how to develop the must have mental skills for...

A Practical 7 Step-by-Step Tangible Guide

How to Develop the Must Have Mental Skills for Competitive Tennis Players

Plus, Answers to Your Top 50 Specific Questions

By Brent Abel, www.WebTennis.net

In other words, how to not only mentally keep it together on the court, but how to thrive during a tournament, league, practice match, drill session, or lesson so you can learn, improve, and play up to the best of your ability in both

singles and doubles in a competitive match.

Copyright @ 2008 – Brent Abel and WebTennis.net – All Rights Reserved

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You know, when I first started playing competitive tennis as an adult, I was a mental mess. I’m serious, I could beat someone 6-2, 6-2, and after the match I’d be cramping all the way home in the car. Or I could find a way to lose to someone in a tournament who I could beat each and every time in practice. Drove me out of my little mind… I was so uptight, so nervous, that it was just a miserable experience. I would go on this nasty emotional roller coaster of mostly low emotions after missing another easy shot, desperately wanting to win the next point, getting good and pissed off (yep, a number of my rackets ended up in a different shape than originally manufactured), and basically found excuse after excuse to not play well. And my lack of mental discipline was just that. It was an excuse for playing poorly. I know our tennis association here in the US wants all of us to give it the good old fist pump when we win a point, yell out “come on”, and put on this little show of just how good we are, but displaying those emotions only sets you up for future expectations that rarely happen. It took me quite awhile to finally get organized and realize that my ability to get a plan that worked for the mental part of tennis was the main thing that was going to help me the most to improve my game. I watched and studied all of the good players, I read anything I could find on the subject (which back in the 70s was not much), and I basically experimented on myself until I came up with a system that worked for me. And what I finally discovered was a routine that I have followed that has helped me win (at this time, July 2008) a Tier 1 national doubles title, national singles runner-up, six national 3rd place finishes in singles and doubles, and several more Tier 2 national singles and doubles titles. This is not some ooey-gooey new age garbage that is a bunch of touchy-feely stuff that is impossible to put into practice, no, this is a simple routine that is tangible and anyone can do it. And the key to succeeding at developing mental skills for tennis is not whether or not you can actually do the routine, the key is whether or not you’ve got the guts to practice the routine and make it feel comfortable and natural for you.

I used to think that there was some magic “thing” that I would eventually understand that would be the “secret” to the mental side of tennis. It took me awhile to understand that the mental part of tennis is a life long practice. It’s a process you repeat that helps calm you and allows you to trust your instincts when you play. It’s also a process that helps you improve your strokes and strategies when you drill, take a lesson, etc. One of the biggest mistakes we make in practice and lessons is when we force the natural learning curve. By “force” I mean that we can want the improvement so badly that we don’t go through the full learning process. There is a great book out there by George Leonard titled “Mastery”. It’s a short, no BS, to the point book that will really help you understand how the learning process works. If you don’t have a copy of “Mastery”, pick one up right now over at the following link. Click here. So, most of this guide is so obvious, so easy to understand, that there’s a good chance you’ll think you can just read it and then use it whenever you want to in a match. It doesn’t work that way… The ability to keep it together on the court and use this system is not where you can simply turn it on or off in a match like a light switch. It doesn’t matter what the quality is of your opponent. If you’re playing someone who you can beat everyday, even if you’re in a mental fog, you’ve got to respect the difficulty of maintaining the mental skills of tennis, respect your opponent, and realize that as a human being, if you screw around in a match that you perceive should be easy to win, believe me because I’ve been there and done it, you can find a way to lose. The very last thing you want to do in a match or practice session is to get careless, lazy and develop and/or reinforce bad match play mental habits. It took me a long time to realize that when I went out in a tournament or league match against an opponent that was well below my skill level, those were the matches when I had to really discipline myself to apply these mental skill techniques. I could still beat someone and be lazy mentally during that match, but there would eventually be a price to pay either in the next match or some time soon.

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The mental side of tennis can be extremely easy to take for granted. This is a developed skill. Anyone out there can learn it and use it to their benefit in a match, practice, or lesson. At times it will seem too easy, too simple, too obvious, too blah, blah, blah… Don’t fool yourself thinking you can read this or other material and just turn it on whenever you want. Develop the following mental skills through a never ending practice. Kinda Zen like, yeah, I know, but it won’t work for you any other way. So, follow along, don’t try to reinvent the wheel, and just practice this stuff as I recommend it…


by Brent Abel, www.WebTennis.net ______________________________________________________

Table of Contents ______________________________________________________

Description Page # Link Developing Confidence – The Formula Page 6 Click here Step 1: Understanding the Learning Curve Page 9 Click here Step 2: During the Point – Trusting Your Instincts Page 12 Click here Step 3: Between Points – Your 4 Part Routine Page 15 Click here Step 4: Keeping Your Head Still & Your Eyes

Looking Down Through Contact Page 20 Click here Step 5: Fitness & Seeing the Shot Cycle Page 22 Click here Step 6: Visualization Page 25 Click here Step 7: Pre and Post Match Routines Page 26 Click here Accepting One of Those Days Page 28 Click Here Your Mental Skills Practice Routine Page 30 Click here Wrapping It All Up Page 35 Click here Your Top 50 Specific Questions and My Answers Page 36 Click here Brent’s Stroke and Strategy Lesson Products Page 59 Click here Brent’s Tennis Injury Treatment Products Page 59 Click here Contact – [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

Developing Confidence – The Formula Competitive players and students all want to know what that mental “thing” is that helps you stop being nervous, close out a match when you’re ahead, not choke, etc., etc. And everyone perceives that the answer is some golden nugget that once they hear it, then they’ve got the answer and can all of a sudden become that better player. Sorry. It doesn’t work like that… There is no magic. There is no “ah ha” moment. Developing the mental skills necessary for playing up to your current skill level on a regular basis takes practice. And that practice is based on extremely tangible concepts. Nothing ooey-gooey here, just plain common sense things that you can and must practice if you want to develop mental skills necessary for being a successful competitive tennis player no matter what your current skill level is. And in fact, if you truly want to improve not only your mental skills but also improve upon your stroke mechanics and strategies, you will need to have the necessary mental skills to make that improvement happen. Becoming a better player happens when you become confident with your tennis game. That’s probably pretty obvious to you. But confidence can be a three eyed monster if you don’t regularly practice those things that will help you develop and maintain your confidence. Developing and having confidence doesn’t mean you can go out there and beat everyone on any given day. It simply means that you have the confidence to get out of your own way each time you play a match. Confidence means you can play the game instinctively and not worry that you have to consciously manufacture your strokes and strategies. By definition, instinctively means intuitively, naturally, automatically, without thinking, involuntarily… But with tennis, instincts are simply your own trained knowledge from both your practice sessions and your match play experiences. And to me, playing tennis instinctively simply translates to being able to trust that you will make the correct decision of where and how to execute the next shot, where to move on the court, etc. When I give myself permission to play tennis matches instinctively, I am confident that I don’t have to consciously manufacture my strokes and strategies.

Unfortunately, the term confidence can be such an intangible concept that players often have no idea of how to start to develop it. Confidence can only be developed through a tangible practice routine. And, anyone can achieve it. It simply takes organized and focused practice. It took me awhile to figure this stuff out, but when I did, my improvement as a player happened fairly quickly. I basically found out how to get out of my own way. I was trying way too hard to control everything during the points. Once I stopped trying to consciously control, and instead started trusting that instinctively my mind and body knew what to do, that was the big turning point for me. Trust… And that was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to learn. It was simply how to believe that my practice time could actually come out on its own without me having to manufacture it. And when I realized that on average almost 80% of my matches was spent between the points, not during the points, it made sense to me that I needed to make some changes. So, when I became a better player and enjoyed the most improvement in my game was when I finally realized that what I specifically did between points was the most important part of the match. Remember this concept, because developing confidence in your tennis game is going to be centered on it, and that is, what you do between points will help to better prepare you to allow you to play the points instinctively without fear. Playing without fear… And it’s not necessarily a fear that some crazed person is stalking you with a knife, but it’s more like a consideration on your part of the consequences of something happening that you perceive to be a negative. Fear… If I lose this next point, then the next game, then probably the set, then I’m going to feel like a loser, my social status will take a major hit, and excuse after excuse… As I said above, I used to try and control every point by manufacturing my strokes (reminding myself of each important stroke mechanic every time I played a shot) and by trying to think way too much during the point about strategy, etc. It didn’t work for me…

What finally did work for me was when:

• I considered and eventually committed to who I wanted to be on the court. Once I committed to what type of player, what style of play, and what I had to do training wise to enhance that commitment, that’s when I became a better player. Who do you want to be on the court?

