Bianca Andreescu and her hitting partner, J.T. Nishimura, practice doubles with their coaches ahead of the start of the WTA tournament at the IGA Stadium in Montreal on Aug. 04.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
J.T. Nishimura is on court with Bianca Andreescu every day. His occupation is one of the most specialized in professional tennis.
The 27-year-old former NCAA Division I college tennis player from California has been a hitting partner to the Canadian tennis star for the past year. Every pro needs a highly skilled player on the other side of the net in practices. It’s an indispensable role at the highest levels of the sport, while also largely anonymous.
Some days in training, Nishimura is replicating the playing style of a particular woman on the WTA Tour, to help prepare Andreescu for her next opponent. Other days he might be asked to drill on one particular skill, or push her limits to make her better. Andreescu’s coach, Christophe Lambert, makes their practice plans.
“You gotta bring no ego into it,” Nishimura said in a phone interview from Montreal, where Andreescu is competing in the National Bank Open. “You’re there to help her with whatever she needs.”
Only some pro players employ and travel with their own full-time hitting partners, and it’s less common in men’s tennis. At the National Bank Open WTA and ATP tournaments taking place this week in Montreal and Toronto respectively, many players chose to hit with each other. Others opt to sign up at the practice courts to hit with one of the hitting partners provided by the tournament – a handful of high-end local players standing by at the stadium, ready to volunteer as hitting partners for the world’s best at a moment’s notice.
Nishimura had been a tournament hitting partner back when he was a standout teenager on the California tennis scene, enlisted to hit with WTA players when they came to Stanford for the Bank of the West Classic. That experience came in handy years later when in 2021 Andreescu walked in to the San Jose tennis club where he was working as a coach. Canada’s only Grand Slam champion was looking to hit with someone during a brief stint in the area, so he put up his hand. They worked well together, and she said she’d be in touch in the future.
True to her word, Andreescu called again in the summer of 2022, when she came to play the WTA 500 event in San Jose. Afterward she asked him to fly out with her team to Toronto for the National Bank Open last August, so they could test their partnership on the road. Figuring “why not use my hitting ability now and see where it takes me” Nishimura quit his job at the tennis club and has been part of Andreescu’s team since.
“I look for somebody that’s able to change their game style to suit my next opponent, and he can do that very, very well,” Andreescu told The Globe in an interview earlier this season. “He’s very consistent. He challenges me a lot.”
“He’s also he’s very supportive,” she added. “Sometimes I feel like I get down on myself. But just looking at him, he’s always super positive and always pushes himself no matter what. And that’s, that’s an inspiration for me.”
At big tournaments, fans like to gather around practice courts to watch the best train, and Andreescu can draw large crowds. Even with an audience, effective hitting partners remain selfless – focused on catering to whatever the player needs for that session. Sometimes that means hitting only second serves or playing a style that’s uncomfortable.
“I’m not a player myself any more, so I look to improve only because I know it’s going to help her, but I don’t care personally about how I do in a match any more,” Nishimura said.
He travels with Andreescu and has access to many of the same tournament spaces she does, from gyms to nice hotels. He needs to keep in top shape as well to do his job. His easy-going nature serves him well. Nishimura hopes to be a coach some day, after his body no longer allows him to do this job.
“It’s motivating to be around the highest level of tennis all the time,” Nishimura said. “Everyday feels fresh for me, to go to the biggest tournaments in the world – that’s what you dream off. I feel like every day I wake up, I have to perform. People often ask what it’s like to be a hitting partner, and it’s more difficult than you might think, but it’s also an amazing lifestyle and a lot of fun.”
Those pros who don’t bring along their own hitting partner to the National Bank Open, and prefer not to hit with another competitor, can practise with one of the on-site hitting partners provided this week in Montreal and Toronto. They are local up-and-coming young Canadian players – some are juniors, while others are NCAA Division I college players.
These young hitting partners don’t get paid, but it’s a coveted volunteer role with multiple perks. They hit with the best players in the world, get meals and other behind-the-scenes access to learn from their work habits and make connections in tennis. Those with a friendly demeanour who can hit a consistent ball typically thrive.
Isade Juneau, who used to be a hitting partner himself, has managed the group in Montreal for six years. He played the Canadian Open in 2015, then went on to coach. He typically has 8-10 hitting partners available, between the ages of 16 and 23. They are all males, since that’s what the WTA players in town this year request most. However if a player requests a female hitting partner, Juneau can quickly find one.
Juneau says he gets more volunteers on the years the ATP men are in Montreal, so he implemented a rule a few years ago. “If you want to be on my list to be a hitting partner with the men, you have to do the women’s tournament first, then you can do the men the next year,” he said.
In his time as a hitting partner, Juneau hit with many WTA stars, from Andreescu to Venus Williams. One year, Williams kept requesting him for her practices after she got on a roll at the tournament, and she made it all the way to the final in Montreal. As a thanks, she later flew him and his girlfriend to the U.S. Open.
“If you do a good job, players may keep requesting you, and you can build great relationships,” Juneau said. “It’s a great experience for a young player.”
Adam Taylor is managing the hitting partners at this year’s ATP tournament in Toronto – a group of seven players who have been volunteering in shifts since the earliest players arrived to start training last week. He works as a coach for Tennis Canada developing young players. He used to hit with players when they visited Toronto, from Andreescu to fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
He says if you do a good job as a hitting partner at the tournament, word can spread throughout the week. That was the case one year when he found himself on court for many hours hitting with a growing list of American players who were friends. Adaptable, personable players who can hit a consistent ball often thrive when they try their hand as a hitting partner.
“Being on the road is not easy,” Taylor said. “And players want to surround themselves with people that can help them, but who also can make their time on tour more enjoyable.”
Sasha Trkulja is volunteering as a hitting partner for the ATP players in Toronto this week. The 21-year-old Toronto native is home from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., where he is about to play his senior season. He has pro aspirations himself.
“It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” said Trkulja on Monday while chatting in a lounge at Sobeys Stadium, awaiting his next hitting assignment.
He admits to feeling nervous when told he’d been assigned to hit with world No. 1, and recent Wimbledon champ, Carlos Alcaraz. He’s pleased that No. 8 Jannik Sinner has requested him a few times.
“We’re able to see them here in the players’ lounge, the gym, on the court, in the players’ restaurant,” Trkulja added. “Seeing all the little things they do that make the difference between a college player and a pro player, all of that is going to make me better.”
Duncan Chan, an 18-year-old player from Markham, Ont. is spending his last week of summer as a hitting partner for the ATP competitors in Toronto before departing for his freshman year at Texas Christian University.
Chan plays singles and doubles, but has been hitting with doubles players especially during this tournament, because his specialty is his net play. He has savoured some advice he’s gleaned from some of the British players and their coach.
Asked how it feels to have crowds around the practice court, Chan says: “I didn’t even notice, I was so zoned into doing exactly what my player needed.”
Being up close to the lighter side of pro-tennis life is nice too – games of ping pong and pool in the lounge, good food in the players’ restaurant, access to the grounds.
“It feels like you’re one of them,” Chan said. “Even though you’re not.”
The hitting partners all know each other from junior tournaments, so they pass the time together as they glance at their phones, waiting to be alerted about their next hitting assignment. In the evening, after the pros have emptied out the practice courts, the young hitting partners often head back out together – this time just for fun.
Rachel Brady