One of my tennis juniors was telling me how much he enjoyed watching Andy Murray playing international tournaments knowing there is a good chance he will win – or ‘get the W’ as Andy Murray calls it.

Every time Andy Murray wins a tennis tournament, this tennis junior feels he’s personally won as he bathes in the glory of the international tennis star.

I told him that it is OK to be motivated by the wins of this top class professional tennis player but dangerous to focus too much on tennis playing success by proxy.

Achieve success in most sports disciplines takes at least 10,000 hours of concentrated effort, many say, and this means a huge commitment covering possibly many years.

Naturally, it is daunting when success, these days, is increasingly measured in international terms which means that only the few out of many millions can reap the rewards of getting to the top of a very high pyramid of achievement.

In comparison, it is so easy for the rest of the world to switch on their televisions, support their favourite successful professional tennis player and feel good about the result.

But such easy feelings of success, however seductive,  are probably a trap better avoided.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that our greatest happiness comes from self-actualization and achieving one’s personal aims or objectives. Perhaps the best way for all of us to achieve true happiness is through our own personal successes and not through reflected glory of others.

So I told him that spending time on the practice court was more likely to give him a true feeling of success as it steadily improved his chances of becoming a tennis champion too.

It was good to see him out on the tennis practice wall the next day.

Max is like a whirlwind, always rushing around the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre doing something for everyone. It almost seems as if he is running the place these days and I could easily see some conflict with Frank when he gets back from being sick.

It is easy to see that there would be a clash of cultures with Max being so much more go ahead and helpful. Frank has also been here many years and is very much part of the fabric of the place. He is a powerful figure and is used to getting his own way. Nevertheless, Max has already helped so many of the sports coaches at the centre and each day is winning more support from the sports managers so that they may be unwilling to go back to the old culture.

I met Max for lunch in the canteen and we talked about various things including some more ideas for marketing the tennis centre. He is talking about advertising tennis holidays in partnership with local hotels since there is no residential accommodation at the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre.

It would mean that we could piggy-back on some of the marketing done by local hotels, guest houses and bed and breakfasts and reach out to people further afield than local towns and villages.

It would also benefit the local hotels, guest houses and red and breakfasts because it would give people another reason for coming to this area.

Max also suggested that we went to see a French film at a local arts cinema after a meal in town and I agreed to the date. There was no question that it was a date and I find I am looking forward to it. It will be an opportunity to wear my blue dress with the low cut back and really look glamorous for a change. Max has bought a new suit which he is wearing to work and is very much looking the part of the young executive these days.

The tennis centre at the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre is almost beginning to feel busy with the various marketing campaigns really paying off.

Each day I wake up now looking forward to the day ahead and it’s all down to Max. Perhaps this date will give me an opportunity to thank him properly… I can’t wait!

Max afterwards explained to me that it had been quite a battle with the local schools to get them interested. They felt they already had access to tennis expertise and development through their existing channels and the amateur tennis club.

In preparation for our meeting with the headmasters, Max and I took lots of photographs of the tennis centre and put them on a laptop as part of the presentation. The local tennis club has fewer tennis courts and generally plays to a strong club tennis standard which is not always ideal for beginners. We felt that there were things that the tennis centre at the sport, sports and sporting activities centre had to offer that weren’t available from the local tennis club, in particular support for beginner tennis players and stronger level of integration of tennis with other sports at the centre. We felt it was a plus that, while the children were receiving coaching, their parents could go for walking the grounds or participate in one of the other sporting activities we are able to offer.

I was particularly nervous but Max seemed confident and our presentations went well. In the end, all the headmasters allowed us to leave our leaflets and promotional material prominently in their schools reception and promised to check the diary to see if there was a time that we could attend to talk to their pupils, either individually or or in groups.

On the way back, Max asked me if I would like to go out some time to see a film. I said why not? He said he would check to see what was on and let me know.

Looking back over my time out of the sport, sports and sporting activities centre, Max is one of the few good things that have happened there.

He was excited with the new leaflet and suggested that we go down into town together to hand out some of the leaflets and try to generate a bit of business for the tennis centre at the same time.

All of which, is a much more dynamic and go-ahead approach than I am used to from the management of for the sport, sports and sporting activities centre.

I was wearing my tennis gear and, after a few minutes, Max reappeared wearing his. He commented  with a smile that he might as well look the part.

I have to say that the people we talked to in the high street were very friendly. I lot of them didn’t even know that there was a tennis centre at the Sports, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre. At least three of them promised to come along and join in at the next Rusty Rackets tennis session and a few parents were interested in private tennis coaching for their children to improve their tennis.

It was an exhausting day talking to so many people but I really felt but I was getting to grips with the marketing of the tennis centre for which I am responsible. It is such a help having somebody like Max who is open to new marketing ideas and ready to implement them without any delay when the opportunity arises.

