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.  

Steal This Drill: Figure 8 Game with Serve

I should probably start making videos of certain entries, but unfortunately, I don't have a single volunteer to film me because I hit with my players!  I'll work on it.  In this Steal The Drill, we want to take the ever so popular (dreadful to most) Figure 8 drill to another level with added variations.  For those of you who don't know what a Figure 8 drill is, it is where one person goes crosscourt and the other person goes DTL (down the line).  

In my variation, the server is serving the entire time in a game to 15.  The server must go crosscourt and the returner must go down-the-line (except on the return where the returner can go anywhere).  Once the return is in play, the server can rip the first ball crosscourt for a winner.  Since everyone knows the figure 8 pattern and where the next ball is going, the game can be played at match speed.  

I love this drill for several reasons:

1) Working on your serves during practice instead at the end of practice.  Too often we practice serves standing around, saved for the end of practice.  The problem is serves should be practiced when you are tired, huffing and puffing.  

2) Everyone knows where the ball is going, therefore you can work on your anticipation and defense.  It should be very difficult for anyone to hit a winner since you know their next move.  

3) Forces you to use the entire court and hit the ball in a way that will not hurt you on the next shot.  For example, if you are changing the direction of your FH to go DTL and you are in a slightly poor position off the court and behind the baseline- you should hit your FH in a way that gives you a play in tracking down the next shot.  

4) Builds mental toughness.  There are no easy points if both people are hustling and willing to make shots on the run.  Can you play when there are no obvious way to win a point?  Can you play when your heartrate is up?  

Added variation: 1 person goes 2 Crosscourts and 1 DTL while the other person only goes Crosscourt.    

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.   

Keep Things Simple For Doubles Success

Not only is playing doubles fun but it is also a great way to ensure that your singles game will improve. However, the improvement will be limited if you and your partner keep exiting the draw sooner than you should. Because of the dimensions and characteristics of the game, doubles require a different approach than singles. It is not so much about beauty or protracted tactics but about aggressivess and subtle strategy. Think: percentages. 

Here are some tips to help you and your partner win more matches (remember: the more doubles matches you win, the better of a player - doubles AND singles - you will become): 

1. OUTSIDE/OUTSIDE; INSIDE/INSIDE ("OO-II"): This generally means that the net player should cover the spot that is hit by his partner. For example, if the partner hits the ball towards the outside of the court (e.g., into the doubles alley), the netman should cover the line. If the partner hits the ball into the center of the court, the netman should move to cover more of the middle. OO-II will reduce the possibility that the opponent will hit the ball "BY" you. In other words, by covering the line (outside) or center (inside), the opponent will be forced to hit a shot that crosses in front of the netman - giving him the opportunity to pick away some volleys. If the netman's partner hits the ball "outside" and the netman covers the middle (inside), the opponent has a clear target down the line where he could hit the passing shot. In the same vein, limit the number of times you cross on your partner's out-wide serve. If, on the deuce side, your partner slices the serve out wide and the netman crosses, the returner will be able to burn a down the line return without an obstacle in the way. If the netman holds his ground on the outwide serve, the returner will be forced to take that serve in the middle of the court - hard to do with a netman in the way who is ready to cherry-pick any timid replies. 

2. THUMP-HIGH; STICK-NET; DROP-LOW: Inexperienced players tend to overcomplicate the volleys. Sometimes, I see players trying to drop-volley balls on top of the net or hammer balls below the net. Then these players get frustrated when their shot selection doesn't pan out. The great doubles players keep things extremely simple. The pace of the game is too quick to experiment with elaborate plays. So, when faced with a volley, remember the following: A) Balls that are "on top" of the net (2 feet or more) should be hammered down - preferably at an angle. Try to drop volley these, and the gravity will make the ball bounce high thereby enabling the opponents to get to the ball. Take away this possibility and just thump the ball out of your opponents' reach; B) Stick deep volleys that are net level (net level - approx. 2 feet). Balls that are net-height are more difficult to be angled away or drop-volleyed. Therefore, stick them deep and look for the opportunity on the next shot. Treat these balls as set-up shots. C) Drop-volley balls that are below the net. If you're close to the net and the opponent's shot has dipped below the net, try to drop volley the ball. A good drop volley will cause the opponent to pop up a response which you and your partner should put away. If you're farther away from the net, stick these volleys deep and transition your way to the net, however, from close up, the angle over the net is far too steep to do anything but try to drop volley the shot. 

