Get to Know: Georgia men’s tennis player Filipe Costa

A: Yeah, completely. I think growing up in so many different places, it shaped me in terms of having to understand so many different cultures, meet so many different people. I think I’ve had to adapt a lot to all the different places that I’ve lived and all the different people I’ve had to meet that’s turned me into probably the biggest extrovert out of everyone here. And I like it; I think it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.

A: The funniest one, is every first match to every tournament I have ever played [since I was 8 years old], I’ve worn a red shirt. And so when I committed to Georgia, I was like ‘OK good, I can uphold the tradition.’ So the first day at Georgia I practiced in a red shirt. I am essentially upholding the tradition of wearing red. It comes from, in Brazil, red is the color that haunts the spirits away so my mom just bought maybe five identical red shirts for me and would always make me wear them, so it’s a motherly thing.

A: You know, it comes and goes. I used to have this thing where I would operate in a binary code to where if I did one thing, it would turn on and if I did it again, it would turn off. So let’s say I won a point and I toweled off, I would make sure to throw the towel down and towel off again so that it would cancel out. If I won the point I am at a one, if I towel off I am back to zero, and I have to towel again. I do things evenly if I want it to continue or odd if I want it to discontinue.

A: You work for it really. I dove really deep into psychology and sort of the self-help world, but more like self-awareness when I was 13 and really haven’t left since. I mean, I have probably read more psychological books than everyone on the team combined at this point. My free time is just podcasts about different psychologists and everything, so I think it’s something that I am educated in that sort of sense. I just have a good awareness of what’s going on in my mind. And that doesn’t mean I am 100% happy all the time, or I’m never disappointed and whatnot. There are still ups and downs. But from a long-term perspective, I have the ability to step back and analyze what’s happening and make sure to be OK.

A: Costa Tennis Academy was created as a different way to learn tennis, using physics, analytical thinking, and logic instead of just traditional tennis methods. It stemmed from me moving so much. Having had so many different coaches, I have learned lots of perspectives on tennis from former Division 1 college coaches, to professional Grand Slam winning coaches, to coaches that I didn’t think were very good and had very little reputation. I have had lots of different perspectives and something my parents have always said is always assume the person you are listening to knows more than you do. So I always listened, learned, and if it worked, then I would apply. So Costa Tennis Academy, at the end of the day, is learning tennis from a simpler, scientific, base and truth, and really why things happen on a tennis court.

A: The biggest was Lou Belken out of Arizona. I lived there for seven years. He was a former coach of Arizona State for 26 years, who coached multiple professional players, and he is the best [teacher] of tennis that I know. He is closing in on 70 years, I am pretty sure. And his way of thinking about tennis is you spend an hour with him and you learn more than if you just practice with anyone else. It’s almost not coaching but schooling, you leave practice with genuine things that you’ve learned from a mechanical perspective. And the way he thinks about tennis is that everything you do on a court must have a purpose whether it’s a slight turn of a foot, an entire movement, or your whole strategy. I think the detail and the precision in which you see the top pros play and then the coaching that he does go hand in hand and I think that’s the perspective I want to take to help people get to the next level.

A: Recently, I set a goal to get 10,000 total followers by August 1st, and it’s April and I already achieved this goal. I think I got lucky or maybe I am pretty good at what I do. I am planning on expanding it to outside platforms, not just social media, to try and reach the maximum number of people, maybe provide some different services along with the social media content that I do that will always remain free and accessible to everyone. Just try to grow the brand and just try to grow awareness of tennis and help people understand what’s happening on a court, why things happen in their tennis game, and make tennis simpler, easier, more fun.

A: I think it’s big. Because it shows that I care about what’s around me. I know I do deep inside, but just to get that recognition of going to an elementary school and reading to some kids and, at home, our household is a foster dog house, so we have dogs coming in and out all the time and just sort of the work that the team has done. I’m just always trying to give back in a way that will enlighten other people and will make someone’s day.

A: The biggest and most important thing about Georgia tennis is that it has the best culture of all time, really. And that’s what it is known for across the country. I was at Arizona State for a year and we would have team meetings about how great the Georgia culture is and how proud these guys are in representing the G. What my dad always told me is that culture eats strategy for breakfast and the culture is of toughness and grit and hard work and brotherhood. I mean that’s ultimately what’s led to the success in the SEC this year and that’s really what pushes you when things get down to the wire. You know your brothers are going to love you no matter what, whatever happens, like the tough loss we just had against Kentucky in the tournament but also the great wins we had against them in the regular season. Those were down to the culture of the team and that’s ultimately what’s always going to triumph in the end.