Nick Bollettieri is considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of tennis, he was the one who most of all was able to change the players' approach to professional tennis and was the pioneer of tennis schools by founding the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in 1978. in which he welcomed and trained future great champions of world tennis from an early age.

Eleven of his students have managed to reach the top of the ATP and WTA rankings: Andre Agassi, Courier, Marcelo Rios and Pete Sampras among the men. Jennifer Capriati, Jelena Jankovic, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova, Venus and Serena Williams among women.

Son of Italian immigrants, Nick graduated in philosophy in 1953 and later served in the United States Army. He studied Law at the University of Miami but dropped out in 1956 to start teaching tennis at the prestigious Wayland Academy. Among his first students are Sheryl Smith and Brian Gottfried.

The first tennis player coached by Bollettieri to reach the top of the ATP rankings is US champion Jim Courier; Bollettieri in 1993 then became the coach of Boris Becker who had already reached the top of the ATP ranking on January 28, 1991. The first to reach the top of the WTA ranking is the very young Monica Seles a few weeks after Becker, on March 11, 1991.

In 2014 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. On May 18, 2008, he received an honorary degree from the New York College of Health Professions for his commitment to the world of sport, fitness and wellness in general. He also collaborates with the newspaper Tennis Magazine and wrote his autobiography entitled My Aces, My Faults.

Bollettieri died in Bradenton on December 4, 2022.