FSU Tennis

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) August 2015 Update #9 A Message to Junior Tennis Players
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

A Message To Junior Tennis Players

Dear junior tennis players,

You’re not alone.

Recently I asked my followers on Instagram to e-mail me with any questions they had regarding the life of a professional tennis player or tennis in general. To my surprise, the majority of e-mails I received were from junior tennis players looking for advice on how to deal with low confidence, getting frustrated all the time, and handling their nerves. In more simple terms, they were looking for help with the mental side of the game.

As I read each e-mail carefully, I remembered I was just like them. I remembered how a devastating loss could put me into complete sadness. I remembered how many times I would lose matches because I got nervous during big moments and made some bad decisions. Before answering I thought to myself, “what do I wish I knew then that I know now?”

I wish I understood the importance of training the mind.

For most of my life, I tried to have fun on the court. I tried to let it fly and enjoy the game. I tried endlessly to believe in myself and my abilities as a tennis player. Yet every time things started going wrong, I would get so frustrated things only got worse.

I was always told to have fun and play relaxed but how could I when I was losing? I was told to not worry about winning or losing, but how could I when the ultimate goal was to win? Telling someone to do something without giving them the proper instruction on how to do it, is completely useless.

Up until the last year and a half, no one had ever taught me how to actually play relaxed. No one taught me how to not get frustrated if I started losing. No one ever taught me how to breathe properly so that I could calm myself down. No one ever taught me how to quiet the damn voices in my head that repeatedly said things such as:

“I suck at tennis.
I hate this game.
I knew I was going to lose.
This always happens to me.
I’m just not good enough.”

These mental wars I had with myself were the primary reasons I quit tennis after playing at the collegiate level. The wars began to tear me apart. I suffered on the court and off of it as well. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and quit. Nothing in life, especially a damn game, is worth suffering so much over.

Two years after college the stress from tennis faded away and I decided to leave the office life and give tennis another try. Unfortunately the mental wars began again. I still hadn’t learned how to control my thoughts and nerves. Out of complete desperation, I finally decided to work with a mental coach (I prefer mental coach over psychologist). Slowly I started to learn the proper way to think, the proper words to use in my head, and the proper way to breathe so I could slow my heart rate down when I became nervous.

Since then, tennis has become less stressful and the emotions of it almost never spill into my personal life. More importantly, at the age of 27 I’m finally able to enjoy the game to the fullest.

We (tennis players) are willing to put an extraordinary amount of hours practicing how to hit a tennis ball, yet almost never work on the most important part of the game: the mind. When a professional tennis player or coach is asked how much of the game is mental, the typical answer is roughly 80%. If the game is about 80% mental, then why are we spending nearly 100% of our practice time on the court and in the gym? The numbers don’t make sense.

My best advice to junior tennis players: start working on the mental side of things as soon as possible. Read books; I personally recommend to begin with The Inner Game of Tennis and Winning Ugly. If your coach is not training your mind- ask him to. If he does not have the proper skills to do so, then find a mental coach. Don’t waste years of your tennis life being continuously stressed on court. Enjoy the beautiful game while having an easier pathway to being the best player you can be.

Life on Tour ATP

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) June 2015 Update #8 Mexico
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

The mountains of Manzanillo, Mexico

The Grind-An Unnamed Airport, USA

My departure started 11 hours ago and I have many more hours to go until I get home. I’m on my way back from the $10,000 Future’s event in Manzanillo, Mexico where I lost in the first round of singles and then in the doubles final.

I’m at my third airport of the day, drinking a classic American “man’s” beverage, with four hours to go until I lug my gear through my fourth and final stop. Overall, it was not a bad trip. Not just because my job is playing in professional tennis tournaments, but also because it served a greater purpose. It reminded me of how great we have it in the States.

In Mexico, I met up with a few American’s who’d arrived a week earlier to play the first tournament. We were originally supposed to stay at the all-inclusive beachfront resort that was hosting the tournament, but that plan fell apart right away.

The Americans got stuck in a room at the Gran Festivall with no air conditioning, no Wi-Fi – except in the lobby, which barely worked. And then there were the bedbugs. One girl who’d arrived early too, was forced to retire in the middle of her match because her bed bug bites were so inflamed she couldn’t play in the blistering sun.

So, without hesitation my American friends bailed from the resort to a hotel down the road.

