Dr Ashley M. Berge

AM8 International | Beyond Top 10 Tennis | Pink Octopus Books | Topicthread | SPROOKE

Author of 15 x Books – 14 Non-Fiction & 1 Fictional release (pending more!)

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***NEW RELEASE ALERT***

The Top 10 Tennis Doctorate, Back to the Beginning (June, 2026) is out now!

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Dr Berge's 'recap' as featured in each book & its respective foreword is as follows:

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At 18, I became a Personal Trainer / Sports & Strength Conditioning Coach. I was also a full-time athlete, training for 8 hours a day.

At 19, I was a sponsored Elite Athlete. I also commenced University and maintained my full-time training.

At 20, I became a Level 1 Coach, then went on to become one of Australia's youngest ever Level 2 Coaches permitted to go back-to-back. Just before I turned 21, I received a scholarship to play and train at one of America's leading Academies, in Texas.

At 21, I was coaching some of America's top national players as a direct result of succumbing to another injury and whilst also playing and training when healthy. That same year I received a full-scholarship to a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) DII private University that marked against the Harvard Grading Scale.

At 22, I spent part of the summer touring through Europe with American national players. At this time I had also started my Undergraduate degree and had received a Grade Point Average (GPA) of a 4.0 (the highest attainable) in both first and second semesters. This came with multiple Dean’s awards.

At 23, I again spent part of the summer touring through Europe with American national players. Due to injury, I had to fly back to Australia and leave my scholarship behind. I spent the majority of the year on crutches unable to walk. This was the year I completed my Undergraduate degree and started to run. This was also the year I had to choose between playing and coaching — I chose coaching.

At 24, I commenced my Masters. I spent the summer, again, touring through Europe with American national players. On return I was asked to be the Director of a tennis program and accepted, being one of the youngest coaches, nationally, to take on such a position. After running for less than a year I managed to clock up 50 km days (not weeks). Just before I turned 25, I managed my biggest week yet: 180 km’s in total.

At 25, I registered my first business with my Dad and opted not to travel but to keep on top of my Masters (after receiving a GPA of 7.0: the highest attainable). Shortly after, my Dad passed away — just shy of my graduation; four months later, my Grandpa passed away.

At 26, I competed in my first Ultra race (100 km) but had a DNF (Did Not Finish) due to an ongoing hamstring injury. In the same year, I became recognised as a Level 3 Coach (the highest attainable globally). Soon after, I commenced my PhD — I still had questions to answer that my studies until then were unable to address.

At 27, my PhD was under full-swing – in not one, but between two Schools (a result of the depth of the work undertaken) and I was on track to complete my PhD in the minimum time frame. The same year I was able to sponsor my first athlete.

A fortnight after turning 28, I became unwell. Ultimately, I couldn't run, walk, read, write, do simple tasks, let alone finish the home-stretch of my PhD without near-collapsing. Without going into detail, somehow I did manage to finish my PhD and in the minimum time frame; with only four months leave taken. For an elaboration, The Secrets to Optimal Wellbeing shares more.

At 29, I had PhD corrections to look after, although the entire year was all about getting my health back. That same year, I competed in my first Ultra since becoming unwell — and I finished all 80 km’s of it, even though I tore my tendon at the 20-25 km mark. It was about finishing and I did. Mid-year, I had surgery that could have left me far-worse off (from my ongoing health battle) and I am incredibly fortunate to still be here.

At 30, I had already published the first instalment in The Secrets to Optimal series: The Secrets to Optimal Performance Success, and later that year, The Secrets to Optimal Wellbeing was published. And, almost two years since submission, I was officially awarded my doctorate. It was also a year of tightening the vision for what the science inside my PhD was, and eventually over time, going to bring the world. As a result, The Science of Elite Performance was published just shy of turning 31.

At 31, it was all about bringing this vision into fruition – and so the journey began of building a Social Compilation, Topicthread, that brought the world together, using the two disciplines of my doctorate, Health and Education, with performance its overarching tone, as the vehicle to unify individuals across the world. And with that, ‘social’ was at its core – using the scientific model inside my PhD. This saw Topicthread come to life.

