The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Genie Bouchard - How To Develop A Winning Mindset, Thrive Under Pressure, & Stay On Top Of Your Game
Episode Date: October 2, 2024#759: Join us as we sit down with Genie Bouchard, a Canadian professional tennis player who became the first in her country to be ranked Top 5 in the World. At a young age, Genie was destined for grea...tness and made the life-changing decision to pursue tennis professionally after qualifying for a tournament in France at just nine years old. In this episode, Genie opens up about her journey, the sacrifices she has made, her mental preparation strategies, & the pressures female athletes face in the world of competitive sports. To connect with Genie Bouchard click HERE To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To Watch the Show click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Head to the HIM & HER Show ShopMy page HERE to find all of Michael and Lauryn’s favorite products mentioned on their latest episodes. This episode is sponsored by JSHealth Vitamins Visit jshealthvitamins.com/skinny and use code SKINNY to receive 20% off your order or first subscription order. This episode is sponsored by Philadelphia Cream Cheese Visit creamcheese.com. This episode is sponsored by BILT Earn points by paying rent right now when you go to joinbilt.com/skinny. This episode is sponsored by Origins Prepare your skin for the future with Youthtopia™ by Origins. Available now at origins.com and ULTA. This episode is sponsored by Cotton: The Fabric of Our Lives Cotton is The Fabric of Now. Learn more at TheFabricOfOurLives.com This episode is sponsored by LMNT Get your free LMNT Sample Pack with any purchase at drinklmnt.com/SKINNY. Produced by Dear Media
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The following podcast is a Dear Media production.
She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
Fantastic.
And he's a serial entrepreneur.
A very smart cookie.
And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride.
Get ready for some major realness.
Welcome to The Skinny Confidential, him and her.
The number one thing that stands out to me is the capacity to deal with pain.
And I mean physical pain.
Like, we push ourselves through training every single day, and it is brutal.
Actually, another book I read that I liked was the David Goggins book,
and he, in there, wrote, schedule suffering in your day.
And that kind of helped me accept the fact that I have to suffer to do my job.
You know, it takes a strong
person to be able to do that. And so I look at all my fellow tennis players and I'm like, yep,
we all have accepted the fact that like we have to go through physical pain almost every single day.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. Today we have
Jeannie Bouchard on this podcast. And boy, is it timely because I am working on my tennis game. I'm
getting very competitive. So for those of you who are unfamiliar with Jeannie Bouchard, she is a Canadian professional
tennis player who became the first in her country to be ranked top five in the world.
At a young age, Jeannie was destined for greatness and made the life-changing decision to pursue
tennis professionally after qualifying for a tournament in France at just nine years old.
In this episode, we talk about human performance, how to compete,
how to become an athlete, how to take care of your body, how to have a proper mindset,
all the things that it takes to be great. This is an episode that's applicable not only to athletes,
but anyone that wants to perform at the highest levels, live better, feel better,
and crush the competition. Hopefully that's everybody. With that, Jeannie Bouchard,
welcome to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. We are really into, we told you this off air,
getting our kids to play tennis. And I feel like there has to be a little bit of manipulation
involved, meaning like someone told us that we need to put them on the court and then at like
five minutes be like, time to go, right when they're having fun. Oh, yeah. So you want to
play mind games with your kids.
Kind of.
That's interesting.
My parents didn't do that with me, but...
She's like, that's not how you make a play.
So give us advice on how to get our kids to play.
Well, I think it's great for kids to play all kinds of sports.
First of all, I played a lot of different sports growing up.
I played basketball, soccer, swimming, ice skating.
I'm from Montreal.
I'm Canadian.
So I think it's great to just
develop all kinds of athletic skills. And I just really love tennis. And that's how it happened
for me where I just only wanted to play tennis. And then they realized that. And so I started
doing group lessons, private lessons. And I played my first tournament when I was eight.
So I started at about four and a half, five, played my first tournament when I was eight.
Very quickly, it became like another full-time job on top of school
and a sacrifice and a complete dedication to trying to become a professional.
But I would say get them started early and young
because you need that good technique, that good foundation.
It's like golf.
I mean, like most sports, to try to become a...
If they want to become...
If you want them to...
If you want a little prodigy, it depends what you want for your kids.
I'd like a prodigy. It'd bit nice to have a product no because you know
it's hard we were joking around we are trying to learn tennis now and it's nice because we have to
travel a lot and when we travel you can always find a tennis court and it's something as we get
older and you don't want to like hurt yourself too bad even though i know tennis can get intense
yeah it's something we can do together and something you can always find and something
that i think you can age with but it's hard because we're trying to program all of the skills and the
coordination and the form and all that into our brains now well into our 30s. And I feel like it
would have been much easier to just grow with that. Yes. It's so much easier to start early.
It's like learning a language or anything. When the kids are young, your brains are sponges and
you can absorb so much. So I would say definitely start early.
And yeah, tennis is such a lifelong sport.
I mean, you're not going to be playing football when you're seven years old, right?
But you're going to be going to the tennis court with the girls and having a little social time.
So it's an amazing sport because of that.
When you're four and a half years old, does your dad hand you a tennis racket?
Explain when you say you played tennis at four and a half.
I have a four and a half year old.
What does that look like when you say you played tennis at four and a half, I have a four and a half year old. What like what does that look like for you?
So I probably have swung a tennis racket since before then.
I remember going to the basement with my like I have a twin sister.
So my dad would like throw us like soft balls and we would swing a racket.
And this is probably at age three.
So, you know, you want to give them rackets and balls and things right away to get that hand-eye coordination going.
And then I started doing these little like after kindergarten, like one hour a week lessons or group kind of lessons.
And all the kids loved it because it was games, right?
It was a lot of like bouncing balloons or jumping in hoops.
And we only hit tennis balls for 10 minutes at the end.
So all the normal kids loved it.
And I hated it.
I would get off the court.
I would go crying to my parents and I would be like, I want to play more tennis. We only hit tennis balls for 10 minutes. I don't want to
bounce balloons. And they were like, OK, she's not normal. Let's, you know, like adjust. My twin
sister retired at age six and I just kept going. And what does it look like to become what you've
become? Meaning how rigorous is your day to day when you're like eight? Are you waking
up early before school? Like what does it look like to become this level of professionalism?
A lot of that. Exactly right. My mom would drive me to training before school and pick me up,
drive me to school, pick me up early from school, go to more training and then go home, dinner,
homework, bed and start all over again. It was really a lot. I missed a lot
of family, Christmas, vacation, sleepovers with my best friends, which as a 10-year-old is a big
deal, right? So there's a lot of sacrifice that's involved. I have three siblings, so we're four
kids total. And I joke that my parents trying to deal with me is like three kids in one.
And so I don't know how we all manage this, but it's a real family sacrifice. And I joke that like my parents trying to deal with me is like three kids in one. And so I don't know how we all manage this, but it's a real like family sacrifice.
