“Don’t drop the ball too low, hit at hip level…Lisa, you always take the balls too high, take it here.” Ashot Mkrtchyan, trainer at the Tennis-club Guentrange, accompanies the shots of his proteges of the day. Setbacks in the middle of the race, volleys on the net, lobs, the coach pushes his youngsters to the maximum. On the upper ground, “Ludo” individualizes his session with the older ones. Three teenagers compete in an intensive king of the field, with themes. Sometimes specific cut backhand, sometimes long forehand. The physical trainer Tavi introduces the youngest to the practice of the yellow ball.
For one week – from July 18 to 22 – coaches from the Guentrange club supervise an intensive tennis course, under the watchful eye of Olivier, the sports manager. Seventeen children aged 6 to 14 meet at the center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Another intensive training is planned from August 16 to 20 at 190 €. The meal is taken from the bag.
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The pride of its president Robert Schmitt
Among these coaches is a top athlete. An international who has a selection in the Davis Cup – “the most prestigious of the annual international men’s tennis team competitions”. This local star is Ashot Mkrtchyan, who is the pride of its president Robert Schmitt.
This resident of Saulnes, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, became an Armenian international on June 20, during a Davis Cup match in Montenegro against Georgia. “It’s an immense pride to wear the jersey with the writing Armenia on the back”, recalls the tennis player. “We lost, but it’s a unique feeling. This first cape, he waited for it after years of complications, linked to his passport.
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More selections to come
The athlete does not intend to stop there. The Armenian number 2 or 3, ranked 3/6 for connoisseurs, intends to expand its number of selections. “The captain (tennis coach, editor’s note) told me that there is no reason why I should not be selected next year. Afterwards, it’s up to me to say whether I’m coming or not. But it can’t be refused too much, ”he jokes.
Arrived in France in 2009, the neo-international has been a coach at the Tennis Club Guentrange since 2016. He trains on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the club in the Thionvillois district. The rest of the week – except Sunday, the only day off – he advises young shoots in Luxembourg, in Esch-sur-Alzette. The tennis player continues to play tournaments. “It makes me busy days, I’m broken,” concludes Ashot Mkrtchyan. You have to stay competitive to be international.
