About Discovering Tennis

Hello, my name is Ricardo. I am a tennis coach based in Caminha, Portugal.

I started playing tennis as an adult in 2020, with almost no sporting background and no competitive history. Over the past several years of playing several times a week, I reached what I would call a genuinely competitive level at recreational level.

I had a few years of group lessons and a few private lessons as well. What I remember most, and what I felt made me improve quickly, was experimenting. I tried different grips out of curiosity, I often changed the way I served, I tried almost all different styles of play, and tested things that probably looked strange from the outside. Sometimes something worked. Often it did not. But the experiments were mine, and because they were mine, I paid attention to the results in a way that felt different from simply following a correction.

When I started studying to become a coach, I found theories that gave a name to what I had already been doing without knowing it: Player-Centered Approach and Ecological Dynamics. The research describes something that resonated immediately: skill builds best not in isolation, but through practice that contains the real demands of the game, where the player is an active participant rather than a recipient of instruction. That was how I had learned. And it is how I try to coach.

I created Discovering Tennis to share this ongoing curiosity: reading, coaching, playing, and trying to understand what actually helps people improve and enjoy the game. Whether you are a player or a fellow coach, I would love for you to find something useful here.

My Passion

Tennis gives me genuine joy. Every time I step on a court, I feel it. And every time I go into a session as a coach, my goal is to help my players feel it too.

I am constantly amazed by the discoveries players can make in a single one-hour session when they are given a safe space to try, experiment, fail, adapt, and understand their own game.

That is what keeps me curious about how we can make tennis even better. This sport has given me so much, and because of that, I feel it deserves my attention, my questions, and my willingness to keep learning.

I am always asking how I can improve, how I can help my players improve, and how I can help them enjoy the sport more. That is what I am passionate about.

How I Coach

I coach the way I do because I believe people learn best when they are engaged, listened to, and involved in their own learning. When they feel safe enough to explore, experiment, make mistakes, and try again. That is the kind of environment I try to create on every court.