• I consciously managed the time between points and change-overs in the exact same way;

• I trusted that I wouldn’t have to consciously manufacture my strokes during the point. I trusted that the time I spent practicing and drilling my strokes would eventually (after enough practice time) come out on its own in the match;

• I trusted that my instincts would tell me what shot to hit, how to hit it, and where to hit it, and where I should move to next on the court;

• I stopped thinking ahead. I stopped thinking about potential results, win or lose;

• I improved my physical fitness specifically for what we do in tennis and customized my training to enhance my ability to stay visually locked on the moving tennis ball as I was also moving;

• I accepted the fact that there was no way I was going to win every match each and every time I stepped onto the court even if I played to the very top of my skill level.

• I trusted that if I could believe in my instincts during the point that I would give myself the best chance to play well.

• I stopped caring about my perception of the social importance of winning or losing;

• and before matches, rather than how I used to worry about getting beat and how that was going to make me feel, I started to carve out some dedicated time to visualize the way I wanted to be on the court and the eventual result I wanted.

On paper, it all looks pretty darn simple and easy. It’s not. But it’s extremely achievable. This mental thing, especially as a competitive tennis player, takes focused and regular practice on and off the court. And it’s not all mental training. Improving your physical fitness specifically for tennis will automatically improve your mental fitness. OK, let’s get started, and again, this is NOT a quick-fix-solution. I can’t tell you how long it will take you to practice and have this stuff start to pay off for you. We’re all different and it’s going to take more time for some, less time for others. Big deal. Follow this guide, put in your practice time, and I guarantee you will become a much better tennis player.

Step 1 - Understanding the Learning Curve I earlier mentioned a book titled “Mastery” by George Leonard. If you haven’t picked a copy, do so right now. Click here to claim your copy Mr. Leonard explains the reality of the learning curve better than I’ve ever read or heard it discussed before. When we embark on trying to improve upon something, it would sure be nice if we could actually “feel” that improvement each and every time we went out there and practiced. It’d be nice if we could sort of measure our improvement on a graph scale where there is nice predictable gradual straight line up of measurable improvement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. In fact, the reality is this. That graph I mentioned above is full of improvement lines going up, lines coming back down, and lines going horizontally. What’s maddening is when we have a day when we know the improvement line went up only to come out the next day and have the improvement go back down. What’s frustrating is when we feel sort of stuck on that horizontal improvement line that feels like we’re not going anywhere despite the fact that we’re putting in all of this practice time. And yet, one day you realize that the horizontal line you think you’re stuck on is really a new skill level from where you were before.

If you use the illustration to the left as a typical learning curve, you’ll notice that the level horizontal lines which represent new skill levels are preceded by slight downs from peaks.

Where most folks get messed up is thinking that when they peak on the improvement scale that they have now found a new skill level. And it rarely if ever does happen that way. Peaks are normally followed by a slight down that eventually becomes a new and slightly higher horizontal (skill level) than the previous one. For example, I’ve seen way too many 3.5 players practice like crazy, go out and beat a 4.0 and then they now think they’re a 4.0 level player. Unfortunately, reality sets in when they then go out a couple of days later and barely beat or even lose to a 3.5.

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Just because you go out there and beat a player who is currently ranked higher than you are does not mean that you’re now and forever more a higher ranked player. You probably will be IF you continue to practice and work on those areas of your game that need improvement. But the reality is that you’ll experience a slight down after peaking. It’s one thing to intellectually accept the concept of the learning curve. It’s a whole entirely different thing to experience it and not let it drive you nuts. Lots of players peak, start their slight down, and then panic by thinking that they’ve got to try something different than what they’ve been working on so they don’t lose that peak. And that’s when you can’t stop the craziness of the continued downward trend. I’ve been there and done that and it’s enough to make you want to climb to the top of a tall building with a high powered rifle and just let er rip… (Uh, that’s not an option here, OK…?...!) However, if you intellectually understand what might happen after a peak improvement, you’re much more likely to be OK with a slight down in your peak knowing that eventually it’s going to level off to a new and slightly higher skill level than before. I can’t tell you how to make this any easier for you. You’re going to have to experience it for yourself and simply embrace the fact that the learning curve is not and never will be a straight line up… Letting Your Improvement Come To You - I think I must have wasted literally months if not years of getting better as a player by simply trying way too hard to “force” improvement into my game. I wanted changes to happen so badly in certain areas of my game that I would easily lose patience if those changes I worked on didn’t happen right away. Losing patience and getting frustrated is one thing, but where I wasted a ton of time was thinking that the things I was trying to do to create improvement weren’t working that I should try something else. And it became an obsession of trying all sorts of things in hopes that I’d find the answer only to find that they really weren’t.

Once I stopped trying to “force” my improvement, and then began to trust that my practice routine would eventually come out on it’s own time and would create the improvement I wanted, that’s when things started to really click for me as a player. This was and still can be a tough pill to swallow for me even today when I want to tweak some part of my game, but if I will visualize the big picture of where it is I want to end up, I believe that if I put in enough focused practice time that my improvement is going to come to me when it’s the right time to do so. Again, this is a crucial skill you have to develop if you want to be able to compete at your highest skill level on a consistent basis.

Step 2 - During The Point – Developing Trust For Your Instincts

In tennis, playing points instinctively means being able to play your game by natural impulse. You can develop a mental skill where you can play points without having to consciously think about how to hit a certain shot, where to hit it, or when to hit it… When you play points by natural impulse, you don’t consider the outcome of making or missing this upcoming shot. When you consider that you might miss the shot you’re about to execute, your ability to freely go through your stroke’s swing mechanics go right on down the drain. The more instinctively you learn to play during the point, the more freedom you’ll have in your stroke’s swing mechanics, and the more you’ll trust your initial decision of which shot to play. Playing the points instinctively, meaning, you don’t have to consciously manufacture your strokes by going through a checklist such as “turn, space away from the ball, look at the ball, relax your hands, etc., etc., etc.”, every time your opponent plays a shot to you takes practice… Problem: Even if you don’t go through a conscious checklist of what you need to do to make a certain stroke work, most players see an incoming shot from their opponent and think in this sequence:

• What shot should I hit (drive, slice, drop shot, lob, etc.) • Where do I want to hit my shot? • What’s the potential result (can I hit a winner that will not be returned)? • Indecision #1– maybe I should hit a different shot and to a different place. • Indecision #2 – should I stay back on the baseline or move in? • And the result is inconsistent “spacing” to the path of the incoming ball. Most

players get jammed, the incoming shot from their opponent ends up too close to their bodies and the resulting swing never allows them to play their shot to their intended target.

I see lots of players with a ton of footwork activity, but rarely does it actually get them aligned properly to the patch of the incoming ball. You can move your feet as much as you want, but if you end up too close or too far away from the ball when it’s time to swing, guess what, you’ll be improvising your swing all day long and your confidence will never get going. And the other major benefit of getting aligned properly to the path of the incoming shot is that you can now move much more efficiently and quickly to your next court position.

Since I’m an all-court player, and I like to be up at the net at the end of a point, I want my “spacing” to the path of the incoming ball to help me move through my shot to my next court position. I’m not talking about running through my shots as I execute them, but to have a set up alignment so I can move against the ball towards my target and be able to get to my next court position as early as possible to put more pressure on my opponent. Solution: To be a confident and consistent shot maker, your instinctive evaluation of what shot you’re going to play and where you want to play it should go in the following sequence:

• Spacing – I need to move my feet right now to get properly aligned to the path of the ball.

• Decision – Be aware of the first shot type/direction that comes into your

mind.

• Commitment – There are always a bunch of different shots you could choose, but the key to being a consistent shot maker and confident player is to not doubt your initial shot type/direction. Commitment is a two-part process. Committing to a specific shot type/location is vital, but equally as important is where you are going to end up on the court after your shot. For me, my spacing effort has more to do with me committing to where I want to end up on the court after my shot and less to do with shot type/direction.

• Head Still & Eyes Down Through Contact – You already know how I feel about

this. If you have to, be conscious of making this happen when you’re playing your shot.

Considering The Outcome

• One of the biggest challenges we face with the mental part of tennis is considering the outcome.

• In general, considering the outcome takes a couple of forms:

• In between points, we can let ourselves think too much about the “what ifs” of winning or losing this next point, this game, this set, and eventually the match. It can make us extremely uptight and nervous even if you think about winning. The result is that we don’t play instinctively during the point because we feel such a need to control whatever outcome we’re considering.

• The other way we tend to consider the outcome is with our stroke mechanics.

Our instincts may have said to play one shot but we then consider that we might miss that shot and then we try something different. Obviously, at that point, your confidence of producing any stroke takes a major hit.

• This is a very complicated dynamic that we could spend a ton of time on, but in the end, if you focus your confidence training as we’re discussing here, you’ll slowly but surely stop considering the outcome.