During my twenty minute taxi ride through the mountains and small farms of Manzanillo, I thought “if the all-inclusive resort was that bad, what about a local $35 a night hotel?”

Upon my arrival to a narrow building in a busy but worn down part of town, where any cartel gang might easily wreak havoc, I was more than a little concerned. The hotel room doors all were outside, which meant anyone could walk up to my place. It’s not the feeling I wanted on my first day in a foreign country, in a city that I had never heard of before.

Walking up to the third floor (yes, no elevators and carrying the full weight of the 100-degree heat index on my way up the stairs) I stepped into my room, drenched with sweat, but pleasantly surprised. It was clean. The a/c worked. So did the TV, although the only available English channels played nothing but horror movies.

Reality hit, though, when I discovered the only working Wi-Fi spots were in the hallway or down in the parking lot. Many times I opened the window just so I could stick my phone out in the hallway to send and receive text messages. And whenever my fiancé called the room, a beeping noise, like a fax tone, droned through the line.

The view from the hotel

The front desk attendant later explained that a single phone line served the entire hotel. So, if someone else was trying to get a call through, they would interrupt any call in progress. The beeping would continue until whomever else trying to make a call stopped. They never stopped.

By far though, my favorite moment of the trip was on the second day, having to wake up at 6:00 am to be able to practice with my roommate, Collin John, at 7:00 am. The resort was overloaded, hosting both men’s and women’s events on only ten courts. So, players were forced to practice four to a court during the “typical” practice hours. Since we wanted a full court to ourselves, our only option was to wake up for an early morning grind session.

Unfortunately, since we weren’t staying at the tournament hotel, the resort provided no transportation.

So there we were on a Saturday morning, standing on the side of the road at 6:30 in the dark, in Mexico, waiting for the bus, looking completely out of place with our tennis bags and clothing. Then, when we hopped on the 7-peso ride, I couldn’t help but think how ironic it was that two professional tennis players were taking a rickety bus in the 6:30 dusk just to get in a decent practice.

To top it off, the bus dropped us off on a side road next to the resort. To avoid a 15-minute trek up a hill and then back down, we had to throw our bags over the wall and “sneak” in to the resort.

After a few days I got used to the whole bus and “cloak and dagger” routine. The food though, took some doing. I did my best to eat as many meals as possible at the hotel restaurant. Almost every other food joint in the city was street-side with no a/c, so by eating in the hotel I limited how much walking and sweating I was doing.

There was this one no-named family owned taco place though, across the street. After mustering up the courage to try it a few days into the trip, I first considered it the best street-corner taco stand on the planet. Towards the end of the trip, however, I quickly stripped it of that honor when players started getting sick from eating there. My doubles partner, Andre Dome, was forced to withdraw from his singles semifinal and our doubles final due to food poisoning. Lesson learned: never eat at a no-named taco stand on a street corner in Mexico.

The taco stand

So, as tiring and hard as traveling is, when I landed in Orlando for my third connection of the day, the familiar aura of Disney World and the luxury of drinking from the water fountain welcomed me. I wasn’t in Atlanta yet, but in my mind, I was already home.

My next tournaments will be two 15k Future’s events in Tulsa, OK and Wichita, KS. I couldn’t be more excited to play in my home country of the USA. I won’t take a moment for granted.

Life on Tour ATP

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone May 2015 Update #7 The Costs of Living the Dream
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

From ATP/WTA Sydney 2014, qualifiers had to pay for water and tennis balls

In this blog I will present a breakdown of my income and expenses in various categories for the year of 2013 and 2014. They are the only years so far where I played professionally from the beginning of the year up until the end. I did not write this blog based on my opinion on how well tennis players do or do not get paid. I wrote this so that you may form your own opinion based on numerical facts rather than assumptions.

