Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable

Part of reason why I love tennis so much is that it mirrors life so well. On a daily basis I’m able to teach children and adults alike important lessons that can help them improve not only their game on the court but also their outlook on life.

Just yesterday I was reminded abruptly of one of these examples. In an attempt to gain some strength and weight I’ve been lifting weights with a trainer once per week for the last 8 months or so. My natural body type is very thin and my metabolism runs like that of a humming bird to boot so gaining mass and muscle is extremely hard work for me. Of course I get very little sympathy when I talk about this “problem” and I completely understand why, but just trust me when I say that I really push myself hard in the gym for small gains bit by bit.

So yesterday I was laying on the weight bench doing work on what I’m weakest at: the bench press. Believe me when I tell you this; when I do bench press with my trainer I’m extremely uncomfortable through most of the process. I start out by lifting only the bar to warm up, 30-40 reps. After that we add enough weight that I can only push the bar up six or eight times before I can’t do it anymore with stretching in between to get my left shoulder fully loose.

Now the uncomfortable part comes. We do sets with the same amount of weight that I could only do six repetitions with before but this time my trainer assists me after I am not able to push up the weight anymore with my own strength. I struggle hard against the weight and he helps me just barely enough to allow the bar to raise slowly back up to the top. After doing this four or five times we do the reverse, he pulls the weight up for me up to the top and then I try my hardest to keep the weight up as it falls back down to my chest. When the bar gets to my chest he pulls it back up and I push my hardest against it as it falls again down to my chest.

Please understand that my muscles were maxed out after the first six pushes up towards the ceiling and my trainer just “helped” me do another six on top of that, I’m working at least twice as hard as I ever could if I were working out on my own. This is a huge struggle for my body and it’s extremely hard work, it’s an uncomfortable place to be.

Without this discomfort and effort I’d never see the gains that I want to in my strength and weight. So much of life is this way, to gain what’s valuable we have to be willing to put ourselves out there and pay a price. As the old saying goes: “No pain, no gain” right? Very few good things in life are free, things that we can just walk up and take without any kind of sacrifice.

So let me ask you this: how often are you uncomfortable with your tennis? Are you stuck in a rut with your practice sessions? Have you been doing the same drills and hitting with the same people month after month or year after year? Maybe you don’t even have practice sessions per say, but rather get togethers with your tennis pals to hit balls around and enjoy each others company.

Is there anything wrong with being comfortable or just playing tennis to have fun and enjoy yourself? No of course not, I love watching recreational players play simply for the fun of it. Everybody has different goals and aspirations on the tennis court and if yours is simply to have a good time and get a bit of exercise then that’s great.

If you’re STILL reading this blog article, however, then I’m positive that you don’t fit into that group of players. You want to play the best possible tennis that your body and mind can allow for don’t you? In that case learn to enjoy getting out of your comfort zone on the tennis court both in practice and in competition. Are your overheads the weakest part of your game? Have somebody hit lobs to you until you make 50 of them to each side of the court. Are you scared to sign up for that USTA tournament at your local tennis club because every time you’ve played on you get terribly nervous and choke? Go sign up for it! Do you hate playing certain types of players on the court? Go find some of them at get their phone numbers, start hitting with them on a regular basis. Find what challenges your game technically and mentally the most and then put yourself right smack dab in the middle of it!

If you want to continue growing as a player in this great game you have to put yourself outside of your comfort zone, it’s the only way that you’ll continue to advance at a regular pace. Another great way of doing this is to find a “trainer” for your tennis game, a certified tennis professional. Just as my physical trainer pushes my body way farther than I ever could myself a tennis pro can push your technique, mental game, and strategy to the max much easier than you could yourself. After a while what used to be uncomfortable for you will become routine and no big deal, then go out and find more things to work on!

Now get out and find what makes you uncomfortable! Work on those things and your game will improve.

Excuses: Just Say No

What a crippling habit making excuses can be, essentially what they are is a “get out of jail free” card for not performing in such a way that we know is possible if we just put our minds to it. I’d like to take a few minutes to outline some of the most common excuses that I hear on the tennis court. Along the way I will hopefully also encourage you to start using less of them and empower you to increase the level of your game at the same time.

Around two years ago I actually started keeping track of all the excuses that I hear on and off the tennis court that people give regarding a match, stroke, or ability to execute something tennis specific. I had an idea to create a funny/satirical gift book with cartoon drawings illustrating each tennis excuse taking place with the player giving their cop-out of choice. Once I started listening for them specifically it really amazed me how often excuses were used during the course of just an hour of play and my list quickly grew. I put that project on the wayside, however by the time I stopped working on it I had three main categories of excuses and over 80 of them that I had recorded.

