Lachie Brain played many sports growing up but ultimately chose tennis and now plays college tennis at North Alabama. Tennis SA had the opportunity to catch up with Lachie while practicing at The Drive.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got to where you are now?
I loved sports as a kid including AFL and Cricket, but I decided to focus on tennis. I started playing tennis around the age of five, both my parents were involved in the tennis community which led me to start playing. Throughout my junior years I had many ups and downs, I was never the best junior. I didn’t get into the Super 10s one year and missed out on some Nationals because I didn’t qualify. I started training at the Tennis SA Squads back when I was around 12, and I remember always being really excited to go and train in the city. I’m extremely grateful for all the coaches and staff who have helped me get to where I am today.
Tell us about your college experience.
When I was in years 11 and 12, I was unsure of whether I wanted to go college or choose a different path. However, I’m very lucky to go to a competitive Division 1 school at North Alabama, with great people around me to succeed. The resources at college are amazing and would recommend anyone who is thinking of going to give it a go. I have great coaches around me including our head coach, but also assistant coach, strength coach and trainers are all very important too. The facilities are amazing over there, and we are also lucky to get all our equipment looked after such as racquets and shoes and have a stringer who takes care of broken strings.
College is great as you meet a range of different people and is such a great opportunity to get a degree but to also keep improving your tennis with some of the best facilities and coaches in the world. I strongly recommend anyone who is finished year 12 to think about the college pathway.
What does your routine look like at college?
My regular days I wake up at 6:30am to go to the athletic gym to get our strength workout in with the team at around 7:00 am. After weights, I will have breakfast and get to class at 9:00 am. Trainings usually start at 12:30 pm so I would get there early to warm up and get prepared for a tough session. We usually train for two – three hours depending on the day. After training, I would head to the athletic training room for treatments if I needed it, or sometimes to stretch , have an ice bath or hop on the Normatec Boots to recover. I head home after trainings to study and work on assignments.
Match days are different, if we were playing away we meet at the facility in the morning to drive to the school we are playing or fly there. We are lucky to be able to stay in nice hotels when we are away and get all our meals looked after. If we are playing either home or away, we are able to get on the courts an hour and a half before the match starts and warm up.
In the fall (August) we are focused on training hard an getting stronger for the season to start in January. We have three weight sessions in the morning and train three hours a day with one day off per week. In the Spring (January) we are more focused on staying fresh and fit so we can play well throughout the season. Our gym sessions are slightly less tough, and train for 1-2 hours to make sure we aren’t burnt out for our matches. Our team played a total of 20 team matches from January 27 to April 15, so making sure we recover well is super important and perform our best.
What advice would you give to the younger athletes that are wanting to advance in their tennis journey?
Some advice I would give to younger athletes would firstly be to enjoy the tennis journey, as there will be lots of ups and downs. It is important to remember to keep working hard but to also enjoy every moment. I would recommend not being so results-driven and just keep staying focused on improving your game and getting better every day. Lastly, I would highly recommend getting a recovery routine. When I was younger I thought it was a complete waste of time, however, just doing the little things such as warming up and stretching, ice baths, eating well and sleeping well will improve your game to a whole new level.
What’s next for you in your career?
Next in my career, I’m hoping to complete my four years at college and I hope to finish my senior year as one of the top college players. After my college comes to an end, I would like to play some futures and see where that will lead me. But now I’m just focused on improving my game and getting stronger physically so I can compete at a high level on the college circuit.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
The highlight so far would have to be winning Freshman of the Year in my conference (ASUN D1). It was a goal of mine at the start of the year to win the award but wasn’t something I really thought was possible during the year as there were lots of good freshman in the conference. But I am very glad to have won the award and hopefully I can win Player of the Year next year!
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