Why I Play Tennis

As The Wimbledon Championship starts this week in England, I’m inspired to revisit a personal manifesto I wrote for my book “The Glass is Full and a Half,” hoping it evokes your own insights on how we are transformed by sports.

Why I play tennis

I play because tennis teaches me to be the author of my success.

Like a marble statue, I was once a formless block with hidden potential. My skills were in a rough state, my emotions were scattered and my destiny was uncertain, yet my determination to improve hinted at undiscovered possibilities.

Tennis has been the red thread connecting the many tangents, curves and blotches blurring my life's path.

• Through tennis, I have been able to carve out the shape of my dreams, the strength of my will and develop a passionate determination to win.
• Tennis is my passport to the world; it is like knowing many languages at once.

Andrew Cooper, in his book “Playing in the Zone: Exploring the Spiritual Dimension of Sports,” clarifies for me what tennis has brought to my life:

"Sport is not the whole of life, but, by joining consciousness to excellence in form, it ushers us into life's wholeness. Sport may not make one a better person, but by showing much of what is best in us, it can help. It may not bring spiritual enlightenment, but it does display the spirit's dazzling glow. Sport rarely brings substantive self-knowledge, but few things so readily connect us with the source of self-knowledge: the center of our being." (Cooper, 1998)

I Play, I Grow

I play tennis because I take Billie Jean King’s words to heart and believe that pressure is a privilege - and that if I train I can overcome any challenge.

My training can take my talent and skills beyond my limitations, yet my fearless engagement with the unknown ultimately shapes my reality as a confident competitor.

There are many factors conspiring against my best intentions to perform at my best. However, time after time, I am able to view obstacles as "teachers" and implement solutions that transform me into a versatile, creative, flexible and resourceful fighter.

A Game of Possibilities

Tennis is a game of possibilities. If we manage them, we can create opportunities.

• A tennis match is a design; it is a struggle between imagination and implementation.
• Tennis forces me to envision solutions two, three and even four steps ahead.
• The net does not divide the court: it bonds both sides and engages us players into a battle against ourselves, not each other.
• The lines on the court are the great equalizers: my opponent and I know and understand the rules.
• The match is just an excuse to learn the lessons we need, a stepping-stone to the best we can be. In tennis, even the fiercest opponents ultimately become friends.

A Deeper Hunger

Every day we do something to affirm that we exist, that we matter, to contribute, to leave an imprint. The more intentional, well-crafted, definitive and impressive the act, the deeper the emotional resonance in others.

During the past two decades, a handful of players has redefined the way the game its played, the limits of performance, and the extent of their ambition to become the Greatest Of All Time.

Their love for the challenge and thirst for victory confronts the complacency, laziness and procrastination we might all have as spectators. Granted, they are extremely well compensated for the value they deliver, but how do they remain motivated beyond their wealth?

• They have a deeper hunger, the need to create something (never mind how intangible) that can inspire and ignite others’ passion to excel in their own way. It might seem they are just driven by ego, but they are fully aware that they lead by example.
• To strive and achieve the impossible is to leave an imprint, a path for others to follow. Their record might fade, but the energy we all felt today will resonate and perhaps transform our lazy rituals into a desire to enjoy being better than yesterday at something, anything, at whatever makes a difference.

Tennis is the metaphor, the provocation for us to fully engage in something to master it, to let it transform us, and perhaps to invite others to emulate us.

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The Best Under Pressure

Winning matters to me as long as it does not define me. I play tennis to achieve, yet I play to be fulfilled. I want my presence, energy and actions to speak out for me... always positively.

My goal is to be the best under pressure, to be a permanent example of self-control, resiliency, creativity and fairness.

Everyone who watches me play must instantly understand that I am not just a tennis player: I am the conqueror of my emotions, of my goals, and a player who is leaving a path for others to follow.

• I conquer them by increasing my capacity through training, by embracing challenges and by backing off the battles to recover and learn the lessons.

The pulse that sustains life is that of the atom, the cell, the heart, the breathing as well as the stress and recovery waves of a tennis match.

• By sustaining this pulse, I aim to be a nucleus that radiates powerful energy to reach and positively influence others.

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Tennis is a Legacy Game (My Father's Legacy)

Every time my brother Robbie and I meet, we celebrate playing tennis - as we have done through life, including before significant life events and celebrations.

We are eternally grateful to our father, who wanted us to play because he thought it would be like mastering a foreign language: a tool to engage, understand, travel and grow.

• He was right, as tennis became the conduit for us to emigrate to the U.S. and reinvent ourselves. His investment paid off.

We always tried to be there for his birthday and play at our centenary British club. We improved his game, brought him increasingly bigger and more powerful racquets so he could beat his friends and joyfully played with him until he was 89. He passed away at 93 on his birthday (June 15).

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For the Game and Through the Game

Whatever I do in life, I will always be a tennis player. Tennis defines my worldview: an environment in which I am engaged, inclusive, global, egalitarian, fair, passionate, curious, creative, expressive... and where "play" is the spiritual bridge with others I yet have to meet.

The lessons of winning in tennis applied to achievement in business are powerful metaphors. By sharing the science behind them, I have been able to assist business leaders and their companies achieve both incremental and exponential results.

Most of my executive clients find peak performance training both intriguing and attractive, yet they are only the first step towards endeavors that are more significant, as they ultimately seek a new sense of meaning and fulfillment, and a relevant personal legacy. I want the same for myself and I am willing to train for it.

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The Path to Breakthrough

Tennis may not make one a better person, but by showing much of what is best in us, it can influence positive transformations.

As the legendary tennis champions, I want to embody my purpose. I want to manifest it by demonstrating excellence in execution to hint at life's wholeness.

I'm privileged to have met and worked with remarkable champions, most of whom never set out to change the world, yet by excelling at the game they showed us all that breakthrough is possible and that it's up to us overcome the obstacles blocking our path to achievement.

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Leading through Identity and Leaving a Legacy

By the time I am 80, I want to be known as a living example of how tennis shapes a person to be a leader.

I want to be respected for my contributions to my peers and the younger generations, someone who is never content with what is given, who is always embracing the challenge to go "beyond personal best," regardless of age, condition or circumstances.

I play tennis because I cannot imagine not doing it.

It is part of my identity.

When I play, I feel I am fully myself.

Here are some valuable tools for you to explore:

• "The Glass is Full and a Half" book
• Leadership Performance Strategies for Executives
• Keynote Speaking and Training Workshops
• Mental Training for Peak Performance for Professional Athletes
• Media Interviews and Podcasts

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