Latest / The Driven Athlete / Ep 4: Riley Opelka's Road & Regimen through Professional Tennis

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Ep 4: Riley Opelka's Road & Regimen through Professional Tennis · The Driven Athlete

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach and pursue a higher quality life with some ambition, then guess what this podcast is for you.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: This is the driven athlete podcast.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: What's up y'all?
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's your man, dr Kyle, welcome back.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We have a really cool guest today and we're really appreciative for him to come in here and help bring some encouragement, some inspiration and share a little bit more about him.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: But this is Riley Opelka, professional tennis player.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Uh, the tallest guy I think I've ever been in contact with my whole life.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he gets that a lot.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: But share a little bit more about what you're doing now, uh, what you've been doing, your professional tennis uh status currently, in at least the past couple of years.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Um, I mean, this year's been a weird one.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Um 12 months ago I had him I first uh surgery, so I'd hip surgery, recovered from that and um ended up, you know, needing a wrist surgery.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: So I've been, I've been out of commission for the last um year exactly.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: So the last six months have just been rehab, training and, you know, progressing back to um tennis, back to my normal um routine.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: So that's been um.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: This has been a different year.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: I have been traveling 35 plus weeks a year every year since I've been 18.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: And now, um, this is just a whole different set up.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a lot of traveling.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: It is and before your injury.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: So, like last September, august is when you started having issues with your hip Correct and that's when you had surgery.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Before that, what were you at with your tennis career?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Um, I was.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I was definitely at my best.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: You know I the hard part was I stopped at my career high.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: It's not like I had, um, I had let my hip get so bad and and my a lot of.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: That happens a lot with athletes, right, they wait till something gets so bad and then their performance is dropping and and they kind of just do the surgery because they're not performing well anymore.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: I was um, it was difficult because I'd known about the hip for a while and I was still able to work around it and play great tennis.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So, uh, you know it's hard to make the decision to go under the knife.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: You know it at your peak Right.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So, and you were 17 in the world.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and it wasn't.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's extremely challenging to get there.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's tough to get there and it is, and it takes time to get there and you know it's like, oh man, I got to throw out the next year and rebuild and I'm I was still healthy, I was still able to play, but I just knew it was coming where I couldn't anymore.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Um, I had too many ups and downs I wasn't really able to train.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: So I think I made the right decision to get the hip done when I did and surgery went great risk, different story, yeah.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, which we'll, we can get into it as appropriate, but before, even before that, I wanted to ask to lead up to the point where you were 17 in the world, which is incredible.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Um, let's, we'll.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: We'll dive into that a little bit more.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: But to begin with, when did you start playing tennis?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Uh, I was five, five years old, yep, and this was in North Florida, north Florida, palm Coast, and just because it was like a activity for the summer that your parents just wanted to get rid of you for a couple of hours.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, there was.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: We moved from Michigan but it was a lot of tennis courts.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I think my dad's company had moved his boss um wanted, like his boss loved tennis and it's tougher to play tennis and in the Midwest and get court time and stuff.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: His son also was my age and he played tennis and I think I mean, all in all, it's a better quality of life in Florida.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: And he was just so why don't we just move the company down?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: And then, um, I started kind of playing tennis too.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it was, you know, cause he was, my dad and his boss were good friends.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: So, um, I think maybe the seed was kind of planted in my dad's mind oh yeah, Throw Riley in there too, and yeah, and I loved it.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, yeah.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Um.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Was that always your go-to activity, like when you started playing.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: You're five and you since then were like I really want to play.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I like playing tennis.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah there wasn't like a basketball.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I played basketball.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I never played organized basketball, I played t-ball and then who died and who does and then, yeah, it was one season of t-ball and then tennis from there.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: But I played a ton of basketball grown up, but never anything organized.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Just pick up, yeah, but I played every day.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's good.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: And I imagine then, though I mean I've always been an advocate for multi sports.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: I played a ton of sports growing up, play two sports in college, and I feel like there's a lot of carryover that could help with whatever your main sport is or your heart's at.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I mean there's, I would imagine, basketball, the quickness, agility, explosion and all that stuff would, and hand that coordination, of course, foot I coordination what a carryover that would probably help with your tennis ability, yeah, yeah for sure with.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So when did you start?
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: You should you start playing at five?
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Continue to play, that was your thing.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: When did you start noticing yourself getting significantly more, progressing, better than some of your peers and stuff?
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: You started standing out amongst everybody else.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Hard to say, like you know, because there in that part of North Florida I was definitely, like you know, I was definitely really good.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I was playing in North Florida.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: It tennis isn't known to have is like the competition levels it does in South Florida for example.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: So you know I was playing even at seven, eight years old.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I was definitely better than Know then, the rest for sure.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: But I wasn't.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: You know I'd come down to South Florida and you know I'd get my ass kicked.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: So oh, really yeah, but I was youth tournaments.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in youth tournaments I was always good, but I wasn't.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: There was a couple kids that you know we still talk about now and joke about how good they were at the time and just saying can you disclose, are they currently still playing?
