By Luke Jensen, French Open Doubles Champion
Happy New Year Jensen Zoners! Coach Luke here hoping that your 2026 season is your very best on and off the court. Speaking of playing, I have a lifetime rivalry with my brother, Murphy. Kicking his butt on the court is my favorite part of tennis. He’s a 6’4” lefty with an explosive game. Competing against him has always challenged me. He was always consistent and scrappy, but I am two-and-a-half years older, so physically I had an edge until his late teens when he hit his final growth spurt.
Every time we stepped on the court it was a battle, and it was the same for our twin sisters, Rebecca and Rachel. Looking back, I am convinced that those battles prepared all of us for any pressure situation. Defeating Murphy always made my day, and losing to him ruined my day! The high-pressure sessions resulted with all of us competing at the Grand Slam tournaments. I always felt my greatest achievement was not winning the 1993 French Open Doubles, but rather when all four of us competed in the 1996 Australian Open. Even today, when I step on court with Murphy it instantly goes to focused competition.
Do you have an opponent that pushes you and your ability? I am lucky to travel the world and see the highest levels of pros, college, junior players, and adult leaguers. One thing that stands out is how so many players practice with people that make the session comfortable. As a coach, when I run practice sessions, I look for matchups where the players do not get along. I find that players grow faster being challenged in this way. If the practice sessions are average, the tournament results will be average.
To achieve at the Grand Slam level, it’s all about the parents. Parents instill the belief and pay an enormous price for decades for their kids to climb the tennis mountain. Our parents emphasized competition, and I remember clearly being told over and over to call up players who had beat me in previous tournaments to set up practice set sessions and learn how to defeat them. They also emphasized match play against any level to improve. If the opponent was weaker, I used weaker strategies in my game to sharpen them. If I played someone my level, I would play one set any way I wanted and then the next set with a goal of forcing myself to think or play at a disadvantage. For example, slice everything or use at least two drop shots per game. Then when playing someone better, I was encouraged to play the first set any way I wanted and if I lost that set, I was told to come up with a plan to lose another way.
My parents did not have a tennis background, but they were athletes from other sports and they were coaches at the high school level. They understood athletic development and the importance of strategy in practice. There was always purpose and positive discipline. The four of us were so lucky to have life coaches that had big-picture vision while we brought the competitive intensity.
What does all this mean for you? Improve your practices by finding players that challenge you. If you are a doubles team that wants to maximize your team’s potential, find the teams that have beaten you, set up a practice set session and find ways to beat them. Don’t avoid the challenge; lean into it. You will be amazed how this approach to your game development will change how you play better under pressure.
