Going to need you to become a full-time Tennis and/or sportswriter because NOBODY is doing it like this. Also, I loved learning about 'homebrew' players. Seems all sports have a variation of this person. In baseball, we say this is a player with 'no feel' LOL.
"Failing toward understanding" would be my motto for writing and revising, if I had the nerve to put my ego aside. Why do we devote our lives to anything when we won't be "the best," whatever that means? The devotion adds something to our quality of life.
Here’s the thing — I am not at all interested in tennis. In fact, I seem to be dumb in a very specific way in that I can’t for the life of me figure out how matches are scored. But! This was fantastic. Insightful, compelling, and containing so much wisdom for my own life in terms of things I want to get good at, regardless of what sort of objective “success” I might earn, and things I definitely approach like a homebrew tennis player. Thank you as always for your writing.
Oof. The back foot thing. For me it was skiing, the winter I was a nanny with a ski pass and no money. Learning to ski bumps, my friends who were good saying "stop backing off, lean IN to the fall line, lean IN to the pole plant." I still use it once in a while in wildly different circumstances.
As for Thanksgiving, when I was single and working corp jobs and had money, I'd go to Paris for the week, where it wasn't Thanksgiving, it was just November, with Christmas lights starting to go up and nice food and no family holiday to make me feel sad. Glad you had such an interesting and useful week.
I love how you give a voice to the feeling of being "the supporting character in everyone else’s happiness, the implied audience of all their posts and stories." As you say, you can either choose to kill yourself or find the thing that makes you the main character in your own happiness, the writer of your own story and not the audience of someone else's.
I find your tennis writing stunning. The level of analysis (that applies to life as well), your beautiful way with words (homebrew players is so good!) and the character development… I could go on. I’m not playing tennis but I still want to read / hang off every word because I feel like I’ve just been to France with you because of the pictures your words paint. Makes me want to get good at something. Also, have fallen in love with Manuel. I honestly think that coaching is a much higher and complex level of skill than playing : being able to motivate, read a person, see how to help … he sounds like a great person who has you his calling. I think it must be at least as rewarding to watch all of your students get better.
Really loved reading this! "when I am upset, I am giving succor to my enemies. To vanquish them, I must show them nothing" is so true for boxing too. The moment you lose your cool you're cooked.
Currently, I am really enjoying “Minor Black Figures” so seeing this hit my inbox was a pleasant surprise :) I played basketball very seriously in my youth and in college, and am inspired at the idea of getting back into an athletic pursuit in adulthood, at 37. I do wonder if my sports “history” is holding me back from trying something new (ie I’ll never be as good at anything as I used to be at basketball). But then again, I’ll never be 22 again. It’s been fun to follow your tennis journey, Brandon!
Wow, awed as usual Brandon. Will the next book be a tennis book perhaps? I love how you calculate your way through everything, and then take a step back and ask well, why? Lovely read, thank you for writing.
Dedication to the practice to getting better: admirable. Finding that thing that will save you: doubly so. I don't know much about tennis and have a fear of games with rackets/sticks/bats, but this writing really hit. Since folks are sharing: Competition took the enjoyment of swimming away. It took some real sadness to get me back in the pool, and eventually, the open water. Now I swim for distance and mental health instead of speed. My only goal is a stronger freestyle kick and to spend the right kind of time with the inside of my head. Maybe solve a few writing problems. Your piece has me seriously considering taking some master classes. Not to race, but to get better.
This was really good! I'm also v invested in the racket journey, I forget if FX 500 Tour was on the demo list. Also I have to ask since I'm on a similar tennis journey - was eye dominance brought up (lol) and do you believe in it if so?
Also, for me there's so many distractions in our modern world (hard to stay off phone while watching TV/movie) and I love the hyper focused state that you have to get in when playing tennis.
I love tennis, and writing about tennis, and your writing. Reading this was a treat for me. Getting better at things that matter to us is one of the things that give purpose to life and to our days, and a sense of purpose is essential to keeping depression at bay. Since I realized or learned this, I’ve never questioned how I sometimes go overboard with hobbies or interests. Sending ❤️
Superbe! Loved your Mouratoglou essay. I‘m a regular at the Academy in Biot (I‘m based in Berlin/Germany and often work at the Côte d‘Azur, so it’s kind of ‘next door’), and during my stays in the last 5 years I also had several 1:1 early morning sessions with Manuel (nice coincidence) and afternoon mixed matches with cool Romain. I love the vibe at the Academy, and the resort, which is not really a resort. You‘ve captured all, this so well in your text, directly or between the lines. I also love the very international mix in the camps and on the premises, the school canteen/cafeteria bubble, with kids, teens, ambitious mamas and dads, the coaches in their daily colored ‚uniforms‘ - well observed, btw, they change the color and style daily - at their own long table… Who knows, maybe we meet there one day, should you do it again. So good that these academies are also open to rec players, who love tennis for being tennis, and who want to improve, even if the pro career ship has long sailed (or was never meant to be boarded in the first place).
'Calvinist' big serve players made me chuckle and immediately think of Roddick. I'm an old-head so I then thought of Pistol Pete. He was my favorite American back in the day, but he had more of a complete game, don't you think? I often tell my tennis-playing Dad that I think that prime Sampras could be a contender in this modern era. He isn't so sure.
Going to need you to become a full-time Tennis and/or sportswriter because NOBODY is doing it like this. Also, I loved learning about 'homebrew' players. Seems all sports have a variation of this person. In baseball, we say this is a player with 'no feel' LOL.
