God In Sports Like Tennis
Game.
Set.
Scripture.
Tennis and the Bible make a winning team. If you love both, join me as we examine how they complement each other in daily life.
Game. Set. Scripture. Grab you racket and favorite Bible and “game on.”
God is everywhere, of course, so let’s find Him in sports like tennis. Why? Simply because it demonstrates, quite literally, that not only can He be found but what it means when we find Him. So, let’s see some examples.
Broken Body, Broken Game
There are times during particularly intense matches when I feel my body is broken, not literally, but almost literally. That is, the joints hurt, the legs don’t want to move, the lungs are bursting, and the mind can’t think of a way to win. Pulled muscles, cramps, and…
Do Your Doubt Your Game?
Frustration is a human emotion. We all have it and have it often. There is no frustration with God.
What Delights You About Your Game?
Winning feels very good, but there are other parts to my game that even exceed winning. For example, any time I hit a tennis ball my frame of mind changes and I am in a happy place. I love to practice. I enjoy analyzing strategy, technique, and execution to discover…
Do You Have What It Takes To Win?
What does it take to win in tennis? Here is what Maria Sakkari said: Sakkari was asked in her on-court interview after the match about the fire she showed throughout her two-hour, 35-minute victory against the red-hot Kudermetova. “Without fire you cannot win these…
Winning With Christ Is Guaranteed
If the pros understand the importance of playing high percentage shots and critically analyze their own and their opponents’ tendencies, why don’t club players, like myself—who have mediocre skills at best—do the same? Answer: deficient DNA or, possibly, we perversely…
Who Is Your Real Adversary?
Unseen forces exist to destroy our relationship with God. Be alert—they are everywhere.
Who Strings Your Racket?
I have been using Lee at Tennis Frenzy in Stuart, FL to string my rackets since I first took up the game 6 years ago. He’s a true professional, has great advice for both stringing and racket selection, and is a pleasure to chat with. I have also been fortunate to have…
Tennis Friendship
My wife and I both play with friends. At least we call them friends. Most are acquaintances, some are strangers we meet at Round Robins or while competing at other clubs, and then there are friends. We laugh together, socialize, party, and genuinely enjoy each other’s…
The Tennis Serve-Start The Conversation
Have you ever thought of the serve as the beginning of a conversation with you, the tennis ball, and the racket? My wife tells me she regularly converses with racket and ball, encouraging both to help support her game. If you were to start such a conversation, what…
Game Plan Repentance
In early May, 2024, Casper Ruud was soundly beaten by Tsitsipas at the Monte Carlo Masters. One week later he came back to defeat Tsitsipas at the Barcelona Open. How did he do it? He changed his game plan strategy. Ruud understood his weakness at MonteCarlo. “In the…
Does Your Game Need To Be Brought Back From The Dead?
All things human die. All things of God live forever. Attach yourself—and your game—to God.
Are You Needed?
Where are you on the depth chart? Don’t play often. Everyone on God’s depth chart play everyday.
Who Is Equal To These Champions?
There are winners and losers in life. No one is a loser on God’s court. Play on His team.
Where Are You On Your Team’s Depth Chart?
Everyone on God’s team plays in eternity. There is no depth chart. All are equal in His kingdom.
Do You Underestimate Your Opponent?
I learned an important tennis lesson yesterday, one that equally applies to life and one that I should have learned many times before: “Don’t underestimate your opponent.” The story line is so simple. I arrived at the courts with a touch of arrogance after some very…
Do You Trust Your Partner?
You’re up at the net and a ball zings by you, headed down the middle—do you risk lunging for it or letting it pass to your partner? Or a lob begins to float over your head—do you go for it, even awkwardly, or will your partner cover it? At my level of play there’s a…
Focus On The Solution
As I watched my wife’s tennis team taking practice with the team’s coach, prior to a morning match, I noticed the disconnect between what the coach wanted the players to focus on and what they primarily focused on. And you guessed it; they focused on errors. The…
The Tennis Mountaintop
The “tennis mountaintop” is a metaphorical expression of the highest level of tennis enlightenment. What/where could this be? How is it to be attained? I don’t think it’s about the highest, ultimate success such as number of victories and worldwide ranking. I don’t…
Tennis: Macro and Micro Views
My tennis perspective tends to be day-to-day focused (a micro focus) with some mid-term planning thrown in, such as using video, better conditioning, and more coaching lessons. It’s not even close to what the pros focus on: winning majors, getting into the top 10…
Does Your Game Need To Be Resurrected?
Crash and burn. These words seem to describe my tennis journey. One day I am up. The next day down. Amazingly, I have the energy and desire to greet each new match with energy and the hope that the game that died may be resurrected with better results. There is a…
Sacrifice—Taking One For The Team
It hurts to take one for the team but that’s what team players do. God took one for us with His Son.
