Just a few years ago, Aubone may not have even imagined having an ATP ranking. After graduating from Florida State, he had taken his college education and set off on starting a career in the field of finance. After working in finance for about two years, however, Aubone knew that there was something more to his life. He missed playing tennis and decided to return to the tour, opening up an entirely new set of possibilities for the Miami native.
Aubone hitting a shot at the US Open.
One of the main reasons Aubone was eager to return to the tour was his experience playing in the US Open qualifying tournament in 2008, while he was still in college. "The US Open, by far" is what he claims to be the greatest place that he has been able to play tennis. "That feeling of being in the locker room, the environment, seeing the top guys...getting the personal experience, rather than just seeing it on TV" is what Aubone hopes to recreate in the future.
Since his return to the tour, Aubone's greatest experience was being able to represent the United States at the Pan-American Games in 2015. "What's great about the Pan-Am Games is that I didn't feel like a tennis player. I just felt like an American athlete representing his country," is how Aubone described the event, "it was more than [tennis], I was just trying to represent my country the best I could." Another moment that really stuck with Aubone was being able to take part in the opening ceremony. "Being there with all the other athletes, having Team USA on your back, that's priceless. You can't get that anywhere else."
Aubone with his fellow Americans at the Pan-American games.
Aubone is currently 27 years old with a birthday coming up in January, but is aware that the best tennis of his career could still very well be ahead of him. "It's definitely something I think about...just knowing that there is no ceiling," is something that motivates him each and every day. After a bad loss, he is able to tell himself "hey, there's still time, there's no need to rush." He can take a look at the players in the Top 100 today and realize that his story could be just like one of theirs. Victor Estrella Burgos is a specific inspiration to Aubone, as he made his debut in the Top 100 at the age of 33. "If he had stopped playing when he was ranked 200 at age 30, I don't think anybody would've yelled at him," claims Aubone, "but for him it wasn't enough." The same applies to Aubone, as he is eager to make his way up the rankings, hoping to work his way onto the ATP World Tour and have the opportunity to play in the grand slam events.
When talking about his ranking, Aubone states how difficult it is for players outside of the Top 300 or 400 to accept where they are in the rankings at any given time, "Nobody really cares about us, maybe it's because we don't get any media attention, nobody sees us on TV, so maybe we don't feel special because of that." He is often asked by recreational tennis players what his ranking is, and when they give him praise for being ranked so high, he thinks to himself "it's not even close" to where he wants to be. Despite not being near his goal when it comes to rankings, Aubone knows that he can take a large jump in the rankings at any given point in the season. "One good week at a challenger tournament, that changes my year," states Aubone. He had a couple of those in 2015, including making the quarterfinals in Granby in July.
Going back to his knowledge of finance and investments, Aubone likes to compare life on the tour to the stock market. "You can practice, you can prepare, you can do everything having the best intentions, then you get on the court and all of a sudden your opponent just plays way too good, and there's nothing that you could've done." Similarly to tennis, stock brokers can do as much research as they want, yet something completely unforeseen and outside of their sphere of influence can impact their stock negatively. This forces them to start all over and re-evaluate, something that Aubone has had to do many times throughout his career.
After having a few weeks early on in 2015 in which Aubone had lost 10 sets in a row, he had felt as if he had hit rock bottom. "I was going through a really horrendous time...the way I was feeling on the court, the way I was playing, I'm not even going to lie about it, I was just falling apart in matches, and I didn't understand why." After one specific match at a challenger tournament in Savannah, Aubone avoided anyone who would ask how his match went and refused to return to his hotel room, where he was staying with the player who had just beaten him. Despite his best efforts to avoid everyone, Aubone ran into Stanford Boster, a national coach for the USTA, who was able to give him some advice that completely turned his season around. "It was really a short conversation...but it put things into a perspective that was so true." The advice given to Aubone has helped him feel much better on court, and he has not "fallen apart" in any matches since then.
Aubone hitting a forehand at the Savannah Challenger.
Aubone also discussed the adversity that players are forced to overcome every week when it comes to traveling. "If you don't travel well...all it takes is someone playing a little bit well, and you're going to struggle," claims Aubone. Anything from sleeping in an uncomfortable bed to a flight getting delayed could lead to a player not being ready to play on a Monday, leading to an early exit from a tournament that they were surely hoping to perform well in.
Not only does traveling impact the player, but it also impacts who travels with the player. Aubone is rarely able to travel with a coach or his fiancé because that would cause the costs of travel to skyrocket. "If you can have one familiar face there with you, it really changes things," claims Aubone truthfully, as he has had his best results this year when either his coach, fiancé, or father was in the crowd with him. "There's this comforting feeling when you can look over to the sidelines, it may sound kind of sad but just to look and see if someone cares, and if someone is with you through this grind, through this journey, just for that one week."
The Seminole hopes to be able to travel more on the tour, but is currently stuck playing mostly in North America because of the financial risks that the tour causes. Because of the high costs of travel, he is unable to risk "going four grand in the hole, just to have a chance" to travel. Aubone, just like any other player on the tour, is aware of the potential that he could have a bad couple weeks at any given time, and does not want to risk having those bad couple weeks travelling across the seas to another continent. Despite this, he loves travelling internationally. "It's great seeing other places and different venues, and just playing against different players. That's the only thing, when you play in the same places all the time, you're going to play against the same people all the time, and it's just fun measuring yourself against other competitors."
Aubone has played against the likes of Kevin Anderson, Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil, and Robby Ginepri, but the first player that came to mind when asked about guys he has competed against was 15-year old Canadian, Felix Auger Aliassime. "The way he is able to compete, the energy, the power at such a young age...I've never seen anything like it before from anybody. I look forward to following him in the future." When asked about players that he's played doubles with, Aubone was quick to ensure that he intended to take nothing away from his other doubles partners, but mentioned the enjoyment and success he has had with Dennis Nevolo specifically "With Nevolo, there's a chemistry on the court and things just seem to go well." Aubone also mentioned Ben McLachlan, Benjamin Lock, and Liam Broady as other guys that he has enjoyed playing with.
Aubone prepares to hit one of his favorite shots, the one-handed backhand.
An important thing to remember about tennis players, as well as all professional athletes, is that they are just like us. Aubone enjoys playing a round of golf whenever he gets the chance, likes to check out the stock market, and enjoys relaxing and watching football on the weekends, supporting his Florida State Seminoles and Miami Dolphins. Also, him and his fiancé currently plan on getting married in April. For those of you who are interested in following Jean-Yves Aubone throughout his journey can follow him on Twitter at @jynole, or check out his blog posts at tennisatlantic.com.
Pictures courtest of: collegeandjuniortennis.com, Aubone's blog, savannahnow.com, and mcbtennisks.org.
