them."
Tennis has, in principle, three professional tiers with Sammel coaching across all levels, from Futures — the lowest rung of the men's professional tennis ladder — via Challengers and up to the main ATP Tour, which is where the big boys come to play.
Coached by Sammel for the best part of a decade across two separate stints, Liam Broady was one of the 64-year-old's most recent charges. Broady spent much of his time on the Challenger circuit, in pursuit of reaching the top 100.
But the Challenger Tour can also lead to bigger things and as a Brit, nothing comes bigger than Wimbledon. After a memorable five-set win over Diego Schwartzman in 2022, Broady had to do it all over again, if he was to 'defend' those points in 2023, to give himself a shot at finally making it into tennis' promised land — the top 100.
After a routine win in Round 1 over France's Constant Lestienne, the more significant challenger of Casper Ruud awaited in Round 2, albeit on the Norwegian's least favourite surface — grass.
If the devastation sparked from painful defeats lives long in the memory, victories are often tough experiences too. And that sunny day at Wimbledon in early July 2023 was no different for Sammel, despite his vast experience of such situations.
It was a five-setter for Broady, and much like the match against Schwartzman a year earlier, the Brit had a commanding lead in the fifth. But still Sammel couldn't rest easy.
"I remember at five love in the fifth set being pretty nervous because I know how dangerous tennis can be. At that point Casper has got absolutely nothing to lose, so he might have a few swings and suddenly things can get away from you. I was really focused on that game. Do not think you're over the line, do not relax in any shape or form, just every point, just be there."
Broady stayed there, winning the fifth set 6-0. Later in 2023 he would finally achieve a lifelong dream, and enter the world's top 100, peaking at 93.
Sammel continues to be a recognised figure at the LTA and his academy continues to flourish and his reputation proceeds to grow as he does as a coach.
In 2024, Broady and Sammel went there separate ways, with Liam keen to get back on track following a tough spell with injuries.
Broady's ranking slipped to the mid-500s but has since climbed to 222, as he embarks on a qualification campaign at the French Open, at the time of writing.
Evolution as a coach and early mistakes
Reflecting on his career, Sammel has some core principles, whether coaching towards the very top, on Centre Court at Wimbledon, or much further down the tennis pyramid with youngsters, aspiring to one day walk onto the hallowed turf in South-West London.
Indeed, Sammel is not much interested in the aesthetics. Beauty is in the result.
"I've always focused on output. Keep your balance. I've seen players with beautiful technique, but they didn't have control of the ball."
Less can be more too, when it comes to coaching.
"My failure in the early days was that I over-coached," Sammel explains. "You have to be careful with how much you give to a player. I was giving too much feedback. My advice to any young coach is don't feel as though you have to be saying something to a player all the time."
Sammel made it clear that he keeps things simple and he has evolved his coaching throughout his time to find the ideal mix for his players.
"You will get the same from me every single time i show up," he continued. "Nothing will ever change on my part so the player knows what they get when being coached by me."
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