DIRECTOR OF TENNIS
Marta Silveira
Eleven years on the professional circuit, then twelve rewriting how a Surrey academy teaches a forehand. Marta owns the Rowan Hall syllabus and still sees every new player’s assessment herself.
- At Rowan Hall since
- 2014
- Coaching since
- 2003
- Programmes
- Elite · Squads
- Languages
- English, Portuguese, Spanish
Coaching philosophy
“A stroke that only works when the player is calm is not a stroke. It is a rehearsal.”Marta
Marta teaches technique under pressure from the first week, which is why Rowan Hall players often look slower to develop at eight and considerably more durable at fourteen. She will not let a player move to the next stage because of a birthday, and she will not rebuild two things at once. Every correction is a single cue, held under a live ball, checked again a fortnight later.
Qualifications
Accredited and assessed
LTA Master Performance Coach
The LTA’s highest coaching award, held by fewer than 200 coaches in Britain.
PTR Professional
Professional Tennis Registry, certified 2006.
ITF Level 3 Coaching High Performance Players
Completed in Valencia, 2011.
UKCC Level 4 Tutor
Trains and assesses coaches working towards Level 4.
Coaching background
Where the coaching came from
Marta joined the tour as a coach at twenty-seven, straight out of playing, and spent eleven years travelling with WTA and ITF players — two of whom reached the world junior top twenty. She arrived at Rowan Hall in 2014 to run the performance programme, and within two years had rewritten the academy syllabus so that a red-ball four-year-old and a full-time eighteen-year-old are taught the same swing shapes by the same names.
Playing background
Where the playing came from
A career-high of 118 in the world in 2001, with two ITF singles titles and a third round at Roland Garros qualifying. A shoulder injury at twenty-six ended her playing career and started the coaching one.
Specialisms
What players come to Marta for
Serve mechanics
The stroke she rebuilds first with almost every new performance player.
Clay-court movement
Slide, recovery and point construction on the six red clay courts.
Transition to full-time
Guiding families through the decision to move a player into the elite programme.
Coach development
Runs the Monday coaching meeting and mentors every coach on the staff.
The rest of the team
Other coaches at the academy
Work with Marta
Come and play first
Marta personally attends every new performance assessment.