Drafting Isn't Just For Cyclists

Have you ever found yourself in a match situation where you are up a set and a break and, right before closing out the match, you managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?! All players are familiar with this scenario. Maybe the opponent played better... maybe your shots stopped clicking... maybe the wind picked up... the balls got fuzzy... Numerous excuses can exist for what is nothing more than a rookie mistake. What is going on?! Why do so many good players allow their opponents to come from behind and beat them? One explanation could be that most players who are ahead have an imaginary time clock in their heads... they exert just enough energy to allow their opponents to "beat themselves". Although this works at some levels, at the more advanced stages it is more appropriate to replace the fictitious time clock with an image of the Tour de France. 

You see, when it comes to road cycling, one strategy that is often used is the concept of "drafting". This is where a racer sits on the wheel of the front byciclist and allows such person to block the wind for him. Then, when the racers get close to the finish line, the trailing racer springs ahead - since he is more "fresh" - for victory. A similar thing happens in tennis; here, the player trailing on the scoreboard is constantly pressing his opponent to "beat him" by playing high intensity points and making few errors. Another factor that comes into play is that the trailing player has nothing left to lose so he's playing the points very loose. By not being pressured, he is free to hold serve with ease and figure out ways to chip at your service games. If the leading player's concentration slips, the trailing player may find himself in the lead just as things get interesting in the match. Therefore, when you find yourself ahead on the scoreboard, rather than waiting for the time to run out on your opponent, seek to expand the lead. Get one bike length in front, then two then three. In tennis, don't be satisfied with remaining up a break. Get up another break; and then another; then another. Be so far in front that the opponent has to work very hard just to pull even with you. Break the opponent at 30 or at 15... then see if you can break him at love. Don't be satisfied with "good enough". Stay hungry and stay interested. Sure, this is not the time for heroics, but do try to push the envelope a bit further. Chase balls that are clearly out. Challenge yourself to make good, hard first serves; get every return in play and show your opponent that you're "in it to win it". 

500 Sets a Year!

I tell parents all the time, take one private a week and go play matches.  Sometimes I tell parents take one private every two weeks.  It's just overkill to do anything more until you reach the higher stages of the game (professional).  Players need to be playing 8-10 sets a week, thats where the real learning happens.  Tennis is a game of trial and error, not about feeding out of a basket and focusing on technique.  Players need to learn how to compete and cope with stress.  There is nothing stressful about doing crosscourts for an hour, it doesn't get to the essence of what tennis is...a nasty contest between two people where there is a winner and loser. Black and white.  You are judged by the bottom line. 

8-10 sets a week is a great benchmark to set.  Play with anyone who will play with you.  I'm tired of players or parents saying "I won't play with So and So because they push...because they cheat...because they aren't good enough..." All lame excuses!  All you are doing is saving the player from the realities of the world.  You will play pushers who will make life miserable, do you want me to ask them to stop missing?  You will play cheaters who will cheat you on the biggest point of the match.  You will play parents who cheer against your double faults.  You will play hackers, net rushers, grinders, counterpunchers, flat hitters, dinkers, rabbits- you can't simulate this through drilling or feeding.  Simply impossible.  

(See Picture)...Djokovic has angled his wrist and changed his grip slightly to somehow, someway, fight his tail off to get this ball back into the court.  This can't be duplicated without competing and playing matches where your pride is on the line.  

There are no limits on who to play against.  Whether you play someone you can defeat 0 and 0, see if you can beat them 0 and 0 coming to the net.  Can you beat them 0 and 0 with just a slice?  Can you beat them 0 and 0 if you spot them a 30-love lead?  There are endless amounts of ways to skin a cat, but the point is to build some pressure into the matchplay to make it worthwhile.  The reason people hate to compete is because people hate dealing with uncertainty, the small chance that they put their pride on the line and lose.  Yes!  You need to be able to handle that kind of pressure consistently, never let your guard down.  Its an absolutely necessary skill.  

For the parents who protect their kids from playing people below them, your child will never reach its full potential.  This is the same player who tanks against players equal to their ability.  This is the same player who looks at the parent after every sign of poor play.  This is the same player who pouts when a bad line call comes their way.  This is the same player who yells, "What a tree!"  The coddling needs to stop.  