Alright, without further adieu here’s my top 3 excuses:

1. “The shot was was too easy.”

Wow do I hate this excuse and if you’ve used it before I apologize but come on, really? I understand the premise perfectly well but it’s just not legitimate. What this comes down to is focus people, the easier the shot the less excuse there should be to miss it. If you commonly find yourself setting up a long point and finally getting to the pay off where you have the open court and an easy ball only to dump it on a regular basis into the net it’s time you start buckling down and really focusing on only two things: the ball and your target. That’s it. Do not allow any worries or negative thoughts into your head like “what if I miss this! I’ll look like an idiot!”. Conversely don’t take this easy shot too lightly either and lose concentration by saying “Yes, I’ve got them!” only to look away from the ball and shank it off your frame.

2. “You jinxed me!”

In my teaching I hear this one constantly and it drives me crazy as well. The scenario typically goes somewhere along these lines: Player hits great shot or is participating in a good rally. Pro or other player compliments said player on their accomplishment. Player misses badly on the very next shot and proclaims “Thanks a lot! You jinxed me!”. Once again this comes down to concentration and focus. Perhaps it’s human nature to hear a compliment and immediately think “Wow I’m really doing it, don’t screw up now!” but you have to start building up your tolerance for outside distractions and mental weakness. Next time somebody compliments you on a great shot or rally instead of expecting the worse say to yourself “Darn right! I’m going to keep it up!” and focus on continuing your excellence as long as possible rather than assuming something bad is around the corner. Basically whatever we dwell on is going to have a strong possibility of actually occurring, what do you allow your mind to dwell on?

3. “I didn’t think it was coming over” or “I didn’t think it was going in”.

Again low focus and concentration. Make a commitment to yourself every time that you step onto the practice or competitive court that you will hustle 100% for every ball. Did I say hustle after every ball that you “think” will be going in play? No, I didn’t. Hustle after every single ball no matter what the circumstance. One of my coaches during my competitive career used to always say “There are no subjective decisions” when it came to going for a tennis ball. When one of my teammates or myself would stand and watch a ball travel out by 6 inches without having moved for it he would become livid. Seem a little harsh? After all, the ball was actually out, we had won the point! But what if we were wrong?

I know that just like myself you’ve literally stood there and watched as a ball landed on the line that you had assumed was going out or was going to hit the net, often times these are balls that we could have easily reached had we not been mentally and physically lazy. So don’t make any subjective decisions on the tennis court, there’s only one response when the tennis ball is hit by your opponent: you WILL move towards the ball. Don’t hesitate or think it over, just move every single time. Not only will you start building better habits but more than likely your reaction time and physical speed will increase as well.

In Conclusion

What do all three of these excuses have in common? They’re mental errors that were made and the player using them has refused to take personal responsibility for them. As long as you continue to let yourself off the hook with these excuses and others like them your game won’t advance as far as it possibly could. Start taking responsibility for your actions and mistakes, your game and mental toughness will be better for it!

Winter Warm Up: Dusting Off Your Tennis

For most of the US the whether is just starting to warm up, and I’m sure all of you are just as excited as I am to get out in the sunshine and play some tennis again! Few things are more satisfying to me than getting outside to participate in some kind of physical activity, especially when it’s competitive in nature.

For a lot of people outdoor tennis is all that’s available to them, or maybe they’re just not able to afford the pricey indoor courts at a local club during the colder moths of the year. Either way it’s very often challenging to get back into the swing of things after a long period away from the game. Today I’m going to write an article covering the four main obstacles you’ll face as well as the best ways to overcome them if you’re just getting ready to get back into tennis after a long winter break.

Physical

Alright, be honest, have you done your best to keep in shape during the off season? If you haven’t don’t feel badly, it’s difficult to stay motivated to work out and stay in optimal shape during the winter. Even if you have made an effort to do so, it’s very difficult to duplicate the dynamic movements and variety of physical skills needed to keep your body in tennis playing shape. So one way or the other you’ll probably have to get yourself back to playing shape quickly. Here’s a few things you can do to get your body ready for hitting the courts.

1. Jump rope. Jumping rope is excellent exercise and will work several different areas essential to your tennis play at the same time including: calves, ankles, eye-hand coordination, and cardiovascular endurance.

2. Agility ladder. I love the agility ladder, we have three of them here at the club and I often use more than one at a time when doing cardio tennis drills. If you’re not familiar with this product check out this video showing some sample drills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTN7MPFNZ00&feature=related

3. Cross training. By playing other sports you can target different skills relevant to tennis and keep them sharp. My personal favorites are basketball, racket ball, paddle tennis, and badminton. All of those sports have strong conditioning elements as well as footwork/agility and hand-eye coordination.

