Ep 13 — How I Decided To Become a Professional Tennis Player

Alex Yang
2 min readSep 23, 2024

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My guest today is Pranav Kumar. Pranav had an impressive career in college tennis (Texas A&M and SMU) before starting out on the professional tennis tour a year ago. Since then, he’s won several pro tournaments and as of this week is up to 330 in the world in doubles.

The pro tennis life is notoriously known to be one of the most grueling lifestyles in all of professional sports and it takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice to make it to the top. In our conversation Pranav and I discuss his decision to play pro after college, building self belief and confidence, and learning to reflect on both your wins and your losses. We also discussed his experience as a hitting partner at the US Open and what he learned from the top pros there!

0:00 Intro

2:46 What is playing a pro tennis tournament like?

6:05 The glamor (or lack thereof) of the pro tennis tour

10:41 Pranav’s college tennis journey

15:07 Why Pranav feels goal setting isn’t productive for him

16:59 Learning from other professional players

20:37 How Pranav works on self-belief and his mental game

23:56 Remembering good reps, instead of chasing perfection during practice

26:32 The feeling of winning

27:20 Learning from both your wins and your losses

29:01 Pranav’s flight debacle in Miami on his way to South America

🎙 You can listen to the episode on Spotify or Youtube

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Thank you so much for reading and listening. If you’re interested in decision-making like I am, I’d love to connect and share notes! Who should I have next on the show? Reach out and let me know!

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Alex Yang

How I Decided Podcast | Articles about Career Choices and Decision Making