Distinctions On The Court
The human tendency is to create distinctions. We create groups, organizations, clubs—any form where there is inclusion and exclusion. This way we can separate ourselves or incorporate ourselves, depending on the motive. Behind it all is often the desire to be…
Any Revelations On The Court Lately?
The game of tennis is full of surprises. Some good, some bad. The same may be said of revelations. For example, I have learned through painful losses that my skills and success at tennis are far less than I expected, given a lifetime of athletic activity. On the other…
Does Your Tennis Game Need A Spiritual Awakening?
Does your tennis game have these symptoms: a general malaise, lack of joy, detachment, disappointment? When you step onto the court, do you ever feel it is like a dry wasteland and you have no pathway to victory? Have you tried these self-help remedies without…
The Best Coaches Find Common Ground
The best coaches find what makes you different and works with that. So does God, who created you.
Good News For Your Tennis Game
Want good news for your tennis game? What would this good news sound like? Try this on for size. You will no longer be brokenhearted after losses, feel oppressed, or captive to bad habits. You will be released from unproductive emotions and will find comfort in small…
Who Is Your Coach?
We often dig for inspiration in all the wrong places. The Bible is your ultimate coach.
The Tennis Battlefield
We fight many battles with many different weapons. The only weapon that really makes a different is Scripture.
The Tennis “Pinch Hitter”?
There is no “pinch hitter” in tennis. However, there is someone who we can call upon for final victory. God.
It’s Not My Fault!
Yes, it is my fault and that’s why I need real hope. Not My Fault is the title of a book on tennis excuses written by Joshua Shifrin. It contains “150 hilarious excuses every tennis player should know” that may be used to rationalize a variety of errors on the tennis…
Good And Plenty
I find myself in a lot of bad places on the tennis courts. Double faults. Overheads into the net. Practices that do not translate into game play. And being at the bad end of match point, love-40. Can a Biblical perspective on life help to cope with the bad…
Golden Talent
(Image of gold Roman coins) We find a huge range of talent on the tennis courts, as in any sport. This was vividly brought to mind watching college-level players compete. No way would I ever come close to what I witnessed. Even more, one of the players was a female…
Do You Trust Your Second Serve?
Your first serve is your aggressive serve. You use it to go on offense and, with a bit of skill and luck, you ace your opponent. But the first serve doesn’t always go in. Your second serve is your trusted serve. Use it to stay in the game after the first serve fails….
Are You Prepared?
How prepared are you for your next game? Another way to ask this question is how seriously do you take winning and losing? Preparation takes many forms. Do you stretch your muscles? What is your strategy? How well do you know the style of your double’s partner?…
There’s So Much We Don’t Know
The two-sided, beauty-and-the-beast nature of tennis is the depth of the game, the exquisite nuances to learn, and the frustration of knowing how much we don’t know. Above, you see the tennis books in my library. These don’t even come close to all the videos I’ve…
Never Too Old Or Too Late
This is Phillip Allman, 99 at the time this photo was taken in 2022, and hailed as possibly the world’s oldest tennis player. He reminds me of the title of a book in my tennis library, Never Too Old to Play Tennis by Mansfield Latimer. There’s a comforting thought to…
Losing Ugly Is Not Final
I started playing tennis 6 years ago which means I’ve had 6 years to lose ugly. And what I’ve learned is that there are many, many ways to lose ugly. If I’m lucky I win ugly. But at least it’s a win. (To paraphrase Shakespeare, A win by any other name…). My…
Choose The Right Partner
We choose many partners in life, e.g., spouse and business. there should be one partner in all relationships: God.
Practice
You can’t improve without practice. I actually enjoy practice as much as playing. Even just hitting the ball feels good, whether alone, with a ball machine, or with a practice partner. Of course, the type of practice is important and distinguishes itself from mere…
Between The Lines
Tennis is played between the lines. Keep the ball within the lines and you are in pretty good shape (except for hitting the net!). Think of tennis as a game of boundaries. “Between the lines” is also an interesting framework with which to compare the Old and New…
The Joy Of The Game
I enjoy tennis and the people I play with so much that I can never have a bad day on the courts. I may lose, be frustrated—even discouraged—but this does not make for a bad day. This, however, is not about joy. It is happiness. Happiness is transitory and the result…
Match Point
The tennis match is over when match point is scored. You either win or lose. You don’t want to lose but sometimes you do. There is a match point in life and losing is not an option because what is at stake is eternity. And unlike the option of losing, which you don’t…
Good At Doubles?
Doubles is not two players playing independently. Effective doubles is two players matched as one. They know each other’s game, skills, weaknesses, and strengths. They have a strategy they execute together: they move together, anticipate each other’s moves, and…
Win Or Lose?
Some games we want to win. Others we want to lose. I play recreational tennis with a group of guys at the 3.0-3.5 level. This means we are good enough to have a challenging game but not so good that winning is everything. Sure, we want to win, but we also want to…