Rising American sensation
Alycia Parks shares one thing in common with
Serena Williams,
Venus Williams and
Andy Roddick and it is that they were all once coached by the legendary Rick Macci.
The Williams sisters and Roddick have been consistent throughout their careers, etching history in American tennis over and over again, and that boils down to the fact that they had their basics right. Macci played a pivotal role in all these players' success, as he enlightened them with fundamentals during their early days that improved their respective games considerably over the years.
Macci, for the uninitiated, is a seven-time USPTA National Coach of the Year and in 2010, he was inducted into the USPTA Florida Hall of Fame. Apart from the Williams sisters, Roddick and Parks, the 68-year-old also coached Maria Sharapova and Jennifer Capriati to greatness.
Parks added her name to the list of U.S. stars who have won a title this season, beating home favorite and World No. 5 Caroline Garcia in the final of the
Lyon Open on Sunday to win her maiden WTA title.
Hours after her win, Macci took to social media to recollect an old video of training a 10-year-old Parks. In the video, the American coach can be seen teaching the young player some basics on body positioning while taking serve.
He proudly reflected on having guided the World No. 51, implying that she could very well join the ranks of the Williams sisters and Roddick if she keeps this up.
"10-year-old Alycia Parks learning the serve with Coach Rick Macci. Venus - Serena - Roddick & now Parks .. all have one thing in common childhood Coach Rick Macci," he said.
Parks is on the rise, having reached a career-high ranking of World No. 51 on the WTA tour after her Lyon title run. She will be keen to improve even further and achieve similar success to others coached by Macci in the past.