	2013	2014
Total Prize Money	$9,637	$12,101
Singles Prize Money	$5,695	$9,260
Singles Tournaments Played	26	24
Average Income Per Singles Event	$219	$386
Doubles Prize Money	$3,942	$2,841
Doubles Tournaments Played	16	15
Average Income Per Doubles Event	$246	$189
Year End Singles Ranking	679	484
Year End Doubles Ranking	307	419

Expenses	2013	2014
Food/Meals/Groceries	$10,390	$12,898
Tournament Fees	$400	$440
Racquet/Tennis Gear	$2,158	$2,463
Coaching/Training	$6,995	$5,900
Gas	$2,337	$2,523
Transportation	$5,137	$2,986
Hotels	$4,843	$2,435
Total Expenses	$32,259	$29,950
Net Income	*-$22,622*	*-$17,849*

Some things to keep in mind when evaluating my expenses:

Tournament fees – In order to play in professional events, a membership is required. Therefore, the tournament fees include my ITF IPIN membership and ATP Playerzone membership so that I can register for events. This expense section also covers whatever entry fee I have to pay at events to play.

Racquet/tennis gear – Includes racquet stringing. For the second half of 2014 I purchased a Pro Stringer. It’s a portable stringing machine so that I can string my own racquets and not have to pay to get them strung. For 2013 and 2014 I was sponsored by Babolat, therefore I did not have to pay for my own racquets, racquet bags, or strings. I did not have a clothing sponsor at the time.

Racquet customization companies like Priority One charge thousands for their services to pros.

Coaching/training – Includes any kind of physical therapist or doctor I need to see. Also, I only travel with a coach to a tournament a few times a year. It’s too expensive. I only work with a coach a few months out of the year when I’m training in Atlanta at Ginepri Performance Tennis. When I’m there I work out a special rate with my coaches so it’s not too expensive. They deserve to get paid more but are kind enough to help me. The same goes for my fitness trainer.

Transportation – these items are air fares and car rentals to and from tournaments. The 2014 amount was lower vs 2013 one because I was able to drive to more tournaments.

Hotels – This amount was lower in 2014 vs 2013 because I was able to play tournaments where I could stay at a friend’s house.

It should be noted that these are not ALL of my expenses. They are only my tennis related expenses. I did not include my health insurance, car insurance, car payment, rent/utilities, cell phone and anything that I spend on recreational activities such as going to the movies or playing golf.

Food for Thought:

The minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 an hour. A person working on average 40 hours a week is typically considered a full time employee. A full time employee working on minimum wage earns $15,080. Last year I finished the year ranked as the 484th best professional tennis player in the world in singles. Not including doubles, I earned $9,260.

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) May 2015 Update #6 Tallahassee Renewal
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

Tallahassee Tennis Challenger 2015 Jean-Yves Aubone

The 2015 Tallahassee Tennis Challenger

Rock Bottom?

After losing 6-3 6-0 in the qualifying of the Savannah Challenger a week ago, I felt completely lost. It was one of the worst moments of my career. In practice I was playing the best tennis of my life, but when it counted, I couldn’t beat my mom who stopped playing tennis years ago (yes a part of me believed this). It had been about a month and a half since I won a set. I couldn’t understand it. Usually when a player reaches their career high ranking, they are full of confidence; for me it was the opposite. I became more nervous and anxious with each match. Just by looking at the scoreline and my recent matches, one might think I lost on purpose. I wish that was the case. At least I would have understood why I could lose so badly every tournament when I was playing so well in practice. The reality was that I tried until the very last point. I even told myself when I was down a set and 5-0 that at least I had the opportunity to make one of the most epic comebacks in my career. It didn’t happen.

After the match I went straight to one of the practice courts where no one could bother me and I sat alone. I tried to gather my thoughts but I was so angry that I couldn’t think. I sat on the bench looking around hoping that I would find something, anything, that could make me feel better. Unfortunately it started to rain. I thought about going back in the clubhouse but I couldn’t do it. The last thing I wanted was for someone to ask me how the match went. After showering in the fitness center that was a mile away from the tennis clubhouse, and where I knew I wouldn’t be bothered, I went to Starbucks for a few hours. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel because I was staying with Greg (Ouellette) who just beat me!

I called my coach Joseph O’Dwyer and explained to him that I wanted to leave town. I wanted to get away. I felt so frustrated and lost. Even though I didn’t want to quit, I did want to get away from the game. This wasn’t fun anymore. Joseph reminded me that there are ups in downs in tennis and that every player goes through it. He gave me examples such as Ernests Gulbis, who recently was one of the top 20 players in the world and somehow can’t win a match.