And I moved to Florida when I was 12.
So I went to go train at an academy there.
Wow.
Yeah.
That's gnarly.
So when you look back, are you grateful or are you like, oh, I wish I could have like
had balance or what is your energy now when you have this perspective bird's eye view?
So grateful. I think I lived a very unique life so far and I would not change it for the world, but I do recognize the sacrifice it took to get there. And that's the thing that
people don't see as much. You know, they see you playing in the finals of Wimbledon. They see you
on a red carpet in L.A. and they're like, oh, yeah, your life is so glamorous. But it's like
the hours of work every single day for 15 years, for 20, 25 years to get there.
People don't realize that.
And so I just explain that to people.
And, you know, I would not change it for the world.
But I do feel like I missed out on some things in life.
Like I never had went to prom.
All my friends went to college.
I didn't experience that.
And then my friends are like, yeah, well, you were, you know, traveling around the world playing amazing tennis tournaments. And it's like, yes, of course.
But there's always a part of you that wants to like feel a little more normal, right?
Sure. And so when you are playing at that level, are you able to have any fun? Like when you say
you didn't go to college, like were you ever to ever have like college like experiences or were
you just so rigorous with the training? So the only similarities I would say is so sometimes when we play tournaments and you lose,
you have like maybe a day off or so before you go to the next city for the next tournament. And
sometimes you like text another player who lost and be like, okay, like let's go out. And you
kind of are both just sad and miserable about losing and try to blow off some steam.
So every once in a while, there's like a fun like night out
or like we have sometimes player parties
and it's few and far between.
But sometimes, yes, I would definitely, you know,
try to experience being a little bit normal,
but it wasn't that often.
And do you feel when you were a kid,
do you feel that sense of competition?
Like, are you, obviously you have to be a competitive person
to what you do. Like, has that always been ingrained in you? Like if you would lose when you were a kid, do you feel that sense of competition? Like, are you, obviously you have to be a competitive person to what you do. Like, has that always been ingrained in you? Like if you would
lose when you were a kid, would you get upset or how did you manage?
Oh, completely. And to the point where I'm like, I'm 10 years old and I'm like, okay,
I'm quitting. Cause I lost, you know, because I'm so mad that I lost the match. I mean, my,
I can't help be competitive. My whole family is as well. I was actually just at my sister's
bachelorette this past weekend and we had games of, you know, competition. And when I tell you like I could not lose, it was like,
it's bad. It's almost like I need to like relax a little bit. Where do you think that comes from?
It's genetic. You just think it's just coded in you. Is your sister like that?
So my younger sister is a bit more like me and my younger brother as well. But my twin sister,
who is obviously my twin, we're so different. And so it's just really interesting to see because obviously we were
born at the same time, raised the same way with the same parents, and we're totally different
personalities. And so that's why I believe a lot of it is just internal. That's wild that even when
you're not playing tennis, there's like a competitiveness. So listen, I got to be one of
the gals at the bachelorette party and I got to up against you and I'm just like, I'm gonna pin the tail
on whatever. Is that what they do? Yeah, no, I would just opt
out. I wouldn't. If someone's like
playing pickleball, I would just be like, you know,
you won. Yeah.
No, it's funny. We separated into teams and everyone's like,
I want you on my team, but it was like a random
choosing of teams. But we did like backyard
school games, you know, where you have like the
you have to attach your leg to like your teammate and then
do the three-legged race and the spoon with the egg.
Like we did like the old school stuff like that, which obviously my team won.
That sounds pretty tame for a bachelorette party.
What else did you do?
This is an open, this is a show.
These are the daytime activities.
Okay, daytime activities.
Yes, nighttime was a whole different ballgame.
Taylor's getting a little excited back there, so we have to just calm him down.
We had a checklist of tasks we had to complete on the night out
and find some boys to complete them with,
and so that's what we had to do.
That sounds fun, like a scavenger hunt.
Yes, exactly. It was exactly that.
Listen, they think the bachelor parties are crazy.
It's the bachelorette parties.
I see these people out. I know what's going on.
My bachelorette party was crazy.
And you would, wouldn't you like to know?
You never are going to know.
You know, I like to keep you guessing on that.
You never told him the details?
Well, a little detail here and there.
I like to like let the details come out over the years.
I think it's like more spicy.
Interesting.
Okay.
So the sacrifice that you have put in to do this is crazy. And I think
I feel like everyone in their life has some kind of sacrifice, whether it's they sacrificed not
doing tennis. There's outcomes of that. When you look back on all your sacrifices, are there
moments where you actually really wanted to quit? Like you kind of said you kind of did, but did
you actually want to quit there were moments in the
heat of the battle of after just losing a match where i'm like okay this is it like i can't go
through this pain anymore because it's so hard if you think about a tennis you finish the match
and you either won or you lost yes it's a really emotionally volatile sport or job you know it's
not like you go to the office you work eight hours and you go home it's like you end the day
on a high or on a low and so it's a it's a tough you go to the office, you work eight hours and you go home. It's like you end the day on a high or on a low.
And so it's a tough emotional roller coaster.
And I remember feeling, you know, so down after matches, like, OK, I'm really going to like stop playing.
But it was never real because, you know, by the time I sleep and wake up the next day, I'm like, hey, life is OK.
It's just a tennis match. And when you put things in perspective, it's not so bad.
And I'm like, look, I'm going to keep playing until I don't enjoy it anymore.
And I still kept enjoying it. So perspective, it's not so bad. And I'm like, look, I'm going to keep playing until I don't enjoy it anymore. And I still kept enjoying it.
So it was not real.
One day it'll be real.
One day I will really retire.
But I mean, it's also crazy because it's just you.
Like other sports, you know, it's a team sport or whatever.
You have like the rest of the team.
I know you have coaches and people around you and stuff like that.
But I mean, it's really at the end of the day, it's like you out there.
Exactly.
So I try to explain to people.
It's like one player with like a little mini team as opposed to being on a real team like basketball or soccer or something like that. And it makes it so much
mentally harder because it's only you out there. And yes, when you win, it's all you. But then when
you lose, it's also all you. And I feel like I would take losses really hard because of that.
But there was no way I could play a team sport like I don't have to depend on anyone else. And
I think that's part of the reason I love tennis. Yeah, I would like that too. It's like you have to depend on yourself.
Yeah.
Was there a point when you started winning and winning and winning? And did you always
know that you wanted to go pro?
Yeah. So, you know, soon after I played my first tournament at eight, at nine years old,
I qualified for this 12 and under tournament in France. I got to travel to France to play a
tournament. And I was like, I can play tennis. I can travel the world like this is going to be
my job. I just decided at nine years old. And I know that's really young and I don't recommend people normally doing that,
but it's just kind of the way it happened to me. And I was like on a mission, one track,
like I'm going pro and there's no other option. I've heard you, we've seen you talk about
perfectionism before. Where do you think that comes from? Was that from your parents? Is that
just something again, genetic or like, what do you think that's about? I think it's a lot of just how I was born. Yeah, because I can remember coming home from school
before tennis was really taking over and I was still pretty young. And I would go home and I
would do my homework right away. My twin sister would go home, would want a snack, would watch
cartoons. And then at 9 p.m., my parents have to wrestle her to get her to do her homework.