Technical

Fully expect that after a long break from the courts your technique is just not going to be what it was before. Tennis is a very complicated sport, made up of countless motions and motor skills. Without regular practice our feel, timing, creation time, and muscle memory all suffer.

Unfortunately the only really good way to combat this is just to get back out onto the courts again as soon as possible, and as often as possible once you do get going. When you do get out there and start to hit make sure that your practice time is well spent and focused. Give yourself specific targets to aim for, and a specific goal to obtain for each stroke that you drill. For example, rally cross court forehands with your practice partner until you’ve both hit 20 of them inside the singles court and past the service line. This kind of purposeful repetition will get your game back to feeling normal much more quickly than just “hitting around” without any focus.

If you have the ability to, go take a group or private lesson from a certified tennis professional. They’ll give you practice in a more controlled environment, and can suggest ideas to help improve your technique and strategy as well.

Mental

In my opinion it’s very important that in general you don’t come back to the court with unreasonable expectations. Often times I have private lessons with players who have taken several weeks or even months off without hitting at all who are annoyed and even angry at their performance on the court. I’m not saying that you should expect the worst, and go out with a negative attitude, hitting the net with ground strokes and thinking “see! I knew I’d be no good!”. But on the other hand you must realize that you simply won’t perform at 100% your first time out after a long break, and most likely not for several other practice sessions after your first one either.

One of my favorite things to talk about mentally is just the simple ability to appreciate being on a tennis court in general. You’re outside for the first time this year, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the air is fresh. You get to run around outside and participate in a sport that you love! Rather than set your focus on performance and how good or bad you feel your first few times out keep in mind how great it is just to be there instead. Eventually I want you to shift your focus over to your performance, but only after you’ve given yourself ample time to get comfortable on the court again.

Equipment

This one is kind of a no brain-er, but I wanted to make sure I covered it quickly. If your racket has been sitting in the garage or (God forbid) in the trunk of your car for five months it should definitely be re-strung. Tennis string naturally loses it’s tension and feel over time, make sure that before you head out and play for the first time some fresh string is put in. If you have more than one racket get them all done at once so that if one breaks two months from now you’re all set.

Other equipment to check includes: grip, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, water bottle, and shoes!

By following some of the suggestions above I hope that your transition into the outdoor season is smooth and pleasurable.

Is winning the "only thing"?

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “winning isn’t everything, it’s the ONLY thing”. I must admit that in the past I pretty much subscribed to that sentiment, being a naturally fierce competitor and having taken my tennis career very seriously. After all winning is the point of competition right? Why would you go out to play if you didn’t want to come off the court the victor?

Well I’ve matured over the years since college, and have started to change my attitude towards losing tennis matches, or paddle matches, or even at paper/scissors/rock.

Losing: better get used to it

We’re going to go ahead and get the biggest thing out of the way first here. Losing is just a natural part of competition, if somebody comes out a winner, then clearly there must be a loser as well. I don’t care how good you are, or what it is you’re the best at, eventually you’re going to lose. Please don’t misunderstand my point here, I’m not stating this to be negative or pessimistic in the least, I’m simply stating the realities of participating in a competitive sport. The sooner you accept this the better. Why? Because it gives you permission to play freely on the court, it relieves pressure when you no longer feel that if you lose you’re a bad person because it should never happen to you.

Does this mean that you should be satisfied and OK with losing a tennis match? No, certainly not, you should never be satisfied with a loss. The best players in the world continue to win because they absolutely hate to lose, and fight with everything they have to keep it from happening. But wait, didn’t I just get done telling you to get used to losing?

This is the most difficult part of being involved in anything competitive and striving for excellence, the balancing out of these two ideas. Once you accept that losing is just the way things go for you improvements will cease, after all why try if you just lose all the time? After a short while with this attitude you will begin to actually expect a loss every time you walk out on the court, and this attitude rarely results in a win. If you don’t feel like you should ever lose and it’s just unacceptable, when (not if) you do lose your attitude and emotions will be terribly negative, and you’ll probably learn nothing from the experience at all, you’ll just walk away saying “he got lucky” or make a long list of excuses.

So learn to balance these things in your head, the earlier you can do this the better. Fight with everything you have both physically and mentally each and every time you step out onto a tennis court to play a competitive match, leave everything on the court knowing that it’s always possible to come away the victor. On the other hand when the losses do come take it in stride, understand that it’s just part of the process and do your best to learn as much as possible from the experience. Putting your finger on a specific reason why you lost will give you something to work on the next time you hit the practice court.

