MichaelMmoh
Falling in love with the game
My Father introduced me to tennis at a young age. He was a professional tennis player himself, and it just made sense to follow in his footsteps and listen to the great advice that he would give me.
One of my main motivations to play tennis is to inspire the younger generations – I believe that is how dreams are made. I was once in their shoes and I was looking up to players like Roger and Nadal, and it was them who motivated me to be a pro.
I would like to motivate other younger generations to follow my path and to love the game like I do.
A big tennis role model when I was growing up was definitely Andy Roddick. I admired his work ethic and I loved his competitiveness, which I can relate to. Outside of tennis, another big role model to me is professional basketball player Lebron James. He is the dude that I look up to on and off the court.
My best so far
Highlights in my career so far have to include cracking the top 100, winning the matches at main draw grand slams and definitely beating Roberto Bautista in Miami. One of my biggest moments was playing against Rafa Nadal at the Rod Laver Arena.
For me, what makes a good match are the emotions during the match. Everybody in the match can feel the intensity; be it the person on the side line or the player playing the match. It’s like a roller-coaster ride, which for me is what makes it a good match. Even the match losses make the following wins much sweeter. I enjoy the feelings like when I played against Rafa Nadal at the Rod Laver Arena. I enjoy those emotions.
My favourite tournament to play is the US open. It was the first junior grand slam that I played and I won a round when I was only 14. That was one of the greatest feelings as a tennis player and I will never forget that.
My ultimate goal is to win a grand slam.
Player Stats
Day in. Day out.
My daily routine always includes training on court. Whether it is two or four hours a day, I always give it my best. I also do conditioning and combine it with recovery at the end of the day.
Besides tennis, I love to play basketball and watch the NBA and the NFL. I also enjoy the water, and living in Florida I get to enjoy the beaches around the area.
Staying grounded
To keep a sense of normality with all the travelling, I focus on the emotions of playing tennis, and I always look forward to that. I would say that the balance between physical and mental shape definitely go hand in hand because you will tire sooner if your mental state is not in a good place, even if you are in good physical shape. But for me tennis is what I love, so I only focus on the positive side of tennis.
What drives me the most is the potential of achieving my dreams. It is what I have been working for my entire life. To focus on what I want to do in life, in tennis and after tennis, and reaching my full potential is what drives me the most.
The daily battles of being a professional tennis player can be challenging, such as match losses, travelling from country to country, and competing a lot in a short period of time. But that’s what I do for a living and I am strong enough to deal with those challenges.
My pro tips
The best tip I can give is to believe in yourself.
This might sound cliché, but definitely work hard and always stay positive, because tennis has a lot of ups and downs, but you just have to keep pushing to achieve, on a day to day basis.
To pick myself up after a bad match I look at the bigger picture. There are going to be bad matches and bad practices, but you just have to believe in yourself and focus on the bigger picture. At the end of the day, that’s just one day or just one match, there is a long journey ahead and a lot of great memories to be made.
My favourite quote is, “If you look at the people in your circle and you don’t get inspired, you don’t have a circle, you have a cage!”
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