And so it just shows you that I had that kind of innate discipline, wanting to work, wanting to get the job done.
I was just like that.
I'm just like a nerd, you guys.
I'm sorry.
I just want to do things right.
What do you think that's from?
Have you ever stepped back and thought about why you're programmed like that?
I'm a big rule follower, which sounds really lame.
And it's like if my parents told me to do something, I'm a big rule follower, which sounds really lame. And it's like, if my
parents told me to do something like I did it, you know, I really wanted to like make sure I did
things right. Like I don't want to do anything wrong. I don't want to break the law. I'm fun,
I swear. But this part of me is like a little nerdy. I feel like that's the why you probably
like tennis so much. It's in or it's out. There's no, there's, it's a, there's rules around it.
There's proper form
or there's not.
Right.
And you win or you lose.
There's not like this tying
BS that happens in soccer,
right?
It's like you gotta.
You can't tie in tennis?
No.
And that might be
a dumb question,
but I'm just new to the sport.
I didn't know that,
that you can't tie.
I guess it's impossible, right?
Well, not many sports
you can tie, to be fair.
I mean, most sports
you have to go to a tiebreaker
or overtime. Okay, so. You have to. But soccer, you can really end the match. With a tie. I guess it's impossible, right? Well, not many sports you can tie, to be fair. Yeah, I mean, most sports you have to go to a tiebreaker or overtime.
Okay, so... But soccer, you can
really end the match. With a tie. With like
0-0, which I think is crazy. Michael and I, like you said, are
picking up tennis. Now,
I don't mean to brag,
but I used to play tennis when I was little.
Nothing like you. It's like when someone says
they did ballet or tap dance. So, I
have a little bit more of an advantage.
But that's like me saying, like, I used to play tennis when I was little too,
because I hit a ball once.
No, no, no. I didn't hit a ball once. I went to tennis camp.
Like six camps.
No, no, no.
Six times.
No, no, no. Tennis camp. Went to tennis camp every single summer for like eight years.
I went like twice for like two years.
So what would you give your advice to a brand new tennis player like Michael?
My first advice would be
keep your eye on the ball.
I mean, it's all about
that hand-eye coordination.
And so you,
it sounds so cliche,
but you really have to do it.
Like as a professional,
I remind myself to look at the ball
because that's how your brain
knows where to put your body
to make sure you hit it properly.
Okay.
You know what's hard for me
about tennis?
No.
Well, there's a lot of things
that are hard about tennis,
but so I used to box.
Okay.
And with box, you don't want to be out.
You don't want to be out like this all the time because you're going to get whacked in the head.
Right.
The footwork's very similar, actually, to tennis.
You're not crossing over and you're stepping and all that.
But it's hard for me to be out.
That's the thing I've got to program into myself.
It's like when you swing, you're out.
You're out.
Yes.
Your hands aren't tight.
No.
You want a lot of space between you and the ball.
Yeah.
So that's something.
I mean, obviously, when you have impact in boxing, you want to be having space.
Keep making excuses.
Go on.
But do you get what I'm saying?
Mentally, it's hard now because the form.
Imagine if you're trained to be in.
I know.
Now you've got to be out.
Life's hard.
No, totally.
It's just a movement pattern thing.
Exactly.
I used to play hockey, so I can track the ball.
Okay.
So you have that.
You have the athleticism, I'm sure.
You play football, too.
I can track the ball. Go ahead. Okay have that. You have the athleticism, I'm sure. You play football too. I can track the ball.
Okay, sounds like a pro athlete over here.
Seriously.
But yeah, so that's number one.
I mean, the footwork is very, very important.
You can focus on hitting the ball as much as you want,
but you have to get to the ball to hit the ball.
And so for me, it's like movement.
It's a very physical sport.
Oh, it depends.
Are you guys playing singles or doubles?
Both.
Both.
Okay, so singles is obviously a lot more movement, and so it's really very physical sport it all depends are you guys playing singles or doubles? both okay so singles
is obviously a lot more
movement and so it's
really physically hard
but the difference
in the close and the far
thing is funny
because now that I'm
playing pickleball as well
pickleball you hit
things much closer to you
and so I have to like
rewire my brain
every time I switch
from one sport to the other
that tennis you want
a lot of space
between you and the ball
because you'll get more power
yeah that's what I'm
trying to learn that
I can get to the ball better than her i know that i can i can
move a little quicker you know what if you want to brag about how you're better than you know what
i've been looking for a new coach maybe i like i might maybe i might consider i can get both of
you guys on the court and then i can decide who's better i think that's a fair i think that's fair
because i'll judge yeah lauren you know she has perspective. And I don't want to say it's wrong, but it is.
Okay, I want to talk to you about the pressure of being a professional athlete,
especially as a woman.
I mean, I can imagine that there is a lot of pressure,
not even just with winning, just like being on camera.
It's just a lot.
It seems like a lot of different moving parts.
What's that like?
So, I mean,
I grew up, you know, starting, I technically turned pro when I was 15 years old. Tennis is
very young. And so that's when I signed with like an agency and my first endorsement, like clothing
contract. And you kind of act like a mini professional, even at that age before you're
like fully on the pro tour. So I'm playing like junior tournaments, but I'm like playing junior
Wimbledon, junior US Open. And there's a whole tour for like 18 and under before you really go pro. And
so my first year on the pro tour would have been 18, 19. But yeah, it's just interesting
how you start having to get used to doing things. Like I've done interviews since I
was that age. And so I feel quite comfortable in front of a camera and used to being able
to handle any question I get thrown at me. So if you guys have any tough questions, I'll be ready for them.
But yeah, it's interesting because people focus on a lot of other things as well
besides just the tennis, right?
So years ago, there was this, I got asked by a reporter to do a twirl to show off my outfit.
And then afterwards, there was a lot of outrage because people were like,
oh my God, he wouldn't have asked a male tennis player that um they're so focused on the looks and how did you
feel at the time so i mean at the time i was like yeah i feel like really cute in my outfit like i
want to show it off and i love fashion i love outfits i feel like when you know you or if you
feel like you look good you you play well um and so it just showed that there's like a different
kind of focus on female athletes than the male athletes. And part of that is like the marketing, the looks and things like that. But at the end of the day, that's also something I tennis player like you, and I had on a really cute outfit,
and the reporter was like, do a twirl,
I would like catwalk down the road.
Right.
Because it's like gives you a moment to show your look.
And I also think, and maybe this is a hot take,
that there's so much energy spent on you winning or losing or in or out
that it's like fun and light to show your outfit off.
