‘My biggest loss was my best moment.’ Patricia Hy-Boulais – Olympic athletes interviewed Episode 39

Patricia Hy-Boulais professional tennis player for 18 years, who participated in 3 Olympic Games, shares the story how her career was almost over before it has even started when she was advised to retire due to a chronic injury.

Patricia didn’t want to give up on her dream and seeked out for help to ultimately overcome her injury.

Not that this story is incredible enough, as a young child Patricia and her parents survived and escaped from the civil war in Cambodia.

Furthermore, we discuss

• Her darkest moment
• Her best moment
• What advice would she give a younger Patricia Hy-Boulais
• The habits that make you a successful person
• Her morning routine
• How to prepare for important moments
• Who was a tougher opponent, Steffi Graf or Monica Seles
• How to overcome setbacks
• Her role model
• The best advice she has received
• Her approach of how to develop younger athletes rather than the top athletes
• Her experience using the MBTI Action typing and at what age can you start using it
• How did a typical training day look like
• Her interview nomination
• Where can you find Patricia Hy Boulais

Christian: Today I’m joined by Patricia Hy-Boulais. Patricia is triple Olympian and participated in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, in the Olympics 1992 in Barcelona, and the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. She has been a professional WTA (women’s tennis association) tour player for 18 years, and her most notable achievements include Junior Wimbledon champion, 1983 in the double’s category, the quarterfinal of the US Open, she won a WTA title in singles and doubles, her highest ranking in the world was number 28 in singles and 36 in doubles.

After her career, Patricia has moved into coaching and consulting to tennis players and tennis clubs.

She has a performance Academy and is a mentor coach for tennis players, which we’re going to talk about that later.

And to the best of my knowledge, your daughter and your son, are Canadian tennis, hopefuls?

Patricia: They are working on it. Justin, my son is 17, he won the National under-18 in Canada last summer. He’s been training on and off at the Break Point Base Academy in Halle, Germany, where they have a team of great coaches at big point base. He wants to go immediately onto the ATP Tour. I don’t think he really understands how hard that is. However, we never say no, we encourage him to dream big and to go after his dream. So, if that’s his dream, he’s training at the right place.

And our daughter Isabell has the same dream as well, however, emotionally, she’s a child, even though 18 years old, but she’s young emotionally, and that affects her mental strength. So, we suggested, she goes to a very good university, which she is doing now for the first year. She plays at Ohio State University, they have top 10 quality, they have a lot of girls coming out of there, moving on to the professional tour. So, she is definitely in good hands right now.

Christian: That is an interesting question, I’m also working with one of the tennis players remotely and he also went through the university system in the US and from there went on to the ATP tour and is a top 100 ATP tour player now. So it is possible to go from university to the professional tour.

Patricia: It used to be much more difficult. I believe during my time, back in the 80s and even the 90s, going to university was seen as a failure, because there weren’t that many good coaches in the university system. However, I’ve seen the trend changing and the quality of coaches has improved. I think since around since about 2000, I saw the change in the quality of the coaches. The coaches nowadays are very committed in, developing Pro players.

Her darkest moment 

Christian: Okay, interesting. Cool, let’s dive into the interview. In your life as an athlete, what was your darkest moment?

Patricia: Probably 99% of my career. I say that because there are only a handful of moments, that I could think of, that I really perform the way I wanted to.

99% of my career were dark moments.

But definitely one of my darkest moment would be my third time when I fell off the ranking. When I was 15, 16, I won the Junior Wimbledon doubles, I was finalists in the Junior Wimbledon singles event, I was top 10 in the ITF junior world ranking, and I was also 65 on the WTA ranking for the seniors. The path was very clear that I was going to go on to the Pro Tour.

And I decided that I wanted to go to college, so I went to university, I went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and went there for two years. And at the time, the system in the WTA required you to be actively participating and competing in 9 tournaments. And because of the school load and the schedule, I couldn’t commit to that and my ranking fell off. So, it was devastating and I had to start from the beginning, as you can imagine, I mean, from 65 singles ranking, I fell completely off and I started in the beginning, and once I got my ranking back, I got an injury, and then fell off again.

