Last December I spoke to Oana Simion about life on the road as a Professional Tennis Player. It was very insightful and interesting. In my hope to tell the true stories of tennis, covering all aspects and all levels I wanted to see the journey from the other side and hear from a Tennis coach. I am delighted to say that Artemon Apostu – Efremov coach of Romanian rising star Anca Todoni has agreed to talk to me.

BACKHAND BOBBY Artemon, thank you for your time in doing this. Can we start with a few general questions about you and your career as a coach. Please tell us about your background and what made you interested in going into coaching?

ARTEMON Hi Bobby Thank you for your interest. Going into coaching felt natural to me. Even during my pro life i graduated from the University of Physical Education and Sports and then somehow my career as a pro took a big setback when i had a very bad knee injury when i was 22 years old. Then around late 20s i started a bit as a player -coach role, travelling with players and still playing for myself. So the transition felt natural. Also, since most of my career as a player i had to travel alone since i couldn’t afford a coach, I had to really develop the skills of helping myself and reading the game.

BACKHAND BOBBY Coaching in tennis is an interesting dynamic because the player employes the coach and effectively is in charge but is also asking for guidance and support – you want to be honest and fair but could also be sacked. How do you strike that balance?

ARTEMON True…that is one of the particularities of tennis and mostly I think it relies on the education, communication skills and understanding of both player and coach. It is a complex relationship between coach and player and I think with experience from both sides they can make it work since it is common interest. Also good initial contracts help because they set the right boundaries and expectations.

BACKHAND BOBBY Please can you tell us a little about life on the road as a coach? You must travel with your player so much and spend a lot of time with them, what is that like and how important is the off court relationship in the road to success? Can you spend too much time with each other and can that be counterproductive?

ARTEMON Indeed, you end up spending a lot of time with the player and for me it is important that we have a very good relationship on and off court. But there are also other coaches and players that resume strictly to tennis. Also spending a lot of time together can lead to frictions. That is why we tend to work as a group ( with Irina Begu it was me and Adrian Cruciat and we split the travelling). Even now as we speak Anca is travelling to Madrid with Adrian Gavrila (he is one of the 3 coaches that works with Anca) . And we have been doing that for over 15 years and it is working because it brings always a fresh voice but with the same principles of tennis.

BACKHAND BOBBY The in play coaching rules have now been relaxed, I used to be against on court coaching but the more I experience it, its more of a support than anything and I think it is useful but in some cases it can create a hostile atmosphere at times. What are your views on on court coaching? Good or bad? Useful?

ARTEMON If you refer to the former on court coaching by WTA (once a set) i kind of hate it. Because most of the time you didn’t know when you are called, it took a while to get there and then there was always the presure of delivering something in such a short frame of time (under 1 minute most of the times). I really think that the way things are put in place now is more effective and helpful for both player and coaches.

BACKHAND BOBBY There are so many really good young female Romanian players on tour now, late teens, early 20s however Anca Todoni (20) is already in a different league. She has the strongest mentality I have ever seen in a player her age, maturity well beyond her years. That must be a coach’s dream to work with, tell us a little bit about how important it is to have that strong mind, and what you do to keep her incredible focus and concentration when she is on the match court?

ARTEMON Yes… Anca first of all has a very good education, strong life principles and she is very determined. We saw that when we met her (at 16 years ). Since then it is an ongoing project of development which it will last till the day of her retirement. And i can tell you she wasn’t always like that but her will to adapt, improve and get better every day is something that amazes me every day and I respect her a lot and i appreciate all the effort she puts in. We anyalse the matches, we watch players, we discuss a lot and we set goals on tennis and attitude.

BACKHAND BOBBY I first saw Anca live in Cluj 24, the talent was clear, very powerful, big weapons but I felt she was a rough diamond at the time, her acceleration over the last year, including 3 x WTA 125 titles, Grand Slam qualifications, now a Top 100 debut has been outstanding, and I watch her now, so much better than a year ago but I actually think she has more gears to go through – what do you feel are the main improvements? What are the goals and how far can she go?

ARTEMON Very good observation. I also think she has more to prove and a lot to develop . And it will happen, i am sure of that. We only need to be patient, build brick by brick so we make her strong without taking any risks that might come due to overloading. As you can see we did this in the past 3 and a half years and she exceeded my expectations by almost a year (i projected top 100 by the end of 2025). I have to understand that coming from Romania is not that easy to acces the top. Basically you do it on your own, without the help of a strong federation or oportunities to get Wild Cards on big tournaments. This is even more amazing the way she succeded so far.

BACKHAND BOBBY Simona Halep is arguably the biggest sportstar ever from Romania, recently retired and for a long time Anca has been tipped as a successor to her throne, that kind of pressure must be unbearable at times but she seems to relish in it. Is the Simona shadow a good thing or a bad thing?

ARTEMON Simona is an inspiration for every girl that plays tennis in Romania. But i can tell you that this comparison with Simona is more of a media thing. Of course Anca admires her and she takes a lot from her like the fighting spirit and the top professional behaviour on and off court. But she has her own way and one can only dream to reach the succes of what Simona had. Time will tell.

BACKHAND BOBBY And finally I’m a proper (left) handed, single handed backhand serve and volley player, what advice can you give me to get past the first round of my club’s summer tournament this year?

ARTEMON you are left handed then slice the serve on Ad side wide in the stands 2 times and 3rd fast to the T. You kill everyone with it. I hate it vs lefties. Regarding serve and volley it is not much on my alley since we are raised on clay. I am sure you can provide me with some tips on that :)). And on the BH… good stability on the left shoulder during the shot and proper hip rotation will be enough to pass the summer matches with success.

BACKHAND BOBBY Artemon thank you again so much for your time, good luck for the future, we are all very excited to see Anca take the next big steps – Never Surrender