by Ian Burrows

 

July 18, 2007: Despite the stress that comes with being a professional tennis player, Nick Lindahl still manages to go about things the simple way. Describing himself, Lindahl says he's, “Relaxed and that's it really, I'm just relaxed.”

 

He doesn't have specific goals, he likes nothing more than chilling out in his spare time and spends hours upon hours hitting against a brick wall. That's right, when he's in town and not hitting with his coach you'll more than likely find him hitting against a wall.

 

“I think half an hour or an hour against a brick wall is really good,” Lindahl explains. 

 

The 18-year-old grew up in the small town of Ellebana, 10 minutes from Newcastle. There weren't many people in town to hit with so Lindahl took a liking to the old brick wall at the local tennis club.

 

Since that first hit against the wall, Lindahl says it has served him well.

 

“When I was home for four weeks I'd do it two to three times a week,” he says. “I grew up at the club and there's always been a brick wall there and I just like hitting balls.”

 

Fun or not, the brick wall has definitely done something for the rising star. At last year's junior Australian Open a superb run of form saw Lindahl come within just one win of claiming the junior grand slam title. The teenager has since moved onto the senior circuit full-time where the results have kept coming.

 

In May last year Lindahl reached his first final on the pro circuit at a satellite in Venezuela before claiming his maiden title a week later. He backed that up with another title the following week.   

 

Lindahl says it was a special time in his career.  “I would have to say winning my first men's title was my happiest,” he says. “I had a tough match and I won that one so that was probably my proudest moment.”

 

But the road since hasn't been easy for Lindahl. Expectations quickly rose after he reached the Australian Open junior boys' final and Lindahl says for a while he struggled to achieve what he wanted.

 

Although the New South Welshman finished 2006 with three titles and three finals, he wasn't totally satisfied. He says there was no real explanation for an end-of-season form slump, which saw him lose in the first or second round of six tournaments running.

 

“Not timing the ball as well as I was,” he believes, was the problem. “It happens to everyone I guess.    

 

“You've just got to be focussed for every match and just play good tennis and results will come.”

 

Lindahl has a unique approach to tennis which has served him well, says his coach, Shannon Bluhm.

 

It wasn't long before he reversed his form and began reaching the pointy end of draws again. Last week Lindahl reached his third final of the year finishing runner-up at a Futures tournament in the USA.  

 

“(I'm) building momentum so hopefully I can carry it through for the rest of the year so I can play better,” he says. “It's good to be playing well again.”

 

Lindahl's promise was rewarded last year when he was selected as a hitting partner for the Optus Australian Davis Cup team. He travelled to Switzerland and Argentina with the team and says the experience was invaluable.

 

“It was a good experience to hang around with the team and hit with them and to just be a part of it was really good.”

 

As with most young tennis players, Lindahl aims to reach the top 100, play the grand slams and always be a fierce competitor. But before he can consider scaling such heights there are things to work on.

 

“Sometimes I lose concentration. (I need to) to stay focussed and not grumble,” says the world No.286.

 

When he's at home Lindahl works with Shannon Bluhm, who has been coaching him for the last four years. Bluhm says Lindahl's work ethic and groundstrokes, particularly his forehand, put him a cut above the rest for his age. But he also says there are many things he needs to build on to reach the next level.

 

“It's more in his head at the moment than stroke production-wise because he hits the ball extremely hard and can match the pace of the pros,” Bluhm explains.

 

“He‘s developing his net game so he can come to the net and be more aggressive. He needs to feel like he belongs out there and have that self-belief that he can beat those (pro) players.”

 

Bluhm says Lindahl's approach to tennis is unique but it has served him well.

 

“He's quiet and he likes to go alone. He likes to be wholly and solely focussed on his tennis and do it his way.”

 

Lindahl is just as relaxed away from the court as he is on it. When he's not playing tennis he simply enjoys surfing the internet and listening to music; “old school” music to be more precise. But that's only when he manages to get the songs playing.

 

“I don't know how to work my i-pod,” he says, laughing. “I've got one but the computer put the songs on it and half of them I don't like.”

 

Although he may struggle on the technology front, it's made up for on the tennis court. It seems only a matter of time before the young prodigy is banging on the door of the top 100.