Imagine if you played 10 sets a week for 50 weeks a year?  500 sets!  Now compare that to the kid who maybe plays 1 set a week?  50 sets a year.  No comparison.  I wonder who will win.  Doesn't matter who your coach is, doesn't matter if you have a world class trainer, or use the best string.  It just won't matter.  Get out there and compete, its what makes tennis fun.  

Mental Fortitude is a Limited Resource, Don't Squander It

Your game tends to follow your emotions.  When you feel great about your tennis, you tend to play better.  If you feel unconfident about the way you are striking the ball, you tend to play worse. One fact that seems to confuse even good players is having positive emotions should guarantee great tennis, maybe even guarantee winning.  It doesn't work that way.  Positive emotions only increase your odds of winning, that's all you can hope for at the end of the day.  This is why when Mr. Meathead makes a concerted effort to be positive amidst the stress of a tennis match and things start to go south, they start to believe having emotional control has absolutely no value. They revert back to their barbaric ways, slamming balls into the fence, semi-tanking by going for the outright winner, berating themselves after each point, and just having a "Why me?" attitude.  When has Mr. Meathead ever had a brilliant idea.  

Instead, a much sounder approach is to have no feelings one way or another after each point.  This might sound kind of ridiculous, but it works.  On the pro tour, the 20 seconds between each point is used purposefully to rid themselves of poor thoughts and replace them with thoughts of optimism.  Now, I know what you are saying, "shouldn't I jump up and down after I hit a great shot?"  The normal person would do this, but again if you watch the best players in the world, they use momentum and opportune times to give the occasional fist pump...like at 4-4 after breaking serve.  

The whole idea behind not reacting to each point and having no emotion is to prevent an emotional rollercoaster. If there is a high, there will be a low.  An over-celebratory fist pump at 1-0 in the first is going to be followed by a racquet "ding" on the cement if things don't go your way.  Very common at the lower levels of the game.  The good to great players have seen this movie many times and don't want to sit through another episode of Debbie Downer.  

Think about it, in a close match you will lose every other point.  Reacting after each point will force you to go up and down emotionally, very exhausting after a closely contested 2-3 hour match.  The truth of the matter is no matter how many hours you dedicate to your tennis, you are a human, and you will make errors you have no intention of making.  Accidents happen, just move on.  Reacting after each point temporarily throws you off balance emotionally and that time could have been better used thinking about way to be more productive against your opponent.  Mental fortitude is a limited resource, don't squander it.  Lastly, you don't want to overemphasize particular points, try to treat them all equal.  

Now this is why when your coach starts to talk about your footwork, follow through, fitness, etc- all great things worth exploring.  At the heart of the matter is how did you compete?  It's frustrating to see coaches/players (I'm certainly guilty of it, but trying to be aware) focus on the wrong during competition. American players don't lack the talent, they lack the mental maturity.   

Playing Your Best(ie)

As an athlete participating in an individual sport, one of the most difficult things to handle growing up is playing against your best friend or doubles partner. The opportunities to practice against your peers are fairly limited - what with everyone having their own private coach and development that is heavily reliant on lessons.

Few things are as traumatic for a young player as finding out that they have drawn their best friend, doubles partner or practice partner in the first round of the tournament. Knowing that one of you will go home and the other will go on can be quite nerve-wracking. However, as with bad line calls, rain delays, lack of warm-ups at a myriad other tennis issues, this one of those things that a player will have to learn to deal with in his/her life. After all, if you want tennis to be easy, trying playing against the ball machine with the net down. That's as easy as it gets. Master your nerves and you may just learn to utilize these skills later in life (e.g. attorneys who have graduated from the same class facing each other in court). 

Here are some skills to assist you in dealing with the overwhelming emotions:

1. Does your best friend pay your bills? In other words, do you owe him anything? No?! Good. Then there's no reason to give him any more deference than any other opponent. 

2. Regardless of who is on the other side of the net remember that,  in tennis, you are really only playing the ball; ot the opponent (Bobby Knight: "You don't play against opponents, you play against the game of basketball)". Think of your best-friend opponent as an amalgamation of strokes: top-spin forehand; two handed backhand; kick-serve; weak volley; etc. Ignore the face and focus on his strokes and game-style. Figure out how to beat the game-style and stop worrying about the fact that you're about to beat your best friend. If you need help figuring things out, write a couple things about your friend's game-style (likes/dislikes) and read it over a couple of times.

