About

Hi,

Thanks for visiting.

This Lifelongtennis blog is about my quest to become the best singles tennis player I can be. Telling the story in real time, sharing the highs, the lows, thoughts and observations along the way. Why not join me on the journey?

I am a very ordinary 64 year old tennis player to the naked eye. Six years ago I suffered a slipped disc – we might get to that at some point, but not right now – and could not play tennis for 9 months. It was then I realised how much I missed being on a tennis court.

When I returned in March 2019 I was just delighted to be back on court. That summer during the league season I was statistically the worst player in my division. The delight at just being back on court was short lived. I needed something else if I was to continue playing.

I decided to set a two year goal of improvement. The slipped disc had been the worst of a series of injuries that I calculated had prevented me playing an injury free season in three of the past four years. Any improvement had to be based firstly on being fit to compete. The advice of the physio to avoid surgery if possible and do the hard yards, to improve strength and mobility was the best advice I have ever been given.

Why now! Hav’n’t I been trying to improve all the years I have been playing tennis? Well of course I have and there has been incremental improvement along the way. Now though there is a sense that there are less years playing singles ahead of me, than there are behind me and the slipped disc has acted as a wake up call.

There is of course doubt in my mind whether the improvement I am setting out to achieve is even possible. Maybe the best that can be achieved is a managed decline?

Succeed or not I want to document the journey as it unfolds, based on my daily diary, not as a retrospective when the outcome is known. Follow the blog and experience my season and off season, come behind the scenes and learn with me, what it takes to improve and if it is even possible.