Late For Match? Quick Way To Warm Up

We live in a highly industrialized world and it's foreseeable that at least a handful of times in your life you will show up just in time for your match or a little bit late (perhaps due to traffic or misdirection by your navigation system). Assuming that you didn't get defaulted, how ensure that you obtain the best possible warm-up under the circumstances? That is, the same, old routine might not do the trick particularly if you're playing against a tough opponent.

I have found that the best routine is one that gets the blood flowing the fastest and also "warms-up" (i.e., focuses) the eyes. First, chase down EVERY ball. If your opponent hits an errant shot, give chase even if the ball is way wide or deep. This is the time to bring out your inner tiger and the ball has blood on it. Don't let a single ball get by you. Second, when the opponent is at the net, warm up from INSIDE the baseline. This will force you to take FAST, SHORT steps and will also serve to trigger your eyes and how they see the ball. Again, NO BALL GETS BY YOU! Get in position and work the warm-up point like a boxer with high intensity. Third, take extra overheads to get some blood flowing to your back and shoulder muscles. This will help with your serves, particularly in the first couple of games. After finishing your net routine, PLAY ONE MORE warm-up rally from the baseline. In this rally, try to hit a lot of "inside-outs". That is, rather than being flat-footed in just hitting the ball back-and-forth to your opponent without rhyme or reason, focus on moving your feet, getting in positing and staying loose. Fourth, as you're warming up your serve, again, chase down every serve from your opponent and see if you can catch it on your racket. If the serve gets by you, don't walk to get the ball - RUN. INTENSITY is the key concept here. You have 5-6 minutes to get a decent warm-up so use every SECOND to getting your body to optimal competitive levels in every aspect. As you're starting to play the match, it's important to keep the intensity flowing for a few games before ratcheting back to more manageable levels. During these 2-3 games, (1) MAKE EVERY FIRST SERVE, (2) MAKE NO UNFORCED ERRORS, and (3) IF POSSIBLE, HIT NO WINNERS. Work hard for every point and establish a pattern for doing battle the rest of the match.

Unfortunately, a lot of players show up late for the match and do the same thing as they have done for previous matches - where they may have had the opportunity to warm up. Unless you're special, this is a misguided approach to big matches. The warm-up is not just for the strokes but, as the name entails, it serves the body as well. If you're starting the match cold (which is something that happens to unexperienced juniors all too often), chances are that you will lose the first few games. In big matches, this may be sufficient to lose the set. Lose the set, and now you have an uphill battles both score-wise and confidence-wise.

Thus, if you CARE about the outcome of the match, enter the arena with the attitude of a warrior - for those first 5-6 minutes, it's not a tennis match, it's a gladiatorial contest. 

Note, however, that this should not be used as an alternative to proper warm-up. This is an emergency routine for those handful of times when you're unable to follow your prescribed regimen. 

It's A Question of Motivation

Are you tired of seeing the same movie again?  You prepare for weeks, honing your forehands, backhands, and serves for the big tourney, getting up early in the morning for treadmill and bicycle workouts, monitoring what you are eating (by the way, the training is the easy part of tennis, anyone can do it), and at 3-4 down a break in your first match (against an equally skilled player), it all comes tumbling down.  You start to think, "Uh oh, here we go again..."

How many times have you seen this movie?  And the movie ends with the same ending everytime- mean spirited temper at yourself, at your opponent, at the entire world, ending in a quick 6-4, 6-2 loss.  You get off the court and you and your coach both agree you need to hit a lot more forehands because that's what broke down at the 3-3 game, thus deciding the first set.  

I assure you, THAT AIN'T IT.  

What's killing you is the poor thinking.  Everyone is liable to get tight, make a few errors at inopportune times, but what's inexcusable is allowing the same mistakes to continue.  A smart player will remember from practice or previous matches his forehand is susceptible to breaking down in these crucial situations, so intuitively, he will not ask so much of this shot.  And if he does miss his share of forehands, he certainly won't let his terrible forehand affect his emotions to the point where a break of serve turns into 4 more breaks of serve.  

Now, juniors, college players, and professionals are all guilty of thinking the worst and allowing a cloud of negativity to take over.  Players start making eye contact with the coach/parent/boyfriend/girlfriend after each lost point (never the winning points) to say as if, "I don't know what to do!  Can't you see how bad I'm playing."  (If you are the victim of the DIRTY EYE, leave the court or pull them off the court, its childish).  All these shenanigans get old after a few episodes...nobody likes to watch Star Wars Trilogy or Back to the Future 30x in a row!  It gets old seeing the same silly movie over and over again. 

Most players are unaware of how poorly they are acting and if they are aware, most will say they can't control it.  I disagree and here is why.  It is all a matter of motivation.  They have a choice in this and here's how I know.  The next time a player pulls the "poor me" or "f*%# m*" cards- tell them you will end their life with a bullet.  