Totally. This is what I've said often.
No one wants to see like some guy like do a twirl like, you know, like, sorry.
Right. Men and women are different for a reason. Right.
I don't know. I don't really want to see Michael do a twirl. I'm good.
Whoa.
Do you know what I mean?
Right.
That's now I know that's probably not what everyone thinks. That's my hot take.
Yeah. No. And I've been asked like, oh, like in interviews, you know, sometimes I get all
these questions that are totally non-tennis related.
And then I get asked, oh my God, are you annoyed by the non-tennis questions?
I'm like, it's actually more fun for me.
Like, how many times are you going to ask me about my forehand?
Right?
Like, let's talk about other things.
Don't worry.
I have questions that are not tennis related.
You know, I think it's hard.
I've always struggled with the people that are offended for other people who aren't offended. Does that make sense? Right. Exactly. Like I understand
certain people have a perspective on the way things should be done, but in that moment,
if it was between you and this reporter and I didn't see it and you were not offended and he
wasn't trying to be offensive and you enjoyed it, I don't then get the point of everyone else being
offended. Right.
Right. It's kind of like some, it's kind of like me not being at a dinner and then seeing somebody
get angry at a dinner. And I just said, I'm then going to be angry at a dinner that I wasn't at.
You know what though? Here's what I'll say. If you had just told me right now,
I didn't like it. It bothered me. I'd be like, okay, that was unacceptable.
But if you, if you didn't mind personally me, I wouldn't mind either.
But so we do this show and we, we we we force people to do it in person and the reason we do that is because on the
when you're doing on a screen i can't get this interaction i can't tell if you're into a line
of questioning or if you're like don't you know what i mean you just can't feed it's just like
it's just like a screen and i imagine like it's similar for a lot of these people doing that work
and yourself like if if you were somebody that was's similar for a lot of these people doing that work and yourself.
If you were somebody that was giving off an energy like, don't ask me that kind of thing,
it likely wouldn't have happened.
Does that make sense?
Not saying you're asking for it, but meaning they're kind of playing off the energy of like, hey, is this okay?
If I ask this, is it okay?
Will it be received well?
Do you get what I'm saying?
I totally understand it.
Yeah.
And then the whole Zoom thing that happened a lot more in the recent years has been such
a buzzkill. I personally don't like that and um i'm very you know open and
outspoken and love to talk about other things besides just tennis and i think people know that
and um always talking about fashion and my cute outfits and you know that's what's so fun about
tennis is you can wear cute outfits we don't have to wear the same uniform as like 20 other people
in the field so i'm like why don't we it's a way to express like, why don't we talk? It's a way to express ourselves. So why don't we talk about it? I'm fine being asked about it.
If you guys like magnesium at night when you're winding down like me,
you have to try this specific magnesium blend that I've been drinking at night. It's like a
raspberry lemonade flavor and it's an advanced magnesium powder. It contains 400 milligrams of
three different forms of bioavailable magnesium. And the brand that I've been using is JS Health
Vitamins. So she sent a package to my team with a bunch of this powder. And I immediately was
intrigued because it's designed in Australia. and the supplements there are the highest quality
ingredients. So I tried it and I'm in love. So I've been doing it every single night to wind down. I
just habit stack it with my skincare routine. I've kind of like come to love it as a nightcap when
I'm laying in bed. I do it obviously before my mouth tape and it's just the perfect way to end
the night. If you're unfamiliar with magnesium,
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When this all happened and he asked you that and everyone gets mad
and everyone's pissed off and outraged, what do you do?
Well, my 20-year-old self in the press
conference was like, look, I'm fine if you ask me to twirl, if you ask the guys to like flex their
muscles or something. I was like, just give me a little something back, you know? So what does
the audience say? Are they mad that you said that? It was like a big deal. I mean, that was...
What is... Is the audience pissed at you then? They called it twirlgate, Lauren.
They did, yeah. Okay. i see that on my notes i remember
seeing this on tiktok but are you are they mad at you that you're not mad at the reporter you know
i i don't know i try to not like read too far deep into like i'm trying to move on from this i'm
trying yeah not to but i do remember um the next actually a month later i was in la for some like
oscar pre-osar parties and stuff. And
I, Mark Wahlberg came up to me and he was like, you're the Twirlgate girl. And he was like,
I got so annoyed that that guy asked you that. And he was like, I just want to like,
you know, and I was like, whoa, first of all, this is like, you're really exactly what I thought you
would be like in person. All your movie characters are really accurate. And I just thought it was
cute that he like
wanted to defend me and i was like but it's okay i was okay with it you know but he was like mad
on my behalf you understand yeah he's one of those guys i was talking about earlier exactly
exactly he's exactly one of those what is the cute tennis outfits that you're wearing like what are
the brands that we need to look at and i'm asking this question selfishly for myself well i'm only
going to give you one answer
and one answer only, New Balance,
because I'm endorsed by them.
Are you wearing New Balance right now?
No, so this is like a tennis core outfit,
but this is like casual.
Got it.
But I have lots of cute New Balance outfits.
And recently my outfit is like a little crop top
with a skirt, which I think is fun and cute.
Yes, I've been begging them for crop tops for years
and we finally got one.
And they're really trending right now too. And we all know the dad shoe has been popular for years from
New Balance, but now their clothing is really like catching up. The lifestyle stuff is so cool.
The female stuff is really more feminine and cute now, which is important for me.
I have a different line of questioning that is more serious line.
Him and her.
When you go and you
get ready for competition and you've been training all it's like what are there things you do to
mentally prepare yourself before you step on the court are there things like leading up to that or
it's just like what do you what are those practices look like yeah for sure um something one of my
long-time coach taught me was um visualization so that's something i would do actually the night
before the match and then i would wake up and do it in the morning as well and then if i had time even kind of right before the match while waiting in the locker room it's something I would do actually the night before the match. And then I would wake up and do it in the morning as well. And then if I had time, even kind of right before the match while waiting in the locker
room, it's something I would just take a few minutes, close my eyes and imagine how I wanted
to play and just, you know, positive reinforcement of like playing well, winning, executing the
right shot.
So that was a big learning curve for me.
And it really showed me that it's effective and it helps.
It's kind of like doing mental reps without doing physical reps so that was a huge one uh besides
that i like to listen to music and just really get like pumped up i gotta be like sweating when i get
on the court i want to be warm because i want to be ready to go from the first point what's the
music like what kind of so randomly i like um i like like latin music to like get moving which
is super that makes sense though because you move your hips.
Right, exactly.
And I'm like, I'm not a great dancer, but I was like, OK, I got to like move my body
because I need to.
That's what we do on the court.
It's literally my job.
And so it's kind of a way to loosen up.
That makes sense.
What about lifting weights, working out?
What are you doing around the tennis or is it just tennis for the workout?
