Have you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a coach as his player battles away on court? Me too--and believe me, I've tried. It's not terribly easy to convince a coach to talk to you while he watches a match. In truth, there is no good reason--not a one--for a coach to do this. What could be gained by it? Still, I figured that at a tournament outside a major, the prospects for a little prying might improve, especially when we're talking about a player not featured inside the main stadium. Earlier today, Nick Bollettieri agreed to chat during the middle two thirds of a match featuring one of his young pupils, Sabine Lisicki, the 18-year-old German who put no. 5 seed Anna Chakvetadze to bed after midnight and returned to play Elena Dementieva at 3:30 p.m. today.

Lisicki qualified for the Australian Open and defeated Dinara Safina in the first round before losing in the third round. She also dumped Lindsay Davenport in their first-round Fed Cup match; she later lost the key match of the tie to Ashley Harkleroad. Lisicki is a go-for-broke player. She can whack her first serve, but her consistency--let's just say she needs more of it. She double faulted 13 times against Dementieva, formerly the Queen of the DF, and had 41 unforced errors. She also ended the match with a double fault (this is not something most coaches will advise). For the record, Dementieva only had four double faults in this 6-3, 6-2 win.

Lisicki's father travels with her and her chief coach is Mauricio Hadad, a former pro from Colombia who cracked the top 80 and is now a full-time coach at Bollettieri's academy (Lisicki has been there for three years). Bollettieri works as an advisor to her and he sees great potential, as well as a significant flaw that needs immediate attention (that serve). Bollettieri, as you well know, is a colorful character with a distinct voice: It's raspy and it he delivers words like a boxer delivers jabs, in quick, measured blows that have a cumulative effect on you. His choice of words can be, well, colorful, too. (How many hours do you think young players at his academy waste impersonating him?) So from here I'll just let Bollettieri speak, with a few asides from me (in the form of questions and bits of narrative from the match). If you want to know what Bollettieri thinks about other players (and his picks for the rest of the tournament) visit him at nickstennispicks.com.

Lisicki was down a break in the first set when I arrived. "She's big, she's strong, she moves well…. Her downfall so far is the serve. Her weight goes forward too soon. In a match like this she is better off, if you are a little frightened, getting in more first serves."

Any effects from finishing so late last night?
"I don't even think that's a factor for a young player like this because she's so excited. All that, 'Gee now you've got to get up tomorrow,' that's b*******. That's the way the pro circuit is. That's part of being a professional. The less you talk about it [the better]. If you take someone like Lindsay, she had a baby recently, and I'm sure that physically that back is not what it should be." (Bollettieri's point was a quick turnaround could hurt Davenport, who lost today, a lot more.)

Lisicki hits a second serve long: "There's the double fault again. Somewhere along the line she'll have to get over this. And if she doesn't this will always come back to plague her."

She misses her next first serve long. "Too hard. Now she's got to go back to the second serve and she's in trouble again."

You've seen a lot of players not execute on the court like you know they can in practice. Does it drive you nuts sitting up here as that happens?
"It gets frustrating, but just for a second because I realize I can't do anything and frustration is not going to help the situation…. There it is again. Three double faults in this game and it's still deuce."

It's not an easy change at this age, is it?
"When you make a change, once you've done it for five, six, seven, eight years, it's got to be a do or a die with a student, with a support team, with a coach. I believe in this case it has to be done. She's got to make it. Either we make the grip a little bit more extreme and go over where you have to spin it." (Bollettieri repeatedly said that Lisicki doesn't have enough margin of error on her serve, not enough kick.)

How do you change it?
"I think the fault is not so much in the swing motion, but when she shifts the right foot back to the left foot, I think the weight comes forward too soon. So if the toss is off a little bit, the body is already committed."

Lisicki looks over at Hadad, who is sitting courtside, after falling behind by a break in the second set. "She needs to not look to the side. Once you get out there, you have to do it yourself."

Does she remind you of any other players you have coached?
"A little bit like Mary Pierce. She's a very hard worker."

Lisicki badly misses a first serve. "You can't miss a serve 30 feet long like that. You just can't do it."

Bollettieri probably won't have to give that last bit of advice twice.