3. GIVE YOURSELF A LIMIT: Too many times, players tend to rally cross-court from the baseline without rhyme or reason. Doubles is about percentages. The first team to get to the net usually wins the point. Therefore, if you're a singles player who uses the same strategy (consistency) in doubles force yourself to become more aggressive; take some chances. Tell yourself (and your partner) that on the 3rd (or 4th, or 5th...) shot you're coming in "come hell or high water". This mentality will assist you in becoming a more proactive doubles player. If you KNOW that you have to be in on the 4th shot, your 1st, 2nd and 3rd shots will be more and more aggressive. In other words, instead of passively waiting for something to happen, you will start making things happen. In the beginning, you will struggle with this mentality...it's something new. You certainly wouldn't come in off some of these shots in singles. However, the psychological implications of doubles (quciker pace; your partner assisting you) as well as the court characteristics make it very attractive to come in even on balls that would be considered high-risk in singles. Once you become proficient at coming in off a variety of balls, covering the ground and making shoelace level pick-ups, your singles game will improve along with your doubles game.

4. KEEP THE NET-PERSON HONEST: Once a game (at least), you and your partner should decide to take a return down the line towards the net person. Before the game starts, talk to your partner and decide which one of you will - even if the opening isn't really there - take the return right towards the net-persons head. Sow the seeds of doubt by making the net person volley even if she's not looking to volley on that particular play. Keep her honest and send the message that you're not afraid to go down the line. By picking a target in advance, you will hit a much more solid return than you would had you tried to change direction after the net-person signals that she's moving. Chances are that a good down the line return will cause the net player to miss eliciting "I'm sorry" or "my bad" apologies. Do this enough times, and it's likely that the player will retreat to her shell not wanting to touch any more volleys out of fear of letting down her partner. This is exactly what you want: one player (preferably both) to completely disengage from the game. When your opponents are split by doubt and communication breaks down, your chances of success in doubles will improve dramatically.

Steal This Drill: Confusing The Feet

One of my goals as a coach is to confuse the feet and make it unpredictable like it were match.  One way of accomplishing that is to feed the ball in a way (bounce ball) that makes them feel uncomfortable.  Just like in a match, you don't know what is coming.  Nobody knows, so you gotta be on alert.  This drill forces you to be quick, ready to dance, ready to pounce on an unpredictable ball to the open court.  The bounce ball off a live ball creates a heavy ball, one that is bouncing away from the player OR into the player- this requires impeccable footwork to hit a penetrating ball into the open court.  In this drill I am rather tame, but you can ratchet up the intensity by feeding the first ball deep after she was short in the court, forcing her to move up and back more visciously.  She must let the first ball drop.  

A good way to know if you are training a softie (one who needs things to be perfect) is to whip out this drill. The softie wants to be fed out of the basket, talk about the technical ins and outs of the forehand follow through, as if that were the main issue.  The tough cookies get up to the challenge, try to manhandle the ball before the spin takes a hold of them.  Tennis is extremely unpredictable!  The ball is never where you want it or expect it, so from a mental standpoint, this is a great drill.  Different strokes for different folks, so the goal is to work on your footwork and be accurate with the ball, however that works for you.  Coordination is a very personal thing.  

This variation is called "One To Me, One Away."  Be creative, you can have a player hit 10 balls in a row to you where you mix up bounce balls or regular volleys.  Again, the theme is to confuse their feet, see if they can be speedy around the court, like a CountryWide Mortgage Officer closing a deal on a 26 year old with bad credit.