Tennis is a Symbolic Fight

Tennis is a symbolic fight between two people.  Unlike boxing where you can physically feel each blow being delivered to your face, the aggression in tennis is more subtle, yet equally as brutal.  You certainly don't feel physical pain from winners screaming by you, but you feel the emotional tension building inside your skin. The emotional "body blows" delivered point after point is mentally exhausting.  If tennis is so fun, why do we torture ourselves to such emotional stress and agony?

Humans are social creatures.  We are genetically wired to compare ourselves to other people.  Everyone wants to be the big man on campus.  Tennis is one way to establish dominance in the human kingdom.  There are many other ways in life to seek approval from others, tennis is no different.  

Think about the rewards that come from winning in tennis.  More fame.  Likeability increases exponentially. Girls give you more attention (despite your ugly looks).  More sex.  Money and potentially lots of money if you strike it big.  Bigger house.  Nicer car.  Tennis is one way to stake your claim and prove you are superior to other human beings.  It might seem silly to someone who doesn't play sports, but one could make the case it is no different than a woman putting on makeup in the morning, dressing well to go into the office...they want to look better than other women.  Or the financier sitting behind a giant mahogany desk on the 117th floor of a skyscraper scheming how to swallow another company.  People are driven to be the best, especially relative to others around them. Human beings can't help themselves, we are selfish and competitive.  

Tennis is a symbolic fight.  Many coaches and players get caught up in the perfect technique, eating habits, fitness routines, strategies, gimmicks- all parts to the puzzle in helping you become proficient. However, the most important thing is your ability to compete with what you got TODAY.  To see what is needed to get inside your opponents head.  Lift the fog between you and your opponent, try to see what is going on their side of the court.  Work on their head.  Deliver body blows.  Hit the ball in a way that doesn't hurt you and annoys them.  Then keep pressing that button, over and over again.  See how they respond.  Be willing to engage in this symbolic fight and put a rat inside their kitchen.  Stop focusing on yourself and lift the fog off the court.  Deliver the body blows until you soften them up.  See their legs wobble, their mind start to make poor decisions- then just wait til they fall over.  Let gravity take them down for you- forget delivering the knockout punch.  The work is done.  

Be content with what you have, use what you got.  It's most likely good enough to win right now.  Have fun watching their reactions and let me congratulate you in advance for a job well done.  Game on. 

"It's Amazing...": The Eureka Moment

Amazing

I kept the right ones out
And let the wrong ones in
Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins
There were times in my life
When I was goin' insane
Tryin' to walk through
The pain
When I lost my grip
And I hit the floor
Yeah,I thought I could leave but couldn't get out the door
I was so sick and tired
Of livin' a lie
I was wishin that I
Would die

[Chorus:]
It's Amazing
With the blink of an eye you finally see the light
It's Amazing
When the moment arrives that you know you'll be alright
It's Amazing
And I'm sayin' a prayer for the desperate hearts tonight

That one last shot's a Permanent Vacation
And how high can you fly with broken wings?
Life's a journey not a destination
And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings

You have to learn to crawl
Before you learn to walk
But I just couldn't listen to all that righteous talk, oh yeah
I was out on the street,
Just tryin' to survive
Scratchin' to stay
Alive
[Chorus]

The year was 1993 and I was a 16 year know-nothing living and trying to develop as a tennis player in the Midwest. Aerosmith had just released the album "Get a Grip", their first album since 1989 and the band's best-selling studio album. This was a time before cell phones, mp3 players, laptops or even internet (yes, it existed, but, due to the costs of computers and access, not all of us had access to it so it was, by in large, meaningless). CDs and CD players were also a novelty and I was very excited when my parents gave me some cash to buy a CD player (instead of lugging around heavy, portable tape-players).