I fell completely off the ranking and I started in the beginning, and once I got my ranking back, I got an injury, and then fell off again.

And then when I came back again, I struggled for a few years to be in the 200. So, when you’ve been in the top hundred or top junior and being in the 250 is simply not good enough. That was my darkest moment, battling with injuries, battling with the ranking and not getting high enough to where I should be. I contemplated, in quitting. I believe at the time I was maybe 26, 25, around that time, I needed to move on. And I was very lucky, my best friend on the tour, she was top 10 in the doubles of the WTA and she said at that time, why don’t you go and visit this coach in Toronto. I was living in Vancouver British Columbia in Canada at the time, and the coach used to play for Canada and he’s really nice, and he’s very knowledgeable. And I thought about it, because, you know, the time for an athlete to quit is when you wake up and you don’t want to train anymore. You know life is flat, you don’t want to get out of bed, it’s just like the world it’s on top of you, instead of the blanket, the world is on top of you, that’s how heavy I felt. But I thought I don’t want to live 10 years down the road and going to regret that I didn’t try.

I contemplated, in quitting, but I thought I don’t want to live 10 years down the road and going to regret that I didn’t try.

Because I was a personality, always one more, one more. And so, I said, I have nothing to lose because I’m already at the bottom, I will give this one last shot. So, I flew to Toronto and met up with the coach. And that was really my darkest moments, like any athletes with the dream of training and competing in the Pro and doing good things, big things with the tennis, with big dreams. And when you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel, that’s dark.

Christian: What year was that?

Patricia: Ah, let’s see, that must have been 1988 to 1989.

Christian: So, even before you had your biggest successes?

Patricia: Right.

Christian: How did you recover from that moment?

Patricia: We’re always smarter with hindsight, but if I look back now, my greatest strength was not to give up, was really to give that one more try.

My greatest strength was not to give up, was really to give that one more try.

And I believe that in life itself, as an athlete, if you are facing hard times and you’re just in the middle, you’ve not had enough pain to move you forward, because you’re still halfway looking at that glory and halfway, your feet are dangling in the air. You don’t know what to do and you’re in a guessing game.

But if you completely sink to the bottom, you can do one of two things, you’re going to either do something very different and then you’re going to rise, so you have no other place to go but to give your entire 100%, with no questions asked, and you will just let fate take itself because of your efforts or the other way, the second way, if you don’t do anything at all and then you just continue.

I chose to do something about it and I’ve met up with the coach. He was very kind, he was not judgmental with my career and that was important. I was very judgmental on me, I was very hard on me, I was a perfectionist all the way. And he was very understanding, it was baby steps, he took the band-aid, if I can use that analogy, he removed the band-aid, little by little, to reveal my wound, which was my emotions, I was very hurt, you know, confidence-wise and everything was down. And he lifted that little by little and I trusted him.

So, the combination of not wanting to regret, having the guts to do it one more time and trusting. Those were the two combinations that got me out of my hole.

Christian: And out of personal interest, something that just popped out in my head, you had a bit of a difficult childhood in the sense of you had to escape from Cambodia because of civil war, right?

And what just popped up, you said you have always been a fighter. Having had these experiences of escaping from a civil war, does it may be making playing tennis much easier and coming back from injuries?

If you weigh up the importance and severity, I would think, life-threatening situations and escaping, once you’ve mastered that, coming back from an injury seems to be fairly easy.

Patricia: A lot of people had told me that, that they think it was something like that. There were articles the WTA wrote, calling me the survivor. But I was only six and a half years old back then with the commemoration of the Civil War and now 40 and some years later, I still remember that feeling.

I was only six and a half years old back then, and now 40 and some years later, I still remember that feeling.

So, when you are put in a situation, especially at a young age, it resides, it stays with you, and you can always reach that point. I believe that you may not remember it, in your mind, but in your gut, you remember it for the rest of your life.