Learning how to be a winner

Everybody knows at least one person in their club, community, or general tennis circle that just seems to win more than everybody else. When they do lose it’s generally a pretty big deal, and whoever caused them to fall did something exceptional, at least in the eyes of everybody else who usually loses to this player. It’s important to understand that this isn’t an accident, when somebody creates a pattern of winning over and over it’s because they’re a great competitor, they’ve learned how to win. Don’t put it in your head that you always lose to this player because “they’re just better” than you are. Clearly if you don’t ever beat them then they are, however don’t think that just because you haven’t beaten them before it means you can’t pay close attention to their tendencies, weaknesses, and strengths to create a battle plan.

Each time you lose you should be paying close attention to what’s happening all around you, both on your side of the net and the other. There are many specific reasons why you’re not ahead at any given point in time, learning to identify them is the first step to winning more matches. If you figure the reason out but you don’t have the skills or abilities to counter the cause of you being behind then make sure this is the first thing you work on improving next time you go out to practice. This process of self awareness, analysis, and subsequent work on your weaknesses is how you can build yourself up and learn to be a winning tennis player.

Fuel Your Motivation

Lastly, when you do lose, not only should you be taking away technical and strategical elements to work on and improve, but you should be taking that healthy disappointment of not coming out on top and funneling it right into your practice sessions. Let that sour taste in your mouth motivate you and use it to ramp up your effort level and focus. When you lose a match don’t dwell on the fact that you lost, but rather quickly shift your focus to what you’re going to do that will cause you to win next time, and then take that fire in your belly out on the court and give it everything you’ve got.

Lots of great things can come from losing if you’re just paying attention and have a healthy attitude about it. Don’t be satisfied with it, let it drive you and motivate you, then get out and work on improving your game!

Tennis Strategy: Pay Attention!

By nature I typically approach my teaching very technically, I enjoy analyzing technique and building a solid stroke for my students one correction at a time. That’s all well and good, but there comes a time where technique will only get you so far. Yes of course without good technique hitting effective shots is much more difficult, if not impossible depending on exactly what shot we’re talking about. However, the ways in which you specifically use your technique during points can be far more important than how you actually swing at the ball in terms of actually winning or losing a tennis match. At the club level we see this play out all the time as the scrappy player with terrible technique beats a much “better” opponent than himself.

Before I get into how best to build a strategy and play smart tennis I’m going to give an example of how this looks when done poorly. This instance happened during a lesson I taught recently, and is a great example of a tennis player just not paying attention to whats going on across the net from them.

Not Paying Attention

I typically see this student 6 or 7 times per month, and his strokes have improved a great deal since we started working together about 6 months ago. Currently he’s playing at around a 3.5 level, maybe a lesser 4.0 on a good day. I’ve recently been taking note of his point play when I see him competing against other members, and decided to give him a little test during our lesson.

After doing our typical warm up and several ground stroke rally drills I told him we would be playing a baseline game up to 10 points. We both started in the middle of the baseline, I fed him a ball right down the middle of the court, and then we played each point out. It’s no secret to anybody that I like my forehand better than my backhand, but today I switched things up to make a point. I made up my mind before the first point was even played that I would take every backhand and hit it very aggressively cross court to my students backhand side. On my forehand side I would open my racket face up, and push a high floating slice right to the middle of the court.

We played out a whole game with me sticking to this strategy, attacking on every backhand to the same place, and not hitting one forehand with any strength or depth what so ever, just pushing it back in play.

I won the game 10-3. Over and over he fed me backhands which I crushed over to his weaker side. Over and over I floated my forehands harmlessly to the center of the court. When it was all said and done I probably had hit about 75% backhands or so, and needless to say we had a long talk after the game was over.

Paying Attention

This player lost a game to me badly simply because he wasn’t paying attention to what was going on. In our talk after the game I asked him why he had lost. His first answer was “I just made too many mistakes!”. Well yes, he did make some technical errors during the game resulting in unforced errors, however that was definitely not the biggest problem here. Not even close. I asked him what his strategy was. “Well I was trying to hit it to your backhand, it’s your weaker side.” Well usually it is, he was correct. However in the past 13 points he had failed to notice a complete reversal in my baseline game, that’s three games worth of points!

So often players are so caught up in their own game and the most important information during a match completely passes them by. What you should be watching for is common sense and may be shrugged off as obvious by many readers, but let me encourage you to make a mental note of these things and actively search for them next time you play competitively. The more serious you take this topic the better of a competitor you’ll become.

Weaknesses

If you’re playing below a 4.5 level, your opponent will most likely have at least one part of his or her game that is significantly weaker than whatever their strength is. Very rarely do club level tennis players have a completely even game in terms of competence in every type of stroke and skill. Your job is to find this area or areas as early as possible, often times this can be done in the warm up before the match even starts. Do they avoid their forehand or backhand during baseline rallies? Do they skip warming up their volleys or overheads? Do they miss a certain shot more than others or seem uncomfortable performing a certain type of stroke? Once you find out what their weakness is, exploit it as early and as often as possible, and keep going to the well until either they lose the match or adapt and adjust.

