Using the ‘mentality’ of professional sports to thrive in the legal world

In the same episode, she discussed the factors that influenced her decision to end her professional tennis career and fully dedicate herself to a career in law. She also shared the valuable lessons she gained from her career as a professional Australian athlete, which have helped her stand out in the legal field.

Hopper explained that Australia’s deep-rooted “sporting culture” is a cornerstone of the nation, making it “no surprise to say that sport is great for any child to participate in”.

While recognising the physical benefits of sports participation, Hopper emphasised that its value extends beyond fitness. She explained that through sports, individuals can develop “resilience”, “dedication”, and essential skills and mindsets that are “so crucial to your career later in life”.

Reflecting on her own athletic journey, Hopper recalls how lessons from competing not only at a high level, “but even at the lower level when I was competing in juniors”, have had a lasting impact on her approach to her professional life.

According to Hopper, one of the most valuable skills that individuals can gain from participating in sports is the ability to manage setbacks effectively and persist in their efforts, even when the desired outcomes are not always achieved.

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“The ability to put the time and effort into not getting the wins when you want them, but to show up the next day because that’s what you do in sport,” she said.

“But being able to see that, to accept it, to move forward and to show up the next day saying, I’m going to do better, I’m going to put the hard work in. It’s these types of mentality developed as a child [during sport] that is crucial.”

Beyond resilience, Hopper also underscored that developing and nurturing self-belief are crucial qualities that can be fostered through sports participation.

“Another interesting part of a sports mentality is the absolute audacity of believing that you can. When you’re a little kid and you’ve got a dream of wanting to be the number one player in the world, I want to be the next, so the audacity to think you can is incredible,” she noted.

“We need a little bit of that as women, the saying of, ‘Why not?’, ‘If not me, then who?’ I definitely think that it starts from a young age and should be cultivated.”

For Hopper, competing in an individual sport like tennis helped develop key leadership qualities, which have empowered her to excel both independently and in collaborative team settings within the legal profession.

“The leadership qualities that I took away [from my tennis career] were very much about self-accountability. If I don’t do the work, I won’t improve,” she stated.

“The ability to be self-motivated, to work independently, but to work well as a team, in the sense of this is my task, I’m taking it on board, I’m taking responsibility for it. These are all amazing skills to take into your career as a businesswoman or as a lawyer.”

She revealed that the ability to accept feedback, handle criticism, and recover from setbacks are the “exact skills we’re looking for from our junior lawyers”.

“There’s a lot of other skills that you need like legal knowledge. But being able to highlight, even in your interviews or in your discussions with your senior lawyers, those skills that you've obtained through sport is very unique because it sets you apart from others,” she shared.

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