I always feel like when I’m triggered, when I’m put against, very hard situation, it’s like a punch in my gut and then, that gut actually triggers it and it comes out. And it has happened several times on the Tour, in my own life, where I must believe that has something to do with the connections. It’s not so much the memory, it is the feeling that I associated with it, that I can depend on.

Her best moment 

Christian: What was your best moment?

Patricia: This is going to sound really strange, my best moment was when I lost to Mary Joe Fernandez at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. I had 10 match points, and I lost the match.

My best moment was when I lost to Mary Joe Fernandez at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. I had 10 match points, and I lost the match.

And why I say it was the best moment, because it was exactly that moment after I lost that, I was so upset beyond words, nobody could consult me, nobody could tell me how hard I tried, I didn’t care, I went into such a rage inside, it kicked me into 10 different gears.

And because of that moment, I had my best year, I went into US Open after that, got through to quarter final. Before then, was the Rogers Cup, it was called differently at the time, I forgot what it was called then, and I got through to quarters, and on and on and on.

It was at that moment, where nobody cherishes pain, nobody just says, ‘Oh, I love this struggle.’ And looking back, that was the best moment that has kicked me into different gears.

Christian: That’s interesting, I’ve spoken to Alex Corretja recently and I asked him about that match against Sampras, where he had match points, and Sampras was vomiting on the court. And I actually thought it must have been a bad moment for him because the opponent not fully fit and he still loses. But he said that was his best moment because he also realized, he can be a good player, beating or almost beating Sampras at the US Open.

• Check out the interview with Alex Corretja

Her advice to a younger Patricia Hy-Boulais

Christian: If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger you?

Patricia: My younger me, is to appreciate. I was always a hard worker, everybody says,  you got to work hard, but there was no doubt I was always working hard. My fitness coach and my coach always had to pull me back, I was one of those, I would just keep going and they had to pull me back to rest.

I was always a hard worker, my fitness coach and my coach always had to pull me back.

My younger self, I would say, learn to appreciate, to appreciate the Olympics, to appreciate the team events. When you’re on the Tour [the professional WTA tour], it’s all about you, it’s really all about you, it’s me and myself.

I wasn’t a selfish person, I was self-centered, I was very narrow-focused in what I needed to do. And, I would tell myself to enjoy, at the Olympics for example, who does not want to go to the Olympics right and then go watch other sports?

But because I was so focused on my sport, that I didn’t even go watch other sports.

Who does not want to go to the Olympics right and then go watch other sports?

But because I was so focused on my sport, that I didn’t even go watch other sports.

Which was a shame because they were amazing athletes there, now I watch it on TV right, I had a life there and I didn’t watch.

And the same with the Fed Cup, which is a team event, and I played for Hong Kong and in Canada, so I played a lot at Fed Cup.

I did not enjoy the team perspective because I had my own way, I was very stubborn, it was my way. I would go to Fed Cup and I wake up, earlier than everyone, and on an index card, I would write out what I want to train that day and at breakfast time, I would give that to the captain. It’s like a menu, my menu, right?

Now looking back, it was good but that also prevented me from just relax and enjoy the team. It’s a different atmosphere. Even when I was at, the university, I enjoyed being there as a player, as a student, I did not enjoy the team. So, that was one thing I would have changed.

Her success habits

Christian: We spoke about that a little bit, what are the habits that make you a successful person?

Patricia: Because of the situation I was put in, at six and a half years old, I saw life and death, right? You learn that the world is full of struggles and challenges, it’s not about roses.

Because of the situation, I was put in, I saw life and death. I learned that the world is full of struggles and challenges.

Where that differs me and what made me different than my peers? You know, if you think about it, I lived in Hong Kong for 17 years, now people know what Hong Kong is, when I was coming up from tennis in Hong Kong, it was just a speck on the map. And when I used to play tournaments, people say things like ‘Where is Hong Kong?’, ‘Do you live on the boat?’, ‘Do you wash your clothes in the river?’ And I was like, oh my gosh, people don’t know.