Strengths

Equally as important as noticing weaknesses is becoming aware of what the strengths in their game are. These are parts of their game that you should try to avoid as much as possible, unless you’re hitting there in order to set up a chance to hit at their weakness more easily. Seems obvious I know, but I can’t even begin to count the amount of approach shots I see hit from the middle of the court to an opponents stronger side which come back as passing shots. Find out what your opponent prefers, and make sure they get to use it as little as possible.

Patterns and Tendencies

The vast majority of players have a certain direction they prefer to hit most of their shots, like a forehand cross court, a backhand volley angled sharply, or an overhead hit inside out. Pay very, very close attention to this so that you can start anticipating your opponents shots as early as possible, and begin reading their intent with each shot. Also many players have certain combinations of shots that they enjoy hitting, like an approach shot down the line and then a volley cross court, or a cross court forehand followed by an inside out forehand etc. Your job is to notice these targets and patterns as quickly as possible so that you can start to cover the court more effectively and get more comfortable on the court.

Put it All Together

Using all of the information gathered in the areas above you can start to put together a strategy to beat your opponent, one that’s actually appropriate and effective! Individually each of these ideas is quite simple in concept, but so few players are truly good at putting them all together to defeat another player. So start paying closer attention on the tennis court to whats happening across the net, you’ll win more matches!

The Change We Need? Don’t be Insane

I’m not sure where this quote originated from, or even what the exact wording is, but I’ve heard it several times:

“Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity.”

I’m sure this isn’t anywhere near a clinical definition of the word, but you can certainly see the point of the original author. How can you think your results will be any different if the process you follow is the same?

Unfortunately this is often the attitude many tennis players take regarding their games, without really knowing it or thinking about it. These players fall into two main categories, and I’d like to spend a few minutes writing about one of them. These players get trapped doing the same thing again and again and again, stalling their improvement and sticking themselves in a rut. Hopefully reading about this type of player will motivate you to work on your own game!

Old Dogs and Old Tricks

I used to deal with these types of players all the time in my lessons, however after being at my current club long enough to build a reputation for my style of teaching I see them less and less. These players typically are somewhere around middle aged, and have been playing tennis for at least a couple years, often times a decade or two. When I first graduated from college and started teaching, the “Old Dogs” would drive me absolutely crazy. Why? I couldn’t believe that an active tennis player would sign up for a private or group lesson, and then tell me that they didn’t want to change their strokes. What?? Isn’t that the point of getting instruction? To learn new information, and then apply it to their own games in order to improve? How can you possibly improve without making a change anyway?

Often times the Old Dogs will tell me: “I don’t want to mess up my game trying new stuff, I just want to get better at what I already do.” *sigh* Is it possible to improve your game by getting better at what you already do? Well sure, technically it is, but are you going to jump to completely new levels of play? No, you won’t, not unless big changes are made to your game. There are large fundamental reasons why one player is at a 3.5 level, and another one at 5.0. You can’t take 3.5 level technique and skills, and make them successful at a 5.0 level of play, changes must be made in order to move from one level to the next. Sometimes those changes are substantial, and they may feel uncomfortable at first, but without making them at some point you will get stuck where you are.

One Step Back, Two Steps Forwards

You probably wouldn’t be reading this blog unless you were pretty serious about truly improving your game, the “jump to another level of play” type of improvement. So let me encourage you heartily: have long term vision for your tennis game! Fully expect that when you make changes in your game to conform more closely to high level players thing won’t feel comfortable right away. In fact I’d recommend expecting that it won’t feel comfortable at all for several weeks depending on exactly what the change is, how different it is compared to what you were doing before, and how natural of an athlete you are. Just because it “feels wrong” to you initially doesn’t mean it isn’t technically correct. Trust the person who’s instructing you, assuming that they have the credentials and experience to make them worthy of your trust. Take what they say and go with it completely, commit to the change and give it your full effort. Only then will you get the full potential out of your lesson and out of yourself as a player.

So if you’re truly serious about improving your tennis game, don’t be insane! Find out what changes you need to make, and get working as soon as possible. You can do it.

How to Relax Under Pressure

Increasingly the Essential Tennis Forums are a wonderful place for tennis enthusiasts everywhere to gather and share their problems, triumphs, and other thoughts about tennis. That is where the subject for this blog comes from, it’s a question written there by Darius, who goes by Dariusn in the forums. He wrote and said:

“I noticed recently that after a while, my hitting arm will slightly throb or feel really warm during a match or sometimes during practice when playing a pseudo match.

