Play Like You Have No Money

I Watched an interview of Maria Sharapova, the tennis player who retired some years ago. She said something very interesting. She was asked what advice she would give to a young Maria coming up in the world of competitive tennis.

Her answer? “Play like you have no money!”

I thought of that and thought of more than one player who does not play with the fire. In fact I had this very discussion with a player the other day. This athlete got into the social hahaha aspect of fun doubles and singles. I took the athlete aside and had a talk that went something like:

“How did you get good at racquetball? Was it laughing and joking during your practice or was it focusing and working on getting better?”

Athlete took the message to heart and last I saw of said athlete they were playing with passion rather than going through the motions.

The same can be said of skill practice. Play like you have no money!

( I know, I know, it might be easy in our sport! hahaha)