Coming into the French Open undercooked

Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. This is David Sammel with another nugget. My podcast is a way of expressing my life experience with others to offer you different perceptions and reflections that hopefully can help you in some area of your life. Today is a special day because we're going to have a doubleheader. I'm going to talk to you about my job as a tennis coach preparing Liam for the French Open, which is the most important clay court event in the world. I'll also be uploading a segment from a Q&A with John Silk from the Talking Tennis podcast, which goes into more depth in preparing for Paris. Anyway, on Tuesday Liam begins his quest to qualify for a Roland Garros for the 2nd time in his career. A tennis coach, at the pro level, is primarily to prepare the player to play their best tennis when it matters most and of course, the Grand Slams are the biggest tournaments in the world. You are especially needed for the situation when players are apprehensive, anxious, nervous, and a little afraid of what will happen. Liam has been out injured for six of the past eight weeks through injury, so he's coming into the French a little undercooked. Naturally, there's a bit of anxiety. Today after practice, we needed to sit down and for me to remind him of all the things that he does well, and that he cannot think beyond one day, and that day is either Monday or Tuesday when he plays and not to worry about anything past that and to remember that all players no matter how well they're playing are coming into this tournament with their shit and apprehensions. Players need to be reminded that their feelings of anxiety are not unique. Liam is experienced and therefore must take pride in the fact that he can manage his anxiety and nerves better than most in the tournament. Equally, he must remember that to find his form, he's going to just have to work and fight very hard and not expect it to come easily to him. He must be patient with himself and be confident that he will find his range and his groove. The excitement of the sport is we will have to wait and see what happens. Nothing can be taken for granted and anything unexpected can and probably will happen. If you want to hear more about the French Open please download the 6-minute podcast on Big Moment Nerves.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices