Hard Work IS the Shortcut

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistance. Talent will not. There is nothing more common then unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world if full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are Omnipotent" (Joe Strummer; former lead singer of The Clash). On a related note, I am a firm believer in the "10,000 hour rule" (see, for example, Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers). That is, it usually takes 10,000 hours of focused work to achieve success in any given field. 

Unfortunately, so many people - particularly parents - hang their hat on talent alone. Often times, I am told by parents that some other coach (sometimes "reputable" a lot of times less than so) regarded their child as "talented". They tend to use this unscientific evaluation as almost a form of justifying skipping out on hard work. Don't fall for this snake-oil! Tennis is not easy; IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT FUN AND ADDICTIVE. 

From my point of view - and realize that I may be wrong (although I am not the only one) - nothing is more OVERRATED or DECEPTIVE as talent. I say that talent is overrated because (a) talent will not get you to the ball; (b) talent will have no bearing on how hard your opponent will work or what he's capable of doing with the work; or (c) talent is insufficient to make you dig deep when you're running on fumes deep in the third set.

Talent, may however, make it somewhat easier for a player to pick up strokes or concepts. This leads to the second criticism in that talent is deceptive. A lot of "talented" players tend to get lazy; they may have early success due their ability to learn quicker than other kids and continue with the same training regimen (e.g. 1 hour a day) throughout their developing years (14 and over). The fact is that 1 hour a day on the court may be sufficient when you're 8, 9, 10 or even 11-12, but it's just not enough when you're moving on to the development stages (Cf. learning stages) of the game. 

As you get older, tennis becomes serious business; there are a lot of players throughout the world who intend to make a living at this game. As a result, they spend hours and hours on the court or in the gym, learning all parts of the game and tempering their bodies and minds for the tough battles. Talented little Johnny who spends an hour a day (maybe) of unfocused hitting will have NO chance against these animals.

 

So my advice is to either remove the word "talent" from the vocabulary or know that, in the great scheme of things, it's meaningless. Beware of snake oil salesmen who sell you the quick-fix (e.g. "she just needs to work on angles" or "he just needs to improve his serve") or gimmicks. Know that hard work - be it in tennis, medicine, law, accounting, computer programming, business or digging ditches - IS THE SHORTCUT; and you have to love every minute of it. 

Challenge Yourself

There are key points in a tough match where you have to dig deep and find the motivation that you need in order to push through the barriers of pain and the obstacles posed by your opponent. You can find yourself at 5-5 in the third set on a brutal, hot and humid summer day. How do you deal with these situations?! The reality is that as you progress in the game, you will face greater obstacles and more momentous occasions. 

To overcome these situations it helps if, in addition to your standard training and workouts, you include some sort of physical challenge into your routine. Be it running up hills (like Andre Agassi or Jerry Rice), sprinting up sand dunes (like Marv Dunphy's Pepperdine volleyball team), running miles through the desert or in the snow, jumping rope for 2 hours straight, biking a century, participating in a survival race or something equally taxing, having an "extra-curricular" training method that is extra tough will assist you on the tennis court. Some of these methods can also improve your overall fitness, so that's a bonus. 

More importantly, however, they make the voice inside your head telling you to keep going louder and more convincing ("you CAN do it", "come on PUSH it"). When you're on the court, you're out there by yourself. You can have 1000 fans supporting you or 1000 fans rooting against you (and if you make the NCAAs you will experience both). But only one voice matters and that's the voice that's inside your head; your INNER COACH. It can tell you to give up ("it's OK to quit; losing's fine") or to keep going ("no pain, Rocky! No Pain!"). If you include a difficult training method into your routine - even if it's once every 2-3 weeks - you can recall the positive voice inside you. You say to yourself "hey, if I did THAT I sure as heck can do THIS." Or, "I'll be darned if I'm going to let this son-of-a-gun run away with this match. He didn't run up those hills in the middle of summer...all by himself! I DID! There's no way he's beating me". 

Incorporate Objective, Periodic Testing in your Preparation

I am sometimes approached by a parent who would like me to help her child improve a certain part of the game (be it the serve, forehand, backhand, etc.). This is great as there are few things that give me as much pleasure as assisting an eager youngster in achieving his objectives. So we warm up, break a sweat and start following the marching order. We take a look at this part of the player's game, start tweaking the stroke a little bit and, at the end, I make some suggestions for improving. Most of the time, I hear back that my input has been helpful but that the stroke still broke down in the match. So we either go back to the drawing board or the player moves to a different coach like a bee from flower to flower.

Short of more repetition, one overlooked method is the inclusion of objective testing in the player's practices. For example, say that the player wants to improve the serve. Great; which part? Power, accuracy, spin, depth? Same with forehand, backhand and volleys. Which component of the shot needs, in the parent/player's opinion, improvement? Without identifying this goal, how do we know when we've achieved it? Much like track athlete wouldn't come to a coach and tell him that he needs to run "better", you cannot tell a tennis coach that the serve "needs to get better". 

