JY Aubone
One of the most respected developmental coaches in American tennis. South Florida-trained. Eight appearances on ParentingAces and the most recurring INTENNSE-network voice in the archive. The author of the "do you LIKE like tennis?" test that has become Lisa's most-quoted diagnostic.
JY revisits the moments that mattered.
"Watch the kid who texts his coach on a Saturday — 'I'm shadow swinging my serve, I don't understand how Djokovic gets to that trophy position.' Almost everyone else I work with, the second I say 'we're done,' they don't care. They're happy."
"Four years later, the test still works. But I'd add this — parents need to be honest about the answer, not engineer around it. Loving the game can't be coached in. The kids who don't text their coach on Saturday aren't broken — they're telling you something about what they actually want their life to look like."
JY has been asked to revisit "Tennis is Getting INTENNSE".
Lisa sent a magic link. We'll publish JY's reflection here when it arrives.
JY's recurring themes.
The "do you LIKE like tennis?" test
The simplest, most reliable diagnostic in the archive. Watch what your child does when no one is asking them to do anything. The answer decides whether the next ten years make sense.
Layered diagnostic over generic drills
JY's training fills gaps a player didn't know they had. Before adding new technique, he diagnoses what's broken under load. Most coaches skip this step and never recover from it.
The coach willing to be fired
"I've recommended myself that I should be fired if things didn't get better." The willingness to lose the relationship is what makes the relationship worth having.
Format reform as development reform
JY's commitment to INTENNSE is rooted in the same training philosophy — change the structure of competition and you change what players prepare for. The format *is* the curriculum.
Still in the work.
JY has become one of the most active voices inside INTENNSE, the team-format competition co-developed with Yannick Yoshizawa and Charles Allen. He continues to coach a small group of juniors and consults for academies trying to embed his diagnostic approach. His value-of-journaling episode with Mike Rogers (Oct 2024) has become a low-key staple in high-school programs around the country.
On the podcast, JY's appearances have moved from philosophical (the "LIKE like tennis?" test, 2022) to structural (Tennis Is Getting INTENNSE, 2025). His arc tracks the archive's own — from diagnosing what's wrong to proposing what's next.