Life Lessons from the Tennis Court

Approach, and put it away. I’ve been teaching youth tennis and the amazing thing I’ve learned is that when you teach, you get to re-learn old lessons with a new lens. Like “pivot and follow through”, “eye on the ball”, “approach, and put it away” etc. etc. These are terms I heard all of my life playing tennis, but like so many things, it has fresh relevance as an adult.

Here’s the lesson: staying on the baseline (in the back of the court) is so comfortable and can yield a lot of success, especially for singles players. But if you ever want to truly “put it away”, you HAVE to get out of your comfort zone and hustle to the net. And when you get to the net you have to stand tall and play to win, otherwise you’re a sitting duck. It’s a vulnerable position that so many players resist, but it’s the best (and most fun) way to win a point. I still have to push myself to do this every day in life and every time I play. It’s not my comfort zone. Old lessons, new ways of thinking.

Here are a few of my other favorite tennis/life lessons:

Play for Love: Who couldn’t like a game that literally starts with love? The origin of this term in tennis is a mystery. Some say it is derived from the French word for egg, l'œuf, meaning zero. But others (including myself) prefer to think it is based on the idea of playing for the “love of the game”. Be a good sport.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball: this one is an obvious metaphor, but so true. If you take your eye off the ball for even one second, you miss your shot. Stay focused!

Take it One Point at a Time: the sport of tennis has so many epic comeback stories. My personal best was a match where I was down 1-5 in the first set. I was so far down that I really thought about just tossing the set and then going for the second set and a third-set tiebreak to win. That might have been easier, but definitely not guaranteed. So I reverted to the rule, “one point at a time”, and just started playing every single point like it counted for everything. And lo and behold, I came back to not only WIN that first set by some miracle, but also the second set and the match. Every point counts, never give up.

Dig Deep and Stay Light on Your Toes: a fun fact: my dad was a competitive player in Southern California (the mecca of American tennis in the 70’s). His team did really well but always got trounced by the #1 team which was required to take ballet as part of their tennis training. I’ve heard some football players take ballet as well. Ballet, it turns out, is the best way to master a full lunge while never quite needing to plant your feet on the ground. This concept requires you to stay strong, but exhibit grace. Or as leadership expert Brené Brown says, “lead with a soft front and a strong back.”

I could go on and on with these metaphors, but l’ll close with one from one of the tennis greats, Arthur Ashe:

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” - Arthur Ashe

Here’s to working AND playing happy!

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