We need to first dissect the problem and then remedy it accordingly. Take, for example, the serve. If you want to increase speed, you have to start taking radar gun readings. We need to see if the serve is getting faster and that's one way of doing (actually, it's pretty much the only way). Unfortunately, a lot of players don't like to have their feelings hurt, so they'd rather be blissfully ignorant of the actual speed of their serve as opposed to measuring it objectively and see where they stand against their peers and rest of the world.

Also, let's assume that the player wants to work on accuracy/placement. In order to be accurate, we need a target - initially it will be big; subsequently it will be smaller. So, for a serve, we put together a large circle of targets and see how many times the ball lands in it (given a set number of serves - e.g., 20). Then, we practice for a few weeks and go back to the testing. Again, we use 20 balls and see if the player's improved. Assuming s/he has, we make the circle smaller and test again. We keep track of number to be used as comparison for next time. 

Objective testing is the best method to determine your level of improvement. Of course, matches are method of measuring improvement as well, however, since the opponents are getting better also, that comparison is somewhat of a moving target. Test against yourself in order to track your development from day to day. 

Drop Shots

As much as I love watching a player who exploits the entire court (I am reminded of Federer's win over Soderling in the French Open final), it is disappointing to see a player who uses that particular tactic for the first time in the match. The match is not the first time when you should practice new shots - shots as the drop shot. Unfortunately, too many players either run out of gas or ideas and go for the low percentage shot at a key point in the match. Sometimes they make it; a lot of times they do not. In addition, players sometimes cannot control their urges - if they make the shot, they tend to go to the well over and over again. If they do not, they tend to retry it thinking that "I was so close last time".

The drop shot, just like any other stroke, should be practiced diligently and purposefully. However, baby steps should be taken in order for the player to FIRST develop the control necessary to hit a decent slice. In terms of hitting drop shots, I would recommend that the player practices alternating slices and drop shots in order to develop a feel for each stroke. The ball should be amortized with the legs as much as the arm (i.e., pace should be absorbed with the legs; similar to catching a football that punt). Furthermore, in the developing stages, I would recommend that the player hits the drop shot only after hitting 2-3 decent slices. Not only will this help the player practice his "range" but the opponent may be tricked into thinking that the short shot is in fact a deep slice. 

Nevertheless, how do you deal with a player who hits a drop shot at inopportune times? Well, sprints help. Lots and lots of sprints. You see, we talk to the players but a lot of times they think that they know better. They will continue to go for the high-risk shot if they perceive that there are no negative consequences. But, in a match, such consequences do exist. For example, if you try a drop-shot at deuce and lose the point, now you have to win THREE points in order to win the game. Had you played a solid point and won it, you'd only have to win ONE more point in order to win the game. In other words, a stupid shot costs you in terms of energy. And that's OK as long as you're willing to put in the effort to win those next three points. My favorite solution (rather than begging, pleading and being angry) is to make my players a deal: for every drop-shot (win or lose) at key points (15-30; 30-30; 30-40; 40-40; 40-30), the player will run a sprint (sometimes two). I don't do this to punish the player. I do this to make him understand what's at stake. If he's doing it with the forethought that if the play doesn't pan out he has to work twice as hard in the next two points, it means that the player has evaluated the risks v. the rewards. That indicates that the player is starting to think in advance as to the potential consequences of her decisions. 

Learn From History

To paraphrase the philosopher Santayana, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it with all its mistakes, its agonies, its false turns. It is amazing to see sometimes, however, the multitude of players who fail to learn from their past matches (or matches played in the past by other players). One of the best training tools is the video-camera. Unfortunately, a lot of parents seem to tape their kids' matches for scrap-booking purpose rather than using is as a teaching aid. In terms of learning, you can learn a lot more by watching yourself play and hit the ball than staring blankly at some chart containing raw numbers. 

Are you really going to learn from a matrix showing unforced errors?! Think about it. Do those number tell you WHERE the ball was when you missed it? Will the chart tell you HOW the opponent's shot came (fast, high, spin, angle)? Will the chart tell you WHEN you made the error (important point or regular play)? Will the chart tell you the LENGTH of the point before you missed it (maybe there's nothing wrong with the stroke or the play but you were simply exhausted)? The answer is NO. However, you will be in a better position to dissect your match by watching a tape of it. You can fast forward or rewind to your heart's content and analyze all the aspects of the match. How you missed; how you hit a winner; what was going through your mind; what you were trying to accomplish; your opponent's likes/dislikes; favorable patterns or plays; problem areas; etc. 

A good way to study your matches is by placing a videocamera on top of the fence (center) so that you can view the whole court. When watching it, place a small piece of scotch tape on the TV screen right around the service line "T". Try to follow the ball in comparison to this tape (i.e. the middle of the court). How many times did you hit it away from the middle? How many times did you go for winners when the previous ball was in the middle of the court? How many times did you fail to go for an offensive shot when you had the open court? Where is you opponent standing in comparison to your shots? Try to refine or synthesize some patterns (both positives and negatives) and seek to improve upon them in practice. You will notice that if you have something to compare your shots to, certain "plays" or patterns will be readily apparent. You will be in a better position to anticipate them in the future if you learn from the past.