The sensation will come from the bicep and sometimes the tricep. So I am figuring out that I am arming the ball. I dunno where this is coming from, it is most likely from serving and maybe during a power shot WW forehand. If I continue down this path, I have a feeling that I will development a chronic condition of arm problems.

I know that the key is to relax when playing especially on serve, but it is sometimes hard to do so when adrenaline is pumping especially through a crucial match where you just want to smash the ball out of play for your point or trying to serve it very well. Are there any pointers to staying relaxed even through the most crucial moments during a match?”

You’ve brought up an extremely important topic Darius! Anything we can do to decrease the chances of injury is certainly worth while, since our enjoyment of tennis could hinge on such things.

Physical and Technical Implications

Before I talk about ways to avoid becoming tense during match play I feel it’s important for you to understand exactly how essential keeping your body relaxed is to your progression as a tennis player. There are three main reasons:

Injury

Playing tennis well requires your body to make long, sweeping motions with your arms, shoulders and core as well as very intense amounts of footwork. When you become physically tight your muscles tense up, and are much more difficult to contract and move. Continuing to force them to move over and over as you swing at the ball or sprint towards it puts them under considerably more strain which can quickly lead to an overuse injury such as tennis elbow. Keeping your muscles loose and relaxed so that they can move fluidly and efficiently will help minimize injury.

Efficiency

Even if your tensing up during tennis doesn’t result in a painful injury and time away from the sport, it will still cause you to use up more energy than necessary to compete. Let your body work as its made to by allowing your muscles to move freely.

Better Technique

Day after day I’m on the court with club level tennis players that are literally holding themselves back physically. When you swing your racket should move freely and smoothly, very often lower level players have tight muscles before, during, and after contact with the ball which results in short, jerky swings. From level to level in tennis, very typically the better the player, the longer the swing to achieve more power, spin, and control over the ball. Don’t hold yourself back!

Overcoming Tense Moments

So you might be saying to me now: “Well that’s all fine and dandy Ian, but I can’t control my tension! Every time I play a match and a big point comes up I just tighten up!” Well first of all please don’t think you’re the only one, everybody deals with this from time to time, even the pros, and some people chronically every time they play. Unfortunately there’s no silver bullet to overcoming this, just as everybody has different physical attributes to which certain playing styles lend themselves, each individual player deals with mental issues differently as well. Below are four suggestions you can try to relieve your mind, and in turn your body within a pressure situation.

Focus on Your Strategy

When you’re getting ready to play a really important point in your match, the last thing you want to do is put your mental focus on thinking about just how critical it is that you succeed. Worse yet is thinking about how terrible it would be if you failed, these types of thoughts need to be put out of your head as quickly and as often as possible, and you can do that by replacing them with a solid game plan to focus on. You chose which thoughts to linger on, and which to push aside and ignore, dismiss negative or tension building thoughts and replace them with a strategy to accomplish. This doesn’t have to be complicated at all, it can simply be “cross court return, cross court return”, or “serve to the backhand, volley cross court”. Just make sure its specific and appropriate to your skills and abilities. Give your brain something else to work on!

Focus on the Ball

The most generic advice in all of tennis right? Trust me, focusing on the ball is a powerful mental tool. Just like the suggestion above about focusing on a strategy we’re giving our mind something else to occupy itself with, taking our conscious attention away from how incredibly important this point is perceived to be. I personally use this one very often as I compete (in paddle tennis more than regular tennis lately). As the toss goes up to be hit by the server my eyes are fixed intently on it already, and I often times literally think or even say to myself over and over “ball, ball, ball, ball” as I step forwards and split step to receive the oncoming ball. What could be more important to focus on than the ball? Pretend its just you and it out there and nothing else matters, play the ball and not the situation.

Waiting to Exhale

Make sure that you continue to breathe during a point as you make your strokes. This is why the pros “grunt”, it’s the release of a breath usually timed with making contact with the ball. This release helps relax the body, and therefore get the most possible result from their efforts. If you don’t already release a breath as you hit the ball try it next time you go out to practice, and make it a habit. It doesn’t mean you have to grunt, but as you start hitting the ball stronger and more aggressively you may find one come out once in a while along with your breath!

Enjoy the Pressure!

Some of you out there are saying “What?! Enjoy it? You’re crazy.” This is a mental attitude that can be learned, and I promise you that the vast majority of high level players out there adopt it. Rather than dreading those big points and focusing on how bad it will be if you fail, consider the opposite. How awesome is it that you’re able to get out there to compete against another athlete, and fight hard to contest a match of body and mind. Just being on a court to compete gets me all pumped up and excited, and by the way this excitement is very often referred to as “nerves” by lesser experienced players. Instead of being scared of that big point at the end of the match, relish the idea that you even get to participate in something so cool in the first place. Not only that, but you’re now being presented with an opportunity to show what you’re made up and come away victorious! This is a privilege, and something you should learn to appreciate very much, rather than dread.

