Career As a Tennis Pro ― Player, Teacher, Coach

GAME! SET! MATCH! THOSE ARE THE three most important words in tennis. They mean you’ve won, accomplished your goal. The hard work has paid off. Some tennis players are so exhilarated when they hear those three words that they jump over the net and shake their opponent’s hand before waving to a crowd of cheering fans. Others fall to their knees and hold up their racquet in ultimate victory or lie down on the court, eyes closed, soaking in the precious moment. You cannot beat the feeling of winning a well-played, hard--fought tennis match or being the coach who taught a player how to win that match. The player is physically exhausted, the coach mentally drained. They know they have won the day, at least for now. After a brief celebration, however, it is on to the next challenge. The pro tennis season is long, with hardly any downtime. The women’s tour begins in January and ends in late October. The men’s season is a bit longer, starting in January and reaching into late November and sometimes even early December. There is little time to rest, to recover from nagging injuries that crop up during the season. Tennis is one of the world’s most popular sports. How popular? You will even find a full-sized public tennis court tucked away on the fourth floor of the iconic Grand Central Station in New York City where commuters, by appointment, can take lessons or play a few sets before catching the next train home. The game is fast-paced and physically demanding. It requires agility, flexibility, balance, control, speed, strength, boundless energy, and mental alertness. Top-ranked professional tennis players receive global recognition and can earn millions in prize money. You have a chance to rule the tennis world, to claim the number-one ranking, to be the best. Yet behind the fame and fortune lie relentless training, endless practice sessions, and a highly demanding schedule. No matter how good you are, someone always wants to take your place, be the next great player on the circuit, the one who defeats you. Talented coaches and tennis instructors develop future generations of great tennis players. They teach youngsters the intricacies of the game and nurture in them a dedication to the sport. Not everyone a tennis coach works with is going to be a professional tennis player; in fact, very few reach that rarefied level. Some students are older adults who want to learn a sport and see what it is all about, or update the skills they learned in college. Through expert instruction, coaches give every player who comes to them to learn the ins and outs of the game an renewed appreciation for this sport.