Connecting Tennis to Mindsets

​​I grew up playing competitive tennis and experienced firsthand both the joy and pressure that come with the sport. As a junior player, I reached #1 in the state, top 5 in the South, and #51 nationally before continuing my career at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.​Tennis taught me how deeply performance is connected to mindset — how confidence can shift from one match to the next, how pressure can tighten even the best players, and how learning to reset after mistakes matters. ​My tennis journey shaped my research. After college, I earned my Ph.D. in psychology and now serve as a professor at North Carolina State University.​ An idea I return to comes from Roger Federer’s graduation speech, where he shared that even throughout one of the greatest careers in tennis history, he won only about 54% of the points he played. That means nearly half the time, even the best players in the world are losing the point.​Tennis is not a sport of perfection. It is a sport of responding. The players who thrive are the ones who learn how to reset, adapt, and grow from challenges. ​My philosophy is rooted in helping parents, players, and leaders develop that skill set: learning how to be confident under pressure, regulate emotions, trust the process, and ultimately build a mindset for success.