No, that's a great question. And it's a lot more than just the tennis it's like a full full day job we basically play
i used to play when i was younger two times two hours of tennis a day which is a lot yep
wait so four hours four hours of tennis yeah and then fitness which is an hour and a half and then
uh some kind of like therapy so it's massage therapy or like a specific like physical therapy
for like an injury if I had one.
Or even, you know, those Normatec boots,
the compression sleeves,
all of that stuff, ice bath,
all of that's important.
Now, as I'm older and most pros
will not play four hours a day
because it's just too much wear and tear on your body.
And we'll do a bit less on the court,
but actually more in the gym.
The gym is super important these days. What kind of stuff
are you doing in the gym? So a lot of strength because on the tennis court, we're running around.
So we get that cardio, we get that exercise that way. And it's more like you need to be strong
enough to be able to withstand hours of like the repetitive hitting. Tennis injuries are really
more overuse injuries. So you got to make sure your muscles, your ligaments, all that are strong
enough to just withstand
the thousands of reps
you're going to do.
And I love lifting.
I find it so fun.
Like I love feeling strong.
How do you,
so I was talking to
one of these tennis pros
that I was working with
and he was saying like,
he was being nice.
He was like,
hey man,
like these are not going
to be so great for you.
You don't want these big muscles.
Hold on.
You are not asking this,
but you're asking her why you can't
play tennis ball because of your big muscles. I was trying to say it in a way that didn't sound
like that, but yeah. She's getting straight to the point. But he was basically saying like tennis
players are long and lean and how they, and so I'm wondering like as your strength training,
like what are the things you're doing? Yeah. So when I say strength training, I mean, you know,
strength training to be strong, but not to have huge muscles the way you do.
That's what I was looking for.
Pull that clip, Taylor.
Pull that clip.
Keep going.
It's really, I mean, look at Djokovic.
Okay.
The guy is slim.
He is small in person.
He's even smaller than he seems like he's on TV.
So we need strength, but we also need endurance and flexibility.
But for me, like I'm, you know, a thin girl, like I need those muscles,
like I need a bare minimum of strength. And so I'm not trying to really bulk up huge,
but I'm trying to just be strong enough. So what do you, what kind of like, what is the
strength training look like? And I know I'm just getting nerdy here, but I just.
Oh yeah. So, I mean, look, we'll do it. Like we'll do like squats. We'll do the
dead bar lifts. We'll do like, I like doing a lot of lower body because I feel like you just
need that to be able to move a lot of gl body um because i feel like you just need that to be able
to move um a lot of glute hamstring work because that's really like your motor to like run especially
if you got to run for a drop shot you got to run forward you got to be strong and is the rep range
high or low um it's not it's like i would say medium because i want enough weight right so if
i go too high i'm not lifting enough weight so it's kind of medium to low when i'm really trying
to like gain strength and the reason, because Lauren got into strength training
the last three years
and she's been really into it
and it's completely like changed
a lot of things for her.
But we're trying to play tennis more.
And so we're talking about like,
what is the ideal?
Michael thinks I need to work out
my hamstrings more.
Yeah.
So people often focus a lot on the quads,
you know, it's easy to do squats and stuff,
but you forget about the back,
the posterior,
and you got to really do that a lot. Well, now that you're saying the word hamstring
to a tennis, it sounds like that's important. It is. Yeah. What is your routine around the
morning and the night, especially with being such a high performer? What are those things that you
go to? Well, morning, I would say it's very important for me to get a good breakfast. I know
some people, people love doing the fasting or like skip breakfast and stuff like that. I am a huge breakfast person.
I cannot function if I like don't have food immediately after I wake up.
What are you eating?
So I need to eat things with like protein and I definitely need things with like salt.
So playing tennis, I sweat a lot.
And so I really need to make sure I replace that.
If I have only like, I don't know, fruit loops in the morning, I'm going to like go like that.
And I'm going to crash in the middle of practice and I'm gonna like not have the energy
So I need like eggs ideally as much as possible avocado. Sometimes a breakfast kind of meat like
bacon sausage
Just like protein and salt is what I eat in the morning. Yeah, good
What else any other non-negotiables that you have to do in the morning?
Um, I try not to look at my phone too much,
especially right away when I wake up, especially when I have a match, because I feel like it's just
so like opposite to what I'm trying to do that day. You know what I mean? It's like I get
distracted. I start filling my brain with like useless information. And even just looking at
a screen is like bad for your eyes. It's bad for, you know, I don't know. I feel like it's
I look at a screen, then I go try to play tennis and it's just totally not the same. And so I try to limit screen time.
Well, it's interesting because I think Huberman said this, but like to really work out your eyes,
you need to look out long ways. And tennis is so good for that because you're not staring at a
screen, which is why another reason I want my kids to play because it's taking it away from the screen,
away from the TV and you're looking out. Does that make sense?
I had a problem with my eyes and I talked about it on the show.
Oh my God, he's going to...
And fortunately, like we know people like Andrew and he, one of the most important,
one of the things he told me that was most important is I was texting with him and he was
like, hey, you have to start tracking things with your eyes in the distance because we get so used
to staring at this screen. And I felt like I was actually, he said, it's like kind of like a camera retina or
like a, you know, a lens, I mean, where it like moves in and out and your eye does the same thing.
He said, if you don't track, which is why I like tennis so much now, because I'm tracking a ball
back and forth. And I feel like it's like one of the things that's helped improve my sight.
Oh, it's probably like strengthening your eye muscles. I once had a concussion years ago, and I had to do eye retraining therapy is what it was called after that to kind of get back to the
quick reactions on the court. And I had to do all these exercises for your eyes, which were so
fascinating. It was like they put a paper in front of me and then like I had to focus on that and
then also focus at like a point in the distance. And it was really, really fascinating. And so I
think we should all just do eye training
therapy, even if you don't have an issue and you can just get better at it. Also helps your
reaction for tennis, especially at the elite level. You need that. And yeah, so having a phone here
is just totally opposite to everything we're talking about. When I do those eye exercises,
I have someone that helps me do them. And it almost makes you feel sick. Do you know what
I'm saying? Yes. you feel like not like you're
gonna throw up but just like you don't feel normal yeah I remember once I was I was facing
my friend in the morning I'd gone out the night before and I was kind of like hung over and I had
to go to my eye retraining therapy and then I was like going to this makes me feel drunk on its own
and now I'm going and I'm a hungover like I'm going to not survive
like it almost makes you
feel a bit nauseous
because you're really like
working your eye muscles
and like looking at
different things
and yeah
so fascinating
our friend Doc Amon
was on the show
and he was saying
people that play
racquet sports
is like correlated
for you know
less instances of dementia
and longevity
and all these things
but as you're talking
it's making me think
like if you're doing
that kind of tracking
your eyes part of your brain
yeah
you know it has to be it has to have benefits as opposed to just staring at a screen all day.
No, they said tennis, people who play tennis live the longest.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
So that makes actually so much sense.
