Shahar Peer's Coach Talks About Visit to Dubai

Written by Mike McIntyre | 23 February 2010

It was just over a year ago that I first took serious notice of Shahar Peer. Unfortunately it was not due to her results on the tennis court but rather for the uproar that was generated when she attempted to join the playing field in the 2009 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. As the 45^th ranked in the world at the time, Peer should have been allowed to participate in the tournament. Instead, her request for a visa into the United Arab Emirates was denied, and tournament officials hid behind claims of security concerns to justify their decision. The tournament proceeded despite Peer’s exclusion, although the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour levied a fine of $300,000 on the tournament and threatened to remove the event from the schedule in 2010 if Peer was not allowed to compete.

Fast-forward one year and Peer’s first visit to Dubai turned out to be a Cinderella story that captivated those both inside and outside of the tennis world. Despite being up against some of the best players on the tour, the now 22^nd ranked Peer put in one of the best showings of her young career. Along the way to the semi-finals, she defeated 13^th seeded Yanina Wickmayer, 2009 finalist Virginie Razzano, top seeded Caroline Wozniacki and 8^th seeded Li Na before falling to eventual champion Venus Williams, 6-1, 6-4.

In many ways Peer’s visit was groundbreaking and resulted in success both on the court with her play and off it as well with her courage and positive attitude. Many players would not have risked their safety by venturing into such a situation. The Emirates do not allow Israeli’s into their country and for that reason alone Peer’s conduct and bravery have been most admirable. There were no incidents during her stay in Dubai and she spoke positively about the experience.

Still, there were restrictions placed on her during her stay that take away from the wonderful story this should be. Again using the crutch of safety as their justification, tournament officials confined Peer to her own separate locker room, made her play all of her matches on a remote outside court, denied regular media access to her and even limited her stay in Dubai to the tournament site or her hotel room.

Throughout it all however, Peer maintained a grounded and upbeat attitude and looked upon the experience as a step in the right direction both personally and professionally speaking. Two days after the women’s tournament ended, I had the opportunity to interview Peer’s coach, Pablo Giacopelli and delve further into the significance that this tournament has had for them both and for the future of Shahar’s career.

Giacopelli began coaching Shahar Peer back in November of 2008. He had just finished coaching Kaia Kanepi where he helped her ranking go from 80^th to 25^th in the world and attain the quarter-finals of the French Open. Giacopelli heard that Peer was looking for a coach and her manager Amit Naor heard that the coach was looking for a new player. The rest as they say is history.

Here is the Q&A that followed between Pablo and I. It is an interesting glimpse into the professional relationship between a player and coach as well as an in-depth look into their recent trip to Dubai.

Tennis Diary: What are some areas of Shahar’s game that you have seen progress since you became her coach and what areas still remain to improve upon?

Pablo Giacopelli: Her whole game has changed. When we started working together Shahar was a counter puncher that relied very much of the other person making mistakes and her taking opportunities that were presented to her instead of her creating these opportunities for herself. To change this is a very difficult thing to do as you are essentially changing the very nature of the player and the way they play the game. Still, I knew that this was the only way to move forward and for her to turn her career around. We began working on her forehand and serve and patterns of play that would bring order into her game.

These changes of course took longer than they should have done because of two unexpected interruptions we had with the visa denial in Dubai last year and Shahar getting a stress fracture on her right foot which took her out of the game for ten weeks. Once we got the three months of solid tennis I knew we needed to have for her to assimilate these changes then things began to come together. I think these areas I have mentioned can still improve as she uses them and puts them into practice over and over. Her physical fitness has also improved though I believe she can still become stronger and quicker around the court.

Tennis Diary: What do you think her potential is?

Pablo Giacopelli: I believe that she is definitely a top 15 player with potential to become a top 10 in time. I say in time as I believe that breaking into the top ten takes time and perseverance and it is through this time that you to build the necessary elements that will then help you to stay within the top ten once you get there. Usually those that burst with a bang into the top 10 also leave with a bang before they know it. (This is) something that happened to Shahar in the past, though she only reached a career high ranking of 15. We are working hard to help her grow as a player and a person so that the same fall does not take place next time she reaches the top.

Tennis Diary: Did Shahar ever think of staying away from the Dubai event or was she always 100% interested in competing there?