I was able to embrace the challenges of life and rise above it. That was confidence in myself as self-esteem from a very young age, because purely of the situation that was put in.

Her morning routine

Christian: Do you have a morning routine, as an athlete or nowadays as a coach? How do you get ready for the day?

Patricia: The morning routine was nothing major. When I was competing, I always liked to be isolated. I knew myself that I could not switch on and off, I would either an off-switch or an on-switch, meaning, if I was off, I couldn’t focus. I had to focus really from the moment I wake up.

When I was competing, I always liked to be isolated.

I wake up and go to breakfast, go to court, I always like to go to the court maybe two hours before, because I like to take my time. And, I take my time forever, from going to the locker room, I was very diligent with my pre-warm up and my post-stretching, very diligent, not just tournaments, but also in training.

If I was training twice a day, I would do my pre-warm up twice, and my post-stretching twice. So, that was my profession, that was my routine.

How to prepare for important moments

Christian: And then talking about training or matches, how did you prepare for important moments?

Patricia: Every match was important to me. In the sense of, when you grew up in Hong Kong, people didn’t really respect you at the time, internationally, just because you’re a nobody, you know.

Even if you’re from Japan, there was a big group, when you’re playing for Europe, there’s a big group for Americans, but Hong Kong, who’s from Hong Kong, right?

So, for me, when I played my first international tournament, when I was 13, and even up until the point when I was a pro, I had this feeling, that I always had to prove myself, you know?

I always had this feeling, that I had to prove myself.

Therefore every match became important, which would not be something I’ve prescribed to people. But again, you know, every time I came back from a tournament, especially if I did well, it was a lot of pressure, if you’re the only one from Hong Kong they want to really escalate to your exposure. So, every match became important to me.

Steffi Graf vs Monica Seles – who was a tougher opponent?

Christian: There’s a question I have out of personal interest. You played Monica Seles and you played Steffi Graf, at the height of their careers, who was the tougher opponent?

Patricia: I’ve always been able to go three-sets with Steffi because we played a similar game style. Monica was tough, I remember the first time I played Monica in California, I thought I was going to die on the court. I was pretty fit, you know, my nickname on the Tour was, Speedy Hy, so I was quick, I earned myself my nickname from my peers. The first time I played Monica, we went three-sets, I thought I was going to be Pete Sampras puking on the side of the court. It was like sprinting uphill, the whole way.

The first time I played Monica Seles, I thought I was going to die on the court. It was like sprinting uphill, the whole way.

After that match, I thought to myself, I will never again lose a match because I was not fit. So Monica was definitely the toughest one for me and Steffi was tough as well just because you can’t get past her, she was lethal. But Monica mentally was a wall, you cannot puncher her, she was dangerous as when she was ahead, and she was tough as nails when she was behind, so that’s tough.

Christian: And I think also the way she played she could open up the court a bit more, right and you being small, you had to probably cover more distances as opposed to Steffi Graf?

Patricia: Steffi gave me more errors, where Monica, she was constantly putting pressure on you. It was the pressure I felt, more than anything, because if you hit anything less than a perfect ball, she could be all over you, she didn’t give me any breathing room.

How to overcome setbacks

Christian: How do you overcome setbacks?

Patricia: To overcome setbacks, you need a team around you. Every day is a grind, every week is a grind. When you travel for 30 weeks, it’s a grind. I was very fortunate when I started playing tennis, my dad was my coach. So, either he traveled with me or my mom traveled with me and later I had a coach traveled with me as well.

To overcome setbacks, you need a team around you.

I always had a team to help me through the mental tough times. And it’s very unusual to have friends on the Tour because it’s very cutthroat, it’s a lot of pressure out there. I was very fortunate, I had one best friend on the Tour with me and I had three really good friends. We would train together, and we could help each other bounce back a little bit. The coaches at the time, there was more of a camaraderie, amongst the coaches, you don’t find that now. But the coaches, they would hook up with each other, and you’d go on the court together and train together. Therefore we had a mini team on the Tour and we’d help each other out quite a bit.

