The Belarusian tennis player Uladzimir Ignatik (24), who has lived in Bratislava for two years, has become the member of LOVE 4 TENNIS Academy. He is interested in stabilizing the game in order to improve his existing career maximum – 137th place in the ATP rankings. Next year, he is going to work with our coaches Jan Stancik and Erik Csarnakovics.
“I’m happy that I can practice here. I have started to train in L4T one month ago. I want to improve my game and I think that Erik and Jan are good coaches. They can help me with things that I don’t do right. I hope it’s going to be better,” reveals No. 199 in the ATP rankings who knows the club at Turbinova street for some time. “I used to go for massages here. I saw that they have the Academy. I chatted with the guys so I learnt about LOVE 4 TENNIS,” he says.
The best Belarusian player now likes hard courts more than any other surface. “But for me, there is no problem to give up the clay and adapt to hard court. Hard courts are my favourites, they suit better to my game,” believes Ignatik.
And what about the goals of Uladzimir for the rest of the year 2014?  “At the beginning of the season I wanted to be in Top 300. Now I’m No. 199 in the ATP rankings. If it goes like this, it will be great. I definitely want to improve and the goal is to be No. 150 at the end of the year,” he adds.
Jan Stancik: “He has a lot of potential.”
Ignatik approached and asked for cooperation of our coach Jan Stancik. “I knew that he was practicing in Bratislava in other club and I knew that he was a good player. He told me that he was 24 years old, time was passing and he didn’t have the kind of professional care that he needed. He wanted to be higher in the ATP rankings, he wanted to be in the Top hundred. We have welcomed it, it’s a challenge also for us,” explains Stancik who estimates Ignatik’s potential. “He is not losing with the players around No. 100 smoothly, that’s for sure. He could even stabilize his position around No. 50 in the ATP rankings. He has a lot of potential and he understands the game of tennis,” estimates Stancik.
Csarnakovics: “He is unpredictable.”
Ignatik is physically disposed and he knows how to play forehand, backhand and volleys. He has a special game, he likes to play risky shots, but he is also creative and aggressive. “Maybe he is too creative sometimes. He needs to stabilize the game to beat even the players from the top 100. But we don’t want to lose his unpredictability. He needs to work on the second serve,” says Csarnakovics.
The term of agreement with Ignatik lasts for one year. “We’ll see if we can help him. Now he has a good time ahead of him, he needs to defend 40 points only on the tournaments. We’re going to communicate all three together like we did when we were working with Slovak player Norbert Gombos,” concludes the head coach of the LOVE 4 TENNIS Academy.
Ignatik has been living in Bratislava for two years. He is in rented accommodation and he likes the city. “Bratislava is a nice city. Good for tennis, for sport. It is a good location, tournaments are accessible by car. I really like it,” says Uladzimir Ignatik.