Jannik Sinner<\/a>, and they even have the same agent, Alex Vittur.<\/p>\n\u201cYes, they know each other, they\u2019re friends. Sometimes they even train together. It\u2019s a huge opportunity for her, and she\u2019s very lucky to be able to spend time with him and talk to him. But the main drive comes directly from her,\u201d Francesca confirms.<\/p>\n
Not chasing results<\/p>\n
What makes Schiavone stand out as a coach is her systematic and mature approach. She doesn\u2019t get carried away by immediate success and refuses to put pressure on her player just to climb the rankings quickly or to play prestigious tournaments.<\/p>\n
She made this clear when discussing the upcoming American swing and the US Open: \u201cThe truth is, after a tough month that Lilli went through, I considered canceling the American tour. Because it\u2019s crucial that she approaches everything with real value. <\/p>\n
“When she\u2019s truly ready to compete, to improve, to be healthy, and to be part of the development process – instead of just chasing results,\u201d Schiavone explains her clear philosophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ready to say: \u2018No, we\u2019re not going.\u2019 But now an opportunity has opened up, and Lilli herself will decide whether she wants to go to America. In just a week, she managed to put together a lot of things she couldn\u2019t grasp before. She\u2019s grown into it,\u201d the coach suggests, indicating that the Prague tournament can\u2019t be judged by results alone.<\/p>\n
The legendary Italian player knows that she and her young protege still have a long road ahead, and that every step must be built on a solid foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest and most important thing is that Lilli absorbs things, learns, and, most importantly, wants it herself. She\u2019s very smart. Once she understands something, she goes after it. But everything has its time – we can\u2019t expect too much from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why are Italy on top?<\/p>\n
Schiavone herself was at the start of the great golden era of Italian tennis, winning the Fed Cup three times and triumphing at Roland Garros in 2010. Today, Italy is a tennis powerhouse. And the former world number four explains why that might be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a world number one, it pulls everyone along. Every young player suddenly thinks: \u2018Why not me?\u2019\u201d Francesca explains the psychological effect of Sinner\u2019s current success.<\/p>\n
The second reason, she says, is purely practical and economic. \u201cIn Italy, we have a huge opportunity to play lots of home tournaments from the youth categories up. Thanks to tournaments at home, you don\u2019t have to spend so much on travel, and young players get a chance to go down the right path, even if they don\u2019t have unlimited financial resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another unique detail about the young Austrian\u2019s game that catches fans\u2019 attention – her one-handed backhand. In today\u2019s women\u2019s tennis, it\u2019s a rare shot. But Schiavone denies that it\u2019s her influence, even though she used it herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, she already played like that when she came to me. She decided to play that way herself, probably around age 12,\u201d Francesca smiles, then goes into a detailed analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we have to fine-tune the details. The feet need to be there a bit earlier, we have to mix in the slice, the flat shot, and the topspin. There are a lot of options on one side, so it\u2019s complicated. But Lilli loves that shot and has a great feel and talent for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Inspired by Czech tennis<\/p>\n
Even though Tagger has just celebrated the biggest success of her career at the threshold of adulthood, Schiavone refuses to rush anything. Everything has its time and system. In the team, where former player Lorenzo Frigerio complements the technical side, they rely on open dialogue.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot before, but now it\u2019s all about dialogue. I ask her: \u2018What do you think? What\u2019s best for you? How can we improve this?\u2019 It\u2019s teamwork,\u201d Schiavone describes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important thing is for her to keep learning, stay healthy, and keep developing. The process is always more important than immediate results.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lorenzo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ab46fda2-9777-4882-944d-9ce118a71a9c.jpg\" "\\"Lorenzo")
Lorenzo Frigerio and Francesca Schiavone, coaching team of Lilli Tagger\u010cTK \/ imago sportfotodienst \/ Juergen Hasenkopf<\/p>\n
The Milan native also has great respect for the environment where this new title was won. She\u2019s been closely observing how things are done in the Czech Republic and doesn\u2019t hide her enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, I walked around the courts here in Prague and watched the local kids training. I really like the Czech technical school – I absolutely love it. I\u2019ve been watching your system for a long time and would love to learn even more details about it. <\/p>\n
“I like how your players hit the ball, how cleanly they accelerate, and the feel they have – just like\u00a0Muchova<\/a> or Krejcikova. I\u2019m trying to pick up a few things myself,\u201d she paid tribute to Czech tennis.<\/p>\nAnd how does the champion herself enjoy her role on the bench? \u201cI\u2019m calm! There are no nerves, I don\u2019t have to run and sweat on the court anymore, I just sit and tell her what to do,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only get nervous when Lilli isn\u2019t doing what she\u2019s capable of, or when she strays from her path. If she leaves everything on the court and plays her game, losing doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schiavone knows the journey is just beginning. And even though Tagger has already won her first adult title as a teenager, she smiles and declines to talk about the future. \u201cShe\u2019s young, talented. But we have to be realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You couldn\u2019t miss her in the past – despite her small stature, she was impossible to overlook on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-715284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}