Mary Pierce played professional tennis in one of the most remarkable eras ever in the history of women’s tennis. Her rivals were Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario who accounted for 35 majors. (Graf – 22, Seles – 9, Sanchez-Vicario – 4) Despite this rugged competition, Pierce was able to wedge out two major titles – the 1995 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open – while also posting four runner-up showings at majors (1994 and 2004 French, 1997 Australian, 2005 U.S. Open). She won 18 career singles titles, 10 career doubles titles (including the 2000 French Open) and also helped France win two Fed Cup titles in a career that has gained her near entry into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Legendary coach Rick Macci worked for a period of time with Pierce and profiles her in his book “Macci Magic! Extracting Greatness From Yourself And Others” (available for sale here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559254/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_qxdsxb0KPYBAQ. The excerpt from his chapter on Pierce is found here below.
I first saw Mary Pierce play tennis when she was 12 years old; she had very good compact strokes. The forehand and backhand were very solid and she was going to be a strong girl, so I knew off the ground she would have firepower when she went onto the pro tour. Her athletic ability was OK. It wasn’t off the charts but it wasn’t going to be a detriment. Her serve could be developed. This probably was when she was about age 15, when I was in Delray Beach and Venus and Serena were 11 and 12.
The Pierces decided to leave IMG Academy because they felt they weren’t getting enough attention. I talked to Mary’s father, Jim, and worked out an arrangement where I got them a place to live and she could train at the academy and I’d give her a hitting partner. And we’d eventually work a deal out so I could help her more and more and she could play out of the academy. She was just starting to dabble on the pro tour at 16 years old, playing some $25,000 tournaments and some $50,000 tournaments.
What I really liked about Mary was the power she possessed. She didn’t back up at all. She took the ball early. Her groundstrokes were very compact on both sides. Basically, she just hit the crap out of the ball! Full throttle! I guess you could say piercing, but I won’t say that.
But it was very obvious to me that Jim was very controlling and it was him really living through his daughter. The mom hardly said a word and Mary didn’t have a lot to say and brother David was quite young at the time, so he was just kind of there at the academy hitting balls. It was really Jim and he’d do some drills with her. I remember a drill called the Colombian Suicide Drill in which he’d throw balls to her. I have no idea what the benefit of this was but it made him feel good. But Jim is a good guy. He wanted to be in control like most of the fathers but he couldn’t hit the ball and really didn’t have the idea of the technical part or strategic part. Yet like most of these fathers they want the credit and that was fine. I just wanted to help her and she was a great girl. But even when she was 16 years old, I knew she wasn’t going to be a Venus or Serena Williams, even though they were only 11 and 10 and little kids. No one thought that Venus and Serena were good at a young age, they just saw mistakes and they just saw what they wanted to see. Remember there is an art to really evaluating talent and few possess that vision and can feel the future.
Nothing was going to make me take the eye off the ball with Venus and Serena even though I had this girl, who is 16 years old and she’s starting to beat people ranked No. 80, 90, 100 in the world. I was having a coach from the academy go with her to tournaments, so we were really trying to help her in this situation. Whenever I had a chance, I’d spend time with her and work with her. But I provided, more importantly, the environment because I was spending so much time with the Williams girls. Then when we wanted to enter into a contract — I’ll never forget this — Jim went to IMG and they prepared a contract and in the contract it said if I want to say anything to Mary I have to tell Jim first, then he would tell Mary. And I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I don’t even think I read the rest of it. I just crumbled it up and shot a 10-foot jump shot into the trash can (made it. Basketball days, Greenville, Ohio) and said, “You can practice here and whatever you want to do is fine” because obviously he wanted control of the situation and I just didn’t need that type of situation. I wanted to help everybody and, more importantly, my main focus was Venus and Serena. If I was going to go really above and beyond something I didn’t need to deal with that.
We just helped them out. And then I said to Jim, “Since we’re not going to do the deal you’ve got to take care of your own condo. Your daughter is starting make some money now.” That didn’t sit too well with him. He got a little upset with that one. But that’s the way it is.
I remember one day, a bit later on, I was waiting for her on the court at 7 in the morning in Delray. They were staying on the fifth floor at the old Laver’s tennis resort where they have these high-rise condos and I hear an argument up there. All of a sudden I see clothes flying through the air like kites as the hitting partner and I are waiting down below on the court. I guess there was some argument or something and it was just kind of interesting to see all this stuff flying down. Fifteen minutes later Mary comes down and she feels badly and apologizes and gives me a note apologizing. She was embarrassed about what happened. She was such a sweet kid but very mentally strong. I really admired that quality. I feel I probably helped instill that attribute and it helped make Mary a better player.
I told Jim, “Listen, I know you’ve driven a lot of stuff into her but you don’t want to drive her away from you because at 18 you never know what’s going to happen.” Lo and behold at 18 years old the whole thing took a wrong turn and she didn’t want him around. That was unfortunate because Jim’s a good guy and I like him and it was more about him and a strong ego. Jim did a great job getting her to where she got to. She won the French Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005 and was ranked as high as No. 3 in 1995.
As far as pure striking of the ball, the forehand and the backhand, Jennifer Capriati is No. 1 and Mary Pierce is No. 1-A. Mary was right behind her. I’ve seen her take Steffi Graf and a lot of people to the woodshed playing right through them. You talk about someone who could just annihilate you with just raw power. Even on clay Mary could do that. When she’s fearless and she’s on a mission, you talk about someone who could just play through someone with relentless power. Wow!
It wasn’t a long relationship with Mary, even though Jim stayed there for four or five years. But Mary was an awesome kid and deserved whatever came her way. I think if she’d had a little more indepth coaching and a little better athleticism and really learned how to change the pace and slice the ball, coupled with that power, she could have played up even another level. She had a great career and just like Jennifer Capriati, she could overwhelm anybody if she was confident. Because she was rock solid on both the forehand and backhand side and because she took the ball early, she going to be able to dictate matches on her terms. When you play someone like that you’ve got to be careful because they could beat anybody, anytime, anywhere. But if you’re not dialed in, it could be trouble and sometimes Mary’s phone was not working!
Looking back on working with her and helping her, even though she was a pro and I felt she had Top 10 written all over her, I knew these two younger warriors from Compton, Calif., could transcend the game. So my loyalty or my true dedication, if I was going to have to go above and beyond the call of duty, was always going to be with Venus and Serena.
