Melbourne VIC, Australia, 10 January 2014 | Rob Sheeley

Hisense Arena this week plays host to the 2014 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference. The conference is attended by over 300 coaches and industry professionals. The conference sees delegates representing every state and territory of Australia guests attending from all over the world including New Zealand, China, USA and many European countries.

Participants at the event will witness talks from some of the highest profile coaches in the game along with other sports, taking away invaluable information to improve their own skill base.

> See all the information on the coaches conference here

The theme of the conference is ‘Maximising Potential’. This conference gives an opportunity for coaches to learn from inspiring international and local speakers on how to maximise potential on all levels; as a coach, the potential of their clients and that of their business.

The list of speakers for the three day event features an embarrassment of riches when it comes to coaching knowledge, be it tennis or otherwise.

For example, Sven Groeneveld is the current coach of Maria Sharapova and also works with the Adidas Player Development Program. He is also an experienced tour coach of many ATP and WTA players. As a coach Sven achieved 3 Grand Slam titles with three different players including: Monica Seles (92), Mary Pierce (95), Ana Ivanovic (08).

Toni Nadal, another speaker, is the coach and mentor of Rafael Nadal. He introduced Rafa to tennis at the age of four and has taken him through to a record of 12 Grand Slam titles, a ‘Career Golden Slam’ and being world No.1.

> See the full list of speakers here

Participants at the conference get a rare insight into coaching methodology from coaches like Groeneveld. His sessions include live drills and the imparting of intimate knowledge of how and why he goes about things.

“We can always learn from others, whether it’s one word or a passage or an experience, it always pays to listen. I myself am always listening and always learning.” Groeneveld said at the conference.

Groeneveld also gave his thoughts on how some players who he doesn’t coach could possibly improve;

On Nadal: “Rafa has put a lot of miles in his legs. He needs to shorten his points and shorten his matches to give himself more time in the game.”

On Tomic: “Tomic has said he doesn’t like coming to the net. He uses the slice well; I believe if he wants to go to that next level, he will need to start coming to the net more.”

The 2014 Australian Grand Slam Coaches Conference runs from January 9-12 at Hisense Arena.