Andy Brandi served as a partner of the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute since 2007 before joining the USTA staff in August 2010. From 2001-06, Brandi was Director of Tennis for IMG at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, and from 1984-2001, he was the head coach of the University of Florida women’s team. During his career, Brandi has worked with top professionals, including Elena Dementieva, Shahar Peer, Maria Kirilenko, Lisa Raymond, Ryan Sweeting and Jesse Levine. While at the University of Florida, he led the Gators to three NCAA Division I Team titles and coached four NCAA women’s singles champions and four NCAA doubles champions. Brandi is writing a blog for PlayerDevelopment.USTA.com for the next several weeks. In his third entry, he shares what a typical day is like for him, both on and off the court.
By Andy Brandi
I have the best job in the world. My day begins very early. I get up around 4 a.m. every day. This started back in the ’90s, when I was practicing martial arts and I met with my sensei three times a week at 6 a.m. Although I do not practice any longer, my timeclock still gets me up at 4.
My day starts by getting up to speed on what has happened and is going to happen in the tennis world. I look for results, tournament schedules and any other tennis happening for juniors as well as pros that day. It is important to me to be informed. I look for men’s and women’s information.
I like to be at the center by 7 a.m. to prepare myself for the day. That entails making a practice plan for the day, catching up with e-mails and making a schedule, which would include meetings or listing phone calls to be made.
Before going on court, I hit the gym for about 30 minutes to do a warm up. I find it interesting that we require our students to do one but we abstain from doing it. It is important that we lead by example. At the same time, I have to stay in shape to be able to do my job well. This includes doing the warm up and some fitness each day.
On court is the best part of the day. I could stay on court all day. Our schedule is two hours in the morning and then two in the afternoon. In the morning, we work on specifics and drill, and then in the afternoon, we play sets. Sometimes I just stay out there and kind of wander around and try to help other coaches or just observe. I am always looking for new drills or something to learn. I am always available to help any of the young coaches.
My job is great because I get to help kids become better tennis players and good people. I like to spend time with them off the court over lunch, just talking about them, their family or anything else that will let me understand them better. It is important to me that they are a whole person with good character.
It is a great job because I have the chance to learn, discuss, brainstorm and bounce ideas off of coaches, such as Tom Gullikson, Brad Stein, Nicolas Todero, Diego Moyano, Eric Nunez, Stanford Boster and others. I get to go to the lab and watch video or discuss tennis with Dave Ramos. All of this makes me a better coach each day. It expands my knowledge. It keeps me up to speed in the world of tennis.
My day ends with phone calls and e-mails. Sometimes nine holes of golf. The one thing that never shuts off is that I am always thinking about tennis in some way. In the middle of the night, I wake up and come up with some drill or ideas to help one of my students. Watching tennis on TV gives me another idea or perspective.
At the end of the day, I go to sleep eager to wake up the next day and start my dream life all over again!