I play each point like my life depends on it.
There is no way around hard work. Embrace it. You have to put in the hours because there’s always something which you can improve.
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are at their worst.
The great part about tennis is you can’t run out the clock…. As long as we were still playing, I had a chance.
I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
Tennis is mostly mental. Of course, you must have a lot of physical skill, but you can’t play tennis well and not be a good thinker. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.
As a tennis player, you have to get used to losing every week. Unless you win the tournament, you always go home as a loser. But you have to take the positive out of a defeat and go back to work. Improve to fail better.
Tennis is a mental game. Everyone is fit, everyone hits great forehands and backhands.
I didn't have the same fitness or ability as the other girls, so I had to beat them with my mind.
Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.
I love the winning, I can take the losing, but most of all I love to play.
You can't give up! If you give up, you're like everybody else.
I hope this post was of value to you. I’d love to hear your thoughts, please do send me a message on Instagram (bysimonjames).
Thank you for reading.
Simon James