• When I’m in a match I can recognize when I’m starting to think about the what ifs of winning the next point and how that will put me ahead 40-15 and then I’ll be able to hold serve and really put the pressure on my opponent, blah, blah, blah…. And once I recognize I’m mentally going there, I immediately go back through my 4 part between points routine and “clear” those what if thoughts out of there. I’m telling you, it’s the kiss of death in a match, and you’ve got to not only discipline yourself to believe that the eventual result you want will come to you if you don’t force it in there, but you’ve also got to spend some visualization time seeing that situation and then overcoming that urge to consider the outcome. Practice it…

Step 3 - Your Four Part Between Points Routine What you do between points can help set you up to play the upcoming point instinctively. When you play instinctively, you play with much more swing freedom, less fear, you make better shot making decisions, and you physically see the ball more clearly. When I play my best, here’s what I do in my league and tournament matches… There are a couple of other things in addition to the 4 part routine listed below I want you to do between points.

• Discipline yourself to not look outside of the tennis court. Looking at friends, teammates, etc. can be distracting and can easily disrupt your ability to play points instinctively. It’s very easy to see someone outside of the court that can have a subconscious influence on your thinking in a million and one different ways. I look down at my strings, the court, etc., but I try to not look up and let my eyes wander outside of the court. This takes a ton of practice.

• Do not look at your opponent’s face. I know, I know, this sounds sort of weird, but one of the keys to playing instinctively is to manage your emotions between points. I’m not going to get into all of the psychological principles that happen between human beings, but looking at your opponent between points can be distracting and detrimental. In fact, some times an opponent will ask you something like the score, and for me, I look right past their face as I answer. Because I’m probably 78’ away from them (baseline to baseline), they can’t see that I’m not looking directly at them (and so what if they can).

Part 1 – Immediately after the point is over, whether or not you’ve just hit the most incredible up the line passing shot to break serve OR you’ve just chunked the fattest sitter of all time into the bottom of the net, have a pre-planned positive word or phrase that you say to yourself after each and every point. To yourself, say the word or phrase and then go immediately to the hook of a song that you like. My song hook can change from match to match (I’m a bit partial to Van Morrison, but Steely Dan seems to find their way in there a lot!). This has really been important for me. The hook to a song. And as I go through my 4 part between points routine, I’ve got that song hook as my background noise. You want to take as much emotion out of what just happened as you can.

In reaction to the finish of a point, if you have frequent emotional highs and lows, your brain starts to expect certain results in the future. And when those results in the future don’t happen, your emotions can go on a roller coaster ride. You do want to be sharp and alert, but you don’t want to be emotionally high or low. I don’t go in for the big fist pump after playing a great point. For me it makes me feel that anything less than that in future points is a disappointment. And I’ve certainly had my share of getting pissed off and stomping around, etc. after playing a lousy shot, whatever, and the result is that it has never ever helped me play better. What has helped me play better after one or more poorly played points is to NOT emotionally get down on myself. If I can keep the emotions out of it, I’m much more available to consider trying a different strategy, etc. So, you can fist pump or get ticked off and draw a ton of attention to yourself yelling “come on” after hitting a great shot, but it won’t help set you up mentally to play the next point instinctively. High or low emotional reactions to a just completed point do not help set you up for the next point. And not only that, high and low emotional reactions, no matter how short they may seem to be, are physically draining. Find a positive word or phrase (I often use the word “alright” that I say to myself in a neutral tone), get your song hook playing in the background, and discipline yourself to repeat it after every point no matter what just happened. Part 2 – Take 2 or 3 deep controlled breaths. Even if your opponent just double faulted and you didn’t do a thing physically, take those breaths anyway. And if you did just play a tough exhausting point, you definitely want to re-group and calm down. Keep your song hook going as you breathe. Part 3 – Is there any specific strategy you want to consider using to start this upcoming point? Not how you’re going to end the point, but how you’re going to start it. So, for example, if you’re serving, where do you want to serve and what kind of serve do you want to play? Be specific and totally commit to that target before you start your service motion.

One of the big mistakes we make is not trusting our decisions. Have you ever decided you want to serve somewhere specific before your tossing motion and then ½ way through your toss you changed your mind? I know I’ve done it a kazillion times and rarely does it work out where I hit the serve I want. I might actually play the serve to the spot I decided to go to as I changed my mind during my tossing motion, but my confidence has just taken a major hit for the rest of the point. I’d almost rather lose an individual point where I stay committed to my original target rather than win the point when I change my mind. In the long run over the course of a match, I’ll feel better about myself when I don’t change my mind during the point. If you’re receiving serve, I’d caution you against deciding that you’re going to do something specific if an opponent gives you a certain kind of serve. As the receiver, you can anticipate and look for something, but in the end, you have to be instinctively available for any type of serve from your opponent. I trust that my instincts will take over to take advantage of opportunities. The risk is that if you over-look for a specific serve from your opponent, and then you don’t get it, your instincts might not adjust to reality. For me, I’ll consider the possibility of a certain serve from my opponent, but more because I feel it’s the right time for my opponent to play that serve. But be careful here, just because it might make sense for you to play a specific serve in that situation doesn’t always mean your opponent thinks the same way. Part 4 – I like to give myself a little self pump. You know, just a quick reminder to be alert like, “OK, here we go…” Nothing that puts pressure on you like “come on, you gotta win this point” or “this is really an important point, don’t miss”. For me, this little self pump gets me alert, ready, and clear… Review - So, it’s (1) no emotional reaction to whatever just happened, just go straight to your word or phrase and song hook; (2) 2 or 3 deep breaths, (3) consider any strategy for starting the next point, and (4) finish with a little self pump. Take Your Time When you’re knocking on the door and about to close out a match, especially against a really tough opponent, it’s easy to want to get it over with right now.

One of the hardest things I had to learn was how to slow things down before my perception of an important point. Once I trusted my between points routine, and believed just how important it was to go through that routine no matter where I was in the match, that’s when I started to win some big matches. In April 2008 I played the national 60 Hardcourts in Palm Springs, and in the round of 16, I had to play the #3 seed, Dave Nash. Dave is one very, very experienced tennis player who comes at you with the proverbial big game. Huge serve, huge forehand, and loves to smother you at the net. I played well and I somehow found myself ahead at the end of the 3rd set with Dave serving at 2-5. I’d been extremely disciplined with my between points routine for the past 2 ½ hours since the match had started, and yet, once I got to match point with Dave serving at 2-5, 30-40, my brain took off like a nuclear explosion. All I could think about was what a great win this was for me, blah, blah, blah… And I lost a couple of match points on relatively easy shots that before I’d been making all day. And luckily for me, right then I realized exactly what I was doing, considering the outcome, and basically putting the old whammy on myself. I took an extra few moments to dive back into the between points routine, worked myself to another match point, and won that point and the match. The point of the story? Consciously wanting something too much (a specific outcome) gets in the way of your ability to play the game instinctively. Believe in your between points routine no matter where you are in the match… Changing Sides of the Net During a Match Just like you’re between points routine, it is extremely important that you adhere to a routine when you change sides of the net during a match. This is typically a period of time that is 3 times longer than between points. So, the opportunity to get distracted with negative thinking is even greater. Once it’s time to switch sides of the net in a match, I will immediately go straight to my song, put my eyes down to my racket and not look at my opponent or anywhere outside the court that could be distracting.

I will keep my song going over and over and make sure I don’t get into thinking about winning or losing the match. I may consider strategy if I think I need to change something, but I want to keep visualizing good serves, good strokes, etc. no matter what the current score is. I also like to make sure that I keep a tidy area of wherever it is that I sit or stand during side changeovers. Staying neat and organized helps me feel like I’m not sloppy in my mental part of the game. Maybe a bit overboard, but it helps me… Doubles – Your 4 part between points routine also applies to when you play doubles. At the end of a point, and hopefully your partner is on the same page with you, I don’t mind if you want to quietly make eye contact with your partner and give each other some positive acknowledgement, whether or not you have won or lost that point, but in the end, you want the same principles and sequence of your between points routine to apply in doubles as you do in singles. One of the distractions doubles teams get into is when they celebrate too much after a good point. Expectations are established, and way too often those expectations for the future points don’t happen. Because you have another player next to you, it’s almost easier to become less disciplined between points in doubles. Make sure your doubles partner understands your need to use that time in a specific way. Part 3 of your between points routine is to consider any strategy you may want to use to start the next point. No problem. The two of you can collaborate so you both know what to expect. Even though doubles is a team game, you still have to perform individually, and you want to do so instinctively. At some point during that time between points, you’ll want to be by yourself so you can go through a quick version of your 4 part between points routine to help you play the upcoming point instinctively. Discipline yourself (and your partner if need be) to take your time between points and not rush to start the next point. Practice – The 4 part between points routine is not something you read and then simply put into use in a match. You have to practice this no matter how simple it seems. Practice on and off the court. Do some visualization where you see yourself in a match between points going through your 4 part routine. Do this on a daily basis so you’ll eventually get comfortable with it.