Of course, this is all theory, but if you really think about it -if someone had a gun on the sidelines, ready to shoot you in the leg everytime you said or did something stupid emotionally, I promise you would stop. Controlling your emotions will not guarantee a win, but it greatly increases your odds of winning.  That's all you can ask for.  

Tennis Mummies

Does this look familiar (<-)? It's the sight of a run-of-the-mill junior tennis player immediately before the match. If you've been around junior events long enough you will learn to spot the mummies - they are usually wearing track suits, hands straight by the sides, walking aimlessly with stiff legs from bag to tournament desk to bathroom and back. Sometimes they are chatting with their friends although it;s usually in monosylabic grunts. I've always wondered why it is that some kids get so...cold immediately before the match. Why are they shivering so much?! Did the temperature suddenly drop after exiting the car? Weird...

It turns out that shivers are actually reflexes - controlled by the nervous system - produced automatically by the body to keep us safe. When your body temperature drops below a certain level - say 98° - your nerves send a signals saying "I'm cold". What happens next is that your muscles contract and loosen really fast (causing friction which increases body heat slightly) causing you to shiver. What does this have to do with tennis? Researchers have conducted many tests on lab animals to see how their body temperature changes with fear. In these lab experiments, scientists use infra-red thermography to get images in skin temperatures to see the animals' response to a fear agent. What they have generally found is that the animals usually froze into immobility with a significant drop in skin temperature. It's the same with people faced with fear, anxiety and nerves - although some may experience a rise in body temperature a lot of players will experience a drop in body temperature; their feet and hands become cold; body trembles. For some players, muscle tension will increase and breathing will become shallow (i.e., less oxygen entering the system) and labored.

In a match, this usually translates into 3-4 poor first games. But here's the kicker: rather than doing something productive to keep warm and "stay loose", some of these player will continue to walk around stiffly all bundled up in their track suits. I never understood why these players - if they care about the outcome in the first place - don't engage in some productive exercises to warm-up and "shake off" the anxiety. Jog in place, jump rope, run some sprints, play some practice points...anything to keep the blood flowing to the limbs and oxygen entering the system. Perhaps nobody told them regarding the physiological importance of "being limber". Warming up is not just important for the strokes but also for the body...the heart, the lungs, the muscles, the eyes, etc. As a player, it's important to enter the tennis court "firing on all pistons". If you wait 3-4 games to find a way to settle down, it may already be too late. As you get older, "comebacks" from 3-4 games down will be much more rare. Therefore, if you're the type who freezes under pressure, find a way to stay loose and limber. Start setting warm-up rituals early. All the "great players" hame them (I bet that even Nadal's pre-match sprint is a last second way to burn off some extra nervousness. And his jumping and running in the locker-room before the match is legendary).

Initially, it's better if you (junior player) get on the court sweaty (and perhaps a little tired) than "not warmed up at all". At  least you're ready to pounce on the ball from the word "GO!" As you get older and more experienced, you will be able to fine-tune your warm-up rituals to suit your needs and energy levels. But don't wait until the start of the match to do something that could have been addressed without a racket. 

Shhh! Here's A Secret Way to Guarantee Stupid Playing

The origin of clapping as part of public performances is hard to trace. Some believe that clapping originated in the Middle Ages with the increase of public performances by traveling bands of actors and musicians. Others trace clapping far further - to Roman gladiatorial contests and, perhaps, even ancient Biblical times. Since even babies clap, it is possible that this instinct of expressing joy goes even further than that. It is, almost universally, associated with praise, pleasure and approval

As parents, you are expected to support your child's endeavors. However, often times, even innocent, positive actions can have far-reaching negative consequences. Take, for example, clapping during your child's match. "Now, come on, CAtennis.com, you can't expect me to show up at my kid's match and not be supportive! What's wrong with clapping?!" The answer is nothing - as long as you do it an appropriate time. Let's think about this for a second. When, exactly, is an appropriate time to clap: when the player hits an Ace? When the player hits a winner? When the player hits a shot that forces an error from the opponent? After all, you wouldn't clap if your kid played a point that drew an unforced error from his opponent, would you?! That would be unsportsmanlike. Right?!

