why i love racket sports

i started playing tennis at 8. what hooked me first was that it was individual. i controlled the outcome. there was no one else to blame or credit but me.

it’s primal

theres no clock to hide behind, no teammates to lean on. just you vs the other side, battling, until there’s one winner. its true competition.

that’s also what makes it all on you:

• every point is yours to win or lose
• there’s nowhere for blame or credit to go but back to you
• which is why wins feel earned and losses teach you a tough lesson

it’s not over til it’s over

most sports are time bound. you run out the clock, or the clock runs out on you. racket sports don’t work that way.

one of my fave stories: in a doubles match in college, we played a top-10 team in an 8-game pro set. we were down 4-7, 15-40 — one point from losing the match.

we won that point. then the next. we won the set 8-7, and our team clinched a decider to win that day, a climb that elevated us to a top-15 ranking nationally. that one match, one last point, made the difference.

i think about it because of what it proved: you can be about as close to beaten as it gets, and still come back, as long as you don’t believe you’re beaten.

fundamentals are the whole game

this is why discipline in the fundamentals matters so much: it means that under pressure, you’re not thinking. you’re just doing.

years of drilling the same serve, the same return, the same footwork, until none of it required thought anymore, meant that when it mattered most, my body already knew what to do.

that’s what fundamentals are actually for — not to make you technically correct, but to make the right thing automatic, so there’s no room left for nerves to get in.

when it works: everything goes quiet. flow state. it’s addicting. competing itself is addicting the same way.

it teaches you about the real world

racket sports teach you about pressure, the ups and downs of a match:

• when to just survive a stretch, and when to take a risk and try something new
• how trusting your fundamentals is like leaning on a foundation and skillset you’ve already built, instead of trying to reinvent yourself mid-point
• how to stay in it when you’re down

that’s the mental game, and it’s directly applicable to work and life. i’ve leaned on that same instinct in rooms that had nothing to do with tennis.

it’s a lifelong sport

which is rarer than people think.

i thought i’d peak in college tennis. instead i found padel, and a brief pickleball phase, and i’m still getting better years after college. that’s so rare, and honestly so motivating.

most people peak at their sport and spend decades reminiscing. i get to keep playing the game forward. it’s also become one of the best ways i’ve found to meet people as an adult.

racket sports gave me all of this: competition, community, a reason to keep working on something. that’s why i’m still playing.