We're going to be number one.
Do you have anything that you do post tennis at night to wind down?
Like what are your non-negotiables?
Well, I love like getting some kind of body work.
So whether that's a massage or physical therapy.
Yeah.
It's, and when I say massage, we're not talking a nice fun like spa, like retreat massage.
Like rolfing?
We're talking with what?
Like rolfing where they like go at you. and that's what I feel like I need to loosen up because we train our muscles so hard. They get so
tight that like, just like softly massaging is not going to get you anywhere. You need like,
it needs to hurt for it to have a benefit. And so I need to do that as much as possible.
How do you combat failure? This is a topic that comes up on this show a lot when someone,
you know, failures and micro failures and coming back after feeling like,
what do you do when you take a loss or you feel like you've failed? Looking back, look, I think I've certainly taken losses too
hard at times. And that's something I would say I have a little bit of a regret over. Like I don't
have to, you know, stay holed up in my hotel room for two days after losing a match. And sometimes
I would like literally do that. And my mom's like, what are you doing? Like, it's just a tennis match.
Stop it. And I just, I have, because of the perfectionism thing, you know, I want to do so well.
And if I make mistakes, it's just so hard for me to accept that.
So I think learning to accept the losses, not being so perfect is one thing.
But the next thing I would say is just, you know, I feel like sometimes success actually
masks problems.
And so sometimes failures are just so good to see what you can improve. And I've had,
you know, successes and I've had failures throughout my career. And sometimes there
were problems even during the successes, but you don't even look at it or think about it because
you're like, oh, well, I won. I won this tournament. I'm winning these matches. Everything's fine. It's
like, wait, no, there's a serious like issue with the technique in your forehand or my trainer is
not like training me the right way. But like
just because I'm winning, you don't really address things. And so I've actually learned to kind of
appreciate failures because it shows me what I need to do better.
When you look back on everything you've done, where is a moment where you were like,
where you felt like it was a big challenge and maybe you could be really specific with what
that challenge was.
Just in general, in my tennis career.
It doesn't even have to be tennis, just a challenge that you had.
And whether it's like to me when I'm hearing you talk about all these trainers, like what do you do when you outgrow the trainer?
Like, I'm sure that's a whole thing.
And you have, I mean, right, that there'd be trainers that are training you that you almost have to like scale a business, scale what you're doing.
Yeah. Tennis is a really unique sport because you're kind of the CEO of your company. Right.
So like I hire and fire everyone I work with.
That's a lot.
I'm not like going on a team where the team owner has, you know, the coach in place and the trainer in place.
It's like it's for me. So it's hard actually dealing with humans. Right.
Isn't that one of the hardest things in all jobs and works of life?
And I feel like it's especially a unique relationship when I'm like a 20-year-old female and I'm hiring a 50-year-old male who's a coach.
And I hire him to tell me what to do.
But then ultimately, I'm the boss because I could stop working with him.
So it's a really weird dynamic.
And sometimes an older coach who thinks he knows more
will try to decide everything for the player.
But at the end of the day, it's an individual sport.
I decide what I do.
So as the player, I can decide to work with you or not.
And I've definitely had issues with coaches who have egos or don't want to be told what to do or don't want to like let me have a say. It's like,
no, we're doing this for training at this time and you don't get a say. Well, you know, I'm the
player. Like I, I don't want to, if I play all my matches at 7 p.m. at night, why are you trying to
make me go train at 7 in the morning? Like I need to, you know. So they'll say come train at 7 a.m.
but you play at 7 at night and you're like, no, I need to be playing at 7 at night.
Right.
So I want to play.
That's why I want to sleep in the morning and like get used to it.
What do you do?
Do you have to fire them yourself?
I mean, yeah, it's really hard to do.
I have like an agent or like when I was younger, my parents, my mom was more involved, like
helping me like, you know, you're a kid.
We're a kid who doesn't know anything who's undereducated.
We didn't go to college and we're like trying to basically run this company. And so it takes a village.
I mean, it has to take a village. What's something that would surprise our audience? And again,
this doesn't have to be tennis related, just surprise our audience about your day to day.
Something that I think is super weird in the tennis is um the fact that we all like share a locker room
so it's like i'm about to play against you and we have lockers right next to each other and i
you go to take a shower and i literally just saw you naked and then 10 minutes later we're walking
out on court on center court are people nice when you're doing that are they like higher people like
different every time it's it depends yeah you need you need every single time after you
do a match you should record into like a recorder of what it was like and then you could just do
like a book called like the locker room locker room chats yeah no it's an interesting experience
because again team sports they have one team has a locker room the other team has a locker room and
so in your locker room you can kind of like let your hair down and relax because it's your teammates
in tennis it's like you have to have your wall up all the time because you're going into the locker room it's
full of all your opponents so you're not chatting at a break you're not like hey like this is going
well or no you just you kind of like segregate yourself i think it depends yeah it depends on
the situation it depends on who it is so some girls are like friendly with each other some are
less friendly um well how do you act do you like conserve your energy or are you kind? Like,
what's your vibe? So I'm, and I've actually said this and some people have not liked that I said
this, but I've been a little bit more like not trying to make friends as much on tour just
because I'm, you know, playing against them. And I find it hard mentally and emotionally to like
be really good friends with you. And then I get on the court and I'm trying to like kick your butt,
you know, to me, it, my brain is like, that doesn't work.
I get that. And I also think you only have so much, this is like to give and you're,
you have to give a hundred percent to the game. So to then make friends with someone is like
almost giving up a little bit of your capacity.
And also if you get like in the, in the dynamic of one wins, one loses,
like you're about to go crush someone's dream. You can't be like, you have to, you can't like in a way feel so bad about that.
Correct.
Exactly.
That's what I always said.
I don't want to look across the net and like feel almost like guilt or something because
I'm playing my friend.
And if I happen to be winning that day, then it's like, oh my God, of course, you know,
I'm friendly with some of the girls and I'm Canadian.
So like the Canadian girls or the Americans are the ones, a lot of them don't even speak
English, first of all.
So like the ones who speak English, I'm more friendly with.
And then, you know, it's like more like the Spanish and South Americans hang out and like the Eastern Europeans and the Russians hang out.
So it's a little culty.
It's a little bit like mean girls at school.
It sounds a little sorority.
A little bit.
Yeah.
That's wild that there's all these different dynamics, even with tennis.
I don't think you'd like that dynamic.
What do you mean?
I don't think you'd like to.