Step 4 - Keeping Your Head Still & Your Eyes Looking Down Through Contact

You’re most likely going to get sick and tired of me trying to drive home this incredibly important aspect of developing confidence in your tennis game. I won’t even apologize for it. You’ll discover my plea to you to practice this skill throughout this manual. Out of all of the teaching clichés in tennis, “Keep your head down” just may be the one cliché that doesn’t get enough attention. Out of all of the skills I have developed over the years to gain more confidence during my matches, this is far and away the one thing that has helped me during the point be much more consistent with my shot making. And one of the biggest problems we create is something I call “peeking” at your shot. Peeking at your shot means literally looking up with your eyes out at the court and lifting your head (even just slightly) just prior to when you make contact because of concern of whether or not we’ve executed our shot properly, or concern of where our opponent is, or a desire to see our passing shot, or concern Keeping your head still helps you see the ball more clearly. Seeing the ball more clearly improves your swing timing. Keeping your head still and your eyes down through contact gives you a better chance of maintaining swing tempo through to the finish position. Keeping your head down as you make contact helps you keep your weight against the ball at contact. This is a huge benefit. Keeping your weight against your shot” and not pulling up and off of the ball really helps control your shot from flying. Fully completing a stroke to a specific finish position with the correct swing speed improves ball spin, speed, and accuracy. When we get concerned or nervous about the potential result of missing our shot, the whereabouts of our opponent, and trying to get ready for the next shot, we can shorten the swing, pull the swing out of alignment, and bring in the wrong swing speed. Those problems equate to shot inconsistency and can drive us nuts.

Being able to keep your head still and eyes down through contact all the way out to the stroke’s proper finish position can help your confidence soar, especially when you have to coolly execute a tough passing shot at 4 all in the 3rd set. Roger Federer demonstrates this skill as well as any pro player I’ve ever seen. Here’s a guy who can make the game look like a stroll in the park. No concern about a thing. And he’s a great visual for you to try to model and copy. I practice keeping my head still and eyes down through contact every time I go out on the court, whether in a practice match, a drill session, the warm-up during a league or tournament match, and even consciously during a crucial shot. I also spend the biggest majority of my visualization time when I’m off the court practicing this skill. This is such a simple concept. Any human can do this. It seems so obvious and so easy to do. And maybe that’s the reason that so few players spend much if any time practicing. As I said in the beginning, I hope you get sick of me reminding you to spend time on and off the court improving your ability to keep your head still and eyes down through contact. You should be able to identify what the ideal finish position is for every one of your strokes. For example, your cross court forehand groundstroke topspin drive’s finish position may be slightly different than mine or other players, that’s fine, but you should spend time to figure out what that position is for you. Once you have that reference point, then practice keeping your head still and your eyes down until you can feel that finish position.

Step 5 – Fitness & Seeing the Shot Cycle Fitness Training for Tennis – Making Better Visual Contact With A Moving Tennis Ball Fitness training for tennis has to be just that… Get fit for the realities of what we do in a tennis match. Long distance running or lifting heavy weights are not activities we do in tennis, and in fact, long distance running will break down the fast twitch muscles you want for quick stop / starts, for being able to move in a way where you can visually track a moving tennis ball, jumping, etc. All of your on court and off court fitness training for tennis should be centered on doing things that enhance your ability to make and maintain visual contact with a moving tennis while you are also on the move. It is extremely rare when we get to be perfectly still as we visually track an incoming shot from your opponent. Physical flexibility is a key to being able to move on the court and maintain visual contact with the moving tennis ball. To really enhance your overall training, be consistent with your stretching after any fitness training. You don’t have to stretch a lot, but you should take 2-3 minutes 5-6 times a day and go through a simple stretch routine that will help you maintain flexibility. When you dedicate regular time for tennis specific fitness training, not only will you see the ball better throughout the entire match, but you will also begin to “trust” your instincts of what shot to play. The Cycle of a Shot – When Do You See the Ball & When Do You Not See the Ball One of the most over used teaching clichés in tennis is “watch the ball”. Well duh… Of course we need to see the ball to be able to know when to start our swing, etc. But in reality, there are specific times you want to see the ball and a very specific time when you don’t want to see the ball. Consider the cycle of one of your shots. For example, a shot cycle starts when your opponent makes contact with a forehand groundstroke; their shot goes over the net to you, and then you play a shot back to

your opponent. At the moment your opponent makes contact with that incoming shot from you, your initial shot cycle ends and a new one begins… Here’s when I watch the ball and when I don’t watch the ball in that shot cycle. As my opponent’s shot leaves their racket, my eyes are locked on the ball until the moment that shot makes contact with my racket. At contact, I leave my eyes looking at what was just the contact point and I leave them there until I feel my racket finish at its finish position of whatever stroke I’m hitting. If I’m back on the baseline or returning serve, my eyes don’t look up after contact to see my shot until just about the time the ball is crossing over the net towards my opponent’s side of the court. So, if you think about a shot cycle, I don’t see the ball for 25% of that cycle. As I look up to find the ball I have just hit, my eyes now find and stay focused on the ball, not directly at my opponent. I do see my opponent out of my peripheral vision, and I want to be aware of any information I can get from my opponent’s setup position, racket angle, etc. to help me anticipate what my opponent is about to do with their shot, but I don’t want to lose direct visual contact with the ball I have hit. And I know, I know, lots of teaching pros will tell you to look directly at your opponent’s racket, etc., but in my experience, the most important part of seeing the ball during a shot cycle is just prior to my opponent making contact with their shot. You can get all of the information you need out of your peripheral vision if you relax your face and your hands. If you have too much tension in your face and your hands are too tight on your racket just prior to your opponent making contact, you won’t visually pick up the ball quickly and your possible decision making for your next shot becomes inconsistent. I want you to practice being aware of any tension in your face and especially in your hands during a shot cycle. Practice letting your hands become “soft” on your racket just as your opponent makes contact with their shot. Practice letting your facial muscles “hang” just as your opponent makes contact with their shot. At contact with your shot, practice counting 1, 2 to yourself before you look up to see your shot.

This will be one of the most vital skills you will develop to enhance your confidence when you play matches. Keeping your eyes looking directly through the contact point. Learning how to properly watch the ball is a major skill that will take more practice then you probably imagine. Not only will you want to practice this skill on the court, but you’ll also want to visualize yourself doing this when you’re off the court.

Step 6 – Visualization Once I started doing simple visualization a few years ago, I became not only a better tennis player, but I became much more consistent with my tournament match results. I now rarely have a “bad” loss, and even when I do lose to one of the top players, I am much more competitive in those matches. Visualization is a simple practice of seeing yourself in certain situations in a match. I use visualization more for how I want to react at the end of a point such as having just won a big point and also having just lost a big point. I visualize exactly how I want to respond as described above in your 4 Part Between Points Routine. I also use visualization for certain stroke mechanics such as keeping my eyes down through contact longer than what might feel normal. I like to exaggerate not peeking at my shot and not being concerned about my opponent or if I’ve actually hit the shot I want. One of the most common visualizations that I go through is with passing shots. I feel myself actually in the point where I’m looking out at the court and the ball (as opposed to seeing myself in a video), and despite the fact I know my opponent is approaching the net behind an excellent approach shot, I feel myself making visual contact with the ball, stepping forward to initiate my swing, keeping my eyes and head down through contact without peeking at my shot, and then when I feel the completion of the stroke, looking up and seeing my shot going past my opponent for a winner. Visualization is best done in a quiet place where you can sit in a comfortable position or lay down, close your eyes, and not be distracted by phones, etc. You don’t need much time, just a couple of minutes is plenty, but I’d suggest you try to spend 1 or 2 times a day taking a couple of minutes to visualize those things you want to feel in a match. There are 2 basic visuals you want “to see”. You can see yourself as if you’re taking a video of yourself, and you can also be experiencing the visual where you are looking out and feeling as if you’re actually in that moment. My suggestion is for you to start with what you perceive to be your #1 challenge in the mental part of your tennis game. Get a good idea of how you want to react or be mentally in that specific situation that gives you a problem, and see yourself doing what it is you want to be doing.

