A publication entitled The Book of Five Rings was left in the players’ restaurant after the draws for the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas Finals. It transpired that it belongs to Hong Kong boys’ captain Stephan Ehritt.

For contextual purposes, The Book of Five Rings is a text written by Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi in around 1645 focussing upon kenjutsu – a general term for schools of Japanese swordsmanship – and the art of strategy.

Business leaders have apparently found the book’s discussion on conflict and taking advantage to be relevant to their industry and have applied some of its theories to their corporate setting. As much as he can, Ehritt is keen to relate the teachings to tennis.

“I am looking for tennis when I read a book somehow,” Ehritt told itftennis.com. “The Book of Five Rings is about one of the most famous Samurai in Japan who ever lived, famous for living until 90 years old and never being beaten.

“The first part of the book is more about how he did it. The second part, which I started a couple of days ago, is about mindset: how you think, how you look for excellence, what the consequences are if you’re not excellent and different strategies.

“It is interesting because he explains his strategies. There was always the fear that if he didn’t get it right, he would die. For us, the kids aren’t dying out there, tomorrow is another day, but the severity of the approach is something we admire.”

There have been other avenues for learning and personal development on this trip. On Wednesday evening, all players and captains were treated to an interactive virtual power hour with 39-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King.

King spoke about her extraordinary life and career, which has included unstinting advocacy for equal prize money and opportunity for all. After a short talk, she then hosted a question-and-answer session before providing a rallying call for the remainder of the tournament.

Hong Kong’s Aaron Yu was one of those to pose a question. Following consultation with the Hong Kong boys’ and girls’ teams, Yu asked King what advice she would give her 16-year-old self.

Her answer certainly had a thought-provoking impact, with Yu proceeding to win his first singles match of the week the next morning as Hong Kong took an early against Egypt before succumbing 2-1.

“When I first asked my question, I didn’t listen to the first part of what she said back to me because I was so nervous about how I was asking my question,” Yu told itftennis.com.

“She asked me if I wanted to be No. 1 in the world so I was like, ‘I need to focus here’. My biggest takeaway from her answer to my question was to play to your strengths and not always worry about your weaknesses.

“She mentioned playing to your strengths, improving your strengths and making your strengths even better. She said everyone has weaknesses, but everyone has strengths also and it’s important to make those stand out.

“When I played yesterday, in the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘let’s play to my forehand, my forehand is one of my strengths’. I’m relatively consistent especially with placing the ball, so I looked for opportunities to really attack with my forehand.

“I felt that what she said encouraged me to try it out. When I go back to training, I will work on my forehand a little more and try to make it an even bigger weapon.

“But I also think her advice can be related to life experiences. If you have something you’re really good at, make sure that stands out and accept there will be things you’re not so good at – that was my biggest takeaway.”

A lot of what King spoke about, particularly in respect of visualisation, was music to the ears of Artemis Fang, a mindset coach who has travelled to Antalya with Team Hong Kong.

At various times during the virtual power hour, Fang was seen encouraging the Hong Kong players to listen intently as some of her own advice was being endorsed by someone as notable as King.

According to Yu, having access to a mindset coach has proven enormously beneficial it is a resource the team will continue to utilise and take advantage of for the remainder of the event.

“We speak with her every night and she is always around giving support, cheering us on and helping us out with anything we need,” said Yu, who claimed the maiden junior title of his career at J5 Hong Kong in July.

“We take her as a friend and someone who we can rely upon, and she has helped us focus on our matches. We are definitely playing better with having a mindset coach around.

“Every night, we are talking about what we are looking forward to the next day, things we thought we could have done better, letting things go and starting anew.

“It has helped us stay focused on the court, helped us throughout the matches and helped us to do well under pressure.”

With Covid-19 restrictions back home fairly strict, this is the first international tournament which most of Hong Kong’s players have contested in 18 months or so. As Ehritt says, it feels as though they “have been let out of the cage”.

While qualification to the quarter-finals has proven beyond Hong Kong in both the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals, they now advance to the positional play-offs, with the boys facing Bulgaria and the girls doing battle with hosts Turkey today.

Despite the results not necessarily going their way and them now being out of the running for a top-eight finish, the tournament has still been a significant step in terms of development, with plenty of key learnings to absorb and apply.

“It has been very informative and from every single match, every single point and every single ball, we are learning and improving and will take stuff back to wherever we train,” added the 15-year-old.

“We want to win and do well but, more importantly, we want to improve. We know we have room for improvement and we’re willing to put in the work. Everyone really wants to win, but for a longer-term goal we just want to get better.”