Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis! Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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Speaker:With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.
Speaker:Question because Shaun was bringing this up and it'd be good to get your opinion.
Speaker:The problem at the moment is we're hearing a lot of people talking about mental health
Speaker:at the highest level, right?
Speaker:I mean, curious, Osaka, they're all sharing it.
Speaker:One of my closest friends was John Roddick, who was very close to Marty Fish.
Speaker:So I've heard all about Marty's background as well.
Speaker:Marty's was to me a little different.
Speaker:He had a real long background of it and needed to come out of the woodwork which he didn't
Speaker:until really late and then he had a lot of issues mentally.
Speaker:But there's that storyline right now in the professional level that everyone is struggling
Speaker:mentally.
Speaker:But on the other hand, on the social perspective and society or average player or amateur
Speaker:player, there's all these mental benefits from playing tennis.
Speaker:So there's this clouded gray cloud right now about mental health.
Speaker:But the normal player, the social player that plays every week doesn't get the level of
Speaker:mental health problems because you've just described it beautifully.
Speaker:That since from a little age, all you've known is hitting tennis balls.
Speaker:Most people have all these other things in their life and tennis is helping that stay on
Speaker:track because it gives them a mental release.
Speaker:Whereas for a tennis professional, they don't have anything else.
Speaker:You're going to what you said, the pros are talking about their mental health and it's a job.
Speaker:Like I said, you turn them pro.
Speaker:At some players, turn pro are winning.
Speaker:Wimbledon, Martina Hinges, who I worked with for 10 years, wins Wimbledon at 13.
Speaker:Something else at 15, 8 grand, slams by 18.
Speaker:You got kids.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They're on the road 52 weeks a year.
Speaker:Now I remember asking Martina.
Speaker:She had no idea that she was on center court Wimbledon, right?
Speaker:She knew she was at Wimbledon at center court but she didn't know the magnitude until she
Speaker:was older.
Speaker:Now a mad, no, she's a rare case.
Speaker:Your general junior player makes a sacrifice in whether they know it or not turns pro at 10
Speaker:or 11.
Speaker:They move from whatever country to Florida for more opportunities.
Speaker:They're in their academy at 10, 11 years old.
Speaker:They've turned pro by, they've got an agent at 11 years old.
Speaker:So my opinion, they're pros.
Speaker:They don't even know it like Martina didn't.
Speaker:They're 17, 18 and they've been sponsored, they've been paid, their family's gone to
Speaker:the house, they're 17, they're on the road and they're not breaking the top 100 and they're
Speaker:the next year of Povah.
Speaker:They're supposed to be, you know, this agency made a bet on this person.
Speaker:Well, back to what you said originally.
Speaker:I would disagree with you that the recreational player doesn't have mental health issues
Speaker:on the court.
Speaker:When I go to a 40 or a 35, men's or ladies league, they're drinking after the match and sometimes
Speaker:during the match, they're self-medicating.
Speaker:The line calls are suspicious and why, why shouldn't matter.
Speaker:It's probably more mentally damaging in the recreational level because why shouldn't
Speaker:matter what level or where you're playing in the lineup if I'm a 35 player.
Speaker:I'm not going to play with her.
Speaker:She's in a singles player.
Speaker:I'm a double star.
Speaker:You are a beginner.
Speaker:Anybody that goes tennis knows exactly that situation happens.
Speaker:My ego has never been my amigo and I'm out here putting in the practice today two hours
Speaker:grinding the old drills cross court two up two back playing.
Speaker:It's bananas and it's so fun to be on for those that are not here.
Speaker:I'm on a couple of rolling girls clay courts at my friend's house in Austin, Texas and I have
Speaker:a love affair with the red clay and especially the rolling girls red clay.
Speaker:It's time I have a moment out here 56 years old.
Speaker:Anyway, it's called the human condition.
Speaker:To lose a match, you're going to sense some form of depression.
Speaker:It might not be chronic or acute, right?
Speaker:But if you lost a match or a point and you lose when some points in a set or two sets or
Speaker:lose some points, there is going to be you can see the body language.
Speaker:Why do we talk about you don't have a positive out of the body language?
Speaker:Well, just double fault it's 12 times in a row.
Speaker:I was supposed to have a good body language.
Speaker:And if you don't believe that there's mental health amongst all the humans, what does the
Speaker:car ride feel like when you win versus how you lose?
Speaker:It's a different vibe, man.
Speaker:It's quiet after a loss.
Speaker:You know what to say?
Speaker:Give them a little space to de-stress or decompress.
Speaker:But when we win, did you say it beforehand?
Speaker:Did you see that drop shot?
Speaker:Did you see that?
Speaker:So, they're at Wimbledon.
Speaker:If you've ever walked on center court, there's the Kipling speech and we treat those two
Speaker:imposter's the same.
Speaker:Try and defend the feet.
Speaker:I want to be a hollow bone.
Speaker:You know where I treat those, winning and losing the same.
Speaker:And if I can come from a safe place of neutrality, safe and protected, where if I win today and
Speaker:get this deal done in business or on the tennis court, it's the best thing that could have
Speaker:happened and if this person says no to this venture or this opportunity that I'm proposing,
Speaker:that's the best thing.
Speaker:And I am able to live this life one.
Speaker:Happy to happy.
Speaker:Moment to moment.
Speaker:Because I can't get to match point before I've played these 48-50 other points.
Speaker:You know, I get it was so cool about tennis.
Speaker:You should give me down 605-0 and win.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was scary as you can be up 605-0, which I've done at the Orange Bowl back in the day
Speaker:and loose.
Speaker:That's a tough job home.
Speaker:It was the 12th.
Speaker:So we were dealing with a lot of different, you know.
Speaker:So Sean tells me all about this.
Speaker:We connect.
Speaker:What's it all about?
Speaker:We connect is a healthcare technology company.
Speaker:It's a mobile application with support and services around and mental health coaching,
Speaker:around mental health challenges and substance use disorder.
Speaker:And you know, we just came out of January.
Speaker:A lot of people were calling me and saying, I want to do dry January.
Speaker:And well, you know, it's crazy.
Speaker:Because that we're able to stick with it, are saying their work is improving, their tennis
Speaker:game is improving.
Speaker:And now they're at the end of February, now we're in March, I think, or end of February
Speaker:today.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're like, holy cow.
Speaker:So whatever, there's the substance use disorder and, you know, I'm someone in long-term
Speaker:recovery from these challenges.
Speaker:After the French open and I had my first panic attack, actually, I...
Speaker:I had been saying that, but the truth is, my first panic attack would happen again,
Speaker:David Wheaton, when I was throwing rackets into the river over the fence and my dad carried
Speaker:me off the court.
Speaker:I had a meltdown and a blowout.
Speaker:And yeah, I am really blessed with the opportunity.
Speaker:I get emotional to be of service to the tennis world and the tennis community.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
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