Step 7 – Your Pre & Post Match Routines Pre-Match Mental Prep Routine Getting ready to play your best tennis in a competitive league or tournament match requires a pre-match routine. In an ideal world, I’ll get in a good 30 minute on court hitting session. Some times you can’t always do that because of time constraints or even court availability, but if you can, carve out some time before your match to get on the court and hit some balls. This is your time – At some point before a match, and usually for me that’s when I step onto the court for my 30 minute warm-up, I tell myself that from this point forward this is my time, not a selfish thing, but that this is now the time to turn off all thoughts about work, family, etc. If we go out on the court to play a match with thoughts of anything else other than the match, you’re setting yourself up for the all-time ability to make excuses if you don’t play well or lose. Once I commit to “my time”, I then begin the hook to the song I want to hear that day, I start visualizing strokes the way I want to play them and maybe even some specific strategy that I want to use for this match, etc., The point here is that at some point prior to the match, and maybe you can’t get that on court warm-up time in, but whatever the case is, at some point you have to get your game face on. And the term “game face” does not mean that you’ve got some scowl going and you’re hating your opponent and all of that, no, it simply means that you’ve committed the following couple of hours to yourself and getting organized to be able to play to the best of your ability on any given day. My game face is really about me trying to get uncluttered from the rest of my life’s thoughts. Once I go to the hook of my song and start seeing myself on the court doing the things I want to do, that’s all I really need. There are certainly some days when it’s much tougher to commit to the game face and keep it going prior to a match, but with practice you’ll get better at it. I can have my game face on and still talk to others, etc., but I know I’m ready to rock once my name is called to go out on the court. Make it simple, but commit to it at some point prior to your match. Even if you have to drive from work for a match and there won’t be time for a good on court warm-up session, at some point on that drive out there you’ll have to commit to putting on that game face.

Post-Match Mental Prep and Evaluation If I’ve just had a big win, my instincts can tell me to celebrate by immediately going over to family and friends and getting congrats and all that stuff. But just as in our 4 part between points routine, I don’t want to go to emotionally high because I don’t want to artificially set myself up that this is going to happen each and every time I play. In fact, after a big win, I’ll make sure I take a good 3-5 minutes to gather my stuff in a very organized way, clean up my area, and calm down… I also want to take a quick inventory of what went well for me, what areas I want to practice a little more on, and what situations during the match either surprised me or validated what I had originally thought might happen. And on the flip side, if I lose to someone who I think I should normally beat, I want to calm down and come off the court feeling as even keeled emotionally as possible. Look, win or lose, there are always areas we can improve upon. And certainly it’s a lot more fun to win than lose, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel really good and do a little celebrating after a good win, but the bottom line is this, win or lose, be realistic about what really just happened out there. Take your time after the match to leave the court and simply calm down… After a few hours or even the next day, it’s a good idea to write down your evaluation thoughts of the match. Nothing fancy, a couple of sentences may be plenty, but commit your thoughts to writing.

Accepting “One of Those Days” in a Match and in Practice

You know the old saying, “I had one of those days” meaning that it seemed as if nothing went right for you during your match no matter what you did. I became a better player when I accepted the fact that “one of those days” was most definitely going to happen in the future, not only in a match, but also in practice. And when I learned to go through “one of those days” in either a match or a practice session and not get bummed out, that was a huge boost to my tennis confidence. Match Play - And when I began to realize when “one of those days” was happening in a match, I was then free to try something different in that match in hopes of turning it around. I recently played a top player in a tournament, and I felt great in the warm-up, but once the match started, it was like a bizarre out of body experience, for the life of me, I couldn’t win points. I lost the first set 6-0 in literally 20 minutes. And despite the fact that my opponent is a top national level player, I knew I should be competitive with this guy. So, I made a simple change after the first set, I changed rackets, and I stayed back on the baseline during my first two service games of the 2nd set. And that was really all I needed to get back into the match and out of “one of those days”. I ended up winning the match 6-4 in the 3rd set. And despite the fact that I won that match, whatever changes to my strategies and equipment I made, it still might not have made a difference and I would have had to accept the reality of “one of those days”. It’s going to happen. You have to go through it, not panic, not get down and think you have to completely re-tool, and simply let ‘er go. And for me, it’s how I react after going through “one of those days” that can either help me or hurt me for future matches. I feel that the more I accept the reality of “one of those days”, the less I actually have them. And until you go through it and react by letting it go, it’ll be tough to accept the reality. Once you go through it, you’ll realize it’s not that big a deal and you won’t fear it in the future. So go out there and stink up the place and smile knowing that it’s just not a big old life and death situation…! Practice – This was the big one for me. I used to want to really feel I was improving every time I went out there and either practiced on the ball machine, did drills, or even practice matches.

And the more I wanted to feel that improvement, the less it happened. We all want to feel that if we take the time to practice that we should be able to see and measure the fruits of our labor. It doesn’t work that way… Just like in a match, you’re going to have “one of those days” from time to time when you practice. And much more so than in a match. And again, when I accepted that reality, I was able to then turn that practice session into at least a fitness improvement activity and not worry about the specific stroke or strategy that I felt wasn’t going so well that day. I’ll admit that it’s tough. It’s hard to accept that we’re not going to play well or practice well each and every time we go out there on the court. Or even off of the court when we’re doing some fitness training. I can’t tell you how many times I started a fitness session only to feel zero energy, zero motivation, etc. and just want to pack it in for the day. But, when I plowed ahead and completed that session, the pay off for my tennis confidence was enormous.

Your Mental Skills Practice Routine OK, I hope I’ve been able to get the message across to you that developing the necessary mental skills for tennis is something you have to practice just as you would with your serve or any other stroke. Let’s list those things I want you to devote practice time to. And since I don’t know your personal schedule, you’ll have to create your own plan of when you can spend some quality time developing these skills. Don’t try and practice more than one of these skills at a time. When you practice, no matter what it is you’re working on, other areas of your game may not play up to their current skill level. That’s normal. Stay focused on what you’re working on and don’t be concerned about other stuff…

• 4 Part Between Points Routine – Practice this every time you play a practice match or do some drills. In the beginning, you don’t have to devote each and every practice match to practicing this skill, but you should give yourself at least 30 minutes being aware of what you do between points and how you want to spend that time. Also, practice the 4 part routine off the court by visualizing yourself in a match and how you want to be between points. Do this every day for at least 3-5 minutes. Eventually, this skill will become comfortable and feel natural.

• Trusting Your Instincts – Play practice points (not a match) with a partner where you are initially aware of what your first thought (shot selection) is for your next upcoming shot. The skill you want to develop is that you trust that initial thought (instinct) and that you don’t change your mind and perform a different shot selection afterwards. This can take some time to just be able to be aware enough of what that initial shot selection is. Don’t force yourself to have an initial shot selection because some shot selections are very obvious, but on those ones that aren’t, start by simply trying to be aware of what your instincts are telling you. Over time you may change your instincts because you will become more experienced and your instincts will be trained to choose a different shot. Be aware of your initial thought, and then trust that it’s going to work out OK. It obviously doesn’t each and every time, but by trusting your initial instinct, you’ll be better set up to perform that shot to the best of your ability.

• Making Better Visual Contact With The Tennis Ball – Practice leaving

your eyes at contact for 1, 2 count for the rest of your born days! I’m serious; this one skill alone can make you a much more confident tennis player in competitive matches. When I go out to play a match, when I drill, when I play a practice match, whatever it is, the very first thing I do when I see the first ball coming at me is to remind myself to keep my eyes looking though that contact point until I feel the finish of that stroke. If there is one thing I want to insure is happening for me in my matches, that’s to not be looking up at my shot, “peeking” too early. Take a good 15-20 minutes every time you go out on the court and make sure this is happening for you. If you have to, make it feel almost artificial. Spend lots of time off of the court visualizing this skill.

• The Cycle of a Shot – This is a skill that takes discipline. It’s way too easy to peek at our opponent and bad things can happen when we do that. Remember, you’re going to visually track the ball for 75% of the cycle, and you’re not going to see the ball during that 25% of the time when the ball makes contact with your racket until it passes over the net back towards your opponent. Ditto from above. Spend lots of time off of the court visualizing this skill.

