This week on The First Serve's 'Aussies Only' podcast, Dane Sweeny joined Jedd Zetzer and former pro player Jake Eames to talk about his journey and how he's doing all the right things to be ready for when the tour returns.
The 19 year old spoke about his love for rugby in his younger years:
"I actually grew up playing rugby, which is obviously a very team orientated sport, a lot to do with communication and just trusting your team mates. I loved that, sometimes actually rugby would be a bit more fun for me than tennis, because tennis I would take a bit too seriously when I was younger," Sweeny said.
Sweeny spoke about his first main draw appearance in the Australian Open juniors:
"It wasn't amazing, that's for sure. It was a massive learning curve. That's probably one of the most uncomfortable I've ever felt on a court. Kind of just an overwhelming feeling of not being prepared, it's just one of those matches, it felt like a blur. I didn't even know what happened out there, couldn't remember any of the points that were played. Just walked on, walked off 40 minutes later losing love and one to someone that I thought I could definitely compete against. But it was an awesome learning curve because I just realised that the pressure was making me play worse, so I was just trying to utilise that pressure in the future and not let it be a detriment," Sweeny said.
Sweeny has moved to Brisbane and is thriving, training with fellow Aussie Calum Puttergill, under the eyes of Paul Hanley and Ken Oehlerich. The 19 year old spoke of how he is benefitting from a new setup.
"I've finally found what's right for me, which is just hitting more balls. I was never an excessive trainer, I was training like just an average solid amount, but never really doing four hour days back to back to back. I definitely think that's been so good for my tennis. Giving me double the court time to work on my game, and its not like trainings benching a drag. I'm still enjoying it so there's no reason why I shouldn't be out there a much as in can," Sweeny said.
To catch the full chat with Dane, make sure to listen in below on your preferred podcast platform! Subscribe to The First Serve on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and all other major podcast platforms.