Feeling nervous and anxious is completely normal and universal, how you think about it and react to it are totally up to you!

Playing Tennis is a Privilege

Over the past few months I’ve had a topic running through my head that I really want to get out there in the open. It’s one of many topics that I’m writing about as it pertains specifically to tennis, however the lesson can be applied to just about anything in life. That’s one of the many reasons that I enjoy teaching tennis so much, it’s always my hope that people on my court don’t just learn about an athletic skill, but rather learn lessons that can touch many other aspects of life. When that happens my job is truly rewarding. This topic is not unique, it’s not extremely deep or creative, but it’s something I feel very strongly about and simply wish to communicate to all my listeners and readers.

Playing Tennis is a Privilege

My wife and I recently took a trip to the Bahamas, it was our first vacation together by ourselves and we had a very relaxing time which was exactly our goal in mind. Neither of us has done much traveling outside of the United States, and were immediately taken aback by the living conditions on Nassau after coming into port there. The residential areas consisted of run down homes with only a few rooms in them, some were literally only shacks with roofs that were patched together out of corrugated steel. Almost all had garbage littered everywhere outside, sometimes in piles. This may have been easier to stomach if we hadn’t taken our bus tour of the town immediately after a boat ride around Paradise Island showcasing decadent homes of multi-millionaire actors and celebrities. Scenes like this always touch me anyway, but to drive the point home even further, this happened to be during the week of Thanksgiving. Talk about being reminded of what I’m thankful for.

Why am I spending my time and space on a web site talking about sad conditions such as these? Because having experiences such as these gives me such a deep appreciation and thankfulness that I’m able to pursue a leisure activity such as tennis. This appreciation is part of what drives me to do my best every time I step on a court, both in playing and teaching, and it’s my hope that you learn to keep this in perspective as well. Don’t ever take for granted that you have the luxuries of time, money, physical ability, and facilities to go out and pursue excellence in such a wonderful sport such as ours. Some of us have more or less of these luxuries than others, but if you’re reading this article right now chances are you’re much more equipped in all four of these areas than a lot of the people in the world, and for that be thankful!

Unfortunately I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve not always lived up to the noble ideals written about above. I’ve thrown my racket in anger on the court, I’ve been down in a match and allowed my attitude to be sour, I’ve coasted through lessons at the end of long a day on the court. What does this make me? Completely human, and I’m sure you can relate. I’m not proud of any of those things, but I can be proud of my desire and effort to improve all of them little by little.

Next time you catch yourself getting down on the court, only giving partial effort, or complaining about your practice conditions and partner please take a step back, close your eyes, and think for a few seconds. Grip the court with your toes below you, turn the tennis ball between your fingers, feel the sun on your face if you happen to be outside, take a deep breath, and smile. You get to play tennis, what a blessing.

It’s OK to Miss!

There are two very general, main types of tennis players out there. One group is happy to play for the sheer enjoyment of it. Whether it be the exercise, socializing with friends, or just having something to do to get them out of the house. Group number two plays for the challenge of it. This isn’t to say that they don’t enjoy their time put in as well, however there’s more focus involved, a more serious tone is part of their practice and play.

This article is written to group number two.

Ever get angry after missing a shot in tennis? Call yourself names out loud? Have the sudden urge to break the only thing at your disposal (racket)? I can confidently say I’ve done all those things, many times all after the same swing, heh. Why must we take ourselves that seriously, that not hitting a successful shot during an enjoyable, athletic past time should result in such negative emotions?

It’s my goal here at Essential Tennis to not only help you improve your tennis, but learn how to enjoy the process of learning more as well. I’ve personally struggled with lots of negativity in the past, and I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. Below are four reasons why it’s perfectly OK to miss. Chances are that if you deal with anger on the court, one or two of these will resonate strongly with you. If that is the case, I urge you write the phrases down that do, and keep them in mind the next time you play.

It’s OK to Lose

Did you hear me? Losing is a natural part of competition, it’s a bi-product of putting yourself and your game on the line against an opponent. This risk is necessary, without it winning would be meaningless wouldn’t it? Please take a minute to let that sink in and fully accept it. If you compete, eventually you will lose, it’s just a part of the process. It doesn’t make you a bad player, it doesn’t make you a bad person, it makes you a competitor, period.

That means that within every point, every single time you take a swing at the ball there is always a chance that you will win, and a chance that you will lose (miss). Accept this as a fact of tennis, and don’t allow it to bother you and throw you off emotionally when it happens. I guarantee you it WILL happen, so there’s absolutely no sense in getting bent out of shape about it and allowing it to negatively effect your game play. Instead, after a miss quickly critique in your head what the mistake in technique or strategy was, and do your best to improve upon that next time that specific shot occurs.