• Tennis Fitness – Huge, absolutely huge if you want to develop true confidence in your tennis game. The less fit we are, the more we doubt our decision making on the court. The less fit we are, the harder it is to get a good visual lock on that moving tennis ball as we’re also moving. You don’t have to become a juiced up freak of nature to have a good tennis fitness level, but you do have to devote time each and every week to make this happen. Good tennis fitness will help you move on the court in such a way that you’ll better visually track the ball. If you see the ball well, you’ll trust your instincts to make the right shot selection decision and to execute the mechanics of that shot without feeling a need to manufacture it. I tailor my tennis fitness routine around those exercises that will enhance my ability to visually track a moving object as I am also on the move. Sounds simple, but it’s an extremely valuable way of looking at what it is you want to do for your tennis fitness. I no longer do any long distance running

because aerobic running breaks down those muscles that help you not only have quicker start and stops, but that also provide shock absorbers in your legs so your eyes can better visually track a moving tennis ball. Strength training that involves heavy weights does the same thing. There are way too many drills and exercise for me to list. However, here’s what I do, and you can sort of take this as a starting place for your own tennis fitness program. Remember, the key with your overall program and each individual exercise, drill, etc. that comprises your program is to insure that you are improving your ability to visually track a moving object (the tennis ball) as you are also on the move.

o Running sprints, stairs, hills – I like to get in 2 sessions per week of a combination of running and light strengthening where I run up the stairs at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley or run the steps behind the Berkeley Tennis Club (BTC) for about 15 minutes of running. I usually do this after playing a practice match. I used to run from the BTC to the stadium which was about 1 mile of flat running over and back but I found that those 2 miles of flat running was doing some damage to my knees. I now ride my bike from the BTC to the stadium. When I run the stairs or hills, I always make sure that I come back down to my starting point by lightly tip-toeing back down so I avoid any hard jarring to my knees as I come back down. Sprints – I like to finish up my stairs / hills session with a minimum of five 50 yard sprints where I visually lock on a stationary object that is out in front of me in the landscape. When I sprint I try to keep my head as still as possible so that object I’m visually tracking moves as little as possible when I sprint. I then go back to the BTC and do some light weights for my arms, some push ups, the stretch band where I go through 10 reps each of my forehand groundstroke, my backhand groundstroke, my serve (both arms), and some low forehand and backhand volleys. I also make sure I am keeping my head still and try to visually lock on a spot on a wall throughout all of these light strengthening exercises. I finish up this session by stretching everything out for a full ten minutes.

o Cans – One of my favorite fitness and stoke grooving drills is

something I call “Cans”. My practice partner and I set up a target, either a cone or a tennis ball can, on the court, usually cross court from each other and place the target about 3 feet inside the baseline and 3 feet from the singles sideline. We then rally a ball back and forth to each other trying to hit the target with our shot. I use this drill for a lot of stroke mechanics, but mostly I try to work on the visual contact of the shot cycle that I mentioned above. I will always take five minutes during this drill to devote to simply making sure my head is as still as possible during my movement. I’m less concerned about my shot accuracy and more focused on maintaining good posture, a still head, etc. If you keep your feet moving whenever you have to stop hitting and pick up the balls, you’ll be amazed at what a great conditioning drill this is for your tennis. You can also vary this drill by placing the targets so you’ll be hitting up the line to your practice partner.

o Overhead / Volley – Again with a practice partner, work on hitting an overhead and then a volley. Do not stop your feet moving when you’re picking up balls. Have your practice partner feed you a lob and then a groundstroke so you can play a volley. Focus less on accuracy and more on trying to keep your head still as you move to help enhance your skill at being able to visually track the moving ball. This drill works best when you don’t over hit any shots (trying to hit winners) but work more on a rhythm with your feet as you set up for your next shot. Especially when the lob goes up, be aware of trying to move your feet in such a way that your head can stay quiet so your eyes can track that lob the entire time.

o Flexible Strength Training – I believe in strength training off of the court for tennis, but whatever you do, the training should be what we call “full range of motion” so you don’t develop short bulky muscles. Stretching out whatever training you do is imperative. Flexibility is one of the great keys to being able to visually track the moving ball. I don’t do anything fancy for my strength training. I like to finish up any on court practice match or drill session with 10 minutes of stationary bike, followed by some light upper body strengthening.

I typically get a 12-15 pound weight and do simple arm curls, followed by my stretch band routine, followed by 2 sets of 15 push-ups, and then finished up with 5-10 minutes of overall body stretching. Shower Stretch - Also, I take one minute after every shower I take and either in the shower or after I towel off, I do a routine of shoulder stretches, quad stretches, and bending over at the waist to help stretch out my lower back. We’re talking a short ten count for each stretch. This one little stretch routine has really helped me not only recover more quickly from a tough match or workout, but it helps keep me stretched throughout the day.

o And that’s pretty much it. You can develop your own tennis fitness program, but don’t get crazy with this stuff. You’re much better off doing a daily short 15 minute routine that varies from strength training to cardio work to stretching out rather than some grueling one hour monster. If you stick to it on a daily basis, you’ll be amazed at your improvement to not only visually track the ball better, but you’ll also really improve your stamina level to be able to keep this going throughout an entire match. Training Before a Match - Also, I won’t do any hard fitness conditioning or strength training 3 days prior to a tournament or league match. No matter how much stretching you do or how well you eat, etc., intense training takes a few days for your body to recover to where it’s ready to be able to play a match at your highest skill level. So, taper down slightly before a tournament, and if you’re playing a league match, you can certainly play a practice match the day before, but I wouldn’t overdo it. You want to be fresh when you go out to compete.

Wrapping It All Up The bottom line is this, we could spend years discussing theory and psychological terminology until the cows come home about the mental side of tennis. Please, please do me one little favor. Don’t over think this stuff. I can’t tell you why you do what it is you do to get in the way of yourself out there on the court. Whatever it is, we all do something that can inhibit our ability to play this game instinctively. The “why” isn’t that important. What is important it that you stop trying to figure out the why and embrace a pro-active practice regimen to get comfortable with a simple between points routine. The more you can stick to a simple routine, meaning the less you do mentally when you play a match, the more you’ll eventually get in terms of match results. And, as I’ve said throughout this manual, this is not an overnight quick fix solution. I, and no one else out there has got a magic potion (or words) that you can hear and read and then all of a sudden “you’ve got it”. And say what you will, but no matter how good you are as a player and how much you’re winning (and yeah, yeah, winning is a heck of a lot more fun than losing), the point is this, if you’re not having fun out there most of the time, then what’s the point…? So, practice as often as you can these 7 fundamentals, and I will absolutely guarantee you that not only will you become a better tennis player, but guess what, you’ll have more fun out there.

Brent

Your Top 50 Specific Questions and My Answers I get emails literally every day of my life from tennis players around the world asking for advice on their tennis game. Far and away the most often asked questions are focused on the mental side of the game. So, below I’ve taken 85 questions from my students and answered them as best I can. There are lots of questions that seem to center on the same theme, but I’m hoping that my answer to those questions may be just different enough to help you with your own game. Also, the questions are not organized into any sort of categories. I’ve taken each question and answered it individually without categorizing it. I’m always happy to receive your question if you have something you feel is not addressed or answered here. My email is [email protected] . Your question and my response will remain private with us.

____________________________________ 1. How does someone stay in the present? A. - During a match, use your 4 part between points routine. Try to not perceive that a certain point is more important than another point. In fact, when I get to what we all think might be a big point, I try to dumb it down a bit, take my time, and stick to my routine. Lots of practice. -------------------- 2. My #1 challenge is to be relaxed playing in USTA matches. I always get tight and the next thing I know I'm down 3-1 in the first set. I'm a 3.0-3.5 player and when I get tight I play like 2.5. I make dumb shots. When I am in practice matches I play much better. I guess this is a mental thing I need to deal with on my own. Maybe I don't have enough confidence? A. - Do a better job with your pre-match routine and stick to the 4 part between points routine. ------------------- 3. When I have my opponent up 3-0 ... as soon as I start thinking about the fact that I am winning, he winds up taking the set. I wish I didn't even think about it. I try to take it one point at a time, but while I know that it is the right thing to, it's hard not to think about how the match is going. A. - You answered your own question. Stop thinking out there and discipline yourself to your between points routine. -------------------- 4. I have two top mental challenges. I play on a team and I switch doubles partners a lot, just last night I played with a doubles partner that I


never met before against opponents I have never played against. How can I best use the 10 to 15 minutes before a game to understand my partner so we can play well together. A. - Great question which happens all of the time in league tennis. Ideally both of you are coached by someone who understands doubles. If that’s the case, then simply decide who’s going to receive on the deuce side and the ad side based on strength of overhead, return of serve, covering volleys in the middle, etc. If you’re not getting formal doubles coaching, then discuss the above, but determine if both of you feel comfortable at net. Lots of times one player does and the other doesn’t. That’s OK, but each player should be aware of the other’s comfort zones. You’ve got nothing to lose, so don’t stress. Have fun, and who knows, you may have just found your next doubles partner! Part 2. How can I best use my warm up with a new opponent to mentally get to understand their strengths and weaknesses while mentally putting them at a disadvantage? I played a new opponent in singles a few weeks ago at a match and I quickly discovered that he was a much better player than I was (not properly ranked). I could not find any weakness and I felt he knew it. A. - You can evaluate an opponent’s strengths and weaknesses to a point, but the warm-up is not always a sure fire indicator. You’ll be surprised at how bad a stroke can look in the warm-up only to have that thing a monster during the match. I’m not clear on what you’re thinking about how to put an opponent at a disadvantage mentally during the warm-up. The best thing you can to put yourself in a playing advantage against what appears to be a superior player is not feel or show fear. You never know, and I’ve seen this a million times, what appears to be a superior opponent during a warm-up can be the biggest misconception of all time. Warm up to play your game and make adjustments once the match gets going if you feel you in fact are up against a superior opponent. -------------------- 5. The number one mental challenge I have is to remind myself to breathe and relax my muscles ... when I get wrapped up in the excitement of the game and am totally focused on the ball, I forget to stay relaxed. Looking at the strings will remind me to stay in my body and breathe and feel what is going on in my body ... but I am usually looking at the ball and forget about my body.... A. - This will take a lot of practice and discipline, but if you’ll stay with your between points routine, no matter what’s happening in the match, you’ll begin to trust your abilities during the point. If breathing is important to you, then make sure you focus on that aspect of the between points routine.

