Eagles Q&A: How Thomas Booker’s tennis background helps him in football originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Each week during the 2024 season, we’re going through the Eagles media guide to find an interesting nugget.
The Eagles’ PR interns do a great job filling out these little oddities in the media guide and they serve as a good way to meet the players behind the helmets.
This week, we chatted with defensive tackle Thomas Booker, whose first sports was tennis.
Me: Your first sport was tennis?
Thomas Booker: Indeed it was.
Me: Tell me about that. When did you start playing?
Booker: So I started playing tennis, I want to say, when I was probably 5 or 6. It was actually my dad’s first sport as well. He also played football at the University of Wisconsin so he kind of went that same route of tennis to other things. For me, I think it’s kind of influenced a lot of my movement style.
Me: Yeah?
Booker: Yeah, in terms of my lateral agility and quickness because that’s basically all tennis is. Anticipation and being able to move laterally and be agile. It also taught me a lot of mental fortitude, I feel like. Because, at the end of the day, it’s not a team sport.
Me: Yeah, you’re by yourself.
Booker: If you’re losing, it’s all on you. You see a lot of guys crack their rackets and things like that. Because it’s hard to deal with the fact that if you’re losing, there’s nobody else you can look to. It’s also hot, a lot of conditioning goes into it too. Yeah, so that was my first sport.
Me: How long did you play?
Booker: I really played until I was like, probably, 12 or 13 and then I switched over. All throughout that time, I was playing basketball and baseball as well. But I think I switched off of tennis when I was about 12.
Me: How would you describe your play style?
Booker: I would just say, I’m versatile. I can play a lot of different spots. I can play from 0 technique to 5 but when it comes to my actual movement style, I think I’m very quick in terms of being able to change direction and also being able to mirror people because tennis gave me that background. My dad used to say, ‘There’s nothing on a football field that will move faster than a tennis ball.’
Me: I like that.
Booker: Because people are serving the ball at 110 miles per hour, all the rest of it. I think my ability to see something and be able to react to it has improved with that as well. If I had to diagnose my game, I would say quick, change of direction and powerful and sudden.
Me: Did you ever play for fun a lot after that?
Booker: It’s been a minute, just because I’m usually recovering. But I honestly need to get back out there. I might do it on an offseason vacation or something.
Me: I think Jake Elliott used to play tennis.
Booker: I believe it. Jake has probably played everything.
Me: Yeah, that’s probably true. If you had to go out there right now, how do you think you’d do?
Booker: I think I’d actually be straight. I have kind of gotten a diet version of it with the ping pong we have here. But obviously ping pong and tennis are very different sports. I think I’d be good. It would take me a little while to get the serve back and a little bit of the forehand but I think I’d be straight.
Me: What’s your take on the pickle ball invasion of tennis?
Booker: OK, so I have an unpopular take on pickle ball. I think pickle ball is like a lower effort version of tennis. You don’t have to move around as much. I am a fan of people getting outside and getting active, so I’m not going to hate too much. But … as someone who played tennis, I feel like it is a watered down version of it.
Me: Fair enough. Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
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