It was a hot day in mid-August when Joanne walked into my office exasperated, reeling from the last two months of training and stressed because school was starting in just two weeks. She was overwhelmed; thinking about challenging matches, her coach’s judgment about her performance and her own concerns about whether she could live…
The 2019 Championship at Wimbledon served up a startling contrast in personality. The Gentlemen’s Singles Finals pitted the number two seed Roger Federer against number one-seeded Novak Djokovic in front of a sold-out crowd which included Kate Middleton, Prince William, David Beckham, Kate Beckinsale, Stanley Tucci, Jude Law and Eric Bana. At the conclusion…
Every year for the past 10 years, I teach a workshop at the Omega Institute in upstate New York called “Tennis Inside the Zone: Becoming More Than an Athlete.” The workshop is targeted toward adult tennis players. We spend the week reconnecting to those unique attributes, characteristics and skills that make us uniquely ourselves….
From graceful serve-and-volleys, to grinding top-spin forehands … sky high lobs to net cord drop shots … social just-for-fun gatherings to ultra-competitive tournament play … learning the very basics of the game to high-energy calorie burn … from playground tennis to Grand Slam championships … tennis is truly a special sport because of how…
A few weeks ago, I remember seeing a sign outside of a fitness studio. The words and message struck me … It read like this: “You recharge your phone once a day, how often do you recharge yourself?” I thought this was a great message and applies so well to sports. As a mental training…
A few months ago, I was listening to John O’Sullivan’s Way of Champions’ podcast when he interviewed his colleague, renowned mental training coach Dr. Jerry Lynch. They were talking about how all athletes want to win, but the path to winning is not so much about wanting to win, but understanding how to W.I.N….
Sometimes, as a tennis player, you exist on an island. Alone, solo, under the lights of your local club or drenched in the sun, there you are … between the lines, either gaining the accolades of glory hitting the winning shot or facing the weight of defeat. There are no teammates to pass to,…
It’s always fun to sit on the dais with some of the great thinkers in the world of tennis. I was recently invited to participate in a panel discussion at this year’s New York Tennis Expo at NYCB LIVE. The panel consisted of Steve Johnson, the California-born powerhouse currently ranked 34th in the world;…
Most of us saw Novak Djokovic’s dominating win over Rafael Nadal in the finals of the 2019 Australian Open. Usually, coaches, parents, fans and even the athletes themselves write off this kind of big win as: “He just played great.” But this explanation is often too simplistic. In sports and in life, we tend to…
I remember it like it was a lightning bolt, my then mentor said to me: “Your opponent is your partner, not an enemy!” I thought that statement was blasphemous! My entire competitive life, I viewed the opponent as my enemy, someone whom I must defeat. The entire goal was decimation! My mentor, Jena Marcovicci,…