-------------------- 6. I think my weakness lies in my attitude toward my opponent. I know most of the people I go up against. I find that their boasting and haughtiness drive me crazy. I try to turn and not let this bother me. I probably should stick my finger in my ear too, but I know the why. We were taught at a very young age not to act like this and that it was not the right behavior. I begin to build up resentment or something like this. What can I do to keep my mind in a more productive attitude channel? A. - Hey, welcome to the real world. And I don’t mean that sarcastically. Tennis can really bring out some nastiness on the court and I’ve dealt with players who I want to strangle, but in the end, my overall play during the match suffered because it distracted me from my between points routine. It simply gave me an excuse to lose. That routine for me is my “safe place” where I can get by myself and realize that an idiot opponent isn’t worth all of the aggravation I’m allowing them to put me through. Once you get confident with your between points routine, you’ll be able to block out those fools. -------------------- 7. I have not been playing tennis for over a year due to a back injury. However, now that I am trying to get back into the game, my old nemesis has returned to haunt me. I feel like I can never get past this negative mental thought about my serve that pops up out of nowhere. I don't mind saying this because it really is a mental thing more than anything else. It is about my serve which had been pretty good (your instruction video has helped a lot). Here is what happens. If I end up in a deuce game and I am serving, after a couple of deuces, I start thinking on ad-out, "what if I double fault?" and you know that is exactly what I do. I know this comes from years of worrying about double faulting because when I was learning to play, it was either a terrific serve or a double fault. A. - I’d suggest doing a lot of visualization of just the opposite that you seem to do. Take 1-2 minutes about 5 times a day and close your eyes and see the serve that you want. This is practice. Once you’re in the match, part of your between points routine should include that positive visualization. Look, we double fault now and then. However, you’ll do so a lot less if just prior to your serve you visualize the exact serve you want to play. This is not an overnight fix. It takes a lot of those 1-2 minute sessions. Start today. -------------------- 8. My biggest mental challenge involves spectators. When I'm playing a singles match and my opponent has spectators that are loud, boisterous, frequently cheer at the wrong time, etc. I have a really hard time ignoring them and playing my game. If I make a stupid, unforced error and the spectators cheer for my opponent, it totally throws my game.

A. - That’s the reality of playing competitive tennis. It took me a long time to not use my opponent’s supporters as an excuse for me to lose. Once you get really comfortable with your between points routine, you’ll feel a lot more like a professional who’s out there taking care of business. -------------------- 9. For me, the #1 mental challenge is to stay aggressive, or even get more aggressive, when the situation gets tight, rather than getting tentative and playing the safe shot. A. - When I perceive a “tight” situation, I do remind myself to stay aggressive with my court positioning. The last thing I want to do is to become passive back on the baseline and allow my opponent o dictate play. Be careful however with your perception of being “aggressive”. Over hitting isn’t what you want to do. -------------------- 10. On low shots I look up at the opposing doubles team at last instant. On high shots I look down at the opposing doubles team at last instant. I can't seem to get it through my thick skull that there is nothing but dancing going on that side of the court and that I have the ball!!!! A. - This is simple. Practice on and off the court (visualizing) what we discussed in when you don’t watch the ball during the cycle of a shot. Keep your eyes looking at that contact point for 1 1,2 count after contact. It’s so easy to look ahead before you make contact. Find the incoming ball, stay locked on it, and don’t “peek”. -------------------- 11. My biggest mental problem is that I get too frustrated when my strokes are not up to par and I tend to give up on the match or start to make irrational decisions. A. - It happens. I’ve been there and done that a lot of times not only at the beginning of a match but also during the match after I’d actually been playing well. Here’s what’s worked for me. I try to focus on one specific thing during the point such as keeping my eyes locked on that contact point well after the ball has left my racket. Eventually my strokes come back to me and I can then settle in to my normal playing style. Allowing yourself to be frustrated is an excuse to lose. Don’t go there. -------------------- 12. I can say my problem is, specifically with my forehand stroke, that when I see the ball coming I start wondering if I’m going to hit the ball correctly and that mental question undermines my confidence to perform a good stroke. You will probably tell me... "well, if you know the problem, you know the solution". And that is right, I should stop thinking ahead about the outcome of my shot and simply hit the ball but I can’t. It’s like a vicious circle: I doubt, then I hit the ball wrong, then I keep doubting, and so on... So, if there is anything you think I can do to eliminate that problem; I would appreciate your comments.

A. - The only way to develop confidence in your forehand is to practice it in a specific pattern. You first must know whether or not there are any major flaws in the stroke. If so, get an evaluation from a pro and get specific direction of what you need to improve. You can send me a short video clip of your forehand and I’ll be happy to give you my recommendations or simply pick up a copy of my forehand lesson over at www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Lessons.htm . Once you have the correct stroke fundamentals you want to work on, you have to carve out regular practice time, not too much, but 20 minutes twice a week is good. And if you can, it’s best to get that practice time in after you play a practice match. And at some point, I want you to practice hitting forehands with only your finish position in mind. Practice not thinking about the consequences, etc., and simply see the ball and wait for the proper time to go out to the finish position. I can’t give you a magic pill that gives you the answer to this challenge you have. This is all about getting enough practice time to de-sensitize that fear you have. -------------------- 13. My mental problem is when to hit the backhand slice vs. when to try the topspin backhand (which is harder for me). A. - This should be much more a tactical question than a mental challenge. I slice most of my backhands unless I need to play a topspin drive passing shot or change pace during a rally. That said; the topspin drive needs the ball pretty much to be a waist height in order to execute the shot properly. If I have to pass someone and their shot is too low or too wide to hit a decent drive, I’ll slice my backhand low trying to force my opponent to have to volley up. 14. My doubles partner has a very weak serve. Most of the time I end up playing on the base line for when she serves. At this point, they hit to her until she breaks down and loses the point. Is there anything I can do to help her out? A. - Even if you have a weak serving partner, if you know how to fake poach and occasionally poach, the geometry of the court begs you to be up at net when she’s serving. Your job is not necessarily to have to win the points all by yourself when she serves, but a good fake poacher can help slow down that return of serve so your partner can either join you up at net or have a shot they can more easily handle. Staying back on the baseline is giving up. Have your partner check out my serve lesson over at www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Lessons.htm . -------------------- 15. Doubles- My game begins to deteriorate when my partner has no respect for my shots. If I make an error or two, one partner in particular gets

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downright mean. I like to stroke my partners and be a cheerleader when they do well. My best play is when my partner overlooks a couple of mistakes and compliments good shots, winners, etc. I like to high five and energize from good points and feed off of each other. I deflate quickly if my partner does not respond similarly. Play as a team not an antagonist. A. - You can only do so much. You can’t change players who need to cover up for their own weaknesses by getting on your case. Sounds like you’ve got the right attitude as a doubles partner. If you’ve got a partner who wants to be an idiot, find someone else. Life’s way too short for that crap. -------------------- 16. Can you help me with a NEGATIVE thought process I get when under pressure and also when I am in a winning position and I play negative and try not to lose rather than being confident and play to win the point. A. - This is far and away the biggest challenge we all face as competitive tennis players. And I could go on and on with a bunch of ooey-gooey garbage, but it won’t help. Let’s make this simple and to the point. There are two things that helped me become a better player. #1, decide who you are on the court, for example, if you’re a serve and volley player, don’t stop doing style just because you feel it might be too risky at some point in the match; and #2, over practice your between points routine so you stop considering where you are in a the match. -------------------- 17. One of my mental challenges is I start out in a double's match and I’m doing pretty well and winning games. Then by the second set I have made a few unforced errors like hitting the ball out of the court or missed an easy ball etc... Then I lose my confidence and things slowly stop happening and winning ceases. By the third set I may or may not have pulled myself up from being an untalented tennis player who can never be what she wants to be on the court and if this is where I stay it gets super bad. A. - Rough. Sounds like you’re working yourself over pretty good. But in the end, it’s just an excuse to lose. Practice and stay disciplined to your between points routine. -------------------- 18. My challenge is to get over my double faults quicker. I find that often I serve two to three double faults in a row, before I finally stop for a moment and get my bearings before my next serve. Interestingly, the reverse is often true. When my serves are good, they continue to be good for a set or so. Purely mental I say. A. - Lots of players are so fearful of missing that 2nd serve that they rush from the 1st to the 2nd serve in a heartbeat.