So into the store I walked, excited about the possibility of owning one of these amazing pieces of "modern technology." I was even more stoked (too antiquated?) when the salesperson threw in a copy of Aerosmith's new album as a promotional incentive. I was more into Metallica back then but, what the heck, $24 (cost of a CD) wasn't exactly burning a hole in my pocket so I said "what the heck" and I took my new purchase and popped the new CD in. For some reason, the song "Amazing" really resonated with me and, particularly, the references to learning to crawl before learning to walk, life's a journey not a destination and "with the blink of an eye you finally see alright" (full disclosure: I always thought that they sang "see the light"). It was this last bit that stood out for me the clearest and the longest. It was only later in my life that I put "2 and 2 together."

You see, at 16, I felt that as I tennis player I could go "toe to toe" with anybody in the world my age. I had a good, hard serve, steady ground-strokes (could pin-point my shots with precision, pace and a variety of spins), solid volleys and I was fit. If anything, I was obsessed with fitness and, in addition to grinding on the ball machine 2 hours a day and hitting hundreds of seres, I spent a great deal of my day in the gym. It was at this age when I realized that winning in tennis was more than just about forehands and backhands. I had the forehand and the backhand and the serve; this allowed me to stop worrying about what was going on 2.5feet in front of me at the end of my finger tips (e.g. whether I had this forehand or that; whether the face of the racket was opened or closed; etc). In other words, it was as if the fog had been lifted off the court and I was no longer focusing on my side of the court but my opponent's. I looked up and forward instead of down. 

In other words, for the first time in my tennis-playing life, I was seeing things clearly. I was reading my opponent's body language and knew what he was planning and how he was feeling. I was becoming attuned to situational awareness and knew how the point was going to unfold within 2 shots. In other words, I experienced a "Eureka" moment..the point where I finally "got it". Now, bear in mind, I was still no world-beater. However, I felt that at this point I was beginning to have a global perspective of the sport and studying the game's many facets became an addiction. Scientific research supports the notion that when something is learned through-trial and error, the brain builds new pathways indicating the the subjects had a "sudden insight" about how the world works, Abrupt transitions between prefrontal neural ensemble states accompany behavioral transitions during rule learning (Durstewitz D, et al.; Neuron, May 2010). Later, I realized that the Eureka moment is not something that is limited to tennis or even sports. Some musicians, business people, inventors, artists, professionals, politicians and others experience this at some point in their life. Unfortunately, the vast majority experience it too late to be able to make an impact in their own lives or the lives of others. Some "desperate souls" might not experience this moment of clarity at all.

What sets some people apart? Why do some experience the Eureka moment at an early age while others struggle with their search for enlightenment? Why did Nadal break into the top 100 so soon and achieved such great success at such an early age? Same with Sampras, Chang, Agassi, Although empirical data may be lacking, one can't help but wonder whether the "10,000 FOCUSED hour rule" is involved. For example, legendary coach Robert Lansdorp is of the opinion that by age 16, there is very little that can be done in terms of performing a major technical overhaul on a player's strokes. It all starts at around 8 years old and then, by 16, everything should sort of gel into place from a technical standpoint. Tennis legend Johan Kriek agrees: "...by 16 it should be 'all there'...minor changes possible after that but not much more." In other words, the players who make it tend to emphasize the technical aspect of the sport first (i.e. refining the gross motor skills) and, as they start to get this part of the game - as the strokes become rock-solid, powerful, efficient, adjustable - they begin to shift the focus towards the tactical aspect (of course, strategy is also learned when one is very young and very small, but in manageable, age-apropriate doses).  

Nevertheless, too many young kids are thrown into tournament after tournament and they never have the opportunity to master the basics of the game. Many struggle with the meat-and-potatoes of the game long after the substantial emphasis should have shifted to tactical and physical training. If you're in the tennis-teaching or tennis-developing business, you are familiar with a great number of 16+ year old players who have a ton of potential but whose chance have been ruined by not learning the "correct" things the first time around. In other words, they don't spend enough focused hours honing their basic skills and, after each tournament, they have to go to the drawing board in order to clean up the mistakes that they have learned over the weekend. So instead of a learn-solidify-learn-solidify-learn-solidify process, it's a protracted learn-unlearn-learn-unlearn-learn-unlearn system. When results are starting to matter the most (U18s), players are still tinkering with glitches in their strokes.