"Failing toward understanding" would be my motto for writing and revising, if I had the nerve to put my ego aside. Why do we devote our lives to anything when we won't be "the best," whatever that means? The devotion adds something to our quality of life.
Exactlyyyyy
Here’s the thing — I am not at all interested in tennis. In fact, I seem to be dumb in a very specific way in that I can’t for the life of me figure out how matches are scored. But! This was fantastic. Insightful, compelling, and containing so much wisdom for my own life in terms of things I want to get good at, regardless of what sort of objective “success” I might earn, and things I definitely approach like a homebrew tennis player. Thank you as always for your writing.
Oof. The back foot thing. For me it was skiing, the winter I was a nanny with a ski pass and no money. Learning to ski bumps, my friends who were good saying "stop backing off, lean IN to the fall line, lean IN to the pole plant." I still use it once in a while in wildly different circumstances.
As for Thanksgiving, when I was single and working corp jobs and had money, I'd go to Paris for the week, where it wasn't Thanksgiving, it was just November, with Christmas lights starting to go up and nice food and no family holiday to make me feel sad. Glad you had such an interesting and useful week.
I love how you give a voice to the feeling of being "the supporting character in everyone else’s happiness, the implied audience of all their posts and stories." As you say, you can either choose to kill yourself or find the thing that makes you the main character in your own happiness, the writer of your own story and not the audience of someone else's.
no shade to your books but this is the best thing you've ever written. i inhaled it!!!
I find your tennis writing stunning. The level of analysis (that applies to life as well), your beautiful way with words (homebrew players is so good!) and the character development… I could go on. I’m not playing tennis but I still want to read / hang off every word because I feel like I’ve just been to France with you because of the pictures your words paint. Makes me want to get good at something. Also, have fallen in love with Manuel. I honestly think that coaching is a much higher and complex level of skill than playing : being able to motivate, read a person, see how to help … he sounds like a great person who has you his calling. I think it must be at least as rewarding to watch all of your students get better.
A great person who has FOUND HIS CALLING. Must reread before sending…
Really loved reading this! "when I am upset, I am giving succor to my enemies. To vanquish them, I must show them nothing" is so true for boxing too. The moment you lose your cool you're cooked.
I thought about your boxing while reading this, even though I don't really know anything about your boxing. Hey, LVDB.
Currently, I am really enjoying “Minor Black Figures” so seeing this hit my inbox was a pleasant surprise :) I played basketball very seriously in my youth and in college, and am inspired at the idea of getting back into an athletic pursuit in adulthood, at 37. I do wonder if my sports “history” is holding me back from trying something new (ie I’ll never be as good at anything as I used to be at basketball). But then again, I’ll never be 22 again. It’s been fun to follow your tennis journey, Brandon!
Wow, awed as usual Brandon. Will the next book be a tennis book perhaps? I love how you calculate your way through everything, and then take a step back and ask well, why? Lovely read, thank you for writing.
Dedication to the practice to getting better: admirable. Finding that thing that will save you: doubly so. I don't know much about tennis and have a fear of games with rackets/sticks/bats, but this writing really hit. Since folks are sharing: Competition took the enjoyment of swimming away. It took some real sadness to get me back in the pool, and eventually, the open water. Now I swim for distance and mental health instead of speed. My only goal is a stronger freestyle kick and to spend the right kind of time with the inside of my head. Maybe solve a few writing problems. Your piece has me seriously considering taking some master classes. Not to race, but to get better.
This was really good! I'm also v invested in the racket journey, I forget if FX 500 Tour was on the demo list. Also I have to ask since I'm on a similar tennis journey - was eye dominance brought up (lol) and do you believe in it if so?
Also, for me there's so many distractions in our modern world (hard to stay off phone while watching TV/movie) and I love the hyper focused state that you have to get in when playing tennis.
I soooooo expected that, but it wasn’t! Maybe they save it for the very very elite academy kids lol
Still wanna head out to the prospect park bubble.
I love tennis, and writing about tennis, and your writing. Reading this was a treat for me. Getting better at things that matter to us is one of the things that give purpose to life and to our days, and a sense of purpose is essential to keeping depression at bay. Since I realized or learned this, I’ve never questioned how I sometimes go overboard with hobbies or interests. Sending ❤️
Superbe! Loved your Mouratoglou essay. I‘m a regular at the Academy in Biot (I‘m based in Berlin/Germany and often work at the Côte d‘Azur, so it’s kind of ‘next door’), and during my stays in the last 5 years I also had several 1:1 early morning sessions with Manuel (nice coincidence) and afternoon mixed matches with cool Romain. I love the vibe at the Academy, and the resort, which is not really a resort. You‘ve captured all, this so well in your text, directly or between the lines. I also love the very international mix in the camps and on the premises, the school canteen/cafeteria bubble, with kids, teens, ambitious mamas and dads, the coaches in their daily colored ‚uniforms‘ - well observed, btw, they change the color and style daily - at their own long table… Who knows, maybe we meet there one day, should you do it again. So good that these academies are also open to rec players, who love tennis for being tennis, and who want to improve, even if the pro career ship has long sailed (or was never meant to be boarded in the first place).
'Calvinist' big serve players made me chuckle and immediately think of Roddick. I'm an old-head so I then thought of Pistol Pete. He was my favorite American back in the day, but he had more of a complete game, don't you think? I often tell my tennis-playing Dad that I think that prime Sampras could be a contender in this modern era. He isn't so sure.