• Also check out the interview with double Olympian Twan van Gendt who outlines the importance of a team, as an integral part of his successes.

Christian: You’re doing mentor coaching now, so is that something you developed because of that experience or is that something you developed after?

Patricia: When I started showing some talent, my dad recognized that, and thought I might have a chance. I was small, I wasn’t fully grown. But even when I was fully grown, you could see that I was only going to be 5’3. The girls, Pam Shriver they’re all over 6 foot, most of them, average out at 5’10, 5’11 at the time. I was taught to understand tennis before I even started playing tennis.

I was taught to understand tennis before I even started playing tennis.

My dad and I would watch matches on TV before I play. And he would educate me, as you know, this is a bad shot, that was a good shot. And then he would predict where the next point was going. At least on the service and the next two hits from there. So, in the beginning, when I was 7 years old, I was like ‘Wow, how did he know that?’ And as I got a little older, I said, you know what, I’m going to try to outrun him, I’m going to try out-think him and I would beat him to the prediction. Therefore from a very young age, mentally I understood tennis gameplay and tactics. I don’t think he did it on purpose to train me in this way.

When I started playing and I showed the promise, I was about 10 years old, my dad said to me, ‘All right, you want to beat these girls, two things should happen, you have to outrun them, and you have to out-think them.’

And that’s how I was trained all the time. When I started playing internationally, that was my trade, I outrun people and I out-think on the court, in time, that brain of mine, you know, the neuro-plasticity got expanded and the struggles that I went through in my own childhood, got strengthened there.

I always believed that was my strength, that after I retired, I went into different things. Every time I coach players, more than half the time, I’m speaking to the mental part. So, a year and a half ago, I was in charge of the elite program at this club in Toronto, I decided that I wanted to reach a larger audience, I wanted to help parents as well, the pathway for parents. So, I step away from that coaching job and went into mental training with the players now, and also helping the parents of those players with the pathway.

Her role model

Christian: Do you have a role model?

Patricia: I have several role models, Billie Jean King is definitely one of them. I had the fortune of playing tennis and Billie Jean with the assigned coach to my team. And she introduced what going after your dreams are like, you know, she told us and showed us ‘There is nothing you dream, that you cannot reach.’ And that’s very parallel to how I

was brought up.

Billie Jean King introduced what going after your dreams is like ‘There is nothing you dream, that you cannot reach.’

And my second role model was Nick Bollettieri, I was under Bollettieri for 3 years from the age of 15 to just before I turned 18. And Nick was the motivator, right and when we went to tournaments, there was a few of us, when we come back, we’re expected to come back with a win, not second place, first place.

So, this one time I came back, and I lost in the finals and he called me Patti and Nick asked ‘Hey, Patti how did it go?’ and I answered ‘Oh, I lost the finals.’ And he was like ‘What, you lost? What happened?’ And I remember that I told him, that I lost my forehand. And because the forehand was the trade for Bollettieri, he was famous for the approach ‘just use the forehand’ right?

And when I said I lost my forehand and he goes ‘Where did you lose your forehand?’ and then he would take me on court immediately to practice forehand and he was barking at me from the side, and I practiced forehand. And my forehand, of course, was superb, so he looked at me and he’s like, ‘Well, what now?’ And I said ‘No, now I’m fine”. He brought on me that motivation, he was able to motivate players to do great things.

Nick Bollettieri was able to motivate players to do great things.

You know those two and then on along was my dad. My dad was a hard worker, my dad was about work. He just believed that life will give you according to the work you put in.

The best advice she has received 

Christian: What’s the best advice you received and who gave it to you?

Patricia: My best advice? Oh, there was this coach, I forgot his name, he is actually from Sweden, he was great. We had never spoken and I played this player, at the time, a few times, but I wasn’t somebody, but he kept an eye on me. So, when I was on my, third downtime, what I mentioned earlier, I was miserable. And there was this moment I didn’t qualify in one of the grand slams. I was sitting up in the players’ lounge, by myself, he walks over to me, he said, ‘Patricia, what happened to you?’ And I was stunned, that he even noticed me. Because his player was a top 10 player and I didn’t qualify for the slam. I was stunned, because he knew how I played and he said, how I should play and all this. He knew how I played at my best and how I behaved when I was at my best. So, he brought back to me, when he said, ‘You know, you had it, you had the eye of the tiger when you played.’ And for somebody to notice all that, I was really just shocked out of myself.

