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Craig Webster
Craig is currently looking for an opportunity to take students to the next level. He wishes to help current WTA or ATP players or even ITF juniors to progress to the next level and be the best they can be. He would love to work at an Academy or directly with that player transferring his experience and knowledge onto those player(s).
Qualifications
Certified to the Highest Level ITF Level III
Founder member of PTR Trained directly with Dennis Van de Meer as a master Pro and National Tester in the USA
Coaching times & fees
Please contact Craig directly by emailing him at Craig@webstartennis.com or go to his main website www.webstartennis.com
Further information
Craig was in charge of the German Federations Womens National Team in 1984.
Craig recently did a stint with the Taiwan Federation training the top coaches.
Fantastic promotional video on the impact that Craig can have on a players career. Just look at the players that have been around Craig and see for yourself.
Some pictures of Craig and his motley crew, from Nastase to Smith, from Steffi to Bettina. Craig has really enjoyed a fantastic time in tennis.
Experience
Craig Andrew Webster was born in Johannesburg South African on the 30 August 1951 of Scottish and Yorkshire descent. He excelled in sports and in Leadership roles at School. After his military service where he was a Physical Education Instructor he concentrated on tennis full time and had jobs at Court & Sport and Eric Sturgess sports shops to pay bills and save for his overseas trip. Craig was coached by Franjo Puncec, Russell Seymour and Lou Silvester.
In 1970 Craig decided to travel on the European Tour. The new format of the ATP came into fruition in 1973 and he quickly realised that he would not be able to make a full living on tour, which resulted in him finishing in 1974. During that time Craig made personal friendships with some of the legends of the game including Ilie Nastase, Stan Smith, Roger Taylor, Kim Warwick, Harry Turnbill, Ion Tiriac, a young Bjon Borg and many more.
In 1974 Stan Smith arranged a job for Craig at the world Famous Fonteinbleu Hotel on Collins Ave South Beach Miami, where his coaching career started working for the late Gardner Mulloy the famous American top tenner. In 1976 Craig returned to South Africa and started working with all the top juniors and was the Gauteng Central provincial coach. In 1976-77 Craig worked for Dennis van der Meer and achieved his certification as a master Pro and National Tester in the USA. In 1980 and 81 Craig was the first and to date the only coach to undertake multi racial top junior tours to Florida and NY. The kids did brilliantly winning many tournaments and competed at the Orange Bowl world junior Champs and the Rolex Champs bumping into a very young Jim Courier, Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom.
On returning from the tours Craig worked with Tanya Harford, Robbie Venter and other top South African players on both the WTA and ATP tour. In 1984 through Niki Pilic, Craig was given the opportunity to coach the German National Womens Team which include Claudia Kohde Kilsch , Bettina Bunge and a young Steffi Graf who was already going to be the next great womens star.
There has been a gap in Craig’s resume on the tennis front due to inheriting a family business outside of the industry, however this makes Craig even more passionate about the game and the value he can bring to professional ATP / WTA players or striving ITF juniors.
Craig misses the passion, competition and challenge of using his knowledge and experience in having played with and coached the very best in the world so he has decided to re-enter the Tennis Industry and has started the WEBSTAR TENNIS brand.
Testimonial
During the period in which we worked together, I found Craig to be professional in his approach and completely capable of coaching a top professional player. He assisted me with all the small details that many coaches fail to do. Especially the thorough opponent scouting and pre match strategy planning. Craig has an excellent eye for detail and can read the game, detect minor technical weaknesses, and fix them. He also exposes your opponents weaknesses and capitalizes on them. Craig has a very good disposition when dealing with Tournament Directors, Officials, and the Media. His advice with regards to addressing tough Media questions, made a huge difference in how I was able to perform on court. I can say with all honesty, that if I was still in the top ten on the WTA Tour, I would have no hesitation in employing Craig as my coach and mentor!
Bettina Bunge, former WTA Pro Player
Testimonial
Craig Webster approached my Dad and me one Sunday afternoon when we were just starting to try tennis and asked if he could be my coach. My life was forever changed. Craig proceeded to mold me into a top player that was supremely fit, technically sound on every shot but above all highly motivated and determined to succeed. Craig’s enthusiasm was infectious to the point where he was not only able to motivate every kid in his program but the parents too. He inspired every one of us to not only dream of someday being great but to be willing to sacrifice and pay the price physically and mentally to get there. His attention to detail on the technical side was second to none. He would simply not allow any of his students to hit the ball with anything but a perfect swing every time. He possesses a genius way of identifying and then fixing root flaws in anyone’s swing no matter how bad it is when they get to him. Craig always believed that hard work, determination and mental toughness can win over sheer talent and spent more time than any other coach doing classroom like mental sessions with chalkboards and video support. When it came to fitness for tennis he believes this is the one area you have total control over. He is always on the cutting edge of fitness drills for tennis with often times brutal work outs that he would participate in himself so that no student would dare complain. He is forever honing his trade, talking and listening to anything that anyone has to say when it comes to tennis, analysing video and watching matches. If he shows up to watch your match your level went up immediately once you saw his face. I remember countless matches where I was down a set or so and came back to win when he arrived just because he has that calming effect on you that makes you think clearer and execute better. Craig was constantly broadening his horizons and thinking outside the box whether it was taking his entire program to the US to compete in tournaments like the Orange Bowl or to Europe to play on the red clay. He’s has had a major impact on my life as a role model, father figure, motivator, teacher, psychiatrist and friend. I am now a teacher myself and owe a lot of my successes to him for showing me how much of an impact a teacher can make on someone’s life.
John Fraser, former Student and now USPTA / USPTR Certified Director of Tennis
Testimonial
This letter serves to confirm that the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association employed Mr Craig Webster as the summer Camp Head Foreign Coach; Mr Webster brought some superb new ideas and methods with his approach to the current trends in world tennis coaching Coach Webster’s job was to arrange the curriculum for our B and A level Coaches Conference and to implement a training program , coach and improve our top Elite Junior Players Craig classes were excellently prepared and presented whereby all stakeholders were completely satisfied with the results and information they received. Students and Coaches a like were more than satisfied with the precise detail and precision that Mr Webster went into both on court and in the classroom We found Mr Webster to be completely competent and have a pleasant friendly method and manner in achieving his results. Based on this performance the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association can highly recommend Mr Webster in all aspects of International Tennis training and will certainly consider employing him again in the future
Mr Liaw Yu Huei - President of the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association
