Fragile and Sensitive Players

What do you do when someone hands you a box marked "FRAGILE?" On the top of the box in giant lettering is "Please Handle With Care." Naturally, you are very careful with the box, making sure you have your legs beneath it when you gently lift it off the ground. You take every necessary measure to not rattle the contents inside the box and give special attention to making sure no outside influences come in contact with the box. You treat the box as if it were a little baby that needs protection.

Unfortunately, most tennis players are very fragile. Most tennis players are sensitive (including some of the best juniors in the country, college players, minor-league professionals, and pros for that matter). Little ripples cause their boat to sway out of control, derailing their oars dipping into the water. I equate tennis matches to a water fight in the pool between two children. Johnny splashes chlorine into Ben's face. Ben splashes chlorine into Johnny's face. This goes on for a few minutes until one starts to cry. Tennis is the same idea, who can take the stinging of chlorine in their eyes longer? Whoever is tougher usually wins, plain and simple.

How does one become less sensitive? I promise you if someone could be less sensitive, they would do it right now. Nobody likes to be called sensitive and soft. Everyone wants to be tough, strong, and brave. The best way to wrap your brain around this sensitivity/fragility issue to look at it from a different angle. The angle I am proposing is from a scientific point of view. Science has proven we have two sides to our brain- one that is logical (does all the planning, making rational decisions and so forth) and the other that is emotional (it has strong urges to react to things- happy or negative). The bad news for tennis players is the emotional side is far more powerful than the logical side.

Since tennis is a contest that is antagonistic in nature where two players are calling each others lines, emotions come into play. A normal person will give into their emotions causing their tennis to seesaw up and down like a rollercoaster. Very few players can actively control their emotions and nobody is ever fixed. Sometimes a parent or coach will say, "I think Johnny has fixed his attitude." Nobody is ever cured, its an ongoing battle between the logical and emotional sides of the brain where the logical side must dominate the emotional side. Like an alcoholic who has been dry for six months, the sudden urge to relapse is always looming in the background. One can never be trustworthy of the emotional side as it has an irrational mind of its own. It takes a very abnormal individual to be able to manage their emotions under stressful situations, usually it is innate and part of their genetic makeup.

If you want to stop watching the same movie over and over again in your losses, be aware of what it means to be a human being. Think about when you practice, you practice under very little stress and the muscles are relaxed. But if your emotions are a rollercoaster, your fine motor skills will be slightly off, thus causing errors and mental mistakes.

The most successful players are not fragile, but anti-fragile. Now imagine a box marked "ANTI-FRAGILE" and on the side in giant letters it says, "Please Throw Against a Concrete Wall." You pick the box up and throw it against the wall with all your might. You pick it up again and shake it violently. You kick it, you jump on top of it, you try to break it. Nothing happens. Nothing. This is a very robust box.

One could argue a tennis player deemed "ANTI-FRAGILE" takes it one step further. Shocks to the system make the player stronger. The toughest and least senstiive players are able to get stronger and tougher in stressful situations.

Rock Paper Scissors: Basic Concept

We are all familiar with the old rock-paper-scissor game from our childhood. In many ways, this concept can be applied to tennis. For example, say that you are going to face either an unknown opponent or an opponent that you have lost to in the past but one of your friends has beaten. What kind of strategy would you implement in order to end up on top? 

Well, if you've never played this particular opponent before, it is important to gather as much information about her in order to figure out her style. If, on the other hand, you have played the opponent before and are familiar with her style, figure out why you lost and how your friend has beaten her. You see, one of the things to keep in mind is that certain styles simply fit better against other styles than some other strategies would. In other words, you may be a better player than your friend, but you have lost because your style/strategy was inferior to that utilized or implemented by your friend. Maybe it helps to remember that strategy is more important than the player (Strategy > Player). 

For example, the three basic styles are (a) a defensive/pusher; (b) a counter-puncher; and (c) an aggressive baseliner. Now, this is more art than science, but many times, a defensive player will beat a counter-puncher because the defensive player will sap the energy from the counter-puncher. In turn, however, a more aggressive baseliner/serve-and volleyer will beat the defensive/pusher because the latter will have a more difficult time getting to the ball and lulling the aggressor into long rallies. However, the counter-puncher (who usually straddles the baseline), will be in a better position to pass the aggressive player or force such player to hit uncomfortable rallies or play from zones from which he is not comfortable. 

Next time, rather than asking "WHY CAN'T I BEAT THIS GUY" you should probably ask your friend "HOW DID YOU BEAT THIS GUY?!" 