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Um, no, no, that's never like, never continue, really no, but they were just good.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they were just good.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: So what happened to them then?
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Just I mean, this is you're talking age.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: You know 11, 12, 13, 14, but they went on to play college tennis and that some maybe not even but, at that age.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: They were just so good yeah it's just a whole.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: This is a different thing.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: That's true, true.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: And so there's so many different Names that you see that come and go, injured your tennis and it's hard to say.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Like the kids that I, you know, by age 14 you can kind of a tell tale for who's gonna be good and who, yeah, who won't be.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: But prior to that it's hard to say.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I never had the mindset of, like you know, I'm definitely the best in this I never.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: I didn't start thinking about pursuing it as a pro until I was, like you know, 13.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Let's say yeah.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: But prior to I was just trying to, you know, I was just competitive, I loved it.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah it was.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it never was job.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: It's an else can naturally.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah so you were crushing it.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: North Florida would come down for junior tournaments in South Florida.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Your Hands down, winning easily up on your competition there, come here and it's a little more challenging.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, did that?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Did that?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: How that affect you Like confidence wise, or you like it?
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: It's expected and time to grow where you're like oh gosh, I'm not as good as I thought.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes and no.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: I never, like I never was worried about that.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: I was never worried about someone being, maybe, about not being good enough or not.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think we never had the mindset like going, like winning these tournaments.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: It was just to kind of have fun and get better and got it, and it was that sort of thing we always prioritized.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: It was a, it was an experience.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: You know, we my dad and I drive down in the weekends and we'd go to a fun restaurant and go Stop.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: We'd see other things, it wasn't just tennis.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: So I think that made it.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: You know, made it more.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I Didn't feel like the world was revolving around.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: The tournament got it, even when we drive down for it.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'd stop and see things and I know it was just, it was fun, it was more of an activity.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, even till age 13, that's cool.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was good.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: It's a good bonding experience, I imagine.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: So what when you did started progressing a little bit more than some of your peers and colleagues and you were considering professional Direction?
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: What ages that?
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I moved down to South Florida when I was 13 to train at the USDA the training center there, and, and, and that's in Delray.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was in Boca Raton, yeah and that was that's kind of when Things changed a lot.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: You know, they bring in like three or four of the best kids from each Part of the I mean from every all parts of the country, but each year you get three kids.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I was, you know, born in 97, so we were the youngest at the time.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: So you know we had three kids in 96, 95, all the way to 92.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, and that was a new program that Patrick McEnroe, john McEnroe's brother, had created.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: So he just said I want to get the three best kids from each each year and I want to give them the best resources we give them and build a good training environment and Invest in the future as opposed to, like our current talent right, and I think that philosophy was amazing.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: It took a long time to see results and, and unfortunately, like somewhat, by the time Patrick McEnroe had invested in the youth and we were just starting to kind of Prove how great that idea was, everyone else in, like the tennis world, was criticizing the now, like they're like oh, no one's, we don't have that many guys.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: We have three guys in the top hundred.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Patrick McEnroe is not doing a great job.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm and then you know how.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: They've just been a little bit more patient.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: We have 15 16 guys now in the top hundred, as opposed to three about ten years ago.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: So it's safe to say I think he was on the right right, the right path with that.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: That's cool, but that program was special.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: That's really cool, would you say.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Then, with those people down there, would you say McEnroe was one of your mentors, influential people.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: You know it's fun like not.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: We didn't see him at all as players like his juniors.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: We didn't see him there, and I think that's what was so brilliant.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: He really just found the best coaches and he trusted them, yeah, and let them do your thing.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Do, yeah.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: And you know there's a guy named Tom Gullick sin that I met in Palm Coast who lived there former.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: You know it was a crazy story that I met him and he was the few San Francisco agacies coach and happened to live in Palm Coast and him and my dad became great friends.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: That's cool.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, I started playing tennis.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Him and I actually moved down to Boca together when I was 13.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: He moved down as well to become a USDA lead national coach and so it was just funny how the timing of all that worked out and that's pretty cool.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's where tennis started become more serious.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: I started training.
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: You know I started was the first time I ever lifted a weight, first time I ran on a track for tennis.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe I was doing that.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's cool, and that didn't did it.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Do you get burnout during that phase?
