A few lessons from my failure to become a tennis pro
The future stars of tennis could learn something from this
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I failed to become a tennis player and looking back now I can see that I did a lot of things wrong. I have a few achievements which I am proud of, notably representing my university, local club and borough, and winning a few lower level tournaments in singles and doubles. Still I have a few moments which haunt me to this day from getting the service yips in matches, losing after missing match points and being one win away from getting the chance to go on the trip of a lifetime to Dubai and the USA. If I had followed a different approach to my tennis I may have managed these high pressure situations more efficiently with greater success on the court.
Tennis remains a lifelong passion of mine since my days competing as a junior. I regularly camp out in a tent or queue at Wimbledon to get tickets, and have coached tennis at the Annabel Croft Tennis Academy in Portugal to both top international performance players and recreational players. I believe that junior tennis players could potentially take away something from my experience and tennis knowledge to avoid making the same mistakes in their careers.
Don’t just focus on tennis
There are a large number of successful tennis players on the tour who almost turned professional in other sports. For example, Roger Federer was torn between pursuing football or tennis professionally. Rafael Nadal is also a keen footballer. Jannik Sinner, the rising next gen star tipped for greatness, was one of Italy’s top skiers up to the age of twelve. Ashleigh Barty, the female world number 1 and French Open Champion, is a former cricketer. The truth is that having a number of passions outside of tennis will only help you improve your game, rather than act as a distraction, as well as keep your options open to help you to decide if tennis is ultimately the route you want to follow in life.
To become the ultimate tennis player, you will need to be prepared to develop different skills outside of the tennis court. Ido Portal who provided movement training for Conor McGregor says that in order to improve we must be constantly working on new skills. Ido proposes three zones of learning: exploring, perfecting and maintaining. The goal is to include additional activities into your training schedule which could benefit you on the tennis court in the long run, such as any type of movement (yoga, gymnastics, calisthenics, dance), mental training (learning a language or tactical games, such as chess or cards) or any other sport. The beauty of these zones is that you can practice tennis whilst working on other skills that you could implement into your game in the future. My problem is that I focused entirely on tennis as a junior and did not have a diverse portfolio of additional interests to develop my game.
In Zone 1, known as “exploring” we are exposed to something new that we have no idea about: this could be learning how to swim, ride a bike or any other new idea, methodology, movement, or activity. In this zone, we are thinking consciously consistently and our brains are building the most new nerve connections, so we learn the most in this zone. These types of activities are mentally exhausting for the participant due to the formation of new pathways in the brain.
In Zone 2, known as “perfecting”, we start to have a grip on the new skill we’re learning, and we’re not beginners anymore. Our brains are building only some new nerves connections at this stage.
Finally, in Zone 3, known as “maintaining”, we are repeating a skill, rather than learning it. This zone is used for maintenance as we know exactly what the routine is, so it does not lead to the formation of new neural connections in the brain as we learn very little or not at all. Our brain will program the routine to make it automatic by reducing the need for decision-making every time we’re doing this particular thing. It’s called maintaining, because if you stop practicing a skill, you will lose it. Going onto the tennis court and rallying with your partner for hours, or even playing a match with little thought, is an example of being in this zone. This zone will lead to little improvement in the long run, although it is essential for maintenance. It is extremely difficult to return back to Zone 2 once you become an advanced tennis player and old habits will tend to stay, which is why it may be useful to incorporate other activities into your timetable.
There are a variety of activities you could try to improve your tennis game, whether technical or tactical. Actively taking part in yoga can improve your flexibility and ability to detach yourself from emotion in moments of stress. Novak Djokovic loves both yoga and Tai Chi, and consistently practices 20 minutes per day (according to his book Serve to Win). Novak visualised himself winning Wimbledon when match points down to Federer in the 2019 Final, which could be down to his daily meditation.
A lot of people believe that mental strength is an inherent trait of personality, and the French even go to the extent to label themselves as mentally weak due to their failures at the Rolland Garros. However, don’t believe this and continue to work on this when possible. There are a variety of books that you can read such as “The Art of Not Giving a F**ck” and “The Chimp Paradox” to strengthen your mind and deal with high pressure situations.
Chess and other games can develop your ability to think tactically on the court. Dancing and other movement based exercises, such as salsa or capoeira, can improve your footwork and ability to glide around the court like Federer.
Keep it varied on the court
Even when just staying on the tennis court, it is fundamentally important to keep every session different and incorporate different exercises on a daily basis. This not only keeps it fun, encouraging motivation, but keeps on developing neuronal pathways in the brain. When playing matches, it is important to critically analyse what you are doing. Even having someone jot down your match statistics for later review could be interesting, as it will help you understand what you need to develop. As a junior tennis player, I would spend hours on the court repeating the same exercises for many years. This was partly due to the fact that I was coached by my Dad who had no tennis playing experience. My dad knew a lot about tennis, but only from watching TV and reading books, and held a tennis racket in his hand for the first time at 30 years old. However, I can now see that this lead to a plateau in my development which I never overcame.
Get out of the comfort zone
To become the next star of tennis you will need to be prepared to get out of the comfort zone in every way possible. During a TedX conference in Spain, Toni Nadal suggested that a reason why the next gen stars are struggling to displace the Big Four is due to comfort. The current crop of young stars have it all too easy, with a team of physios, nutritionists and coaches feeding them from a spoon from a very young age. In contrast, Novak Djokovic spent time hiding in a shelter whilst being bombed in Belgrade, which only ignited his desire to succeed. Djokovic has said that it was whilst getting bombed that he decided that he would won day have hands on the Wimbledon cup.
Rafael Nadal is in my opinion the greatest competitor in history and I believe this stems from his ability to get out of the comfort zone and play every point as his last. The anecdotes from the life story of Rafa are endless. Nadal was forced to relearn tennis with his left hand by his uncle, and once was forced to play every point in a tournament match from the net. He was educated to always blame himself so much that he once played a whole set with a broken racket as a junior until his uncle told him. It did not even occur to him that he may be losing because of his racket. In stark contrast, I was too shy to let my parents watch me play tournaments. So get out of your comfort zone, no matter how hard it may be.
