Ask me anything about being a professional tennis player

[Prodigy1234]

Might have already been asked, but when did you get your Lacoste sponsorship?

[dlam]

Do have any quirky rituals before the match?
Like trying not step on court line when coming on the court such as Nadal does? etc.

[nightfire700]

As a parent of a 9.5 yr boy old who recently developed serious interest in the sport, this thread has been a gem. Spent last 2 days soaking up every post on this thread. Since TW has lot of parents with kids aspiring to do something big in tennis, I thought I will get together a few questions that are mostly asked my parents and get varying response on this forum. Getting response from a real pro who went through the process would be awesome.

1. I see that you used Lux Original for a long time. Didnt find a mention of when you moved to full poly and what were you using before that? What made you move to a poly?

2. U mentioned you topped U12 and U14. How many tournaments did you play and at what age did you start playing tournaments. Also were you focused on rankings at U12/U14 level or were tournaments to get real world experience with primary focus being training?

3. At what age did you start physical training especially focused training in the gym and/or using weights?

4. Since you were primarily coached by your father in early days, till what age was he the primary coach and when did you move out?

5. In the early years say till 12 yrs, what was the main focus - consistency, placement, power or technique? I see some people mention consistency first and some say power first while others are totally sold on picture perfect technique.

More to follow later

[stringertom]

Hi Filip!

I was wondering if you have a take on Nick Kyrgios' recent success. You bested him in the JUSO QFs in a three-setter. Since then, he has won the JAO'13 title and now a Challenger (also in Oz). Does his success give you confidence that you are ready to make some similar headway in the near future?

[Vegito]

A "friend" have this question:

About these "rituals" that fans make watching a game on TV, believing this helps his favorite player. A couple of times this happened to me: someone interrupted me and since that moment my favorite player that was playing great start to fail easy shots in an incredible way, even he lost the match. Or he lost in the next match when I didn´t something. Then you think "He lost, it´s my/his fault" And thinks this affect the player in the entire season.

As this and other things happened to me a couple of times, I want to know if you think this may affect something in the matches, or if when this happens it´s entirely coincidence.

Please, answer this crazy question.

[DRII]

Hey Filip,

was watching the Murray/Donskoy match from IW. Donskoy's game reminds me of yours somewhat. Have you hit with him or know him at all?

Good luck with the rest of the year!

[Seventeen]

Originally Posted by urbanati

Hi Filip,

this is my son playing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaErzXIPdEk


Were you as good as him back then?
He would like to know, how much did you practice and compete when you were his age? Did you ever play orange or green balls? Were you always the best at your age group in Canada?
He wishes you good luck on the tour and will cheer for you!

Holy hell - the kids in this video are damn good. Congrats.

[allez_mike]

Originally Posted by urbanati

Hi Filip,

this is my son playing here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaErzXIPdEk


Were you as good as him back then?
He would like to know, how much did you practice and compete when you were his age? Did you ever play orange or green balls? Were you always the best at your age group in Canada?
He wishes you good luck on the tour and will cheer for you!

Apologies for getting off topic here but am I the only one who thinks this video is sped up? Either for time purposes, or perhaps other reasons?

[The Meat]

Originally Posted by allez_mike

Apologies for getting off topic here but am I the only one who thinks this video is sped up? Either for time purposes, or perhaps other reasons?

Seems pretty legit, never doubt kids being this good at their age. My friend's little brother can outhit and rally some college club players without too much problem and he's 12.

[Sweet-Spot]

I'd be more worried about the music - Youtube will delete it if and when it detects copyright infringments. That being said. they have some serious potential!

[diddlysquat]

Hi Filip,

This is very encouraging news. My son is now 9 and has been playing tournaments for 6 months now and he has won only 2 matches and countless losses because he plays as you described when you were at that age, not worrying about winning and getting points, only trying to hit winners and trying different shots, basically not match smart. I oringinally had told him to play well and not focused on winning. For a while I had doubts if my advice was the right thing to say and possibly start having him focus more on winning but now I'm convinced we're doing the right thing. I think he like experimenting with his technique and doesn't cry or care if he wins or loses, I'm ok with that. Thanks for a great feedback! Hope to see you in a tournament in my area soon!