Joe also reminded me that someone trying to reach something great has to stay the course no matter how hard it is. Nothing great happens after a smooth ride. I agreed and said I was going to stay in Savannah and practice but I still wasn’t happy. I was so upset that I couldn’t even talk to my fiancé. I felt terrible because she was being punished for something that had nothing to do with her but I couldn’t help it. My frustration had completely taken over my thoughts.

The frustration at practice the next day was very evident. I considered it a victory that I stayed until the very end without throwing my racquet into the woods. As I walked off the practice court I ran into Stanford Boster, one of the USTA’s national coaches. After speaking for a few minutes to him about what I was going through he said something that later on in the day clicked in my head. I don’t want to give away what he said to me but it changed everything. It was so simple yet I’d never thought about it. I now knew what was wrong, and it was fixable. I spoke with Joseph about it and he completely agreed with what Stan said. I was so happy, so relieved. I couldn’t wait to play the next tournament.

The next tournament for me was in the main draw of the Tallahassee Challenger. I was fortunate enough to have a wild card into the main draw. My coach and fiancé were both at the event and in my corner for the first time all year. The timing couldn’t have been better. The combination of them being there and my new mental approach helped me tremendously. Mentally I played the best two matches all year. I was nervous but not anxious. I played free. I played like myself again and I can’t even put into words how happy that made me.

JY in action in Tallahassee

After losing in the second round to Tiafoe, I found myself upset at a few execution mistakes I made. Joseph stopped me and said, “you just got off the court upset at execution mistakes, which can be fixed, rather than being upset at how you couldn’t get a ball in the court and and complaining that your head is a mess. Today is a win, not a loss.” Immediately all my anger went away when I heard that. He was right. Mentally, I was back. I was me again.

I just want to thank my fiancé for her patience and support through all the good and bad moments in my career. I want to thank Joseph for convincing me to stay in Savannah when it was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. Finally, I want to thank Stanford Boster for the short conversation that I’ll never forget. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.

Life on Tour ATP

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) April 2015 Update #5 Israel Trip Post-Mortem
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

No Excuses

There’s no way around it. My trip to Israel for three consecutive tournaments was probably the most gut-wrenching one I’ve ever had. I didn’t even win a set in any of my matches. I’m sure I can come up with a few logical excuses but I know I’d be lying. I had everything I needed to perform. I had a coach with me everyday. I improved at each practice. I ate as well as I could. The weather was impeccable. At night I slept as if I was in my own bed. Unfortunately, none of it mattered. As soon as the match started, my preparation went out the window.

The nerves that usually only exist in the first few games of the match lasted the entire match. I was never calm. I played very indecisive tennis. I couldn’t stick to a game plan. On big points I made way too many unforced errors. To sum it up, I played bad.

As I reflected on this trip I remembered what I learned when working in finance. When picking stocks, one can put all the work in. They could have studied all the fundamentals and technical charts. They could have followed their winning process exactly the same as before. Yet somehow the stock didn’t move in the direction their work indicated it would. That doesn’t mean the process is broken and they didn’t work hard enough. It just means this time they were wrong. But so long as they stick to the process, put the right amount of work in time after time, they will be right more often than not. So long as I keep putting the correct amount of work in, I know I will win more than I will lose.

While I know I’m doing everything I can to put myself in the best position to succeed, I still couldn’t help but feel sick to my stomach during my trip back to the United States. During a 12-hour flight to Newark, where I was stuck in the middle seat and could rarely stand up, I had more than enough time to watch 8 episodes of House of Cards, two movies, and still think about how I spent 3 weeks in the Middle East without even winning a set. I had no ranking points to defend from last year, so it was a great opportunity to move up in the rankings. Instead, I come back with none of my matches going over an hour and a half, and having made $208 in singles (not including expenses). As much as I can say I play for the love of the game, I also like winning and I didn’t even come close.

