I have to keep my mouth shut. Tennis parents have to keep calm and trust to a higher power to balance the scales of justice. Some tennis parents can't stand the strain. Some won't even watch their daughters play, for fear of jinxing them or making them more nervous. At some point the girls have to learn to control their emotions, to manage their own anxiety, to find their own courage, whether or not Mom and Dad are there.
Tennis is for the most part a solitary sort of sport.
Even when you play on a tennis team, there's no one to blame when you make a mistake but yourself. That's a lot of pressure for adults. I can only imagine what it must be like for the kids. So, as a parent assistant to the coach, I try to be as supportive as I can to the girls because I know how hard it is to focus completely on such a small ball. Especially when it's coming at you at 60 miles an hour, repeatedly.