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: No, you just loved it.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I hated the track and I hated we run around the soccer field.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I hated it like no one likes condition yeah yeah, that was terrible.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And you know some of the practice days.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the drills were, you know, we all, but it was worth it to go.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: You know, four days a week or in the afternoon session, we get to play points against each other and get competitive.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, all the things I hated about the day were, you know, I got to Make up for it just in the one hour in the afternoon when we just get to go play like live ball.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, points against one another who were you with at that time?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: That was in your group category, like in your age categories.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: Tommy Paul was my roommate we live in dorms and then we shared a bathroom with and then the other room was like Taylor, fritz and Francis TFO was pretty much right down the hall.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Tommy and Taylor, they're still doing really well in.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Francis there in Francis, there eight 10.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: And 11 in the world.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: So you had 17, 8, 10, and 11, those four guys at one point.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Those were the guys the kids training at that point.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: So, like you said, that was Macon Rose vision and that worked out well Super.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: It's a whole different vision now.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: Now, it's a whole, totally different thing.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: How so it was the part that I always praised Patrick for was he said no meaning.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: You can imagine crazy tennis parents.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: You can imagine crazy sports parents, but tennis parents are up there with all the crazies.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: And you know, oh, how could?
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: My kid doesn't get a chance.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: And the cool thing was like I wasn't ranked top in the country when they selected me.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: They had coaches that I think they liked.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: My dad was tall, my mom was tall and I was a good athlete.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: But I wasn't the best tennis player at the time at 12 years old, and they selected me, which was cool because obviously they weren't just looking at rankings, they had really done their homework and I think that mindset you can imagine how American parents are.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: And oh, my kid should have the same chance.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: And I think Patrick was so good about just saying no, like he was brutally honest, and that's what he was so good at.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: And at the end of the day parents came around for him because they might not have agreed with him, but he was always honest.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: So they saw the future, the potential, right?
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: If you all don't know, Riley is seven foot seven foot flat.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: It's crazy how tall were you at 13?
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: .
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: And then, when did you shoot up?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I was like 5'6", I think.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: I mean I bowled at normal.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I shot up a lot when I was 16.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: 16?
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they just kept going.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Yep, when did you get seven foot?
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I will probably 19.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: 19 to 18, 19.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Got it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: That's crazy, but that's awesome that they saw the vision and just the potential and the belief that you could be the guy.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, patrick hired the best coaches in the world.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, we had coaches and that was the other thing.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: He'd get criticized oh there's no American coaches.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: But he said I want to have the best town in the world and he hired guys from Argentina, spain, germany, you name it.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: He took the best coaches in the world.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: It's such a simple philosophy Like let me just bring the best coaches in the world and the best players in the country and try to build a champion out of it.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: And he did.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: It worked Right.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: And I think that when you hire the best coaches like that and that's what their job is their experts they saw the game growing.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Medvedev is 6'5".
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Sitsipas all these guys now are 6'3" Plus.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's cool.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I always feel like I go back to it for my own self and then for my team members and stuff.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Like you are who you hang out with and the culture starts with that at the top, especially with the coaches and stuff, and that culture is going to trickle down.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: So getting A players on board right and then not disrespecting the rest of the team by getting B players on board or B cut whatever.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Because eventually they'll get flushed out.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Totally.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Because B players then, or B team members, they're going to usually allow C players to come in.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: You know, what I mean and those they're going to get flushed out and then the culture end up shifting.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Just not the best direction, at least from what I've seen.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but anyway you are hanging out with right Totally, you guys all together with the best coaches in the world.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I mean it's only going to set you up for success.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: So I mean I always feel like I'm going to advocate with that, with just anybody in general, with their friend groups and stuff.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: You know, like you are the average of the five people you hang out with most.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: So, doing a deep dive in reflection.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I'm like who aren't you know?
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: If I am, then what is that?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: You know what's that look like?
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: But anyway, that's really cool.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: It's set you all up for success hugely, you know.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if you had to name off a couple of people who are some of the most influential mentors or our coaches and stuff, you've had to help you get to where you are now.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, there's so many.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: I mean it kind of starts with, obviously, my dad, but it went from Tom Golickson to a guy named Mike Sell, the Diego Muyanou to Jay Berger and Jim Lair, who's a psychologist.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Those are the.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: He's not a, he's the greatest, he's the guy.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the guy.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: He wrote the book on all of it.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: That's cool, gully Diego, jay Diego was special Diego Muyanou that came.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: He worked with me, tommy and Taylor only, and Francis a little bit, but mainly us three from age 15 on and we weren't good until we started working with him, like he came at the perfect time and Argentinian guy, super tough, and I think we really needed that as three American kids.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: He just different perspective, like we'd go play tournaments and I'd lose.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: I thought I'd tried, but you know, and everything was fine and he'd be upset and we were kind of like and he would share his perspective.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I remember one time he was like, yeah, I used to sleep at my friends.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: My dad had a friend that had a clothing store in Argentina, had sleep on the floor of his shop.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I had no money, he's, I'd walk to the, I'd run three miles to the courts, warm up for my match and go play and I had no money the only way I could get home was if I won that match and so just the mindset of like that that he had, of just really fighting for the mind.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was nice, it was cool, like every, and he really made us realize what we were, what we'd had.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: You know, we had free coaching, free travel and as American kids you don't realize, I guess, what that is.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: There's kids that would give an arm and a leg for that, or their parents would pay everything they could for that, and we got it for free.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: So I think he really like did a great job, giving us like insight into his background and how lucky we were, so we never really were so entitled and that environment definitely could breed an entitled kid.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: I totally, and I think Diego is a huge reason why we weren't?
