Category: Story

January 22, 2019

January 22, 2019 “This is something that I struggled with. During my first few months traveling it was just me and I thought everything was great, living out of hotels, everything just seemed easy. It might’ve been my third month after a lot of travel by myself where I just hit a wall in which I felt pretty unhappy. I think mainly it was just a sense of loneliness. Even when guys are going out to player parties or dinners, I’m kinda like, ‘No, I’m good’. I enjoy just chilling at a hotel, watching movies on my computer and just ordering food in, but after about three months of doing that every single day it gets really old. So I kinda hit a wall in which I said to myself, ‘this sucks, I’m not enjoying myself right now’. There was a good bit of time where I went out and played a match where if I won the match, great and if I lost then I got to go home. Home gave me that sense of normal. I did feel out of place at times. Some of the guys in our generation have this certain level of confidence that I (more…)

January 21, 2019

January 21, 2019 “I feel like it will happen eventually. I know that I can compete at a high level, it is just a matter of doing it. There are some moments when I wonder if I’m doing the right thing because I see other people, in my opinion, not doing the right thing and it somehow works for them. They’re doing dumb things and they still are successful. I don’t ever think that I’m wasting my time, I’ll just wonder why it’s working for them and not me. Then I start thinking like when will it happen for me. At some point you put in enough work and do the right things somethings gotta give, right? To be at the highest level of the sport you don’t have the people that mess around, but to play at a level below that, where you are making plenty of money, there are definitely a few guys that are just idiots. They seem to be able to turn it on and off. For them, there seems to be no thought of how much effort they put into practice, they just go out there and hit the ball during the match. Maybe it’s (more…)

January 20, 2019

January 20, 2019 “I’ve had a stutter since childhood. I did everything for it. Speech classes, everything. Every day I am trying to improve. That’s why I dont talk too much. Growing up, especially in the tennis world, people are extremely critical with other players. With people who don’t always speak as clearly as they want, they always get made fun of. I learn to live with it, but try to keep improving. It’s always on my mind. If there is a person I dont feel comfortable with I might not go up to them because of it. I am really not that shy, but this holds me back because I just dont want to be at the center of jokes. That’s why in the tennis world I am quiet and I just have my team and thats it. Everyone has a problem, and I know one day mine will go away.” — Ernesto Escobedo (@netoesco) (more…)

January 19, 2019

January 19, 2019 “To let down the people closest to me, my friends and family, is my most daunting fear. From an early age I was pretty aware about how many lives I affected. How many people had to sacrifice time, energy and money. The idea that it may not be worth it, or there might not be a way to repay them, haunts me at times. It’s what will take me to that next level, or break me, but to impact the world you cannot let that happen and I won’t.” —Noah Rubin (@noahrubin33) (more…)