The Late Bloomer

Bob Litwin’s tennis journey was the road less traveled.

He didn’t start playing at a very young age and didn’t fall in love with the sport when he was a youngster, but the Great Neck native carved his own path into the tennis world that took him to places even he never imagined.

“I started to play the game when I was 12 or 13, and I was just a good athlete who happened to play tennis,” said Litwin. “But it wasn’t my love … my love was basketball.”

Litwin only started playing tennis thanks in part to his father, who was a college athlete himself. The elder Litwin met some people in the area who played tennis and began getting into a weekly game on the courts of Great Neck Estates Park. Young Bob would walk around the courts just hitting the balls around which would be his first exposure to the game that became a huge part of his life.

In high school, Litwin went out for the tennis team, primarily because he needed something to keep him busy during the spring season.

“I played high school tennis mainly because I needed something to play outside of the basketball season,” said Litwin. “I had no real specific training or skills, but as an athlete with a tennis racquet, I could run around and hit the ball. I was decent, and played number one singles on my team, but I had no real interest in it.”

After high school, Litwin attended the University of Michigan, with the hopes of making its basketball team. A fellow Long Islander, Peter Fishbach, urged him to go out for the tennis team there, but on the first day of tryouts, he lost to the school’s top recruit 6-0, 6-0.

The loss discouraged him from the sport and he put his racquet down for the next few years.

It wasn’t until after he graduated and moved back to Long Island that his tennis career really began to pick up. He got a job working for Peter’s father, Joe, at Tennis Enterprises in Great Neck, one of the few indoor tennis clubs on Long Island at that time.

When Fishbach was unable to make a lesson, some of the parents and students asked Litwin if he could hit with them.

Without any specific tennis training under his belt, Litwin had to do some research.

“The night before my first lesson, I went to the library and took out the Sports Illustrated Book of Tennis,” said Litwin. “I started to study grips and other things. My head was spinning. But what I found when I started teaching was that I did a better job when I asked the students what they did on a particular shot and learned from them, rather than trying to tell them exactly what to do.”

This was a huge eye-opener for Litwin, as it would shape his coaching philosophy. He began to try and work with people on focus, patience and the overall mental side of the sport, as opposed to just specialized technique.

After working at a number of other clubs and growing tennis programs all over the Island, Litwin would pick up his racquet again and began playing tournaments while in his 30s.

“When I hit my 30s, I decided I was going to start playing tournaments. I entered some local events and got crushed, but realized that I did have some skill,” said Litwin. “But I was negative and angry on the court and I realized that I was doing all the things I was teaching players not to do. I told myself that if I was really going to be good at teaching, I would have to go through this process myself.”

And he did.

Step by step, Litwin’s own tennis game began to form and he continued to improve. Despite some speed bumps along the way, Litwin climbed his way up the rankings in the 35 and Over Division, until he finally broke through at a national tournament in Southampton.

He would go on to play for the Senior Davis Cup team eight times and ended the 2005 season as the number one player in the world in his age division. A far cry from the player who was unable to play for Michigan’s college team.

At the world championships in Australia that same year, Litwin would reach the final after upending fellow American Brian Cheney, arguably the top player in the world at that time. He then beat Lito Alvarez in the final and was able to call himself a world champion.

“I was on top of the world,” Litwin said of that victory.

But Litwin says his game grew even more from there. Not because of winning results, but because of the way he viewed the game.

“From that time on, my game grew a lot more, my sense of self was more solid,” said Litwin. “I believed that I was a good player, but it wasn’t about the validation of winning. I stayed the course, did the work, kept my mind right and didn’t worry about results. It was a nice thing to have on my resume, but what was more important was the validation of all the work I put into my game despite starting late.”

Litwin has taken his philosophy and applied it to more than just tennis. He now serves as a performance coach and helps people of all fields, from Wall Street recreational players to high school athletes.

“Find a way to be free, it doesn’t have to be based on a series of different results,” Litwin said. “I urge people to train themselves within their day to day life to stay free of what people are thinking of them, external results.”

Over the course of his playing career, Litwin was a 17-time USTA National Champion, a world champion and is currently a member of the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame.

Litwin’s journey has now taken him to Colorado after being one of the key tennis pioneers on Long Island for decades. He still plays tournaments and is still teaching and coaching people the things that has made him successful.