Tennis ace Nicolas Lamperin on the conversation that changed his life

Nicolas Lamperin says he tries to keep a balance between time with family, time at work and time exercising. Photo / Alex Burton

Nicolas Lamperin, 44, is the tournament director of the ASB Classic. He’s one of the leading tennis agents globally and has represented top-level players including Gael Monfils and Donna Vekic. A former player himself, Lamperin is now heading Aotearoa’s star-studded tennis competition, which has attracted the likes of Emma Raducanu and Coco Gauff for the January series.

I grew up in Rennes in Brittany, which is in the northwestern part of France.

I now live in St Heliers, after 10 years in Dubai. I arrived in New Zealand in August. It’s not my first time in New Zealand because I did live here in 2001 for a year. It was part of an exchange programme with my business school in France. I had to do one year abroad at the time so I picked New Zealand and studied at AUT.

My opponent in a game of tennis probably wouldn’t really comment on my natural ability. I played a lot up until I was 21 or 22. Actually, in my final year of studies here in New Zealand I was playing inter-club in Auckland and then I stopped for a while. And funnily enough, I’ve been playing again since I’ve been back here. I was never the most gifted tennis player but I think I was hardworking. I could train for hours and hours and build some resistance. I was missing the core talent, for sure.

The first thing I usually think about when I wake up is to go out and exercise. At the moment it’s running. You will find me running most days around six o’clock on Tamaki Drive. And soon it’s going to be a combination of running and cycling because my container arrived last week, so my bike was on the boat for the last three months. But now the bike is here I’ll probably do a bit of both. I’m joining a group this weekend for my first Kiwi ride. I found out we’re going to go for 100km so that should be interesting.

I feel my best in the morning, after my run.

To keep mentally and emotionally healthy I try to keep a balance between time with family, time at work and time exercising. It’s been extremely challenging for me [in the past] because I’ve had a job [managing tennis players] which was forcing me to travel a lot. You know, when I first started, I was travelling probably around 25 to 30 weeks a year. And luckily, I’ve cut that to maybe eight to 10 weeks, max. So it’s a lot better now. This is the kind of balance I’m trying to keep.

The best advice I’ve ever been given about life is to take each day at a time. Sometimes if you look too far ahead, it can be overwhelming if you look at the amount of work that needs to be done before everything gets sorted. But if you take each day at a time it’s obviously a lot easier.

The value I live by is respect. I try to respect people as much as I can. I also try not to judge people. And take them for who they are and not try to change them or influence them. It’s about trying to find a way to work along with them.

I’d describe myself as a bit of a perfectionist. I like it when things are well done. And even when something’s completed, I just want to make sure it’s been done properly. So I will go over it maybe one more time just to make sure everything’s fine.

As I get older, I realise that life is more a marathon than a sprint. I guess when I was younger, I was probably trying to do as many things as possible in a shorter period of time. Now I try to think things through a bit more and take more time. I don’t see any need to do anything in a hurry.

The person who has had the biggest impact on my life was a family friend in Brittany. It was a time of my life when I think I was probably 16. I wasn’t happy because I wasn’t playing enough tennis. So I was kind of struggling to focus on my studies. That person identified a problem and found a way for me to play more, train more, and continue my studies at the same time. So that put me in a totally different place mentally. And also, that’s probably one of the reasons why I’m doing this job today because I played in a different environment. This is how I’ve built my network and all my relationships in the tennis industry. It was probably the most important conversation I’ve ever had in my life.

What people don’t realise about me is… I think people might say that I’m sometimes a little bit reserved. But I guess I’m a silent observer [and people] might think that I don’t know what’s going on. I have the feeling that I analyse things pretty well and I can tell what’s happening.

The things that make me happiest are being surrounded by my family. I think that’s something which is really important to me. And also, something which I missed a lot when I was in Dubai for the last 10 years was nature. There were a lot of positives living there but I was really missing the green stuff. To be able to live here and enjoy this again, whether it’s the beaches or the forest or the mountains, I think that’s something which is extremely important to me in my wellbeing.

On Sundays, you’ll find me exercising and then spending time with the family. My kids, even though they’re young, aged 7, 4 and 1, like being active. So I teach them a little bit of tennis. They like to go riding as well. That keeps us very busy.

At Christmas, we’re just going to be at home in Auckland, the five of us. Our family are back in France, and they will visit in February and March. But for me, it will be an extremely busy time because the first players arrive on the 25th. I’ll probably be on site for a few hours on the 25th just to make sure everything runs smoothly, and the players can practise. I want to make sure that the rest of the staff can enjoy Christmas with their families.

The ASB Classic is on at the ASB Tennis Arena in Auckland from January 2-14. Tickets available now from asbclassic.co.nz

As told to Penny Lewis. This interview has been edited for clarity.