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: I don't imagine too.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: He did it so and he's coaching you and sharing this stuff versus like you need to be like this, and they never really did that themselves.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: And credibility and legitimacy is going to be there.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: A little bit higher for some of my Diego.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah for sure.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's in Argentine.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: And then we go play tournaments overseas my first time out of country and you'd see the Spanish guys, just these kids.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: They're our age but they're ripped.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: They've been training their whole life and grunting and so intense and I remember I was like, yeah, it's just like Diego.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: I wasn't intimidated because that was like that's our coach pretty much.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: But a little Diego is running around.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, I know exactly what this is about.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: So, currently, then now, and Jay Berger is your coach now, yep.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Jay's my coach now.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: He was the head of men's tennis.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: He ran the whole program.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: That's who Patrick had hired to oversee the whole thing.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Gotcha.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: So with tournaments up till the past year, Jay would travel with you.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he goes to about eight of them, let's say, a year.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: And then I have another guy that does a lot because we travel so much, and Jay does all my weeks at home.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: We have a kind of little program like that.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: He comes to the big ones and then I have another guy that comes to all the other ones.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: That was great as well.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I should have mentioned him.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Jean-yves Sabone Great Coach, great coach.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Yep, we started off.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: When I first came down here and started working with Jay, I was 20.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: And I was 215th in the world and we needed a coach because Jay just didn't want to travel anymore.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: And he'd been playing a lot, he's been on tour, former top 10 in the world and we needed to find a coach.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: And Jay just said give me a guy that's young, that I can still spar with and is professional and wants to become a better coach.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: And Jay was coaching him and I so Jay was coaching him out of be a great coach and coaching me out of be a great player.
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: And we both Jay-Y, who's the guy that I travel with learned so much from him and I learned so much from each other and from Jay.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: How many weeks a year would you travel?
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: 30 plus 30, 35.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: That's crazy.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: So Jay would go on eight of those on the big weeks and then the coach would go through the other 28 of them, 25.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: That's great, that's awesome.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: That's a ton of traveling.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: It's a ton of traveling.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: How do you handle that?
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: I'm used to it.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: It's all I've kind of known Just living out of a suitcase, yeah, Yep, living out of a suitcase and packing up and going, you're never home.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, you're super used to it at this point, so it's just like second nature.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: With that being said, then you're traveling a ton 30 plus weeks a year, right?
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: How do you maintain the regimen you need to, with training, recovery, sleep, nutrition and then also just skills, right?
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, One thing that we have easy is tennis is my whole life.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: So if I don't and it's an individual sport so if I land in Germany and I'm jet lagged and practice at 9, 10 AM, I have a coach and a physio that kind of work around me.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: So if I don't sleep well and I want to bump practice to 4, I can so in somewhat, so you can adjust your schedule pretty easily.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do have the ultimate freedom in that regard, but we need it because we travel so much.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: We're on a different time zone and a different continent every week.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: But I do those things.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: I try not to be married to my practice times at 10 AM.
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: If I met, of course, if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna be there on time and whatnot.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: But if I need more sleep cause I didn't sleep well or I didn't, you know, I woke up late and I didn't get to eat, I don't feel right.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: We try to maximize all my time on court and it'd be better just to bump it back to three, four PM.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: So giving yourself some grace on, like you know, I don't feel right.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Let's just bump it.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Yep, I think it's an interesting concept too, cause I feel I hear that a lot with some of my, with the patients and clients we work with, where they're like I didn't work out today, I didn't.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I made it, you know, I didn't have time right.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't make it.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: It's like giving yourself some grace and be like it's okay, you know you can skip a day, it's totally fine and also like you can bump it back or change your schedule just to whatever necessary.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: And you're not feeling right.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: So what does it look like like routine wise?
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: What does that look like so you would have physio?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: right?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Yep, so if I'm hitting, you know, if I'm playing a match, let's say and I'm the hard part with tennis is the schedule.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Your first on's my favorite time to play, cause I know when I'm gonna start.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: But if I'm second match on, third match on, I have no clue how that's gonna go right, I like to shower.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I have kind of a whole routine.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: But if I'm playing at 11, I'm gonna be with my physio at 7.45.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: We'll be on the table from 7.45, you know, till nine, and then I will hit from nine to 9.30 for only 30 minutes, and then I go right away, eat so I can digest, and I shower, re-grip my rackets, get ready to go and then, 15 minutes before I'm starting to do a dynamic warmup, catch some tennis balls he's throwing at me, give my eyes ready and then, yeah, that's interesting.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: And then what about workouts?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Do you work out during the travel and season stuff?
