The last time I spent $1,500 in one hour, the scenario involved chips, cards, a green velvet table and blurred vision. $1,500 is also the fee for a one-hour, private lesson with unquestionably the world's most renowned tennis coach, Nick Bollettieri. Returns on investments of this nature can be significant -- just ask Andre Agassi (career earnings of $30 million and counting), Jennifer Capriati, Jim Courier and Maria Sharapova, to name a few of the stars he has coached.
Nick Bollettieri
At the age of 32 and certainly past my prime, I decided to pass on the $1,500 lesson and settle for an exclusive interview with the man who has his finger firmly on the pulse of the tennis world on a range of topics including the next Japanese tennis sensation, the problems with Japanese tennis, umpiring, rule changes, underachievers and just how world No. 1 Roger Federer would have matched up against former greats.