Editor’s note: 10sBalls thanks Noah Rubin for sharing his “Behind The Racquet with Brandon Holt” interview. To read the complete Brandon Holt story, please visit Behind The Racquet

Behind the Racquet

Brandon Holt

December 30, 2024

“My mom, she’s a former number one, multiple-time Grand slam champion, but I never really felt pressure from her at all. You’d see other parents growing up, and they’d be like, “Oh, you’re going to be a professional tennis player.” But my family wasn’t like that, it was more about playing and having fun.  I realized tennis could be a pathway for me probably a lot later than most people. I played Little League Baseball until I was probably 11 or 12. Basically every sport at some point, but I had to decide eventually which one I liked the most. It wasn’t until basically high school where I really started doing the full gym, full practices multiple times a day and started working extremely hard at becoming a pro player.  With my mom, I think the pressure was low because she realized how hard it is to be at the top of any sport. There are also so many things that can go wrong. Both my parents, but especially my mom, were very adamant that we take education seriously, play a variety of sports and, basically, have fun.  There was never any discouragement to not take tennis seriously, though, either.”