Well, here's the thing: if clapping is a form of praise or of signaling approval, in many ways it has the same effect of giving the child an increase in allowance for doing her homework extra early, getting him a new car for finishing his senior year with all A+ grades, or taking him to Disneyland for winning a tournament. It's a form of rewarding certain behavior and motivating similar future actions. I can only speak from annecdotal evidence but I have witnessed HUNDREDS of matches lost and, consequently, many careers ruined by parents who simply "clapped at the wrong time". For example, do you find yourself clapping at a drop-shot winner at 15-40? Do you find yourself clapping at your kids' second serve aces? Do you find yourself clapping at your players' return winners? Do you find yourself clapping and cheering when your kid hits a between-the-legs winner? Well STOP IT! There's one certain way to ensure that the player will continue hitting stupid, low-percentage shots and that's to acknowledge such shots in the first place. Forget about what goes on at ATP/WTA tour events - people clap and cheer for any reason or no reason at all. However, those players have the ability to block things out. Even at those levels, however, the player's box cheers/claps loudest for well-played points; for points were the player gritted out a tough play; where he showed guts and smarts. They are more prone to acknowledge heart and smart-playing as opposed to flashy, low-percentage shots. So learn from these levels and encourage the player - and here's the key - WIN OR LOSE to the extent they accomplished their desired objective. By clapping winners you're encouraging him to go for winners. Same with second serve aces and low-percentage drop shots at key points. Instead, strive to emphasize the process.

The best advice that we could outline for you is to communicate with your player's coach in advance and ask him/her what the player has been working on. If the player has been working on being steady - clap/cheer for long points that show heart (again, WIN OR LOSE): "way to fight"; "way to stay tough"; "good hustle". If the player has been working on certain groundstrokes, acknowledge those strokes after the point (WIN OR LOSE): "nice forehand"; "beautiful serve"; "nice stick on that volley". By clapping/acknowledging the things that player has been working on, you will send the player the message that (a) you are 100% behind his development; and (b) your primary concern is not winning/losing. If the player has been working on certain patterns - acknowledge those patterns. It's useless to clap for winners during the match and then, after a loss, tell the kid that "it's not the result that matters." You are sending her two contradicting messages. In addition, you risk undermining the player's relationship with the coach because, where one is focusing on developing the game (i.e., the coach), the other (player) is concentrating on results. How is the coach supposed to focus on getting the player to the mid- and long-term level if the only thing that's on the player's mind is the immediate past and immediate future result?! This type of behavior leads to Band-Aid practices where the parties are focused on covering up past mistakes instead of emphasizing long-term growth and development. So, in a way, telling the kid one thing and exhibiting a different kind of behavior is not just useless is downright harmful.

The same lesson goes for being overly excited after the match for wins but being depressed after losses. What message are you sending your player? It doesn't matter what you say - it's how you act that sends the clearest message (remember: only about TEN PERCENT OF COMMUNICATION IS VERBAL). During the development stages it is EXTREMELY important to stay even-tempered regardless of result. The message that needs to get across is that learning and improving is of foremost importance. Results are simply the outcome of hard, passionate, driven and focused work.

Don't Aim For the Lines...But Wait A Second! What?!

One of the first pieces of advice that a coach provides his/her student is to not aim for the lines when playing points. The concept is fairly simple to understand in that the developing players are relatively inaccurate when it comes to their strokes so there's a chance that aiming for the lines will result in the dreaded "unforced error" [GASP!!!]. So with this advice in mind, the players end up trading blows aimlessly from the middle of the court until, usually, the steadier player runs away with the match. Nevertheless, this strategy is risky down the road since, if the player remains stuck with the mentality that she is supposed to hit away from the lines, her shots are going to end up landing in the middle of the court where they are easily accessible by the opponent.

Therefore, as the players get older and better, it is important to attempt to transition away from the "stay away from the lines" mentality to a "stay just inside the line" mentality. Yes, this will require a lot of focused and, sometimes, frustrating practices. However, if you are unable to get the ball away from the middle of the court - be it with pace, height, spin or angle - chances are that a better "ball striker" will chop you up and "T off it" as soon as she gets the chance (which, generally, means the 2nd time your shot lands in/around the same place).

It is amazing to see how, sometimes, juniors never seem to realize when their shots are landing smack in the middle of the court - and, by extension, within the opponent's strike zone - 3, 4, 5 or 6 times in a row. What are they thinking?! They either (a) don't know what's going on; or (b) know what's happening but are afraid to miss. Here's a way to fix it: set up a square that is 3ft x 3ft from the service T (use athletic tape). Initially, play a baseline game (or, better, a game with one serve) and see how many times the player hits the ball inside that square. Thereafter, play a game where the player automatically loses the point if the ball lands inside that square. As the player gets better, expand the size of the square (blue - purple - red) until it's 5ft, 4ft and 3ft from the sidelines. As the player improves, he will become more and more comfortable hitting the shots "just inside" the lines. The goal is for the strokes to be as penetrating as possible and, at the same time, have as much control as possible. As one of my team-mates (Freddy Giers) used to say, "you're only as good as your worst shot on your worst day". The objective here is to become as steady as possible while also being as dominating as possible. 

In the second diagram, the object is more or less the same although the "red zone" is a no-hit zone while the "blue areas" are the automatically-win-the-point areas. As above, the purpose of this game is for the player to develop (1) awareness of his shots, and (2) confidence in his strokes and his ability to move the ball around as much as possible without either forcing or missing.