If there is an all-encompassing answer, I'm not certain that CAtennis.com has it. The simple advice (from experience and observation) is for player (and parents) to focus on strokes first and slowly incorporate more and more strategy into the practices. The initial focus should be on having the players lay down a solid tactical foundation - mastery of every stroke under all possible scenarios along with a general understanding of use and application. Fretting about results too soon or too often could be detrimental to the overall learning process (and quite expensive). Remember this expression from the field of law: touch a file once (i.e., do it once; do it right).

Chill Out, Bro

It is clear that intense competition can cause athletes to react both physically and mentally in a manner which negatively affects their performance abilities. Tennis players are not an exception to this rule. This is particularly true for the first tournament match (i.e. before the player has found his/her rhythm and concentration zone). In one study, results showed a cortisol response to competition, which was especially characterized by an anticipatory rise. Males had the same pattern of cortisol responses than females, even if the cortisol concentrations were significantly higher in females the day of the competition, Psychophysiological stress in tennis players during the first single match of a tournament, Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009 Jan (Filaire E., Alix D., Ferrand C., Verger M.)

Accordingly, the purpose of practice is to prepare the body and mind for the stresses of performance. Good coaches will provide their students with a lot of the skills necessary to thrive under pressure. However, there's one skill that is hardly ever practiced and that's how the player interacts with the parent immediately before the match. Another study found that tennis parents are usually stressed by 7 different factors: competition, coaches, finance, time, siblings, organization-related, and developmental, Understanding parental stressors: an investigation of British tennis-parents, J Sports Sci. 2009 Feb 15 (Harwood C., Knight C.) So where the player is stressed by 1 factor - competition - the parents seem to be stressed by 6 other factors. It doesn't take much to figure out that uncontrolled parental anxiety can be filtered down to the players thereby increasing their anxiety levels. Furthermore, where the parents may be stressed about the price of gas and overall cost of tournament, the player can be led to feel that the match is of utmost importance (thereby adding to the child's stress levels concerning competition). Add to this some ill-timed or ill-conceived post-match statements or questions, and it's easy to see how some players start to overemphasize the role of winning in the development (thereby repeating and increasing the stress cycle).

So what can the coach do to prepare the student for the pre-match car-ride (assuming, of course, that the coach is separate from the parent)? In this regard, the coaches' role is to train the parents. First of all, it is important for the player to play practice matches where the parent drops off the student to the courts. Sometimes, the parent will watch the practice match; other times, s/he will run errands. Practice match results aren't important, but the things that are learned through this process are very important. In this regard, dropping off the kid to a practice match serves as behavioral training for the parents as well - if this practice is, in fact, regarded as such. Parents can monitor their practice-match stress levels and conversation with their children and see how it matches up with a "real" match scenario. Second, some parents have found it easier to dissociate competition from the trip. For example, they can find "cool things to do" in the area of the tournament and, whenever, the conversation turns too serious towards the match, they can emphasize that they are so excited about having the opportunity to go to such-and-such mall or museum or visit whatever landmark. Again, the child is helped to remember that there are more things in life besides tennis. Tennis is simply one of the processes (the best one, in our opinion) for learning about life. Third, any conversation regarding the match should be kept to "practical" topics: what's the game plan? What do you know about this kid? How are you going to approach the first 3 games of the match? What happens if your first game plan fails; what's your back-up plan? How are you taking into account the conditions? Etc. In other words, winning/losing is implied so talking about "kicking his butt" or "go get 'em" is only of limited value. Furthermore, rather than telling the player what to do ("make sure that you..."), have him/her become devise the plan. In other words, make the association that you're more interested in the process than the result. Lastly, this talk should be saved for the last couple of minutes of the car-ride. Use the duration of a car-ride to a practice match as your rule of thumb. For example, if the practice-match ride is only 10 minutes, then it's probably best to not wear out the kid with tennis-related matters for 1hr 45mins prior to the match...this is draining and stressful and most children cannot bear the additional baggage.