3. The day before the encounter tell yourself: "I'm going to play the match tomorrow; I'll let her play the match tonight." In other words, don't lose the match before you've had the chance to spin for serve. Without a doubt, your opponent is as uncomfortable about the situation as you are. Let her sweat the match the night before. Take your mind off the match by focusing on other things that need attention (maybe cleaning up your room or reading a good book). Since you've played this person many times before, getting a good night's sleep is superior to fretting about the strategies. You know (or should know) what works and what doesn't (see #2 above). 

4. To relieve some tension, you can try calling (or texting) your opponent and tell him something along the lines of "whatever happens tomorrow, you mean a lot to me and I have a great deal of respect for you. Any c'mons or les'gos are nothing personal." This will releave a great deal of tension during the match and you are likely to have a more positive experience. 

5. Similar to #4, there's nothing wrong with applauding your friend's efforts during the match. The better he plays, the higher your own level. By laying well, he is actually doing you a favor by pushing you outside of your comfort zone. In the end, regardless of who loses, both of you will walk off the court better players. Playing against your BFF is also a great opportunity to practice sportmanship (which will make you a better person). As stated by Heywood Broun: "Sports do not build character. They reveal it." 

6. Remember that, whatever happens, this will not be the end of the world. You will have many opportunities to compete against your friend so it might as well happen tomorrow. If you stick with this game for long enough you may even room with your friend in college and drive with her to tournaments where you may end up playing each other again. Learn to enjoy it. It will make you a better person. 

Who Am I?

A sense of inadequacy often compels us to ask ourselves "who am I?" This is as true when it comes to tennis as it is with "real" life. When faced with a tough or unknown opponent we are often forced into a corner where we have to question our identity. This is particularly true at the higher levels of the game where opponents are not easily labeled into neat and manageable categories. For example, it may be tempting to generalize a player like Nadal as a baseliner but give him a mid-court shot and watch him follow the approach to the net for a put-away volley. Similarly, players like Isner and Karlovic can defend like the best of 'em. 

Therefore, when facing an opponent without glaring weaknesses or weapons, it is often advisable to focus your analytical energies inwards. Don't worry so much about who they are; try to figure out who YOU are. How do you like to win points? What kind of points make you comfortable? Close your eyes and go to your "happy place" where you're playing your best tennis. What types of shots are you hitting? Do you see yourself scraping more? Putting volleys away? Blasting shots from inside the baseline? Etc.

Once you figure out who you are as a player, imagine your game as a tree. The best game that you can possibly play is the tree trunk. The various branches are off-shoots of your main game... slight variations on your various game. Imagine, for example, that you're an attacking player who is facing a solid opponent. You try your "main game" - perhaps serve and volleying - but it doesn't pay the dividends that you desire. Does this mean that you are going to discard your "game style" and completely switch tracks? That may be a good play once in a while. However, a better play would surely be to figure out all the other ways in which you can continue your attack. Maybe a straight serve-and-volley play is not effective because the adversary nails her returns at the service line. Great! How about serving, stepping into the baseline as if you're going to come in, then taking the short ball from the opponent with an approach shot and following THAT ball to the net (3-shot play)? Can you imagine other ways in which you can attack? How about one of Henri Leconte's favorite plays which was to hit a drop-shot and follow the ball and punch the volley past the opponent to just managed to scramble to the ball? Or how about hitting a heavy topspin lob and sneaking in when the opponent backs up to the fence (the "ten and under play")? Alternatively, work the opponent around 5-6 shots before you capitalize on the opening (don't get discouraged just because the routine 2-3 shot combination is not working)? So the lesson is: 1. figure out who you are and what you like to do with the ball; and 2. imagine all the slight variations on the game that you can implement against this particular opponent. Rather than thinking in terms of "changing your game", think "refining" or making "slight adjustments" to fit the particular situation. You will be more effective when sticking to the proximity of your bread-and-butter play than trying a game style that is diametrically opposed to your comfort level.