From a humble life in the Bahamas to tennis world champion, Mark Knowles has proven that confidence doesn’t need to be loud — it just needs to be steady.
Track record speaks for itself. But beyond that, getting to know Ben and Travis, it's clear we're on the same page — confident, simple, not outrageous. That's always been my approach. Quiet but confident, relaxed but driven. In sports, you let your performance do the talking. I think style works the same way — if you've got it, you've got it. Simple as that. So for me, there was never any hesitation.
With all the different roles I have right now between TV, coaching, and being on the ATP board, less decisions means so much more clarity. That's super important.
As Travis told you, that's been my life. I'm pretty quiet but try to be extremely confident. Be very simple. It's exactly what I want: simple, understated, but supremely confident.
When you come from a small country like the Bahamas with limited resources, you don't necessarily think globally. But when I was 10, I was playing a. junior tournament in Florida with my mom, and Nick Bollettieri came up to me and said, "Listen, I'd like to offer you a full ride to my tennis academy."
I told my parents, "I'm going." and they were like, "Wait you're 10 years old... we want you to stay home." But I knew this was my ticket. When you talk about confidence, you have to have a certain level of it. I didn't grow up with much — had a great childhood, but we weren't well off by any means. Being driven from a young age, my goal was simple: be the best tennis player I could possibly be. Whatever that meant. I just wanted to go after it. I was never a brash or super outspoken person. I was pretty quiet, actually. Feisty? Definitely. but I think confidence comes with that feistiness — for sure.
It all started with my parents — I have to give them full credit. My mom was a tennis player, and she actually taught my dad and i how to play. I grew up surrounded by the sport, and they were always so supportive. I think any athlete, or really anyone in any field, would say that you don't get very far without that foundation. There's a reason I was brave enough to leave home at 10 years old. It was because of them — the belief they instilled in me, the confidence to go out and achieve. Those are always the big questions, right? Where does it come from? Where do the greats start?