Drown/Quicksand Better Opponents

When facing an opponent who look better on paper, it is important to remember Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope strategy against George Foreman in their famous Rumble in the Jungle. In this fight, Ali danced around the ring and leaned against the ropes thereby allowing the ropes to absorb much of Foreman's punches. In the end, Foreman got tired of hitting "nothing but air" and eventually got knocked down in the 8th round by a five-punch combination. Although Ali was by no means an underdog in this fight, it was a risky proposition considering the punching power of Foreman. However, through superior tactics, he came out successful.  Tennis player should remember this anecdote when facing "better" players or, more importantly, hard hitters. Often times, pride and testosterone get in the way of our success. Sometimes, when facing a hard-hitters it is tempting to get into a tank battle by trading artillery strikes ("Oh yeah! That's what you got?! Let me show you what I got!"). You get in this sort of thing and the chances are that the better player will win or, of you're lucky, the chances of success are 50-50. Is that good enough?! Shouldn't the goal be to win 100% of the time?! If the answer is yes, than perhaps one thing to consider would be to drown your opponent in shots that force him to generate all the pace and, when possible, shots that force him to take 5 steps to your two. This doesn't mean that you have to "push" (and there's NO judging from me if you do) but it does mean that you try to consistently hit shots out of your opponent's comfort zone forcing him to expend more energy. In time - be it 5-6 game or longer - the opponent will start making bad decisions; will start going for winners at inopportune times; will stop running after certain shots; will slow down. You have made the tank get bogged down in quicksand or, like the crocodile, have dragged the lion into the muddy water and drowned it (rather than fighting it on land - in its natural habitat).  When utilizing the "drowning" strategy, keep tabs on your energy levels as well as the score. For the most part, don't play the scoreboard but, instead, see how your opponent is coping with the pressure that your putting on him and, as your playing begins to take a toll, SLOWLY start pushing your opponent around the court (while still maintaing consistency and while still keeping the ball out of your opponent's strike zone). Have the confidence that the tank WILL, at "some point", run out of gas or get stuck in the mud. Actively work to identify that POINT.

Above All Be Stingy

First of all, let me start off by saying that I don't advocate gambling. I believe that, in many ways, gambling can be compared to hitting drop shots: if it works out, you want to come back for more; if it doesn't, you come back for more thinking that you'll do better next time (i.e., discounting the percentages and attributing your loss to fluke or bad luck). However, one lesson that CAN be learned from gambling, is how to be stingy. 

Often times, when I play against a developing youngster, it seems that they aim to make the highlight real of some sports channel. I must confess, that many times, I too am impressed with certain shots that they choose to hit. What is important to remember, however, is that in tennis you don't get graded by looks, but by matches won/lost. Furthermore, these matches are really comprised of individual points. So while the player gets the euphoria that comes from hitting a clean, flat-out winner that paints the lines (for example), someone with more experience grinds out point after point after point and, pretty soon, these points turn into games, games into sets and sets into matches. So, like Texas Hold 'Em, the player can win a medium-sized pot once in a while while the other player wins hand after hand of smaller pots which, in the end, push the opponents to "gamble" rather than play percentages. 

To be a better player, it helps to be more stingy; to ratchet back the level of testosterone that you inject in the game and focus more on winning more big points rather than winning fewer points in a big way. A point is a point; this is not figure-skating. The same value is attributed to an ace as to an unforced errors. Therefore, let you're opponents have the highlight real; you can go ahead and focus on taking home the paycheck. 

Alternate Defense and Offense Practices

How many times do you get on the practice court and follow a set routine? If you're like most players, you come on the court and follow the same regimen over and over again starting with warm-up, cross-courts, side to side, volleys, serves and maybe some points. This is not, however, how most matches are played. Very few times, especially at the highest level of the game, do you get to play in your comfort zone 100% of the time. In some points you get to dictate, in other points you get to be the rabbit.  In order to improve your chances of success, practice alternating offensive plays with defensive drills. For example, try mixing up aggressive pattern plays with "defensive" side-to-sides. Alternatively, you can practice hitting 4 hard serves, followed by the advance-retreat, the "cross" drill or some other form of covering the net. The point is to practice becoming ready for anything and not get stuck in a pattern of playing or pattern of thinking. As a player it's important to do the right thing, at the right time. Sometimes that means to defend; other times, that means to dictate. But it's difficult to transition back-and-forth among these variants if your practices are too rigid or mechanical. Learn that defense and offense are really two sides of the same coin. When you are being an aggressor in one aspect, be mindful that you have to defend another part of the court. When you are defending, look for ways to turn the tables on your opponent.  Of course, in some stages of development, it is important to practice certain plays/patterns repeatedly until the player masters them. However, once the player figures out the drill, it may be advisable to either tweak the drill a little bit to add a new dimension or to mix things up combining defensive drills with aggressive plays in order to open up the player's way of thinking so that she can be ready for anything that the opponent might throw in her way. Flow like water and you will overcome even the most difficult obstacles.