On our way back, Max suggested that we could also sometime go and visit local schools and talk about government tennis incentives available for young people who want to take part in competitive tennis.

Suddenly there seems to be so much that I can do to make the tennis centre a success and it’s becoming a habit to be looking forward to the next day at the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre.

My mum wouldn’t tell me much but I think I can guess.

For my moment of tennis clubhouse passion, I had to wait until I got a vacation job at a Spanish tennis centre. Ricardo, the lead tennis pro was a hairy gorilla of a man with loads of muscle and a clay court game that was based on consistency and a gruelling attrition of the opposition. I was the assistant tennis professional in my first paid job as a qualified coach.

It had been a long hot day during which we had been running a tournament for the people on tennis holidays at the centre. We were both overheated and stressed. However, the strains were mainly organisational as we had mainly spent the day sitting around keeping running scores of results and had little way of exercise.

When the last players had departed, I went off into the tennis clubhouse to put away the first aid box that we had kept handy in case of emergency. Absentmindedly, I dropped the box and was just bending over to pick up the contents when Ricardo came around the corner of the kitchen and barged into me.

I was even slimmer in those days and would have catapulted face-first into the refrigerator if he hadn’t have grabbed hold of my hips to save me. By the time we recovered our balances and I had straightened up, the effect I’d had on Ricardo, still holding me to him, was obvious.

In the heat of the moment, to me, it seemed the most natural thing in the world give him a sideways smile, lean forward again onto the kitchen work surface and give a little wiggle of my hips.

Ricardo needed no more encouragement. As I said, he was very strong, and in an unbelievably short time he had efficiently pressed our mutual stress release buttons magnificently.

Unlike my parents, it was an experience that we didn’t repeat. I was almost at the end of my summer work contract and, apart from this moment of passion, we had little else in common. However, it was a truly memorable experience.

Perhaps one day I will tell my daughter – without giving too many details of course.

I wonder if this is the sort of  thing that Max wanted me to write in my tennis professional blog. It does rather seem to be turning into the confessions of a tennis pro which probably wasn’t what he intended. Perhaps I’ll ask him whether I should delete the bit about Ricardo. On the other hand, after I have spent the time to write it down, it seems a shame to waste the effort. Perhaps nobody will notice.

One of the biggest problems in getting people to play tennis is that it is such a difficult game to start playing. Just serving the ball to start the rally is one of the most difficult things a beginner player has to do. The whole action, which involves throwing the ball up with the left hand and then hitting the racket head at the tennis ball in such a way that it falls inside the service area on the other side of the net, is such a complicated sequence of events that even professional tennis players regularly get it wrong.

Of course, this is one of the wonderful things that makes tennis such a great game. However much you play, there is always something to learn and there is always the possibility, even on a bad tennis day, you could play a little bit better.

Many beginner tennis players assume that they have to play singles but singles tennis might not always be suitable for a new player, especially if they are not in their first flush of youth. I would always recommend doubles tennis for the older beginner player. It is much more social and you can always blame your partner for lost points – although of course I wouldn’t recommend that because it’s bad sportsmanship.

The strategies involved in playing doubles tennis are worthy of a whole tennis book in their own right.

The different tennis strokes that can be played with a tennis racket are also many and varied. There are also different ways of holding a tennis racket that work with different styles of play. One woman came to me saying that she had always wanted to be able to hit a backhand shot but had never been able to find the right tennis grip. I told her to place the racket under her left arm pit (she was right-handed) and then grasp hold of the racket with her right hand and take it out from beneath her armpit. The resulting racket grip immediately improved her backhand tennis shots and she went on to use the same grip for her forehand strokes, finding it gave her a great top spin shot.

There are many different types of tennis shots too. There are backspin shots, drop shots, half volleys and drive volleys – just to name a few. All have their own special place in the game.

Tennis shoes are another interesting topic. There are so many shoes on the market sold by retailers as tennis shoes that are really only designer trainers. They are not at all suited for true tennis play.

Talking about tennis racket string tension reminds me of a famous musician I once coached. He used to drive the people in his local sports shop crazy because he always used to know whether they had strung his racket to the correct tension or not. Each racket has a specific string tension that is designed to work with that racket. Once he had identified the string tension that was right for his racket, through working with me, he immediately demanded that his local sports shop string the racket to that exact tension.

When the sports shop gave each of his rackets back after each re-stringing, he would ping the racket strings with his finger and tell them whether they had strung the racket correctly or not. On one occasion, they incorrectly strung the tennis racket’s string tension to twenty-six lbs instead of twenty-six kilos. One flick of his finger on the tennis racket told him the tennis racket string tension was wrong. He actually explained to the sports shop that the tennis racket was in the wrong key. They checked and found he was absolutely right about the wrong tension. As I said, he was a famous musician and had perfect pitch.