My original flight was set for way after the day I lost, so I could have stayed and enjoyed all the historical locations that Israel has to offer but I had to get out of there. The longer I was in Israel the more mental damage it would have done. I had to put the trip behind me and prepare for the challenger tournaments in Savannah, Georgia and Tallahassee, Florida

Before I end this blog I want to thank Gabriel Rujinsky for all his help coaching me in Israel. Though the results didn’t show it, my game improved each and everyday because of his help. I have no doubt that the work we put in will show at some point. I also want to thank his wife Manuska. She took care of me like I was part of her family. Finally, I want to thank their three daughters for treating me as their brother. I was so far away from home but I always felt like I was with family. Thank you all for making my trip to Israel as fun possible. I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Life on Tour ATP

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) March 2015 Update #4 On Tour In Israel
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

Losing Can Be A Good Thing But Jet Lag Sucks

Israeli Futures Action

I’ve been in Israel playing tournaments for only a week and this trip has already been absolutely invaluable. To begin with, I’m guilty of assuming things without actually knowing. I’d never traveled to this part of the world and the news coverage of the Middle East in America is always negative. The media only discusses warfare and the political side of things. Because of this I didn’t think the quality of life was going to be great. I couldn’t be happier to have been proven completely wrong. Israel is a first world country that is incredibly beautiful. The quality of life is high, the food is great, and the majority of people speak English. The beaches are stunningly gorgeous. I can unquestionably envision myself living in Israel one day.

On the Road in Israel

Here in Tel Aviv, I’ve been working with Gabriel Rujinsky, who used to coach me when I was younger. I first met him when he worked for my dad at Don Shula’s Athletic Club in Miami 12 years ago. He now lives in Tel Aviv. He’s been kind enough to let me stay at his house and coach me in Israel. Without him, this trip would be so much more difficult to continue improving everyday. Having him here gives me the option to have practices where I only drill and specifically work on parts of my game that need fine-tuning. Gabriel also communicates my mistakes immediately to me. If he wasn’t here I’d have to figure things out on my own. If I wasn’t able to figure them out on my own, then I’d have to wait to fix them back at Ginepri Performance Tennis in Atlanta.

Because I lost in the first round of the first event that I played on this trip to Israel, I’ve had a lot of extra time to work on my game. If I didn’t have a coach here a lot of time would have been spent simply practicing with other players. The only bad part about that is practices have to be compromised so that both the other player and I can do a little bit of what we want to work on. I’m not part of a team out here so I want to spend as much time as I can working on my game. Having Gabriel has allowed that to happen because for some practice sessions it’s just he and I.

One of the best things that could have happened to me was losing in the first round. It was my first hard court match in 8 months (I wanted to save the pounding on my achilles) and it clearly showed. I had a hard time trusting the strategy I wanted to execute on important points. On clay I didn’t even have to think so much about strategy. It was pure instinct. But the strategy to win on clay is different than the one used on hard courts. In that first match I found myself thinking too much and not hitting shots with enough conviction. If I would have won the first round then I wouldn’t have taken such a hard look at what I needed to fix. Also, losing early gave me more days to practice and improve. As much as I wanted to win, winning now at a 10k future’s event isn’t the main goal. Putting myself in the best position to make a run at the challenger in two weeks is. Losing early has given me more time to work with Gabriel, improve my game, and adjust to the time change. .

The most important thing I’ve learned on this trip so far is to not underestimate the power of jet lag. My first match was five days after my arrival and I still didn’t feel normal. The level of exhaustion was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It’s 6 hours later than the east coast so when I’m awake and playing tennis, I’m usually sleeping or waking up. The first two days in Israel I had to have extremely limited practices because I would get tired so quickly. I also couldn’t recover as well so sometimes I couldn’t even practice twice in a day. At night I would fall into such a deep sleep that it was extremely hard to wake up in the mornings. Next time I make a trip to a massively different time zone I will go with more time to prepare.

Israel Jean-Yves Aubone #2

With only one week of this trip completed it’s already been such an amazing and humbling experience. I’m beyond excited to see what these next two weeks will bring.

Beaches in Israel

Life on Tour ATP

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) March 2015 Update #3
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

In the month of February, Jean-Yves scored five tournament wins, including a semifinal at USA F9 futures in Sunrise, Florida, here are his thoughts on what has transpired in the past month.

I’m Back

It took me four and a half years but I finally broke my career high singles ranking of 475 that I achieved while attending Florida State University. I’m currently sitting at 471 and when the rankings are updated I will be ranked even higher. While this achievement might mean very little when considering my goal of making runs deep into grand slam events, it was a personal one that was always on my mind. Leaving the great job and career path I was on while working at Morgan Stanley was one of the most difficult decisions of my life. At the very least I felt that I had to make it back to where I was at FSU. People have always asked me if I imagined how well I could have done if I never stopped playing. Though there isn’t one ounce of me that regrets my time in finance, I too have wondered what would have happened. I don’t have to wonder anymore.