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: Yep, it's just, everything's up in the air.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't know if I'm gonna play my first round match.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I could win, yeah, I could lose.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: I could win an hour, I could lose in three hours.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: I could win in three hours and then have to play the next day.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: So everything is it's all about being flexible at this point.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes if I win let's say I win in straight sets, so it's only two sets I'm out of there in an hour and a half, I'll go get a lift in right after and then, you know, I'll have the next day.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: I'll say off to, I just have a practice day, and then my match day might be the following day.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: We're just, we don't know those things till last minute and we're always kind of adapting.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: So what would the goal be then, with workouts twice a week or three times a week, like this is during travel, right, During travel?
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: there's.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're doing stuff literally every single day of no matter what.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: We're doing some form of a workout, but just like your classic lift where you're actually moving weight and you're loading up decently.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, two days a week.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Twice a week.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's pretty standard.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: What we hear across the sports performance board is like, during season, twice a week, maintenance type of workouts.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: So because we have a lot of patients that are student athletes, right, college and high school and also youth, and like, oh, I'm in season, I want to work out.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: It's like every single you know professional that we've collaborated with and across the board it seems like the standard at least to shoot for is twice a week for just maintenance and not avoiding working out, because it's supposed to help build and fortify and keep things moving and grooving appropriately and also lower the risk of injury.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And then that's off season wise.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Then we get after a bit more aggressively.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: But you're like, constantly, always in season, so you're gonna be usually just twice a week.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Is the main goal?
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Yup, for your recovery.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Because I remember you were telling me before, like, if you have a two a day, right, like you have two matches in one day, you have three hour match, right, yup.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And then later that day you have to do another match and you're just like, we're wiped, you know like, or the next day you have another match, it's gonna be a grueling one.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: You had a three hour one before that.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: What seems to be the most influential things for you, for recovery.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I know I can do this and I'll feel a lot better ready for the next one.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I mean.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: I like to work with a lot of, I mean, just soft tissue.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: Work for me is great.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: We spend a lot of time after matches on the.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I spend a lot of time on the table in general, yeah, and a lot of hip and ankle mobs before and after.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I get those done constantly and I do a ton of soft tissue, mainly on the areas that flare up and we'll get in with the scraper, yeah, and that avoids for me that when we really get rough with the scraper and like in those moments when I'm really fired up and sore, it helps me out a ton, avoiding getting like serious doms.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Like serious, really soreness yeah.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: And that's key for me.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: The more violent we get with the tissue work, the better I usually feel it's rough yeah, like most people don't like that.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it sucks, but it's pain with a purpose.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: You know, these ones are for the whole of patients, like, hey, we're gonna do some soft tissue stuff, but it's pain with a purpose.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: For an overarching goal.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think I've done a good job of performing late in tournaments.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: Like once I've gotten there, you know it's.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sore because I'm not here just to win the first two matches.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: You wanna try to push for the?
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: So we at tennis players always think long term.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: So when I'm first round after a tough match I'm gonna have, I'm gonna get dug in with the scraper tool.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like hard.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Like one spot, my medial hamstring on the left side always comes up Interesting.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: And I'm gonna get dug up on the right and my left oblique, so we'll dig in pretty hard in those areas and then, because I'm gonna be sore no matter what the next day, but if I win that match, come semis and finals let's say which is where I wanna be.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I usually my body's never really let me down later on in a tournament.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: And sometimes I've just gotten my body's gotten better as the tournament's gone on, because we kind of have that approach of like let's just take the steps to feel better in like four or five days.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, and that's a good mindset.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I feel like, too, just thinking further ahead versus now or the next hour or that night.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: And also, too, just in case y'all didn't know, dom's when we're out of the same Dom's it's delayed onset, muscle soreness and that's just like the soreness you get after intense workouts and stuff.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: But so intense soft tissue scraping, grassed in, stripping, like cupping, cupping, all that stuff, that seems to be the best thing for your soreness and body recovery.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and eating.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, okay, eating.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: So what's your for eating stuff?
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Nutrition, right.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: What's your go-tos Like?
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: What do you always like?
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I always feel great when I eat this.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: I have to be really regimen with this.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Or you're like, ah, not really regimen.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of like flexible with that too.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when I'm I noticed, like so, when I'm at tournaments, there's when I'm in tournament mode and there's not a single time of the day where I ever feel hungry.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I think that's that's when I perform my best.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: When I'm snacking, you know I'm eating before every practice at the right time.
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I do a much better job of that when I'm at tournaments than when I'm at home, and I think that that's a huge part.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: My energy is just high throughout the whole day.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: When I'm on court I'm snacking on something.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: I'm having a bar.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: As soon as practice done, you know we go right to the player dining.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: I'll have a little snack.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: That's nice.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I'm just eating nonstop.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: What do you eat so?
