Job Description

Professional Tennis Player

    After playing tennis for six years in Israel, at age 13, I decided to take my hobby to a professional level. After discussing it with my coach, my parents revealed consent on a condition that the extra time of practicing needed, will not affect my grades and studying at school.  

    Once I started my professional training at a young age and throughout the years, my schedule included early morning practices at 6 AM before school starts, with an additional four to five hours of tennis, and fitness practices after school. Over the years, I took part in hundreds of national and international tournaments. I experienced a lot of bad losses but on the other hand a lot of great victories. Just before signing to represent and get a degree from USC, I was representing Israel in the Davis Cup (premier international tennis teams tournament) and accomplished the highest career ranking of 450 in the world. 

    So you can understand the ins and outs of a professional tennis player, I will describe the three main aspects of my job:  

• Technique                     

• Tactic  

• Mental                   

Technique

    In tennis, each player has his own game style but to be an elite tennis player, and have the best shots possible, you have to practice a lot on your technique. I will separate the shot technique into three steps: preparation, contact point, and ending (In tennis called “follow-through”). Before hitting the tennis ball, I will prepare myself in a way that my standing and my arms are in the correct position to hit the ball. Then, I will move towards the ball in order to proceed to step two which is the “contact point." Once my body is well prepared to hit the ball, I will swing my tennis racquet towards the ball and above the net, while trying to time it when the ball is about one meter in front of my body, at the pelvic height. This is the perfect contact point. Finally, after hitting the ball, I will focus my motion on the follow-through. I will transfer my body weight as well as the racquet after the shot while trying to aim the ball to a specific spot at the half-court of the opponent.

Tactic

    

A good technique is not enough in tennis. Every tennis player has to have a strategic and problem-solving mindset in order to be successful.

I will resemble the tennis game to Chess since I think they are very similar. A player needs to have a strategic mindset, which means knowing what your strengths are and knowing how to use them properly. Beyond that, the ability to identify the opponent's weaknesses as quickly as possible and exploit them is crucial. In addition, players cannot play solely in one tactic plan since it will make it easier for the opponent to adapt. Professional players have to develop different game tactics and use an extensive arsenal of moves to gain as many points as possible.

Mental

    Finally, the most important aspect of the tennis game is your mentality. Professional tennis players have to deal with a lot of stressful situations. Pressure is an integral part of our life. All elite players have the physical and technical ability to excel on the court but what defines a champion is the ability to thrive under the pressure of competition. A tennis match is full of distractions that are outside of your ability to control. For example, the opponent, umpiring decisions, weather delays, and performing in front of a large crowd. Despite all of those, I am sure that if you will ask any professional tennis player what can become the largest distraction during a match, our answer will be ourselves. In the critical moments of a match, I have to embrace the challenge and take control of my psychological state that will allow me to perform at my best. I will mention an example of a moment full of pressure that I have experienced during a tennis match. When I was 22 years old, the Israeli Tennis Association gave me the opportunity to represent Israel in Davis Cup against Romania. I could not sleep at night. I was so nervous. The day has arrived, and I had to step on the court in a crowded stadium. The opponent was the favorite almost the entire game. I felt that I was unable to function because of the pressure. I continued to stay positive, talked to myself confidently, found solutions, and believed that I would be able to overcome it and change the game. Indeed, that's what happened and, in the end, I won the match.

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Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.4

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