The Crowd at the USTA F9 Futures in Sunrise

The Crowd at the USA F9 Futures in Sunrise

The best part about the accomplishment was that my dad was coaching me during the events that led to my new ranking. Because I couldn’t afford to bring one of the coaches from Ginepri Performance Tennis to the tournaments with me I asked my dad for help. Before attending FSU he was my primary coach so I had full confidence that he could help me for a few weeks. As one can imagine my father and I butt heads a lot but our conversations were productive and I was able to get better every single day I stepped out on to the court with him. By the third event I was playing the best tennis since I got injured. I made a run to the semifinals of the U.S. F9 future where I secured my career high ranking.

JY with his father

To top it all off, during one of the tournaments I had the pleasure of meeting with Eugenio Kettelsen. He is the President and CEO of ENGN (Which is also the official apparel partner of Tennis Atlantic), a brand new tennis clothing company. We met because he was interested in sponsoring me. I will admit that I was a little reluctant in signing with a brand new company when there are so many great brands out there, but once I spoke with Eugenio and his vision for ENGN, my worries were laid to rest. All he talked about was helping players achieve their dreams of having a successful tennis career. As a player himself he understood how difficult it is to make it to the top and how there is almost no support for players. It wasn’t about him or the brand or about making money. It was about building a brand that really was FOR the player. I immediately wanted to get on board with ENGN. As soon as I tried out their gear, which by the way is fantastic, I asked him to send over the contract.

For the next week I will continue to train in South Florida before I go to Israel. There are two 10k futures and a 125k challenger. It’s the farthest I’ve traveled outside of the country since I went to Europe for junior events when I was 16. I’m always a little nervous traveling to a place I’ve never been to but I’m also excited as many friends have told me how beautiful Israel is. If there’s one good thing about being a professional tennis player it’s the beautiful places we get to travel to along the way.

Life on Tour with Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): February 2015 Update #2

Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

February 2015 Update #2-Atlanta,Georgia, USA

For two full years I’ve been training and staying in shape. I take two months off of tennis because of an injury and the first few days are as if I’ve never trained at any point in my life. I’ve always been astonished at how easy it is for someone to lose their fitness and how difficult it is to get it back. It really isn’t fair. During the last few weeks of recovery from my achilles bursitis I went through some swim and weight lifting programs to get my fitness back. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for a normal training program that is tailored for professional athletes. On the first day back at Ginepri Performance Tennis Academy in Atlanta I found myself getting my tail kicked by a few of the 14 and 15 year olds in the gym. Not only was I slower than them but they were using heavier weights than me! I felt so pathetic that sometimes I just had to laugh. It was a very humbling experience, but I knew it was just part of the process of getting back to professional shape.

JY doing single leg box jumps

As tough as it’s been to get my fitness levels up, it’s been even tougher getting my movement back. When I first started to practice I realized that I still had some discomfort in my achilles. After roughly 7 weeks off this should not have been the case. Both my strength/conditioning coach (Paul Fortunato from Ozone Fitness) and my physical therapist (Barbara Vaughn from SET Physical Therapy) watched me play and noticed that I needed to change the biomechanics of how I run. I was using my calf/achilles/foot area as my main source of energy when going to hit the next shot. This was causing a continuous aggravation of my achilles bursitis. I should have been using my glutes as my main source of energy. In order to achieve this I needed to make sure I was maintaining the athletic position while I moved. Once I’m in the athletic position the hips are loaded correctly and my glutes become my main source of energy. This relieves pressure from the lower leg area and allows me to be lighter and quicker.

To make this adjustment on court I’ve had to go through some practices just doing basic beginner basket feeding drills at a very slow place. If I tried to go too fast then I would move incorrectly and start to feel some discomfort in the achilles area. I spent a lot of time practicing with Robby Ginepri and at first there were many times when I struggled to continue long rallies. My feet couldn’t keep up. If I did keep up it was because I was moving incorrectly causing more discomfort. In the gym we focused a lot on strengthening the glutes through exercises such as single leg dead lifts and lunges.