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Snacking like protein bars, granola bars, like what?
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll do granola, just regular raw granola, protein bars, protein shakes, dates, and then we do have a nice spread at every tournament Food.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: For the most part we do, especially the big ones.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: You know I eat a lot of sushi.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: I like to have a lot of fish and rice and then in the slams, you know I have to.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: I eat a lot of carbs.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I have to have a lot of pasta just in case I'm playing.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, four or five hours.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: So chicken pasta.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I eat a ton of Japanese food in general.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: That's just one of my favorites, but just clean fish and rice can't go wrong.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah that's kind of what things have you eaten that we would think otherwise?
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: Great choices, you know great nutritional things to go for that you don't agree with.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: That your body just doesn't do well with.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: I don't do well with like a sandwich before I play, for example.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: I really avoid.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: You know, as a kid it was like, oh yeah, sandwich, pb&j, pb&j.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I love but I actually do a lot of PB&J on the court, but like turkey cheese, lettuce sandwich, all that bread, I don't know, for some reason I really have a hard time.
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: I feel sluggish whenever I eat a big sandwich before.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: I play, and I do it a lot here in Florida because I love public sub.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, pub subs are the best.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Pub subs are the best.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: What about the chicken tender subs?
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: The chicken tender subs are amazing.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I don't do that one, but I do just even the, or even Jersey Mike's just because I like them they're solid, but that's a big, you know no-go.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: I'll do it before practice and I'm only doing it because I like the and it's convenient, it's easy, but it's definitely.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: I could never pull that off in a tournament.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: It'll never be a pre-meal Interesting.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I hear that a lot with some people too, I think, including myself like the process meet, I think maybe a big influence on that also.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: But I mean because, being sluggish, I don't know, so good idea what you know and you like and don't like.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: But man, pub subs are always going to be high on my list.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're the best.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Just driving real quick.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, love that.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, what's your favorite pub sub then?
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: I always go roast beef cheese.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: Roast beef and cheese and ranch dressing.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Ranch on the roast beef.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, interesting, that's my go-to Okay.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: What pickles?
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Green peppers?
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Just onions and lettuce Onions, yeah, onions.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: And lettuce and that's it With a ranch.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, yeah, interesting.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: That's not what I picked, but I'm definitely a chicken tender guy with blue cheese and ranch.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: And then the ultimate.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I think and I'll put mayo on that I'm a mayo guy.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not a mayo mustard guy.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: I don't like it mixed together.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: You're not going to do that either.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know how people do that.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: It's not my thing, no, and their pickles are really good.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: Recently I was like I haven't been missing out this whole time on these pickles.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: They're just like super crispy and cool.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: I'm going to pick a way out with them.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: That's my cheat meal, the cheat meal.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: It's.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: PubSub.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, what's your other cheat meal?
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: If it's not PubSub, what's your other?
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: cheat meal.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: I have a sweet tooth.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, I have a hard time.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: I always have to fight saying no to any dessert, but yeah, that's my go-to.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: What's your favorite dessert?
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: All of them, everything.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I like chocolate chip cookies a lot.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I like cookies.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: I like everything.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Everything's sweet.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a cookie guy.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: I'm a cookie guy for sure.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: Cake soda, yeah, total.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Sweet tooth for candy.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Sweet tarts are like my favorite.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Sweet tarts.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: That's my soft.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: That's a Halloween classic.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I really have to fight that.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: And I saw there was an article or an interview with Jokervich that came out when he won Australian Open, I think, and maybe broke the record in France this year.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: It was a huge moment for him and he had his first one little square of a chocolate bar.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: He said it was his reward for himself as the first one he'd had in years.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Huh, interesting, wow.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: My cheat meal comes once a week, maybe twice a week, and it's a PubSub, and he's having one square of chocolate.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Interesting, that's very interesting.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: And dedication consistency.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, switching gears a little bit.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: So you were mentioned.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I mean recently you've battled some health stuff, injury stuff right.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: Which the goal is for just to be a speed bump and then eventually be stronger than the other end of course.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: But we can't deny the mental game is very impactful for consistency, for success and maintaining confidence, and then also trajectory and occur all that stuff.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: What aspect of the psychology component would you say has been really impactful for you to maintain that good headspace and then consistency?
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Journaling, yeah, writing.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: I write a lot Writing down twice a day before my day starts and at the very, very end of the day.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Journaling what?
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling?
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: What the goal is for the day?
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, everything.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: I mean it's nice to and you also write things down.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: It could be the smallest thing, like I could be in the gym with with Cressy and he could make a remark on my RDL.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: I'd say, oh, what is this Basic, is you know?
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: Maybe there's some.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: The one thing that frustrates me is I'll be on like set two or three and then I'll find a cue or an adjustment that really helps me and I feel the exercise a lot more, and then I go and I write that down and then you know I'll reflect on it and then let's say, in two, three days when we have that same program again, I'll remember that that way All my sets in there the three sets of that exercise are all going to be Can be as efficient as possible.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: I think it's key for efficiency and just trying to get better.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, how often do you?