Accept it: Tennis is Difficult

This has taken a long time for me to accept personally, and I’ve seen several other players reject this fact as well resulting in anger on the court. Tennis is really hard to be truly good at, if you don’t agree with me get ready for frustration, either that or you need to start playing against higher level opponents. When you’re working on improving an specific stroke or strategy don’t be frustrated when attempts to implement it into point play initially fail. Mastering complicated physical movements like tennis and most other sports takes huge amounts of time and concentration, cut yourself some slack and allow yourself to screw it up at first. Of course if you’re continuing to screw it up the same way over and over then take note and figure out why so that you can fix it either then or later. If you don’t know the answer to the question “why?”, then seek out the council of somebody who does, very preferably somebody who answers such questions for a living so the answer will accurate and relevant to your problem.

I find that often times this syndrome is further enhanced by the watching of professional matches on TV. They often times make the game look so easy, in fact more than a few times I’ve heard comments from people who’ve never played before about how easy tennis must be after seeing it on TV. “You just hit it over the net!”

It’s a Tool for Improvement

That’s right, making errors helps you improve your tennis game, that is if you’re paying attention and keeping a good attitude about it. This is one of many life lessons that can be learned on a tennis court: every mistake made gives the opportunity for improvement. Every time you strike a tennis ball and miss the court, or even just miss your target by a little bit, there’s a technical reason why it happened.

I would highly discourage you from taking that statement and analyzing every single shot you hit on the court, however pay attention to patterns of misses. If you miss a short forehand long three times in a row, or four times out of six, there’s a problem there that must be addressed. If you’re smart, you’ll keep a little journal in your racket bag where you can write such things down so that next time you’re on a practice court or taking a lesson the issue can be worked on. In this fashion your game can be continually improved as long as you invest the necessary focus and effort.

So there you have it. Making errors can either throw you into a poor mood hampering your performance and improvement, or be an aid in the development of your game. With the right attitude mistakes can lead to bigger and better things both in tennis and in life.

Flexibility, How it Affects Your Game

I recently got this question from Chris in Maryland via the website:

“Flexibility: every time you see djokovic play, a commentator will mention how flexible he is and how much that helps his game. How do you think flexibility fits into tennis, and how could one work on being more flexible?”

Great question Chris. At first glance it may seem like the main purpose of achieving better flexibility would be to prevent injury, and surely that’s a very important part of it. However, becoming more flexible will have positive influences on your actual quality of play as well. Lets talk about why.

ROM is King

Want more power, more spin, and more depth to your shots? Of course you do, that’s what everybody is looking for in this modern day game of tennis. What does flexibility have to do with that? The more flexible your body is, the greater effective range of motion (ROM) it will have. Having great ROM is extremely vital to hitting high level shots, the reason being a long swing is necessary to create the kind of acceleration needed to create a big shot using your ground strokes, serve, or overhead.

The Equation for Power

When teaching somebody for the first time how to hit a ground stroke correctly I often tell them that the momentum on their shot will equal the length of their swing times the speed the racket was moving at contact. Do you have a short swing? Then you’re going to have to try and accelerate the racket much faster over that shorter period of time than somebody who has a longer more relaxed swing to get the same results as them. The longer your swing is the greater your potential for power and spin. The more flexible your body is, the easier its going to be to obtain that length of swing.

What “Length” Really Means

So I’m imagining you sitting there thinking about making a huge, high looping forehand back swing in order to get more length to your swing, that’s not exactly correct. “Longer” is a relative term. If you’re already a 4.5+ player (which Chris happens to be) then you know how to hit the ball strongly and confidently, chances are you already use your ROM pretty well and other things are going to be a bigger determinant to moving up in level again. If you’re a 3.0 player however, I guarantee that the way you’re swinging now is very short and tentative in comparison, you will have to learn how to make a longer more aggressive swing if you want to improve.

What Part Needs to be Flexible?

Check out Djokovic in that photo at the top, he’s demonstrating ridiculous flexibility there, it’s really amazing. His stance is well over past a closed (right foot over across his left for a backhand ground stroke), and yet he’s been able to fully rotate his shoulders forwards in order to make an aggressive swing. This is where being an incredible natural athlete and training day in and day out pays off on the court for a professional player, these are moves that the vast majority of us can only dream of.

So what parts of your body need to be flexible most for create length and strength in your swings? Core flexibility is huge, that’s what Djokovic is demonstrating above. Also very important is the flexibility of your shoulders, forearms, legs and hips. I won’t get into exactly how to stretch here, but maybe I can do a video lesson with Dr. Jack to show us how!