There were definitely some moments of frustration during this training block. We are always making technical or strategical adjustments in my game but relearning how to move is a rare one. Throw in the fear of re-injuring myself and my patience was definitely tested. I’ll never forget how happy I was when I first started to really feel a big improvement with my movement. It was about two weeks in to my training and I was in the middle of my first full on practice set at Georgia Tech against one of their players. In between one of the points I turned to my coach Joseph O’Dwyer and said, “man, I’m losing but I’m so happy to be playing.”

JY with Kenny Throne of Georgia Tech Tennis

Jean-Yves Aubone
February 2, 2015

Life on Tour with Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): January 2015 Update #1

Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

Tennis Atlantic is proud to begin our partnership with ATP professional Jean-Yves Aubone, Jean-Yves is a former two time All-American NCAA college player at Florida State University, and he has won multiple ITF futures titles in his career. He is currently ranked in the top 500 in the world and you can track his journey on tour, and efforts to move up in the rankings here on Tennis Atlantic. He will be providing a down to earth, and detailed account of his life as a professional player, and an up close and personal take on the ITF futures and ATP challenger tour from a players perspective. We look forward to his contributions on a bi-weekly basis for our site. To get to know JY better please visit our writer bio section.-The Editors

January 2015 Update #1-Miami, Florida, USA

While everyone else has been preparing and even begun the 2015 season, I’ve been at home patiently waiting to start my offseason training. It’s been seven weeks since I played my last match. It’s also been seven weeks since I last played any real tennis. I’ve missed so much time due to achilles bursitis. Achilles bursitis occurs when the bursa (small fluid filled sac located at the back of the heel) becomes inflamed. I played with it throughout 2014. I never stopped because it never became inflamed enough for me to stop playing.

Athletes tend to make the mistake that if the pain is manageable then they will play. At the end of the day that’s all we want to do. We just want to play. Why stop because of a tiny amount of pain? Well because that tiny amount of pain, if not treated correctly, can turn into a lot of pain. That’s what happened to me. By the end of the year I was struggling to run, jump and even walk. The pain was too great and I had to cut my season short by a few weeks.

After seeing a doctor in South Florida I was informed that the recommended treatment for achilles bursitis is rest of 4-6 weeks, lots of ice to remove the inflammation, and loosening the calf muscle through stretches and massages.

Unfortunately I’ve had to take the entire 6 weeks away from the court. The only exercise I’ve been allowed to do is swimming and non-impact exercises in the gym. Fortunately these things have kept me in somewhat decent shape so once I get back on the court it won’t take me long to get into my normal form. After all this time I feel close to 100% but I still need to take it slow because of how delicate the injury is. I’m hitting some balls down the middle but with very little movement. Hopefully in a week I can have a full practice.

One of the toughest parts about having to take so much time off is how to spend that time. I’ve continued to wake up early to maintain the same routine as if I were training like normal. This way it’s not so much of a shock to my body when I return to a normal practice schedule. Unfortunately by the time I’m done swimming, going to the gym, and start icing it’s only 11am. By 2pm I start to lose my mind. One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is play golf, but I can’t do that because it aggravates the injury. All my friends and family are at work so I can’t meet up with anyone. I’ve been reading and watching Homeland a lot but that can only provide so much entertainment. I clean my apartment every other day. The only thing that keeps me calm is that I’m doing what is necessary to lengthen my career.

By far the most difficult thing has been taking so much time off when I finished the year so well. I made a really good run during the back half of the year and was excited to keep it going. I reached four ITF singles finals and won one of them. This injury has been a big reminder that an athlete can never do enough to take care of his own body. It’s always worth it to spend extra time doing things such as stretching, seeing the doctor and getting massages. I’m glad I was reminded of this now rather than after a serious injury that could have forced me to miss an entire year or even end my career.

For the moment my only goal is to get back to being healthy. I don’t want to have ranking goals in the back of my mind right now because I can’t risk coming back too soon and hurting myself again. I know with the help of my team it will only be a matter of time before we get back to making runs deep into events.

Jean-Yves Aubone
January 8, 2015

Tennis Atlantic

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Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) August 2015 Update #9 A Message to Junior Tennis Players

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Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) May 2015 Update #7 The Costs of Living the Dream

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) May 2015 Update #6 Tallahassee Renewal

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) April 2015 Update #5 Israel Trip Post-Mortem

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) March 2015 Update #4 On Tour In Israel

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) March 2015 Update #3

Life on Tour with Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): February 2015 Update #2

Life on Tour with Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): January 2015 Update #1

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