Her approach of how to develop young athletes

Christian: On your website or your blog, you have a lot of valuable information about fostering relationships between parents and children, how to teach and coach tennis to children, where does that motivation comes from, to talk more about the approach of how to develop younger athletes rather than the top athletes?

Patricia: That came out from after I retired in 1998 to 1999, my husband and I, we started our own Academy in the Hilton Head, South Carolina and we first worked with players transitioning into the [professional] Tour.

Then we decided when we had our children to work with younger players. So, I would say out of the 20 years of experience, of meeting a multitude of parents, and of course coaches all over the world, I came to the conclusion and I’m not the first one, that there has been a lot of misconnect between parents and coaches. You always hear about the coaches, you know, complaining about the parents, and then you hear the parents complaining about the coaches and go back and forth. And the ones that suffer are the kids.

Children have a special place in my heart, I love children, from, even babies, I don’t know why, but I do. Yeah, I love children, they are the future of tomorrow, right? And they are like sponges where we can help them to be great leaders or we can destroy them.

Children are the future of tomorrow, and we can help them to be great leaders or we can destroy them.

I have always been mentally really strong, and I noticed that with children, they are sponges, I could help them shape a mind of an elite, doesn’t matter what, just as an elite so they can be, you know, leaders and make a difference in the world. And I love talking to parents, and I noticed parents gravitate towards me, they trust me. And because what you see is what you get, I don’t sugarcoat, I don’t hide anything, I don’t have an agenda, and I will tell parents straight out what my thoughts are, some like it, some don’t like it, but most people like it. And I’m cool with that.

I understand, that I’m not going to please everyone, but I didn’t get to the top player, to that place, that position, as a world-class player or Olympian, without having a thought of my own and my own belief, and I can share that, and that’s a pretty solid belief I have.

With regards to my blog, it started before to having my blog, my thought was that I wanted to help bridge the gap between the parents and the coaches and help to give a better pathway to the children. I looked and research and most of the information out there is most often from people who’ve never competed. If you have not played, you really don’t understand what’s going on inside an athlete. Only the athlete will understand what’s going on, right? And because I was an elite coach, I coach for many years elite players, and I’m a parent coach of two players who have a pretty good level of play and I was also a business person, I feel like I have all the dimension in helping all from different sides. And that’s why I started this blog. With my blog I want to be different, I wanted something to be read in 30 seconds, a blog that somebody can read in 30, I want to keep it simple, read it in 30 seconds. I want a fourth grader to read it and they understand as well.

With my blog I want to be different, I wanted something to be read in 30 seconds, I want to keep it simple.

Now we all think like, oh, you know, you got to put hard words in them and make it complex. No, it’s actually harder to make it simple. And that was my thoughts, from my own experience, telling parents, okay, how do you get the most out of coaches, or what are the things you do that actually don’t even get attention from the coach, because that happens, right? So, I want to be as accurate as I can from my own experiences and put it on the blog and to be refreshing.

Her experience using the MBTI Action typing and at what age can you start using it

Christian: I saw that you’re using the MBTI Action typing 16 personalities, out of personal interest, at what age of the child, you think that is accurate?

Patricia: When they are10 years old, depending on age and development, but around the age of 10. Some of the questions in there are a little hard, so I’ll have the parents do it with them as well. And then when they get to about 14, then they let them go and do it on their own. It’s fascinating, I love 16personalities.com, from a coaching standpoint, because that gives me an idea how I can tap into their brain, because that’s what mental coaching is, you want to get into somebody’s head.

I love 16personalities.com, from a coaching standpoint, because that gives me an idea of how I can tap into their brain.