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Do you reflect on those journals Every day?
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll scroll every day.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: I'll just kind of you know and I'll rewrite a lot of the same things.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I'll look at the previous day or the previous day and or even the day before that to see, like you know what I liked, what I didn't, just to write it again down to make sure it's fresh.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, right now, I mean for the past year you've been with the hip surgery like I said um, wrist surgery, yep.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Um, that's been a journey, right, yep, and the most I would say what you were saying the most major event for injuries for you throughout your career so far.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Right, we had to like, stop and, and yeah, spend a lot of time rehabbing and stuff.
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: What's going into that?
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: What was your mindset?
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: The?
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Or did you not know it was going to be as long as I had no idea, yeah, the hip went smooth.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: I thought I'd be back and it did, cause I felt great afterwards.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the hip was easy, yeah, and then the risk kind of just came on unexpected.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: Just you know, it's just a, you know it's fluke incident.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: And then I went in with the impression like, oh, this sucks, but I'm only gonna be out, for it was six weeks of mobile eyes and then six weeks of rehab and I can get on course All right, three more months.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: I've already learned how it is with the hip, all good.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: But then the surgery was unsuccessful.
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: It got infected.
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: So then it was another surgery and then that led to being immobilized for four months.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Then it's just a whole different beast.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: The surgery and the injury are almost irrelevant.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's all.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: It's just.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: I was immobilized for four months.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: So another recovery afterwards a little more prolonged.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: And you've been going through some stuff.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: We've been working together to get anything strong and stable and progressing appropriately From this point forward.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: What's your vision next?
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Like you wanna do some tournaments coming up in the fall correct and then grind back out to major tournaments.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: Yep, I wanna use the rest of the year to get as many matches under my belt as I can without my hand blowing up.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: That's just the goal, just cause you never know, With setbacks it's just normal.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: When you're trying to get back into it, Things flare up.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Inflammation, whether it's your, my hand, my shoulder, my elbow.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: I haven't used it.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, yeah, trying to account for those things and be as I just don't wanna miss any days, I'd rather and the only way to know your limit is to push it or to get past it Test the water.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: Okay, that didn't work.
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: Now I gotta take a week off, and that's kind of been the that's been the story of the last couple weeks here.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I mean it's interesting you say that cause for athletes, people recovering from injuries and stuff.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: The progressions are never like straight, linear.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: There's always like good days, bad days, good days, bad days.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: But with guidance, approaches and the right mindsets, the overall trend over a period of months it's supposed to be a positive trend, right, yep, but with good days and bad days in between.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: We just wanna avoid the roller coaster of like oh now I'm really big, huge setback and like now everything's stuck, now I'm not gonna get better, and the discouragement that comes with.
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: But at least keeping things to be a little more mediated, of the roller coaster and like you said, I mean you can't even you have to test the water a little bit, that's where you know your threshold's at.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: Then you, okay, let's reflect back up a little bit, test the water back up a little bit and that ends up being overall helping the progressions and positive trend we're looking for, yep, Right, and with training coming up now.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: So you're weaning back into impact stuff with tennis, right, you've been training really hard at Cressy's with weight training, forms training and also conditioning, correct, yep, and then also weaning with Coach Berger, jay, tennis skills and stuff, right.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: Continuing that same progression is the goal, correct.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Yep, what's.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: If you had to ramp anything up right now, what would be the next thing to implement more of Tennis?
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: Tennis, tennis, yeah, that's.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: My goal is to eventually start to spend less time in the gym, because I've had four months of being in there a lot every day and I've lifted a lot, I've moved a lot of weight.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: I'm really strong.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: I would like to, you know, have that go on the back burner, hopefully here in the next couple of weeks, and just be able to play tennis as much as I want.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and get my skills back.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: That's all I care about at the end of the day, right?
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: totally.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I mean tennis.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: That's the thing that's gonna make you successful in your sport.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: And then also it's interesting too is for any athlete, right, injuries are expected.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: It's at some point people come up with setbacks and getting injured or just a slump, right Bad head space, whatever.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Durability is definitely seemed to be the most important thing for any athlete where it's like if you're not on the court or on the field, like you can't play and you're not gonna get looks, you're not gonna get the playing time right.
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: That's the most important thing is just the durability and getting playing time.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: But for athletes or even active people that wanna work out and do stuff and improve their life, going through or you just going through what suggestions would you have for people?
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Every one's just so different, but I think always, I think taking matters in your own hands at all times is just, in general, whether in sports is always seems to be the best option, even with rehab, even with protocols like you're dealing with, the protocol calls for this, this and this.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: I've kind of what I've learned after all the surgeries and protocols and everything is to really just take ownership of yourself.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: If it says by week six, you're here, I personally haven't loved that.
