Katie O’Brien back in love with tennis as she takes new route to the top

Back in 2011 she needed out. Her motivation was on the wane. Having reached the top 100 in the world, she was guilty of not having the drive to push further.

On top of that, her enthusiasm for the bubble she had immersed herself in since her early years growing up in East Yorkshire was starting to dim.

She yearned for a new life, something like the normal most other people in their mid-20s enjoy.

Ever the opportunist, she found it. O’Brien did a law degree at the Open University, and then got a job in the city, first in recruitment and then in insurance.

“I needed that opportunity of not being defined as a tennis player,” she tells The Yorkshire Post.

“I wanted to be anonymous, to have that routine of putting a business suit on instead of the tennis kit, commuting into the city with millions of others.

“Being able to go for a drink after work.”

Through it all, tennis became enjoyable again, first as a few ad-hoc coaching sessions, and then as a way to stay fit with friends.

Allied with that rekindled passion was a realisation that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

“I enjoyed working initially, but the novelty soon wore off. It wasn’t necessarily the routine, it was being sat behind a desk,” she says.

Fortunately for the former British No 1 from Hessle, a route back into the sport that defined her for so long, was right around the corner. She just needed the courage to take it.

“I was really lucky in 2017 that a role came up for national junior coach with the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association),” reflects O’Brien.

“I was scared to ask about it, because I’d been out of the sport for five years, I feared I had lost touch with the modern game.

“Fortunately, I was invited to come and interview. I wouldn’t have applied for it off my own back due to being away from the game for so long.

“But the LTA facilitated me coming back in and I learned on the job for the first year or so.”

After three years of coaching at Under-14s and Under-12s level, of mentoring girls and boys, O’Brien has now been promoted to the position of women’s national coach for the LTA.

One rung under the head of female tennis, she is tasked with developing the best juniors and aspiring professionals in Britain.

“I wasn’t sure if I was ready, but it’s not too dissimilar to my current role,” says O’Brien, who was in the middle of transitioning between the two positions when the coronavirus lockdown struck and she and a large percentage of LTA staff were furloughed.

It has been a rapid rise for O’Brien, one that she accepts has come with a lot of learning on the job.

“It took me a while to work out what my philosophy is and I still don’t think I know exactly what it is,” she adds.

“I think it’s something that forms over time, through experience.

“I feel more of a mentor, I don’t get involved as much with the technical input unless it’s something like the physical and mental factors, how to handle the pressure, that’s where I can use my experience and relate.

“The best players are the ones who are tougher under pressure and play the big points a little bit smarter.

“So I’m not in your face, I don’t feel like I have to motivate a player. When I was a player I used to like my own space, to have my own independence to figure things out for myself.

“Not every player is like that, they want someone who is on their case all the time, but I think the art of a good coach is someone who can lead a player to solve their own problems rather than telling them what to do all the time.

“There’s a danger of becoming a bit robotic and not being able to solve problems when you’re under pressure.”

How O’Brien could have done with such counsel as she reached her own personal crossroads nearly a decade ago.

Life for a young British woman on the tennis tour was not an easy one. O’Brien had to fight for everything she got, and while regret is perhaps too strong a word to use to define her feelings about walking away from the game, there is a sense that she left too early.

“I was pretty young when I retired, I was only 25, but at the time it felt like a lifetime because of how much I had invested in my career, all the sacrifices I had made,” says O’Brien, who twice reached the second round of grand slams and won four times on the ITF Tour.

“I thought I’d maximised my potential, but you’re learning all the time.

“My goal was to get inside the top 100 and I did that, and that’s something I’m still really, really proud of.

“But I lost the motivation once I achieved that, I wasn’t sure where to go next. I didn’t believe I could get any higher, and that was my undoing in the end. I thought I had reached my limit and there was nowhere else to go.

“I wish I had a bit more belief in myself. I wish I had backed myself a little bit more. Even when I got inside 100, I didn’t truly believe I belonged there. I felt I was a bit lucky in a way, which is ridiculous given how hard it was to get there.

“I’m 5ft 5in tall, so physically it was always tough going for me because I one of the smaller players on the tour, and I didn’t really have an expansive game.

“I had a strong forehand but I didn’t really have a ‘plan B’. I had one way of playing and a whole load of character, and that’s what got me inside the top 100, the fact that I hate losing.

“I’m pretty stubborn, I put in the hard work day in, day out, and it’s difficult to know where to go after that.

“Looking back now, if I had been playing with the perspective I’ve got now I would have been a lot better at dealing with pressure on the court.

“I loved competing but my emotional control was not the best. I used to absolutely flip out at the slightest bit of adversity and I’d keep fighting, but I was fighting myself rather than my opponent.”

There is catharsis to O’Brien’s return to tennis, if not one fuelled by a desire to complete unfinished business.

If she never truly believed she could find the next gear, she has the chance now to imbue others with the belief that they can.

“I’ll often share my experiences. Where I can help players is sometimes talking about the lessons I’ve learned from the things I could have done better, and some of the things I did well,” she says.

“I think I’m quite relatable. I think people look at me and think if she can do it then why can’t I?

“Hopefully, I can give a bit of belief to the upcoming generation.

“I got to 84th in the world. I hope the players I’m working with will aspire to get to a higher level than that, but it’s a good starting place.

“I never played tennis to be rich and famous. I played it because I loved it and I loved competing.

“Since I’ve stopped playing I’ve realised I actually get a lot out of helping other people.

“It’s a sport that doesn’t feel like a job again, it feels like a hobby.”

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