Pablo Giacopelli: Not going to Dubai was never an option especially after what had happened last year and the fact that the tournament was made to guarantee her a visa and even a place in the draw through a wild card if she did not gain direct entry into the event this year in case her ranking was not high enough though this was not the case.

Tennis Diary: Was there any apprehension or fear on the part of Shahar, yourself or her father about going to Dubai? Did you feel safe throughout the event?

Pablo Giacopelli: I believe that there was a concern from both sides as we unfortunately are indirectly part of a bigger conflict that has been going on for centuries, which we have nothing to do with or have contributed in any way towards making it happen. This conflict of course brings with many ramifications for both sides and one of those is the possible unfortunate event of falling prey to it. During our time in Dubai we felt safe and very well cared for by the people that were in charge of taking care of us and our safety.

Tennis Diary: Do you feel the security measures taken were justified or were things blown out of proportion?

Pablo Giacopelli: This unfortunately is something I cannot comment on as I was not aware of all that could have been potentially been going on behind the scenes, especially after the assassination of a top Hamas general on Dubai soil. In other words, what I or we might have considered over the top might have been justified by the possible threats the security people were aware of that we were not.

Tennis Diary: Did you have any restrictions placed on you while in Dubai or were they just placed on Shahar?

Pablo Giacopelli: The only restrictions I had placed upon me were to not discuss the security issues with anyone, which I think was fair enough considering the situation and possible risks at hand. The restrictions that Shahar had did not apply to me at all as I am not Israeli and I was not staying with them.

Tennis Diary: What did Shahar do with so much free time at the hotel and how did she feel about being confined there? Were you not allowed to stay at the same hotel?

Pablo Giacopelli: She only had a considerable amount of free time after she lost in the doubles as she had been playing up to that point two matches a day with the last matches finishing around 6 pm or thereabouts. After that she spent her time on the internet at the hotel and just reading and spending time with herself and dad who was staying with her. I chose to stay in a different hotel though I could have stayed with them. On a side note, I believe every situation in life presents you with an opportunity, and without exception this one did just that as it allowed Shahar time to think and focus on things that perhaps in the past she had not been able to or aware of because of how she used her free time when she had no restrictions on her movements.

Tennis Diary: Is it true the press was not allowed to ask her questions during the tournament?

Pablo Giacopelli: The press was allowed to speak to her. The only thing that was different the first few days we were there was that only one member of the press was allowed to come to the place where she was whilst at the tournament and ask her all the questions and then on his or her own return to the press room share out her answers to the rest of the media and journalists. As the days went by more and more people seemed to come to speak to her after her matches. I was of course available without restriction and in fact spoke to various journalists every day.

Tennis Diary: How much attention has this story received back in Israel?

Pablo Giacopelli: The story has been huge for two reasons. One the history it has and the history it was making and two the huge run and success Shahar had whilst in Dubai. After returning (to Israel) it is still getting much press as it was a truly historical breakthrough not just for her tennis but also for an Israeli woman to play in a place like Dubai for the first time.

Tennis Diary: Shahar is a top-25 player, but her results in Dubai and the quality of players she defeated were most impressive. To what do you attribute her excellent play throughout the tournament? Was the adversity she faced off the court partly responsible for her determined play on the court?

Pablo Giacopelli: I think it is important to take notice of the fact that she is a climbing top 25 player and not one that has been there for the last 2 years. In fact I believe after Dubai she should be once again in the top 20. Her impressive run is a continuation of the momentum she has been building up since the US Open last year. I believe that is the evidence of all the work we have been doing. Of course these type of situations tend to spark something inside Shahar, however, I don’t believe she would have done this well, no matter how big the spark was, if her level of tennis was not where is at today which as we saw was good enough to beat two top 10 players, a top 15, and the last year’s runner-up in Dubai.

Tennis Diary: How was she able to maintain such a positive attitude about this entire experience? Did all of the restrictions frustrate her to a certain degree?

Pablo Giacopelli: Well we prepared ourselves before going there mentally as we knew that it would be a completely different experience to what we were normally used to. I obviously went out of my way to reassure her and encourage her at all times that she was there to play and to show the tennis world what she was made of. We focused on one thing at a time each day and one challenge at a time. We did not focus on what was going on around us believe it or not and as difficult as that was at times. I think the only frustration she had was that she could not see the beautiful place Dubai is or go up to the top of the tallest building in the world.