Nicholas James Bollettieri (b. July 31, 1931 in Pelham, New York) is an American tennis coach who is credited with developing many world-class champions, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Mary Pierce. Recently, he has worked with 2006 U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, and Nicole Vaidišová. He has also worked with Tommy Haas, Max Mirnyi, Xavier Malisse, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, and Marcelo Rios. He also coached Boris Becker for two years.
Nick Bollettieri graduated in 1953 from Spring Hill College (Mobile, Alabama) with a degree in philosophy. After serving with the United States Army, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant, he turned in 1956 to teaching tennis after dropping out of the University of Miami Law School. Bollettieri's first students included Sheryl Smith and Brian Gottfried. His first formal tennis camp was at Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.
Bollettieri was the tennis director at Dorado Beach Hotel in Puerto Rico in the early-mid 1970s when it was a Rockefeller resort. His main assistant coach there was Julio Moros, who followed Nick when he set up his academy in Bradenton. No famous players emerged from Dorado during those years, although Boris Becker was a guest and played a benefit match there at Cerromar Beach Hotel, the sister hotel of Dorado Beach.
Moving to Longboat Key, Florida in 1977, Bollettieri served as an instructor for the Colony Beach and Tennis Resort. In 1981, Bollettieri opened the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida on 40 acres (769,000 m²) in unincorporated Manatee County on the west coast of Florida, about fifty miles south of Tampa. The Academy was purchased by IMG in 1987, but Bollettieri continues to manage and play a pivotal role in the development of the tennis academy and ancillary programs.
Bollettieri continues with teaching and public speaking engagements throughout the world. He is instruction editor of Tennis Magazine and has written an autobiography, My Aces, My Faults, with Dick Schaap. New York: HarperCollins (1996). Hardcover: ISBN 0-380-97306-5, ISBN 978-0-380-97306-4. New York: Avon Books (1997). Paperback: ISBN 0-380-78723-7, ISBN 978-0-38078-723-4.
In 2004, Nick and his wife, Cindi, founded the non-profit fitness camp, Camp Kaizen. It is a five week summer fitness camp which is run in Vermont for overweight girls between the ages of 9 and 14.
Bollettieri married Cindi (Eaton) Bollettieri on April 22, 2004. Bollettieri has five grown children (one son and four daughters) and two granddaughters.
