This time last year, Chris Bint was preparing Janice Tjen for her Grand Slam debut at the US Open, where her breakthrough began.
The Indonesian was ranked outside the world’s top 140 and yet to play in the main draw of a Tour-level event. At Flushing Meadows, she came through three rounds of qualifying before stunning 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova. This was the first time a player from her country had won a US Open main draw match in over two decades.
Since then, Tjen won her first WTA title at the end of last season in India and is currently ranked 35th in the world. The only player from Southeast Asia to have a higher ranking than her is Alexandra Eala, who is the first from the region to reach 18th spot in the Open Era.
“There’s a lot of firsts. In particular for Janice, it has been banking as much experience at the biggest tournaments, being around the best players and constantly developing her game on different surfaces and opposition has been a priority,” Bint told Ubitennis leading up to the US Open.
“She’s improving in all aspects of her game and the data reports I get back from our analyst says that.
“I’m most impressed with how willing and coachable she’s been day in and day out, striving to learn, grow and develop all whilst being on the road 45 weeks a year. She’s got some amazing weapons, an explosive mover and a true competitor – it’s now continuing to piece that all together.”
Tjen entered this week’s Monterrey Open with a lopsided win-loss record of 11-21. Six of those losses were to players ranked inside the top 20 at the time she played them and another was to former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova. She has reached the last 16 of four tournaments since the start of this season.
Bint acknowledges that there is room for improvement for the 24-year-old, who played college tennis for the University of Oregon and then Pepperdine University between 2020 and 2024 before turning professional.
“If you don’t have that growth mentality you’re in the wrong sport or probably not going to have a chance to be a top 100 singles player in the world,” he explains.
“We’ve been working very hard at continuing to improve her (Tjen’s) threshold when behind the baseline at a higher tempo, combined with decision-making on when to play with a little more shape on the forehand vs when to pull the trigger.
“On the backhand side, to keep mixing up the tempo with slice, having the mindset she can use it as a weapon to disrupt rhythm, break opponent contact point heights but then continually developing the two-handed topspin backhand to absorb, redirect pace and take time away from her opponent.”
Interestingly, one of the team’s goals is for the Indonesian to hit a 200 km/h first serve.
Life as a WTA coach
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Born in Britain, Bint has previously worked on the other side of the world as a High Performance Director with the Lavie Tennis Academy in Auckland and National Performance Coach for Tennis New Zealand. With nearly 20 years of coaching experience under his belt, working with Tjen is his first proper taste of life on the WTA Tour.
So how easy has the transition into coaching on the main women’s Tour been?
“For me, coaching is coaching,” Bint explains.
“I typically use the high challenge / high support framework. Put players out of their comfort zone whilst being there. Showing care and support, this is where growth truly happens.
“One of the biggest differences I’ve seen in general is the professionalism and habits from all players on the WTA tour vs players competing throughout their career at futures.
“The demands of the tour in terms of having to play a lot of tournaments if you’re ranked between 35-70 is also tough. With all the mandatory events and the amount of tournaments that are ‘locks’ for your ranking, it means you are having to get out and compete a lot.
“There is certainly an art to scheduling.”
As for any problems encountered, it is getting enough time on the practice court during tournaments due to the demand. In most circumstances, Bint can book an hour daily slot, but to get more time, he usually has to either start very early or stay late. In Tjen’s case, it is ‘a lot of early mornings.’
Travelling is undoubtedly a challenge for coaches, as well as players. Tjen’s season has already seen her play in Australia, the UAE, Mexico, France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, the UK, the Netherlands and Canada. In some of these countries, especially America, she has played multiple events. It may seem like a lot, but this schedule is pretty normal for a professional tennis player.
“On long-haul flights you can still be productive with time, whether that’s planning sessions, analysing match footage, breaking down technical work on videos etc,” Bint says of how he manages his work whilst travelling.
“This then buys you back time to rest when you get to the next location.”
During rest periods, Bint likes to switch off by playing board games, watching shows and speaking with his family back home. Although sometimes it is easier said than done.
“If you’re not in a match, you’re training or in the gym. If you’re not doing that, then you’re scouting the next opponent, going through previous matches and planning sessions etc,” he explains.
“I try to get out – take a walk, hit the gym and visit an attraction if I’m in a new city when I can. It’s important to try to find that time away and appreciate the opportunity we get to travel the world.”
Travelling over the past 12 months has also had an impact on how Bint manages Tjen’s workload.
“Working with Janice and being on the road as much as we are has taught me the importance of trying to find the balance between getting enough time on court to continue improving but also finding that balance between getting recovery in and making sure she stays healthy,” he said.
“At the end of the day that’s always the most important, both physically and mentally.”
Tjen will be making her fifth Grand Slam main draw appearance at the US Open next week. In the past four, she has won at least one match in three of them but is yet to go beyond the second round.
