How Long Until You Get Good

by Mike Provenzano

Hey First Serve gang!

It’s great to see you all putting in the work out on the courts week to week, session to session, and continuing to show up to improve your games. That’s kind of what I wanted to talk about today. I’ve had people come up to me after only a couple of lessons and ask, “So, how long until I get good?” While this is completely normal to feel this way, I think we can all try to enjoy the process and journey a little more. Sure, you want to nail down that serve or topspin forehand so you can feel invincible, but sometimes the joy lies in the little wins and progress. Just showing up with your racquet, positive attitude and willingness to learn can be a weekly win. Eventually, after thousands of shots hit, you will feel like you’re finally conquering those shots that seemed so tough at the outset. But, we often get lost and don’t enjoy the process of getting from point A to point B.

Tennis, and any other sport or activity in our free time, should bring us joy and a distraction from everyday life. While we all want to improve in a timely fashion, sometimes it’s best to just enjoy where you are in the process of becoming a better player. Even when you get to the level you’re aspiring to reach, you will still make mistakes. Novak Djokovic makes mistakes, hits balls into the net and double faults, so if we do the same it’s okay. The fact that you took the time out of your busy life to spend an hour on the tennis court trying to improve at a hard sport to master, is a win in and of itself. Try to disconnect from whatever else is going on in your life during your clinic, and just focus on watching the ball and the sound of making good contact.

Enjoy the process of improving versus rushing to get to the finish line, which in essence doesn’t really exist because we’re always trying to improve no matter how good we get.

Coach Mike