And also, when I used to travel with a few players, I traveled with seven players one time to El Salvador, I had all seven of them, you know, because we went for two weeks, I can tell you because of that program, it was the best trip. It was myself alone, I went with seven teenagers, and you know, teenagers aren’t that easy. And I use that quite a bit into my coaching.

A typical training day in the life of a professional tennis player

Christian: Back in the days, how did a typical training day look?

Patricia: I went through different phases of my life. I started when I was 8 years, and between 8 and 15 years, my typical day looked like this, I woke up at 7:00 am, I went to school until 3:30 pm, every day. I was only on the tennis court for 1 hour, from 4:00 to 5:00 pm with my dad, it was a private lesson every day for 6 days a week and Sunday that was my day off.

And then for fitness, I hardly did anything. it was just a little jog around the little soccer field and it was a very small soccer field. And then when I went to Bollettieri when I was 15, it was school from Monday to Friday, the school was in the morning. And then tennis was set 3 hours in the afternoon, followed by 1 hour of sprinting on the court, or 5 miles of running.

So, you can imagine when I first got there, it was very difficult. So, the first day I did all that, so I had to stop. When we go for a long run, one coach in front, one coach in the back and of course, needless to say, I was at the very back and I had to stop because I was vomiting. And the coach stopped with me. And while I was vomiting, I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh good, I could just walk back now.’ But when I was done doing my thing, the coach said ‘Okay, let’s go.’ and I had to keep jogging back to the place. So, Monday through Friday was like that and then on the weekend when Nick was in town we would go up to a private place to train some more. Saturday would be a full day and Sunday was a treat, we would go train on the beach, we did fitness and then after we hit on the court at his house. The treat was, we had a buffet, so sometimes we actually train seven days. So, that was my routine.

Her interview nomination

Christian: Do you want to nominate someone to be interviewed?

Patricia: I would love to nominate Natalie Tauziat, Natalie was number three in the world. And the reason I dominate Natalie is, because Natalie didn’t hit hard, Natalie was so smart on the court. She definitely utilized everything she had to reach there, it is quite amazing.

She is now in Japan, with a Canadian player whom I am actually going to join with later this week. So, I will tell Natalie to expect an email from you.

Where can you find Patricia Hy-Boulais

Christian: Oh, that’s great. Okay, where can people find you?

Patricia: They can find me through my email hytennis@gmail.com or go to my blog, Patriciahy.com.

Christian: And the mentor coaching that you’re offering, who’s eligible to that?

Patricia: Athletes, I have turned down quite a few people, because I want to focus on athletes, specifically tennis players, because of my tennis background. I started this year and I am only taking 15 players. I only have 4 spots to go.

The reason I want to do it slowly because I really want to bring the tennis aspect into it. I’m unique, as a person, I’m unique with everything I do. I don’t do 9 to 5, for me it’s never a clock-in, it’s by project.

It’s always what the player needs, I’m working with this 12-year-old who’s at the nationals right here. And she’s never had a coach before, so I coached and her parents were very enthusiastic.

And I would like to, through 2020, put more to another layer of more of the Pro players on there. Right now, I’m doing national players, next year I will put some more professional players in there.

I’m crafting my days, I’m not looking to fill every week. I’m crafting my day, I’m crafting my life, so that I have that excellent experience from the lesson I learned, in my youth, that I’ve never enjoyed the time because I was just doing. Now, I’m crafting my day, so I can enjoy everything else.

I’m crafting my day, I’m crafting my life, so that I have that excellent experience from the lesson I learned, in my youth, that I’ve never enjoyed the time because I was just doing. Now, I’m crafting my day, so I can enjoy everything else.

Christian: That’s great. Patricia, thanks so much for your time. I hope we can do a follow up on that, similarly to you I have also done Long-term athlete development project, and a fun fact, I actually I did consult to the Hong Kong Tennis Association to set-up their long-term athlete development outline how to take junior players all the way to college players or professional players, that was really cool.

Patricia: Wow, that is cool, you’ve just been everywhere. Congratulations on that. And thank you so much for having me.