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: I followed that for a while.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: But rehabbing the patient over the protocol I think is key and I think just that mindset and all sorts of training is super important.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Whether you have to take two, three days off, whether you need to ramp up, whether you need to do more, I think it's important to be so in tune with your own body and yourself with sports, to have the confidence to be able to make those calls.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: I mean confidence is key.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: So you would say owning your own process and taking matters in your own hands.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I mean owning Are you familiar with?
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Remind me.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: It just reminds me of what two things that I've heard.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: You know Jocko Willink, if you're familiar with.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: He's a Navy SEAL.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, he wrote that book, extreme Ownership, and I've always loved that.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: I'm like everything.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: It ultimately comes down to yourself.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: You know what?
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: I mean.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Owning a business, or your own journey and fitness, like your own nutrition, whatever.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: Ultimately, it's my own responsibility, right?
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: And there's somebody else that makes me think of too.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Her name's Cody Sanchez.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: She's a young entrepreneur that just goes, handles a lot of stuff, and she was reading this book that's more of a on the Eastern medicine or Eastern type of philosophy stuff, like Far East stuff, and she was like you are your own greatest responsibility and that's a tough pill for people to swallow, you know.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Where it's like, oh, this happened to me, this happened to me, or like I can't do this.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: So ultimately, it's you are your own responsibility.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: You know and definitely gather people and who you are you hang out with, right To set yourself for success as best as possible.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, I definitely agree with all that stuff and I think that's only gonna help you to be better.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: You know what I?
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: mean.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: And to own the process, and you're gonna have more vestment in your own trajectory, right, but anyway.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: So, with the last thing then, what advice would you give young athletes that wanna aspire to be professional, not just in tennis, but really in anything?
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: The.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: I think I mean the key for young athletes, of course, is to always to have fun to a certain point.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: And then, cause you know, I always say, oh, it's so important to have fun, and then, if you wanna be really great at something, there was so many times when I was 14, 15, 16, when it wasn't fun and it was just the, let's say, 90% of it.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: I felt like I was suffering and had to, like work through.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: But the 10% of it that was fun, the 10% of the day just talking in time whether it was just the 45 minutes of getting to play points or live points was what I lived for.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: That would always kinda outweigh the 90% of the day that I felt like I was having a suffer for.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: So it is supposed to be fun to a certain point and then it's okay for it not to be fun, cause every time parents ask this question to me, I'm like, yeah, it is true, it's all about having fun and loving what you do when you're talking to kids, more so than anything.
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: But it's okay, you know, cause then I think some kids that I've spoken to they get scared of that.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: They're like, oh, I'm not having fun most of the time and I didn't say I wouldn't say that I had fun.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: For a majority of the time I thought I suffered way more than way more than than I was actually like having fun and just just on a total high when I was out on the court.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: And I think it's important that that is the reality.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: It's okay for it not to be okay.
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: It's okay to not necessarily love it when you're 15, 16 and not want to wake up and do it, and it's just that.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: That's all normal.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: I think everyone goes through that.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: It's not all you know, like a walk in the park it's not all sunshine and rainbows.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: And there's some just brutal days that you have to just get through and and kind of I like the word suffer.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: You have to learn how to suffer and be content with it, and maybe it's for months you know it's months of just feeling like it's a grind, but I'm so glad that when that happened I was like I never really questioned that.
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, maybe I don't love this and this is just not great for me and my mind and I'm glad that I never had those thoughts as a kid.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: I think I'm thankful for my peers, for Tommy and Taylor and Francis, to have them to compete with for those thoughts not to outweigh the others.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: But I think it's an important topic.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: Is it's not all supposed to be just, you know, a roll of theme park and arcade, yeah, the better roses.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: I think the suffering thing.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: It totally makes sense.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: You know that's what develops.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, in my opinion, right Ultimately develops tougher individuals and then appreciating the other end.
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, what's interesting, but I appreciate you coming on, man.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: That was it, I think.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Hopefully people got a lot of value out of this talk, and I know I did.
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: I think it's really cool and to share the insights of a high level professional athlete like yourself.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: If y'all want to follow Riley right when he reenters back into the professional tennis world, definitely search him up.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: You know, follow him.
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: And if you have any questions for me in particular, you can always reach me at our email, at teamathleterccom, or check us out on our website or Instagram, Facebook, and we're always open to suggestions and we love helping people better themselves and be more driven.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: So don't hesitate to reach out and we'll catch y'all next time.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Hey, hold up.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: As you know, we're a small local practice and we don't run in the ads or something on this podcast, but it would mean the world if you could share, write a post or word of mouth recommendation for somebody just like you that's athletic and active, that wants to live their dynamic lifestyle and pay some good karma and pay it forward to somebody else just like you and who knows, you could change their world, and a 10 second review could be that avenue.