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

First of all I didn't play tournaments until I was about 9, or maybe even 10. He seems like he's played quite a few, so he's definitely ahead of me in that regard. He's also a lot more consistent than I was. I used to go for winners and rush the net a lot so I had a lot of unforced errors. I hit the ball harder than he did, especially off the backhand. He probably would have beaten me at that age.

I don't remember exactly how much I practiced at his age, but I think it was anywhere from 1-5 times a week.

I wasn't always the best in my age group, had trouble winning matches that I "should" have won based on my level, partially due to the lack of match toughness. I didn't have enough tournaments on my schedule back when I was younger. I've won u14, u16, and u18 nationals, and made finals of the 12s, but until I was about 16 there were still guys my age ranked ahead of me sometimes.

I don't remember ever playing with the softer balls. I'm quite sure I've always used regular ones.

[urbanati]

Originally Posted by Seventeen

Holy hell - the kids in this video are damn good. Congrats.

Originally Posted by allez_mike

Apologies for getting off topic here but am I the only one who thinks this video is sped up? Either for time purposes, or perhaps other reasons?

only the music is added, everything else is original

[Raz11]

Hi Filip,

What is it like playing on fresh new grass and worn out grass? Are they really as different as some people say in terms of bounce, speed and the footwork required?

[Fedex]

Originally Posted by fpeliwo

Yeah I like to play table tennis, but I've never played squash or racketball before.

I love table tennis. Here's a nice shot for you:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/vide...e-tennis-video

Back to tennis, I follow Andy Murray being a Scot and the last thing Scotland is renowned for are tennis players so he is quite a phenomenon here.
What do you think of his style and ability?
Is this a player you would want to emulate and how close do you think he is to catching Djokovic in terms of quality and consistency?

[thejackal]

was promoting my tech startup at a big audio/video systems trade show downtown and filip had a day off, so we caught up on things and tried out a few headsets. he's a big fan of anything music so it was fun times. as you can see below, in case tennis doesn't work out, he could always moonlight as a road construction working filling potholes around montreal or something









Any audiophiles in the house?

[chatt_town]

It's good you are hear. My question is this? How old were you when you started. Also, did you ever run into players as a junior or see players that started at say 15 or 16? My son it appears is somewhat gifted in that he could at least play college at some point. I say starting I mean he's been toying around with tennis, but he seems to like it now. I'm not one of those parents that's going to force him to go out every day in the summer and hit balls for 4 hours a day. It has to be something that he wants to do. So I was wondering if you ever saw any players that turned out descent after starting later. I'm not looking for my son to join the atp tour but if I can get him to the point where he can play for some college and I don't have to pay for it...then I'm all for it. Even if it's a real low end tennis college meaning the education is there but maybe the the tennis program isn't exactly great. You get the point though I'm sure. Good luck and I'm sure we all look forward to hearing from you here and we look forward to seeing you in the future.

[robert]

How many junior players got sponsored by Canada tennis like you?

Is it a debt that you need to pay later once you break even?

Have you even hate tennis? If yes, how did you like it back again?

[Power Player]

Originally Posted by thejackal

Any audiophiles in the house?

Yes - Kind of. I work in the music business, so I appreciate gear.

[Ronaldo]

Originally Posted by thejackal

was promoting my tech startup at a big audio/video systems trade show downtown and filip had a day off, so we caught up on things and tried out a few headsets. he's a big fan of anything music so it was fun times. as you can see below, in case tennis doesn't work out, he could always moonlight as a road construction working filling potholes around montreal or something









Any audiophiles in the house?

Remember the Stax SR-Sigmas? http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/t-amp_morsiani_e.html

[thejackal]

Originally Posted by Power Player

Yes - Kind of. I work in the music business, so I appreciate gear.

some seriously cool stuff at SSI. too bad Im pretty much a noob and coukdnt really appreciate what was there like a pro would