New York Tennis Magazine November / December 2021

Page 52

All It Takes Is A Racket And A Dream By Steve Kaplan

Photo credit: Darren Carroll/USTA

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widely circulating news story and USTA post reveals that a teacher once told U.S. Open Women's Singles finalist Leylah Fernandez to quit tennis and focus on school because she would never make it. Fernandez used this teacher’s skepticism as rocketfueled inspiration to drive herself to succeed. Fernandez clearly is a winner, and winners turn lemons into lemonade. The meteoric rise of both Fernandez and champion Emma Raducanu is truly inspiring, but is this aspect of Fernandez’s story the healthiest area for the industry to focus on to inspire young players? The superficial take away from this anecdote is that we should rise above those who doubt us and follow our dreams, but when we dig deeper, is there more to this story? I went to High School with a

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young man named "Doug" who, to be kind, was not the highest academic achiever.In our High School Yearbook he wrote, "I'm going to win the lottery." Doug didn't go to college, but instead he worked at a local bar. Two years later, to all our amazement, Doug actually won the lottery! His quote in the newspaper after winning was classic: "Two million dollars sure buys a lot of beer and pretzels." Imagine a New York State Lottery post featuring Doug which reads: "A teacher told me to stop playing the lotto and focus on school. I'm glad they told me this because I used these words to motivate me to buy more tickets to prove them wrong. Lotto: Follow Your Dreams!" Is Doug's story more unlikely than Leylah's? Maybe not, and before

New York Tennis Magazine • November/December 2021 • NYTennisMag.com

dismissing this idea consider, as Arthur Ashe pointed out, that the odds of a tennis player getting to a Slam Final are probably greater that the odds of winning the lottery. Ashe famously said, "The world over 50 million children start playing tennis, five million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5,000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, four to the semifinal, two to the finals...” This is not to suggest that Leylah or Emma are lucky to have their success, they earned it through hard work, dedication, self-belief and a great support system. They are very lucky. however, to have the rare talent that could make their efforts pay off in such spectacular fashion. Many try to get to where they have gotten, but


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Articles inside

Leylah Fernandez: I Have a New Tennis Idol By Lonnie Mitchel

4min
pages 62-63

You Are Good Enough By Rob Polishook

4min
pages 64-65

Delivering the Message By Jeremy Schmitter

2min
pages 66-68

All it Takes is a Racquet and a Dream By Steve Kaplan

4min
pages 52-53

My Tennis Tribe, My Tennis People By Barbara Wyatt

2min
page 50

Importance of Coordination and Training Specificity in Young

3min
page 51

Tennis: There Is Always Something to Learn By Shenay Perry

2min
page 31

2021 New York Tennis Coaches Roundtable Discussion

28min
pages 34-41

The Connection Between Sports By Gilad Bloom

6min
pages 42-43

Burnout Variables and Monitoring Techniques By Farhad Roshanaie

3min
page 30

USTA Eastern Inducts 2021 Hall of Fame Class

3min
pages 48-49

An Athlete Needs a Rival By Dr. Tom Ferraro

4min
pages 32-33

USTA Eastern Metro Region Update

5min
pages 26-28

Across Metro New York…News and Notes From Across the New York Metro Tennis Community

3min
pages 6-7

Beyond the Baseline w/ Jenny Schnitzer, USTA Eastern By Brian

6min
pages 8-11

Moonballers! By Chris Lewit

8min
pages 20-22

Metro Corporate League Recap presented by Advantage Tennis Clubs

1min
page 29

Slinger Serves a Successful First Year

2min
page 23

Junior Player Spotlight: Centercourt Tennis Academy’s Big Three

5min
pages 24-25

Coaching Spotlight: Rohan Goetzke, CourtSense By Brian Coleman

6min
pages 12-14
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