Anyway, one of the big things that the interviewer talked about was how angry he gets when he plays tennis with his friend on the local recreation ground tennis courts. He says that if he wins, he feels good, but if he loses, he gets really angry and refuses to talk to his friend for several days. Usually his friend has to buy him a drink in the local pub so that they can make up and become friends again – until the next tennis match.

All of which, is something I absolutely didn’t understand. At the end of a tennis game, club tennis tradition is for the players to always shake hands. It marks the end of the battle. Sometimes I don’t want to shake hands, if I have had a bad match, but it is a ritual that everybody follows and afterwards I always feel better.

I suppose that the hand-shaking bit at the end, is a formalised way of ending the conflict. As soon as we shake hands, we can talk about other things and continue with normal friendly relationships.

I tried to explain this to the local radio interviewer but I don’t think he was listening. Just about the time I was talking about shaking hands, I made the mistake of uncrossing my legs and I was wearing a short tennis skirt at the time. This simple action seemed to take his whole attention.

Afterwards, he tried to make a date but he was too short and balding. Plus, I don’t think I would like anybody who was so immature enough to sulk after losing a tennis match – or perhaps even somebody who makes a habit of losing games of tennis, for that matter.

Not that I wouldn’t like a little bit of boyfriend activity, if I could get it. Living and working in the Devon countryside is all very well but a girl’s got to think of her social life and for me recently it’s been a big zero.

In fact the last real relationship I had was in New Zealand with a sleaze-ball rep for a tennis equipment manufacturer. I suppose I had hoped I would get some free equipment and maybe some sponsorship, as well as a little loving, but he wasn’t really interested in how I played tennis. Instead, he was more interested in how he could play me along.

When I discovered he already had a wife and two kids, I dropped him like a brick. I always regretted not getting back at him. I should have done something dramatic to teach him a lesson but I couldn’t think of anything at the time and, anyway, I’m not usually vindictive. I suppose we had some good times and the relationship had perhaps just run its course.

It was soon after that I cane to the UK and the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre.

They are a nice bunch of people, mainly middle-aged, who responded to our tennis advertising recently in the local newspaper. Most of them had played some tennis before but had let it fall by the wayside.

We’ve had one Rusty Rackets introductory tennis session so far and they seemed to enjoy it very much. They were all keen to get fitter and, although they didn’t know each other at the beginning of their tennis games, they were all laughing and joking by the end and having fun.

Max tells me I need to identify the things that are beneficial about the game of tennis so that I can convey these benefits to potential tennis players through this blog. It’s a new way of looking at things for me. Because I’ve grown up in a world of tennis, tennis equipment, tennis clubs and just everything tennis, I’ve always assumed that tennis would be part of my life.

It is quite difficult for me to imagine that, for other people, tennis does not play such a central part.

Max also tells me that I need to identify the negative aspects in other people’s eyes about the sport of tennis. He tells me that, for many people, tennis is a highly competitive game that for them involves losing.

This is another aspect of tennis that I don’t understand. When I have played tennis I have always been a winner. Playing tennis doesn’t scare me. If anything, it is an opportunity for me to win and feel good.

Max on the other hand has explained to me that others might not feel the same. In fact, as beginner tennis players, they are more likely to to be on the losing end.

Max tells me that I need to emphasise that playing tennis is not about winning or losing but is about other things such as enjoying the curve of the ball as it flies from the racket, the pleasure of perfecting and making a great shot, the camaraderie of the tennis club and the pleasure of meeting lots of different people from different backgrounds who share a common interest – perhaps even partners in future relationships.

Speaking personally, I’ve often found relationships through tennis, although that was before coming to the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre in Devon where it all seems a bit too quiet at the moment for much of a social life.

My mum was also a keen tennis player and played with my dad in the local tennis club at Auckland in New Zealand. She used to watch me and my dad playing sometimes and I could see that she wanted to join in but, eventually, she would just sigh and go back to washing the dishes and cleaning the house. I’ve always said that, if I ever meet my Mr Right, he will definitely be the one to wash the dishes and clean the house and I’ll be out of the tennis courts with my kids.

Talking about Mr Right, Max is quite a juicy prospect! I’ve not really see much of him but he is one good looking guy, although perhaps a bit young for me. He is tall, dark and those heavy eyebrows give him a strong neanderthal look that really could make my legs go weak. I have a strong suspicion that he is attracted to me from the way he keeps looking at my legs. Max makes a change from the usual crowd at the Sport, Sports and Sporting Activities Centre where the average age of the management is around middle age.

I had a game of tennis with Max today and he’s a strong tennis player. Maybe together we could breed some great professional tennis players who would win Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open and all the other tournaments and keep us in our old age – well a girl can dream!

Anyway, back to the reason for keeping this blog. Max tells me it’s a good way of meeting my public. He says that by recording all the tennis things I do and the places I go which are to do with tennis, I will be able to link up with people who are interested in the tennis services my tennis centre provides.