I like challenges; they make me a stronger person because I'm going to learn from them no matter what. 

 

My name is Adam Friel, and I am from Bayport, New York. I got involved in tennis kind of by accident. One day my track coach said something along the lines of if anybody here wants to go tryout for tennis, there are courts right across the street. I was 17 at that time, and I still continue to play tennis now (29). I don't compete anymore, but I hit with the national kids and division 1 players I coach. 

 

I never got a coach, which was a huge mistake. I think I could've been better in college if I had taken lessons. My parents raised me really well. Any challenges that have come up I have faced and overcome each time. I like challenges; they make me a stronger person because I'm going to learn from them no matter what. I'm currently undergoing my most significant challenge with recently being diagnosed with porphyria, which was very tough. Still, with the support of my girlfriend and family, I've been doing really well and making a lot of lifestyle changes to support my continued growth. 

 

I moved down to South Florida to start coaching at a high-performance academy and to start a u10 program there from scratch. Unfortunately, this meant I had to give up my previous jobs, being a coach at Sportime in the JMTA programs and stringing for the US Open Juniors. I started stringing on the side for a few clients and wanted to get back into stringing, so when I found a new job at the Sunrise Tennis Club, I had some free time and started looking to work as a stringer. Luckily Dustin Tankersley reached out to me about a part-time stringing job. At the time. I didn't know it was for Diadem, so I went to the interview, and I was immediately in love with the technology Diadem had. Being a certified MRT, I was absolutely blown away at how they could track the racket's orientation, speed and deceleration points throughout a hitting session. Since then, I've been helping run the "Racket Lab" at Diadem, which includes stringing, customization, and racket analysis sessions. 

 

Tennis has brought me everything I have. I coach national champions, and I'm one of the only people in the world who know how to use Diadems hitting lane software to make customized frames for players. So when I think about why I do all I do for the sport, I always think of trying to become the best I can be.