I've spent more than 30 years around the very best.
I'm Carl Maes. I started at the Belgian tennis federation in 1992, coached Kim Clijsters from junior to Grand Slam Finalist, captained the Belgian Fed Cup team to the final, led women's tennis at the LTA, and built and ran the Kim Clijsters Academy. Today I'm PTR's International Director of Coaching, and I speak to teams and boardrooms about what high performance actually looks like up close.
Three things I believe.
SAS – Systematic, Aligned & Specific
Every person, manager, director should have his own modus operandi. A method that is consistent and helps you to achieve results. For myself this is checking if everything is “SAS”, both on court and…
Kindness of Coaching
The late Jim Loehr has undoubtedly been a great inspiration to many of us. In his many talks about the “kindness of coaching,” it became clear to me that, to truly make progress as a coach, you must f…
Stay humble
Twenty-five years ago, I was fortunate enough to travel the world with Xavier Malisse, Olivier Rochus, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters. Looking back, I could have been forgiven for thinking, “I must…
So far...
- 1976–1981The Bjorn Borg years
Tennis, drink, eat, sleep, ...... Tennis, drink, eat, sleep and..... Bjorn Borg did ok with 2 hands but I preferred 1 hand in the end. Liking those short pants ?
- 1982–1988National Level Junior Player
Competing as a national level junior in Belgium with a few international try outs. Realizing I was not going to be good enough as a professional I became a student of the game of tennis....
- 1989–1993Studying Master of Sport Science at Leuven University
It became my credo to always try to put the theory into practice. Represented my college team at the NCAA Championships in the United States.
- 1992–1999Belgian Tennis Federation
Started my journey coaching at the Belgian federation. Learned from the best and started travelling around the world with Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Kristof Vliegen, Oliver Rochus, Xavier Malisse....
- 1992–2002Coaching Kim Clijsters
From young junior player to the top of the WTA. What a ride! Relations are built on and off the court and I learned so much along the way. I hope she picked up a few things too :-)
- 2002–2009Leadership roles at the British Tennis Federation (LTA)
Junior Performance Director and Head of Women's Tennis. Along side Nigel Sears developing and building players, coaches, pathways and culture in Great Britain.
- 2004–2006Fed Cup Captain, Belgium
A few intense years making a team out of individual top players. Great experience and challenge. We went all the way to the Fed Cup final, narrowly losing to Italy.
- 2012London Olympic Games
Coached Kim Clijsters at the Olympics in London, an unforgettable experience.
- 2014–2020Director, Kim Clijsters Academy
Created an interdisciplinary holistic performance environment where juniors and pros from 62 countries learned their trade during 6 amazing years. Also organised several Tennis Europe and ITF tournaments as well as corporate events until Covid hit us hard in 2020.
- 2020–2025Performance Director in Spain (Tenerife and Sotogrande)Coach to Sorana Cirstea and Tamara Zidansek
Supporting and professionalizing players, supporting teams and organisational structures, on and off the court.
- 2025PTR International Director of Coaching
Leading coach education worldwide for the PTR, after heading up the PTR Level 3 Performance Coach Program in the USA.
- 2026–....carlmaes.com
To be continued....
Players I've helped.....
Let's talk about your next level.
Whether it's a keynote, a player, a coaching team or an academy, I'd love to hear about you and how I can help you.