I don't think you want to deal with all that. No, I would be you'd like to i don't think you want to like deal with all that no i would be like you
i'd be like you i'm there i'm there to play the game that's i'm i go in with my briefcase and i
leave with my briefcase i'm there to play the game i like her like yeah you got i go in with
my tennis racket and i'm i leave with my tennis racket like i just think like you're there to do
a job exactly and can you like can you like talk shit in the locker room like yo no why talk
shit that's gonna waste your capacity though that's what i'm saying you do you want to be
indifferent i would be indifferent that's the way that i would describe well because like i think
of someone like arnold schwarzenegger and he wasn't like mean talking shit but in his world
of bodybuilding he was like he would like people would be like oh i've been training really hard
as a guy i know you have but i so if i and by the time you catch up i'm like already still so far
ahead he would like fuck with people he was like a mental thing
for him too
this is a weird question
but are you reading books
like Art of War
and like things about opponents
or is it
are you just primarily
focused on the game of tennis
it's both
so we're obviously
focused on the strategy
and like before I play a match
my coach will like
have researched the girl
and tell me okay
this is generally
what her strengths are weaknesses things like that but I've read books that have just helped me mentally a match, my coach will like have researched the girl and tell me, okay, this is generally what
her strengths are, weaknesses, things like that. But I've read books that have just helped me
mentally because for me, you know, obviously you play an opponent, but I play my best when I focus
on myself. And so sometimes it doesn't even matter who I'm playing. Like I just got to play my game
and be in the right mindset. And for me, that's not focusing on winning. So it's really being in
the moment
and taking it. It's very cliche, but we say one point at a time in tennis. And that has helped me
a lot. So a book I've read actually many times, sometimes I finish reading it and then I open it
and start reading again is The Power of Now. And it's just helped me like stay so much more present
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Again, that's drinkelement.com slash skinny. What kind of traits mentally do you think an individual needs to have
to compete at the level you compete at? And I, and what I mean by that is, are there things that
you recognize across the board in your competition and yourself that you think you need to have?
And if you, maybe if you don't have it, you just should maybe think about doing something else.
The number one thing that stands out to me is the capacity to deal with pain, especially, and I mean physical pain. Like we push ourselves
through training every single day and it is brutal. And actually another book I read that I
liked was the David Goggins book. And he in there wrote schedule suffering in your day. And that
kind of helped me accept the fact that I have to suffer to do my job. And you know, it takes a
strong person to be able to do that. And, you know, it takes a strong person to be
able to do that. And so I look at all my fellow tennis players and I'm like, yep, we all have
accepted the fact that like we have to go through physical pain almost every single day. Do you find
it hard to relate to girls your own age who aren't doing some kind of competitive sport? I would find
that and just from my own life, sometimes it's hard for me as an entrepreneur to relate
sometimes to people who aren't and that's being really honest women who aren't that's it's
sometimes hard to relate do you find that so I find uh yeah someone who is maybe not as ambitious
I think that's the biggest like quality is like are they even if no matter where they are at their
stage of life if they're trying to achieve more, accomplish more, that's like something I can really relate to.
So if it's more, if they don't have that drive, whether they've accomplished it or not already is a little bit irrelevant.
It's more about like the values and like the character trait, if they have that ambition.
That makes total sense.
I totally get what you're saying.
It's like you, it sounds like you want to be around people who are constantly progressing.
Yes. I think it's really honest to say say and it might not make people feel great but
for me and i think for lauren probably for you it's like if i'm going to spend energy and time
with people i'm not looking for somebody who's just kind of floating by like i want somebody
it doesn't to your point it doesn't have to be like they've got the thing or they're just like
i'm looking for someone who's pushing life. I think the word too is maybe intentional, but with ambition.
I think the word is ambitious.
I think you have to be pursuing something great in life.
We had the pleasure, or I did this week, I got to spend time with a former Navy SEAL.
And then I got a tour that SEAL Team 3 operates out of.
It was really cool.
And I got to go through and see all the men and women that have sacrificed there. It's mostly men actually in SEAL Team, but out of. It was really cool. And I got to like go through and see all the men that have like, and women have sacrificed there.
It's mostly men actually in SEAL Team,
but anyways, that have sacrificed there.
And like the common theme there is like,
they're like, there's great and there's exceptional.
And like, sometimes great is not enough.
And I like, and you were sitting there,
it's really humbling to go and sit
with those kinds of people.
But to me, like it's inspiring to see that kind of thing.
And it's very interesting.
Like those are the kinds of people
I want to be surrounded by.
Yeah, no, I love that.
I mean, I'm such a workhorse and I truly enjoy working hard and pushing myself through pain.
So to see people that do it on an insane other level is so fascinating.
And David Goggins was one and talks about it a bit in his book as well.
So I love that.
But lucky you.
Well, this guy was even like, he writes his three kids.
I'm not going to say who it is, but he has.
And he writes his three kids. I'm not gonna say who it is, but he has, and he like writes like letters to them.
And he says like, Hey, you know, not only do you need to be great, but like you need to go beyond great.
And it's like the way he talks.
And I just think, and he's, you know, I've heard his sons are like exceptional human
beings.
And it's just, I just think it's important because you, we live in a time where many
people, I think phone it in and they think it's okay to phone it in. And It's like, okay, to just sit within yourself and like, you know, not pursue that
kind of stuff. And I don't know, people can do what they want, but I personally don't find it
that interesting. How do you think about your time? Meaning like, how do you decide what comes
around you besides tennis? Like, how did you be like, okay, I want to come on this podcast today.
I'm sure you have to be very cutthroat with your time. How do you pick and choose?
I do. It's tough. Yeah. As soon as we're done, I'm getting on a flight and getting out of here. So
it is hard. And it's a big balancing act. This year, I've started doing pickleball events as
well. So it's weird because I feel like I have multiple jobs, you know, and I've never really
felt that before because it's always been tennis my whole life.
And so with the different schedule that pickleball has afforded me, I've been able to do more off court stuff.
So one of the things I love doing, I've done some of some broadcasting like TV stuff, like the tennis commentary, things like that.
And, you know, other off court, you know, whether it's appearances or endorsements.
And I've really enjoyed kind of expanding outside of tennis. And but I've actually happened to in the last couple of months really like worked a lot. And I forgot that like I actually need to schedule time off because I'm like, OK, I have this opportunity came up. Oh, I have those two days off. I can go do it. And I'm like, wait, at one point I do have to say no. And I do have to have like a work-life balance.
My therapist told me the other day, he was like, I wasn't able to speak to you for like an entire
month. Like if I can only speak to you for one hour a month, then how are you even able to like
go on a date? And I was like, yeah, you're right. I haven't been. He was like, you need more of a
work-life balance. I was like, okay. What kind of dates are you going on? What does a guy need to do? What if someone's listening?
Well, so... Do they have to play a sport?
No, not necessarily.
They don't?
They don't have to play a sport?
No.
Okay.
I mean, I've dated athletes in the past, but they don't have to be an athlete.
But I think that word ambitious is important.
So no matter what they're doing, what kind of career that they're just doing something
and really trying to achieve something special is something that I can really relate to. And having the discipline to wake up every day and
work hard is something I can really relate to. Taylor, you're out because sometimes you don't
wake up until two on the weekend. Do they have to be famous? No, but hey, every once in a while
when I do get a rare day off, I'm okay with sleeping until two as well. I don't think there's
anything wrong with that. You are allowed to sleep until two.
