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.

Steal This Drill: Handicap Tennis

Here are some good drills to try when you're either trying to mix things up or are practicing against a player who is not as good as you. Often times, playing against a weaker player might cause a better player to lose his concentration turning the practice into a hit and giggle session. In an ideal world, you should be able to have a focused practice against anyone but we realize that that's not always the case. Furthermore, there are some nutty parents out there who think that their kid is so much better than his peers that playing against them would be a waste of time. While that may very well be the case, competitive practices can still be arranged by playing against someone who is one or two levels below you if you put ego aside and your creative hat on.

In the first drill, set up the court (with athletic tape - yes, I go through quite a few rolls) so that the corners are marked off, more or less, as shown. If the weaker player hits the corner(s), s/he wins the point automatically. The stronger player's objective is to hit the types of shots (pace, depth, spin, placement) that cause the weaker player to have difficulty controlling. In addition, the stronger player would have to scramble to defend the corners - even taking balls out of the air. Play either regular sets or games up to 11, 15 and 21. Against players who are not quite that weak, you can set up only 1 or 2 "target areas". 

In the second drill, the court is set up so that the weaker player automatically wins the point if he hits it deep (blue) and the stronger player automatically loses if he hits the ball short (red). Again, these are great drill for evening the odds, for ensuring that both players practice with a purpose and for ensuring that both players stay focused throughout the practice. As we stated in the past, as long as you are motivated and focused, you can play against anybody and still have a very good and beneficial practice. You don't always have to play with someone who is better than you in order to get better. By handicapping yourself (whether by setting up targets, playing "down 0-30", playing in ankle weights, playing with one serve, playing with a wooden racket, etc.) you can still improve a great deal. You will learn to see the court in a different light and develop the necessary insticts to be a great tennis player. 

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. 

Dream Big

The following contribution comes from Richard Johnson. I first met Richard when he would come out to the desert in order to visit his brother David. Richard's always had a huge game that was supported by a solid foundation and a top-notch attitude. Playing points against him is never easy. He will make you work hard for every point and, with a relentless attacking game, you need to come up with a lot of good returns and passing shots just to get close. It goes to show the positive impact of developing solid fundamentals early and continuing to polish them through the development stages. Here's a quick bio (please check the upwards progression through the rankings): 

Quick Bio: #1127 ATP in 2008; Played #2-4 singles senior year and # 1 doubles as captain at Pepperdine; Member of 2006 Division 1 NCAA championship team; 12's: top 150 in nation, top 5 in Intermountain section, #1 in colorado; 14's: top 70 in nation, top 3 in intermountain, #1 in Colorado; 16's: top 30 in nation, # 1 in intermountain section and in colorado; 18's: top 10 in nation, # 1 in intermountain section (round of 16 of Kalamazoo supernational). 

Dream big and keep your goals in mind. After the novelty of tennis and travelling a little wears off, you need a dream and goals to do the amount of training and get through long and tedious practices. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a famous pro. I think that too many kids and parents are afraid to admit their true goals because they are afraid of being ridiculed for having unrealistic plans. Who cares if it is  unfashionable to want to be great at something?!

Becoming a great tennis player and being educated and successful at other things are not exclusive. The higher your goals are, the better tennis player you are likely to become. The better tennis player you become, the better your fallback options will be. If you try to go pro but can't quite make it, your consolation will be a full scholarship to your choice of top universities.

If you dream, have high goals, and are serious about those goals, the rest will follow. No one knows which 10-16 year old is going to “make it” until they are already winning ATP level matches. The two most successful players from my generation were John Isner and Sam Querrey. They were not the “chosen ones.” My point is that you need to keep working and have a long term vision that isn’t thrown off by every loss or frustration. You don't know when things will click, how your body will develop, and what opportunities will come your way. The players who end up being successful keep working for as long as they played tennis.

Your goals need to be front and center in your tennis. You need to decide on them and think about them often, because if you step on the court or go to a tournament without the motivation that comes with wanting to achieve these goals, it is too hard to practice right and it is a waste of time. If you keep working while being serious about your goals, you will train right and play right. If you are serious about your high goals and keep them in mind, there is no way you will tank matches, get pissed, or waste time on court because you will realize there is no time for that.

Think about the physical aspects of the game. You can't control their mind. You can't will the ball to do anything, and "trying harder" isn't specific enough. Try harder to do specific things like getting split for every ball, increasing your racket head speed,  and analyzing what is working. Focus on the things that you are told every day but take years to master. Once you do everything right, do it every point, relax and don’t let anyone tell you you aren't trying hard enough. 

Richard, we thank you for your contribution and great words of advice and wish you the best in all your future legal and tennis endeavors. 

Video: Running Through The Approach

In this example, Jarko Nieminem efficiently runs through the approach shot to venture into the net. There are many ways to get to the net and this is just another avenue to reach the net that is at your disposal.  Notice how the feet never stop moving as he takes a controlled swing which allows him to get closer to the net.  People who have a hard time hitting winners from the baseline should look to employ this strategy into their games as it: 

1)  Takes time away from the opponent

2)  Applies lots of pressure on the passer

3)  Provides you with the opportunity to get closer to the net to hit volley winners

Have fun knocking off volleys and enjoy!