The Mindset Shift That Won Ash Barty Wimbledon | ft. Performance Coach Ben Crowe
episodePreviously titled “Why The World’s Best Athletes Stop Trying To Be The Best” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hi there, welcome along to another episode of High Performance. It's a Wednesday, so it's myself and Damien sitting and chatting. Hey, buddy. Hi, mate. You all right? Very well, thanks. So we've got a bunch of guests who we're going to hear from, previous High Performance guests. We'll share some interesting clips from them. And they're all around a similar theme. And the theme is, why the world's best athletes stop trying to be the best. And it's not just us talking and not just us hearing from former guests. We're actually going to be joined by someone and you're going to speak to a man who can give us so much richness and depth and information in this space. I suppose, first of all, you should tell us why people should stick around to hear your conversation with Ben Crow.
Well, we're coming up for Wimbledon, Jake, and this is a man that Andre Agassi recommends. This is somebody that Ash Barty worked with before she won Wimbledon. Steph Gilmore, the eight-time world surfing champion, credits him with transforming her career. He's an Australian performance coach. His name's Ben Crow and he's never told any of his clients that they're the best.
Now, there's a couple of parents who spend their lives telling our kids they're the best and they go and do great things.
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
That kind of seems counterintuitive or... It's not the kind of thing we hear a lot when it comes to trying to get others to reach their own version of high performance. So why does he not tell his clients that they're the best?
Well, he helps them separate who they are from what they do. Now, I know that might sound simple, but most athletes, most people have never actually done that. You know, think about... One of the first conversations you'll meet when you meet a stranger is, what do you do? Not, who are you? Do you know what I mean? And the cost of not doing this is exactly what we're going to talk about with Ben today.
Okay, well, before we get on with the episode, just to tease you excitedly, whether you're walking the dog out for a run or driving the car, here is what you can expect from Ben Crow a bit later on. Here's a little teaser.
Talk about this idea in your billing book about separating what you do from who you are. Why do so many of us find that such a difficult thing to uncouple?
In recent times, yeah, the world's have gone so external and extrinsic, money, fame, status, and recognition, rather than internal and intrinsic to get to know who we are, the human being that is, not the human doing. So we learn, unfortunately, that we believe if we do something and achieve something, we will be someone.
Well, before we hear from Ben, we're going to hear from three tennis players who've been on the show. Boris Becker, what a conversation. Joe Conta, one of my favourites. And Colin Nyland, who might not be a name that trips off the tongue, but the conversation we had with him was fascinating. All of them talking about the struggle of professional tennis, what it actually feels like from the inside. And then, of course, we'll frame our conversation with Ben as the antidote to that struggle, because that's really what he's there for. So where shall we start and why, Damien?
Well, why don't we start with Boom Boom himself, Mr Boris Becker. We went out to Dusseldorf to meet with him. Do you remember when he walked into the room with us and his charisma, his sort of force of personality and just his strident views on the world sort of filled the space, didn't he? He was a force of nature. But it was interesting to listen to him reflect on His career, when most people remember him winning Wimbledon at 17, Futa, what happened when he reached the age of 25?
Absolutely, because I think that we look at this as, wow, what an amazing young talent. He went and dominated the world. But as he told us on the show, by his mid-20s, he was exhausted. Not physically, although probably also physically, but mainly psychologically. Here's Boris explaining more.
There was a time in my mid-20s where I was burned out. I was tired of tennis.
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Chapters
4 chaptersSpeakers
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