“The journey of a tennis player can be a roller-coaster”
Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images
Whether you are an avid tennis fan, social player, or a junior aspiring to be professional, I am sure you have all been glued to the TV during the past week. I know I have been. Watching the best tennis players in the world every day and night has continually inspired and motivated me to keep working and improving on being the best tennis player I can be. But the journey of a tennis player can be a roller-coaster, which is definitely what I have experienced so far, and what I’m sure every other tennis player has and will experience too. Injuries would have to be the hardest thing I have dealt with so far. Ongoing issues with my back, ankle, elbow and some random injuries in between have been very, very difficult. It got to a point that after playing just 1 match, I was scared of how I would pull up the next day, thinking that my back would lock up, or I would get a new injury. Another major hurdle I had to deal with was being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. I was always feeling lethargic and bloated so we decided to get tested. Before being diagnosed, I had no idea what gluten-free was so it was a massive life-changing moment for me and it wasn't easy believe me.
Dealing with these lows are very hard, and sometimes you will start to question yourself, but they are worth it and they make the highs even higher. Beating Genie Bouchard in Sydney, notching my first top 40 win and being selected to represent Australia as part of the Fed Cup team are the most memorable and amazing experiences of my life. Even as a junior player you experience highs and lows, and I am sure junior players reading this can relate. Being through some of these experiences, I wanted to share a few key messages that I believe are really important:
Nationals don't mean anything. I know that results at nationals is probably what you are training for and you definitely want to go out and compete and play well, but honestly they don't mean much in the scheme of things. I don't think I ever got past the first round at 12s nationals, and I remember losing in the first round of 16s when I was a favourite to win it. I thought the world was going to end and I never wanted to play tennis again. If you were to ask me who were the national champions when I was younger, I wouldn't be able to tell you. Some of the girls who were the best in our age group at 16 don't even play tennis anymore. So yes its great to really want to do well and it is a great feeling to be a national champion, but honestly in the scheme of things, they don't mean anything.
Support each other. For me this is a huge one for girls in tennis in Australia. Tennis is such an individual sport and travelling the world can be so lonely. It is so important that the Australian girls really support each other and be happy for each other’s success. We didn't have a great supportive culture as players when I was a junior, and even though it has improved so much over the years, I still think this is an area we can all improve on at every level of the game.
Enjoy the journey and enjoy the game. If you can take one thing out of this blog, this is it. Enjoy the journey and enjoy the game. When things don't go your way on the court and the journey starts to get tough, you really have to remember why you are playing tennis. For me, it’s because I just absolutely love the game. I really love playing tennis and sometimes I need to remind myself that I am so lucky that I get to make a career out of playing my favourite sport. Whatever your reason is for playing, you have to enjoy the journey, including all of its ups and downs. If you can enjoy the journey and the game, you will have a very successful career.
- Storm Sanders