"What I battle hardest in the tennis match is to quiet the voices within. To shut everything out but the contest itself. To concentrate every atom of my being on the point I am playing. If I make a mistake on the prior point, let it go. Should a thought of victory arise, crush it." -Rafael Nadal

Elite level tennis players have to be mental juggernauts.

I played tennis in high school, and the rhythm is similar to volleyball.

I love picking up golden nuggets from great tennis stars like Nadal to incorporate into my own game and training.

"During a match, you are in a permanent battle to fight back your everyday vulnerabilities, bottle up your human feelings. The more bottled up they are, the greater your chances of winning, so long as you've trained as hard as you play and the gap in talent is not too wide between you and your rival. The gap in talent with Federer existed, but it was not impossibly wide. It was narrow enough, even on his favorite surface in the tournament he played best, for me to know that if I silenced the doubts and fears, and exaggerated hopes, inside my head better than he did, I could beat him. You have to cage yourself in protective armor, turn yourself into a bloodless warrior. It's a kind of self-hypnosis, a game you play, with deadly seriousness, to disguise your own weaknesses from yourself, as well as from your rival." - Rafa