I'm Nathan Pasha
Hello Everyone!
My name is Nathan Pasha, and I want to give thanks for those that are taking an interest in reading my blogs each week. I want to get past the boring stuff as quick as possible, which is the introductory and background stuff in my opinion. I’m very anxious and excited to get into the details what this blog will actually be about moving forward, and what you should expect from it throughout the year. However, its back to the boring stuff for now.
I started tennis at the age of 6 and a half at The Samuel L Jones Boys and Girls Club in Decatur, Georgia. I was talented at a young age and quickly began doing well in junior tournaments. I was ranked number 1 in the state in Boys 12s. After the 12s, I moved on from state tournaments to southern section tournaments. Southern section tournaments are made up of kids from 1 of the 9 southeastern states: Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. All these states combine their players into one ranking system. I was ranked top 5 in the southern section in both 14s and 16s. Lastly, we had national tournaments and rankings as well. National tournaments consisted of players from all the United States. I was ranked top 5 in the nation in 14s, 16s, and 18s. After the juniors, I played my college tennis at the University of Georgia where we consistently ranked top 5 as a program, and we were ranked as high as number 2. Individually, my collegiate career high was 19 in singles and 15 in doubles. I also finished as an All-American in singles my junior year. I have been playing professionally most of the time since I have graduated (May of 2015). My career high in on the tour is 509 in singles, and it is 119 in doubles. For me to achieve my goal for this year and graduate from the Challenger Tour to the ATP Tour, I would have to reach about 75 in the world.
The boring stuff is finally over! I’m excited to get into what this weekly blog will center around. This blog will be about something I’m VERY passionate about, and that’s learning and growth. Personally, I have noticed that I’m at my happiest when I’m making the effort to learn and grow as a person every day. I don’t have all the answers yet, and I don’t know if I ever will. Kobe Bryant mentioned that greatness “Is not a destination. Greatness is on going. Greatness is constant learning and infinite curiosity.” Although I may never have all of the answers, I do have a lot of answers. Those answers have brought me pretty good success in my tennis career so far. Unfortunately, my goals don’t stop at being good a good junior player, a good college player, and a doubles career high 119 ATP. My goals stop at being at least top 20 in the world, and I need to find a lot more answers if I’m going to achieve it. In regard to learning, my blogging will be just as beneficial to me as it is to you. Self-reflection and evaluation is a HUGE part of learning and self-improvement. If I don’t properly analyze what I’m doing and how I’m feeling, how will I grow? My effort to analyze my actions, thoughts, and learn more about myself is vital to my improvement as a tennis player and blogging to you all gives me a chance to do that on a weekly basis. I already self-evaluate myself consistently through journaling, and taking notes on both my practices and matches, but blogging to you all gives me an extra opportunity to reflect. This weekly blog will be one big learning experience for both you and me, and I would much prefer this connection between us to be more of a dialogue rather than one-way communication. The dialogue will help create a better connection between us, which will lead to better discussion and more learning opportunities.
We will be learning a lot about the mental aspect of the game. The mental aspect is almost everything. You can have the greatest technique in the world, but if you don’t have the mentality to go with it, you won’t survive on the tour for more than a month. This is a fact. We will be learning about technical parts of the game also. Technique is a little less emphasized at the higher levels of tennis than most people think; however, doing the foundational technical things correctly are very important, but outside of that, the rest is just preference and what feels comfortable to the specific player. Lastly, you’ll get lots of insight on what it’s like to be a minor league professional tennis player, attempting to make it into the major leagues. If you have feedback, questions, or even if youre seeking advice for your own game, please feel free to reach out. My phone number is 404-453-5790, my email is Nathanpasha@gmail.com. My Instagram handle is Natepasha, and my facebook is nathanpasha. You can reach me on any of these forms of social media. I am honestly very excited to share my experiences, learn, and grow with everyone as the year progresses. I’m confident that the relationship we build throughout the year will help us both grow as people and hopefully live more successful lives. I am currently in Leon, Mexico. My partner Evan and I are in the second week of a 5 week tournament stretch. After Leon, we will travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on the third week, Busan, Korea the fourth week, and Gwangju, Korea the fifth week. After Gwangju, I will spend a few days home in Atlanta and start training in Orlando, Florida at the USTA again to prepare for more tournaments. I look forward to seeing you all next week with new experiences and lessons learned to share.