We'll give you that.
We'll give you that.
Before you go, you have to tell our audience,
skincare, beauty,
any like health, wellness-y tips that you have.
What are your hacks?
Your brows look great.
Tell us what you're using on them.
Like give us a little secret.
I just quickly did Anastasia earlier today at my hotel before coming over here.
But you know, the number one thing is sleep.
Number one by far is sleep.
Uh, my family, we're all big sleepers.
Like I said about sleeping in, I could sleep like 10 hours every single night.
Taylor, you might have a chance.
I'm telling you, that's my favorite thing to do.
Big, I think people who sleep longer, live longer and people who say like,
oh, I'll sleep when I die.
Like, I don't, I don't buy into that.
I think.
We agree. We just had Matthew Walker on the show. Actually the episode's out
today and we just all about sleep. Oh my gosh. I'm going to listen to it on my flight. It's
all about mastering sleep. Go ahead. I want to hear her secrets, Michael. Okay. So I have to
contribute something. I don't know if I contribute to the eyebrows, although my eyebrows are not
bad. Anastasia did my eyebrows on this show. Remember that, Lauren? Yeah. Did she really?
Michael, can we get her beauty tips?
The eyebrows, the muscles, the tattoos.
I like to weave myself in.
We know.
Don't say.
I like to thread myself right into the storyline.
The next one for me, because I'm always in the sun, is sun care, sunscreen.
It is just so important. I've been obsessed with sunscreen since I was like a kid because I knew that I've,
you know, back in the day, we didn't realize how important sunscreen was. And we,
I've seen like older players, like legends of the game who have talked about the fact that
they're like, oh my God, we didn't know we had to like wear sunscreen all the time. And
you can just tell. And it's like, it prematurely ages you. And besides obviously like, you know,
cancer risk and things like that. So I'm like really obsessed with sunscreen.
I used to use more of the bad kind where it's like has all the chemicals that like absorbs into your skin.
And now I'm like fully zinc and I will walk out on court with my face zinced out.
And I don't care what I look like because I am trying to preserve my youth or what's left of it.
You know what?
Can you just wear one of those masks?
I sometimes wear them when I'm skiing. Like they have the two eyes. You you just wear one of those masks i sometimes wear them
when i'm skiing like they have the two eyes you can just walk out i know should that's what she
wears skiing should i start a trend in tennis and then it'll really like show how important
taking care of your skin is and i feel like we could start like a revolution and just help avoid
so many people who have maybe i actually had that question for you i was gonna because every time i
play tennis i'm like a psycho you know what I got that like it really
works that you and New Balance should do together? I went on Amazon and ordered like vintage bodyguard
rash guards. So when I can just throw it over and like it's fine for sweating, but they go all the
way down past your hands. Yeah. And you can wear them swimming,
you can wear them playing tennis, but they're like a rash guard, so they protect you from the sun.
If I was playing tennis, I would come out in a hazmat suit.
Right.
As much as you.
But then that defeats the purpose of like wearing cute outfits.
That's true. See, I don't know. Yeah, that's hard.
How do you do both?
I don't know. I'm going to give you driving gloves.
I wear sometimes a long sleeve shirt because, you know.
Yeah, but it's different.
Like, I feel like you, like you said, you have to walk out in full sunscreen.
It's different for a girl.
You can't insert yourself in sunscreen.
I put sunscreen on.
I put it on my neck, put it on my face.
Okay.
That's very important.
Any other beauty tips that you have that we need to know?
Well, so then, I mean, the next thing is just, I mean, just moisturizing a
lot for me. I just want to like feel like my skin is just like not dry. I travel so much. It dries
you out. Sometimes we're in crazy locations where it's like super dry. And so that would be it. I
have not, I historically was not really much of like skincare routine girl or even like makeup
girl because I spent my life chained to a tennis court and I never had time to like be a normal girl and like explore all of these worlds as I've gotten older and cared about
turning 30 and not you know trying to avoid wrinkles I've been more into it now and um but
you know I feel like my skin does the best literally when I sleep when I drink water and
when I put sunscreen on I love it you're amazing I love it pimp yourself out um I know. So I'm playing on the pickleball tour this year, the PPA.
I'm going to Vegas this afternoon to play a tournament starting tomorrow at the Fontainebleau.
So that's fun.
And yeah, just playing tennis as well.
And on TV, hopefully doing some tennis channel commentary for you guys.
You know what I'm excited for with you?
Follow along.
I feel like at some point you have to launch your own whole tennis line.
I'd wear it. You would? wear it we'll have like little crop tops
we'll have like cutouts we'll have cute stuff
and then when you want to train so this is what I do for a match
I wear the cute outfit but then during training
I'll wear the long sleeve because training
if no one's watching me and it's just tedious
hours upon hours it doesn't matter
but then for the match of course you want to be cute
and make a rash guard in white
question for the training if you're, you want to be cute. So you got to make a rash guard in white question for the train.
If you're trying to learn tennis is just selfish.
You probably shouldn't do the pickleball stuff, right?
Well, am I wrong?
I have I'm in both worlds.
So I think, first of all, we can all be friends because some people, you know, tennis people
hate pickle and it's a little it's a little contentious.
And I'm trying to be some like neutral middle ground of like, hey, we can all work because
we can help each other. Someone starts in pickleball, hey, they might transfer over to
tennis and people in tennis are playing pickleball now. So I think it's great.
But I'm saying selfishly just to technique.
Yes. The technique is different. So it-
It might screw me up if I try to learn pickle and tennis.
Yes. So I've literally switched back and forth this year. Like when I have tennis coming up,
I train tennis and play tennis. Then boom, I have a pickleball tournament.
So I go to pickleball.
Pickleball, you hit the ball closer.
It's less like full swings.
And then the dinks and the drops are what's so different than tennis.
Like you want to hit the short, soft balls.
And in tennis, that's a terrible shot, right?
So it's a totally different skill set.
People thought I would be so good right away at pickleball.
And I wasn't at all because it's very different.
But you have to give yourself time to like change back and forth. So it's been tough for me this year because I'm like, oh my God, I've like have so much on my plate now that I'm
literally playing two professional sports that seem similar but are actually quite different.
Every time I go back to tennis after playing pickleball, I'm like trying to hit the ball here
way too close to my body. The one thing that doesn't get messed up is the serve because
there's no overhead serve in pickleball. So at least every time
I go back to tennis,
I'm like, okay,
my serve is still there.
But I need some days
to like get my forehand
and like backhand back.
Taylor's literally Googling
how to play pickleball
for beginners.
I got to step my tennis game up, Lauren.
I can't.
Yeah, we've got that.
Thank you so much
for coming on the show.
Of course.
You're incredible.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you for making the trip.
Thank you. You're great on a mic. If you want fuller brows and longer lashes,
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