Carl Richard

Carl Richard has spent more than four decades coaching tennis and an equally unreasonable amount of time wondering what goes on between a player's ears. A lifelong teacher, student of psychology, compulsive reader, introvert, coffee enthusiast, and unapologetic lover of bad puns, Carl has always been fascinated by people—particularly the strange things perfectly sensible humans do when the score gets tight. His interest in communication and psychology is personal. Connecting with people didn't always come naturally to him when he was younger, so he learned to study it: how people think, how confidence disappears, why pressure changes us, and how the right words at the right moment can help someone find their way back. That curiosity eventually became part of his coaching philosophy. Carl believes recreational tennis shouldn't require becoming a different person. Players don't need motivational speeches or complicated sports-psychology theories when they're staring at a second serve on break point. They need simple tools they can actually remember when their brain has temporarily left the building. That philosophy became *The Pressure Lens*. Away from writing, Carl still coaches, reads anything that captures his imagination, experiments with psychology and technology, drinks very good coffee very slowly, and remains convinced that one of the nicest things you can do for another human being is simply make them feel seen. He is still working on the puns.