'A NEVER ENDING EGO'

"Whatever I tell him to do he does, I enjoy going out there training with him". ( Lleyton Hewitt )
That comment was printed in today's West Australian Newspaper as the hysteria around young Aussie/Spaniard Alex De Minaur grows to fever pitch.
At last, Australian tennis fans have someone to cheer on who is not a big mouth, who gives his all and who speaks well. All in all Alex De Minaur is a nice young man, however let's reiterate something that I wrote just a short time ago.
Alex De Minaur is coached by a Spanish tennis coach and trains on clay in Spain.
OK now that we have established that fact once again let's look to that statement by Lleyton Hewitt who can't quite believe his luck at present because let's face it, Lleyton is once again firmly in the spotlight. Why ?
Well it's simple really, Alex De Minaur has Lleyton sitting in the stands at most of his matches and whenever Alex does something special the camera drifts towards Lleyton and then the commentators go weak at the knees as they speak of 'similarities' and 'mentoring'.
It's one of those sporting stories that has Journalists salivating about because they are probably tired of the last few years where Tomic and Kyrgios have hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. This story is a bit more positive though I can't help think that Lleyton Hewitt is trying to claim some of the accolades for Alex and that to me is uncool.
It's one thing to hit with a player, it's another to have brought them up from knee high to a grasshopper into a technically and mentally gifted player. Tennis however is full of stories like that as some coaches go to extraordinary lengths to 'claim' players as basically their own product.
" Whatever I tell him to do he does ".
A never ending ego will come out with that type of statement every day of the week as it puts the focus right on you as THE ONE who is teaching the student how to play the game. Bad choice of words ? 
Well personally I would have said something like this, 'Whatever I SUGGEST to young Alex he appears to be able to implement into our strategy sessions'.
But that's just me.
Tennis coaching at any level is full of people who go 'pupil hunting' and any tennis coach who has ever run a program will talk about past players who have been poached by coaches who liked what they saw so in a nutshell this is what happened;
The 'poach coach' spoke to the student, they spoke to the student's parents and they offered something else, something that quite possibly sounded fantastic in regards to some sort of enticement. Maybe discounted racket restringing, clothes, shoes and lessons, the whole package so to speak. 
Many in fact take up the new offer, good luck to 'em, each to their own way of trying to make their way up the ladder of tennis success. 
I would like to see one thing from someone like Hewitt who has been lucky enough to be handed a player for training purposes, set an example.
'Alex is certainly heading in the right direction with his tennis and his coach Adolfo Gutierrez has done wonders with him in Spain, we are simply reaping the rewards of that hard work'. ( That would be my personal line )
Once, JUST ONCE I would like to read about credit where credit is due and Lleyton Hewitt needs to extract his head out of his own bum for 2 minutes and accept the fact that his current hitting sessions with Alex have been made possible by COACH ADOLFO GUTIERREZ. 
I suppose though if he did that it would direct the spotlight away from him and as we all know in tennis, the spotlight is everything.
Perhaps Tennis Australia could also acknowledge the fact that Alex De Minaur is not a product of their system nor a product of Lleyton Hewitt's 'expertise' but correct me if I am wrong, that would also take the spotlight away from their apparent 'success' with the new 'Aussie' Tennis Hero.
Tennis is a unique sport because it takes egotistical behaviour to dizzy heights but the problem I believe may just lay with hierarchy first and foremost. Magnus Norman got it right with his take on tennis after Wawrinka won the French a couple of years back as he knew he wasn't the one who taught Stan how to play, he was just lucky to work with him at the time.
At least he was big enough to admit it.
Takes a big person to admit that they aren't responsible for a student's success in sport, but people who own a never ending ego will continue to claim accolades that are not deserved. 
Nature of the sport of tennis.........