Mats Wilander: Manage Your Game Like a Team

I had the fortunate opportunity to hit with 7-time Grand Slam Champion Mats Wilander in his hometown of Sun Valley, Idaho. He was giving a clinic to recreational players and I was very curious about what advice he would give to club level players. His energy and enthusiasm for the game was impressive, not feeding any balls but hitting with each player who came out on the court.  He was jumping around, hustling down balls (no one could control the ball), and sweating.  His attitude was contagious.  

When he slowed down, he asked how many people played team sports growing up.  Almost everyone raised their hand.  Then he started to explain how he thought of his game as playing on a team.  His forehand, backhand, serve, slice, volleys, return of serve- all of these different components to his game formed his team. He looked at tennis as a team effort.  If one part of his game was not having a good day, others parts of his game had to pick up the slack.  Before playing each match, he told himself that nobody on his team was going to have a perfect day.  But it was his job to recognize which strokes (players on the team) were having a good day and which were not.  

He explained how like in basketball, you can make substitutions.  Relating to his tennis game, if his hard low forehand wasn't hurting his opponent, he would substitute in a high looping forehand to their backhand.  If his baseline game wasn't doing the trick, he would substitute in his serve and volley attack.  Every tool in his arsenal of weapons together formed a team, each having to do their part when called upon.  Smart players are flexible and are ready for anything; willing to adapt to win in that very moment.

Maybe this "team" analogy will help you be less stubborn on the court and be a better thinker on the court.  

Someone asked him at what age should kids start to get serious about the game.  He quickly said he was a big believer in playing all sports at a young age to develop your athleticism.  He was an avid skier and played soccer before he dived full-time into his tennis at 13.

Best 2nd Serve Returners of All-Time

Most coaches will make you feel inferior if you don't step into your returns, as if you don't understand the essence of hitting a great second serve return.  Maybe you are always feeling awkward being in "no-mans land" after making contact with a big kicker well inside the baseline, leaving you vulnerable on your next shot.  Or maybe you are making too many errors trying to play aggressive tennis.  Maybe you aren't wired to take risks, so you are fighting internally with yourself.   

There is nothing wrong with "cutting off the angle" or "taking the ball earlier."  All great advice.  By all means, if you can do it, I highly recommend stepping into the return.  However, judging from the stats taken straight off the ATP website, I notice a different breed of players.  Atleast half of these players are risk-averse players who like to hang back well behind the baseline and give the forehand a heavy ride (granted these stats could be inflated from claycourt play).  With servers generating massive kick and height after the bounce, taking the ball early isn't as easy as it sounds.  For starters, you need to be well inside the court, potentially leaving you in a weird part of the court if you don't do enough with the return.  Secondly, you might give away too many free points doing something that isn't comfortable for you under pressure. 

Judge for yourself, but the proof is in the pudding.  One can never underestimate the value of putting one more ball into the court.  See what works better for you.  It might not be pretty or efficient, but atleast you increased your odds of winning!  That's the only thing that matters at the end of the day, stop being so dogmatic and perfect!  Most coaches can't hit a heavy kicker inside the court, it's not that easy!  Take some pressure of yourself and let the shot develop and give the ball a ride.  One possibility is using a hybrid of staying back and picking opportune times to step in.  Plant the seed inside the servers mind for those moments deep in the set or match at 4-4 deuce or 5-5 30-all.  Those are the little chinks in the armor that change matches and tip a rookie player over the cliff.