Private Lessons

Packed with life lessons from one of tennis’s most electric champions, Private Lessons is the perfect gift book for young athletes, graduates, and anyone chasing a big dream.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands has spent a lifetime learning how to compete as a tennis prodigy, a world champion, an Olympian, and one of the sport’s most unmistakable personalities. But the lessons that shaped her most did not come only from winning. They came from the losses that derailed her, the injuries that nearly ended everything, the partnerships that transformed her life, and the moments off court that forced her to reckon with who she was beyond the game.

In Private Lessons, Bethanie draws on defining episodes from her life and career to offer hard-won reflections on ambition, identity, adversity, and joy. From childhood tournaments in Minnesota to Grand Slam stages around the world, she traces the emotional and psychological terrain behind the results, revealing how the pursuit of excellence can sharpen, unsettle, and ultimately teach you how to live.