Setting a goal, accomplishing it, and feeling good about yourself can help build confidence and perseverance.
I grew up by the Mississippi River, and I would swim in that as a kid.
I always watched these tournaments and want to be seeded and get the bye and be in the second week of Slams and all that.
When I have a nice rhythm going, and I have my toss in the right spot, when everything is kind of working how it's supposed to be, I think it's just really easy, you know, and I don't have to overthink on it.
I don't always have to play my absolute best to win matches.
I have a specific routine before every match. I like to grip my rackets, because I feel that someone else won't do it how I like them. But the biggest thing is that I don't like to stress about my match all morning. Twenty minutes before, I'll sit down and think about the game plan and warm up. And then I just play.
It wasn't until people started asking me what my plans were for the future - if I would go to college or go pro - that it really hit me what I wanted to do. I decided I wanted to go pro and try to be in Wimbledon.
I've had people ask me whether I'm concerned about wearing makeup into a match, for example. One year, an on-court commentator asked one of the girls to twirl after the match. Surely, he's not going to go up to a man to ask, 'Can you do a spin for us?'
It's not the end of the world if I lose. I try to keep it all in perspective.
I think the biggest thing is knowing that those thoughts of panic are probably going to go into your brain, and just accepting it... So that's been the biggest thing. Not fighting it and trying to think I'm going to have the perfect mentality the entire time. That's not going to happen.
I started full-time training when I was 10, signed professionally when I was 14, and won my first match at the same age.
I'm a big fan of grass. It definitely suits my game.
I definitely have been working a lot on the mental side of my game.
My thought process when I'm on the court is always thinking about getting better, and thinking about how I'm playing. Thinking about it as a process, as the big picture and what I need to work on, instead of being close-minded and thinking, 'I'm so nervous and have to win this match, if I don't, it'll be the worst.'
If you're not in my immediate circle, you're not someone whose opinion I value.
I think one big thing for me that I need to work on is being able to separate my feelings and emotions from my matches.
It's, you know, kind of nice to be under the radar.
Let's just stop being bullies face to face, online, whatever.
You can almost get overwhelmed if you start focusing on Serena being on the other side of the court.
Wimbledon just is the epitome of tennis.