At 32, The Secrets to Optimal Coaching Success was published, and slowly but surely, Topicthread was the World’s 1st Social Compilation – and the 1st interface with the architecture to deliver access to Health and Education, in unison, universally. Meanwhile, quietly in the background I had been working on The Elite Research Method, which was subsequently published later that year.

At 33, the first instalment of What is Your Game Missing? was released, although what followed was a bittersweet year. The final chapter was called on a three-year relationship, whilst I received a DNF, seven years after my first, in the pursuit of another 100km Ultramarathon I had trained all year to be a pacer for – calling it a day at the 50km mark with the onset of injury. As a result, delivering the second instalment of the series: What is Your Game Missing, Now? later the same year, was perhaps my most mentally exhaustive book to date with a mixture of emotions endured throughout. Despite these temporary hurdles since overcome, it was this very book that landed the Number One spot on the top Tennis Books to read in 2020 – a milestone in itself.

At 34, with big shoes to fill, the Education release embedded inside Topicthread coincided with the publication of an eighth book and a third instalment of the same series: What is Your Game Missing, to Win? And as the year will go down in history as the beginning of a pandemic that is slowly reshaping our world, an unanticipated ninth book was released: I am Your Tennis Coaching Guru to bring light and hope to those in need of a training pathway over the next 10 Years of Play.

At 35, the year has been immersed in developing a heightened level of applied awareness, a practice that’s been honed over the past eighteen months to afford a new depth of understanding to interwork with new scientific discoveries. The year couldn’t have been more rewarding as this tenth book is perhaps my most complex to date, spanning the length of the entire year between varied shapes to concepts to ideals before The 7 Keys became apparent as overdue – to be shared.

At 36, it was time to dare and to take a new risk. This resulted in our very own fictional imprint being born: Pink Octopus Books that went on to release my very first fictional book the same year that embodied the lessons over the course of the past two years — where the book bore its beginnings. With a new age coming forth and with Women front and centre — we’re beginning to have more of us at the head of the table and so it was only fit that The Power of Another Woman was celebrated in its entirety. I’ll definitely be back for more.

At 37, I was drawn back to the body of work where the 8th Key has been kept in the shadows all along – with the time now, to set it too, free as it dawned on me that whilst it remained to be shared, it also deserved to be celebrated, too. As such, How to Develop a Top 10 Tennis Ranking pays tribute to what has come before it and the staggered-by-design approach – the time has arrived for feathers to be ruffled and for voices kept quiet opting for no more.

At 38, My [Tennis] Black Book: Federer, Nadal, Serena, Djokovic was the 'first' in a while that didn''t included immense data sets but rather pulled it all back to the absolute fundamentals, whilst then pushing the marker that extra bit further – curating your very own roadmap, blueprint or otherwise guide towards the Top 10 rankings.

At 39, Part II of your Black Book has arrived in 'My [Tennis] Work Book' – a force to be reckoned with that will take you throughout an entire season. In fact, released mere days prior to Dr Berge's 39th, its availability will come shortly after to kick off this milestone with a bang! The 14th Book that brings the breadth of work near full circle, 'My [Tennis] Work Book' is the promised extension of your Black Book. And the week prior to Dr Berge's 39th, Beyond Top 10 Tennis hit the 150 episode mark!

Now, at 40 – where has the time gone! Beyond Top 10 Tennis has come full circle, hitting 200 episodes to celebrate 3 years of sharing LIVE analyses! Whilst I'm temped to continue, I'm calling it a 'pause' be it for a few weeks, months or longer whilst I get back to writing what's next...and it's a big one!

Responsible for the beginnings of the largest longitudinal study of its kind worldwide and one I wasn't sure I'd ever release into the world. But it's time. Don't ask me how (because I don't have the answer) but between finishing my fictional manuscript (pending release), taking a trip to Fiji and wrapping up the Podcast, I couldn't sit still. That's when I unlocked the file I'd kept hidden for 12 years. Turning back the clock, 'The Top 10 Tennis Doctorate, Back to the Beginning' is here! Three months after my big milestone I'll take a little time to breathe and get back to hunting down that right agent for my fictional release! Until then, keep your eyes peeled for what's in store next.