First of all, take a good 5-7 seconds between serves while you take in a couple of deep, controlled breaths and clearly visualize the serve you want to play. Secondly, practice your 2nd serve a lot. Work on the spin so you feel you can always control a safe height over the net and that your spin will bring itself back down into the service box. If you need help with that serve, here’s my serve lesson over at: www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Serve.htm . -------------------- 19. My mental problem in my game, one of many, is that when I am approaching the net I have the tendency to stop at the service line, I see the ball and my opponent and instead of continue running to the net I volley at the service line. A. - Again this is a tactical question. It’s not where, it’s when… No matter where you are on the court as you approach, you have to go into your split step motion just before your opponent makes contact with your shot. If that spot on the court is behind the service line, then that’s where you’ll temporarily un-weight so you can react to the direction of your opponent’s shot. Once you play your next shot, you can then continue to advance to the ideal net position. And be sure you’re keeping your eyes on the ball, and not your opponent. -------------------- 20. Because my backhand, unlike the guys in the video, is my weaker shot, I tend not to use it in a pressure situation. But... that’s the problem with my game, and my stronger opponents know it. I want to improve my backhand to the point where I use it as fearlessly as my forehand. "The Best Tennis of your Life" by Jeff Greenwald was a great book and CD, but... in spite of having listened and read them numerous times, its the pressure situation that makes my backhand shot fail. In the pressure situation, I just can't get the racket back into a good hitting position, and thud.. goes the ball into the back fence, or into the net. So... any tips for the killer backhand that is a good strong shot deep to the corner? One that comes as easily as the forehand? A. - The most important thing you can do when you’re in the match and you have to play that backhand is to be aware of what your swing does after you make contact. I’d suggest you practice knowing exactly where you want that stroke to finish. There should be a precise position you can identify, and then in the match, take your time through the shot so you can insure that you get to that finish position in rhythm. Don’t rush to get to that finish position, keep your eyes and head down through contact and feel that finish position before you look up to see your shot.

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This my friend takes a lot of practice, but the payoff will be a backhand that feels just as confident as your forehand. -------------------- 21. My real mental challenge is how to have a consistent serve. A. - Start with your 2nd serve and develop the proper spin that allows you to create a shot shape that clears the net by a safe margin and then spins itself safely back down into the service box. Once you’ve got that going, then you can simply work on giving your serve less spin and you’ll have a nice 1st serve. Check out my serve lesson over at www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Serve.htm . -------------------- 22. The number one mental challenge of my game: Attention span I just can't seem to concentrate. By the second set, concentration is getting really difficult, and there really is no third set concentration left especially for singles. But mainly at age 55, I am playing doubles. Also, mentally, I can not put the ball away at the net. I just volley it back to the opponents unless I'm lucky to get 3 or 4 chances in which I usually finally put the ball away (in sheer disgust and yet elation also!) A. - Being able to concentrate throughout an entire match takes practice, and a lot of it. Your 4 part between points routine will help you maintain a consistent emotional even keel. Regarding your put away volleys, get out on the practice court and set up targets where your opponents are not normally standing on the court. Have someone or the ball machine feed you balls where you concentrate on really getting a good visual lock on the incoming ball, play your volley towards a specific target, and make sure you don’t peek at your shot for a solid 1,2 count. -------------------- 23. My greatest mental challenge is continuing to swing freely like I do in practice in matches. A. - Tightening up the swing in a match is directly related to considering the consequences of missing your shot. You probably don’t worry about missing in practice because it doesn’t really count. Sometimes you can be playing a match, you’re receiving serve and your opponent cranks up a big 1st serve that just misses long and as you call the serve out you swing freely through that ball and hit a drop dead perfect return of serve. And then of course your opponent hits a weak little 2nd serve and all you can do is fight the thing off with the tightest grip of all time. That’s the perfect feedback of how you want to swing out through the ball and not care about the consequences of missing.


I’m telling you, the more swing freedom you can bring, the better control you’ll have of all your shots. I’m not talking about being wild with your swing, but a sense that it’s OK to miss this next shot. You’re of course sort of fooling yourself, but the effect works. -------------------- 24. I am 54 years old and play tennis every Saturday morning with my 27 year old son, and have now for about three years. Even though I work out regularly and practice my serves a couple of times a week, I know I will not have the reflexes and agility to keep up with him. We play a very competitive game together but I have not been able to beat him for over a year now. He usually beats me 6-3 or 6-4. I realize that the only way to beat him is with my mental game. However, I think he has me there too. What advice can you give an old man who would love to be able to win once in a while? A. - Make a few shaky calls early in the match… Just kidding! Sounds like he’s not blowing you off the court, in fact, you’re close to winning those sets that are going 6-3 or 6-4. We typically try to work our shot making strategy from side to side rather than more of a vertical attack. Try drop shotting, and if he gets to it, then lob over his backhand side. Even if your lob is somewhat short, he won’t be able to consistently knock it off like an overhead. Once you’ve established this pattern in his mind, your side to side stuff will work better. Keep mixing in these two simple patterns and you’ll probably find that you’ll be getting more unforced errors from him because he’ll become unsure of what you’re doing and might try knocking off winners instead of playing his shots back in play. -------------------- 25. Some of us don't have the opportunity to train or the knees and joints to withstand a lot of training time. We have to "train" while we are competing. How is this best achieved? A. - I understand and that’s simply the way it is for a lot of us. There is still a lot of non-impact training you can do that shouldn’t hurt those knees. Stationary or road biking is great training for tennis. Especially mountain biking where you’re getting a good mix of upper body and lower body non-impact exercise. Swimming is also another good off court training for tennis. If you don’t have any off court time to train, then try to use one of your regular weekly match times as a drill session where you can work on certain aspects of your game. Make those drill sessions as physical as you can.

Or, try to take 15 minutes after every practice match and either some on court or off court training. 2-3 fifteen minute post match training sessions per week will payoff very quickly. -------------------- 26. My number one challenge is when I'm in a crucial point in a match and my first serve was a fault: I sometimes give into this thought that the second serve will also be out and if I can't shake off that thought and clear my mind - it usually is out! As you know - these things can turn a game around. Another challenge is when I get an overhead and I just feel that I'm gonna hit it into the net... A. - What has helped me the most between 1st and 2nd serves is to have a clear visualization of where I want my 2nd serve to go. I’ll take a second or two to actually visualize that serve going over the net to its target. Same thing with the overhead, you’ll have to train a positive visualization as you’re setting up to play your overhead. It’s never a 100% guarantee, but it’s 100% better than a negative visualization. -------------------- 27. My biggest mental challenge but it is losing games that go to deuce many times. A. - It’s tough when you go back and forth from deuce to ad-in or ad-out. Eventually we all can get a little frustrated and just want this game to be over. But, if you’ll discipline yourself to go immediately to your between points routine at the end of each point, you’ll find that your emotions won’t be all over the map, and you’ll be better prepared to play each point. -------------------- 28. How to play a tie-breaker in your mental challenge article. A. - There’s obviously a lot of pressure in a tie-breaker. What has helped me the most is to be aggressive with my court positioning, not so much with my shot making, but to make sure my opponent feels that I’m looking to get into net asap. The more you force your opponent to hit a perfect passing shot, and especially with that added perceived pressure of the TB, the first player who gets to net has the best chance of winning TB points. -------------------- 29. If I’m favorite to win I usually be nervous and strokes are like freeze. A. - There’s a lot to lose isn’t there if you’re supposed to win? No, not really. It happens all of the time. From the pros down to lower level amateur skill levels, lesser ranked players beat higher ranked players all of the time.

The between points routine for me has helped me get away from those thoughts of “I can’t lose to this guy”. Since I’ve experienced losing to lesser ranked players and on the flip side I’ve also won matches as the lesser ranked player, I no longer take anything for granted in a match. In fact, I get concerned that if I get lazy with my between points routine when I’m up against a lesser ranked player that it’s going to somehow come back to bite me. I’ve learned to have too much respect for anyone out there no matter what they look like as a player, etc. The toughest matches to stay disciplined to your between points routine is when you think you should easily win. -------------------- 30. For me it’s staying aggressive in the match- particularly if my opponent is a dinker and / or the match is at a tight point. I can tend to starting playing conservatively or poking the ball instead of playing a full stroke – normally disastrous! A. - Playing against dinkers / pushers takes much more discipline with your shot making mechanics. It’s a heck of a lot easier if your opponent is driving the ball into your racket which requires a whole lot less stroke mechanics on your part to produce pace and direction. Strategy wise, pushers normally don’t want to be up at net. Play some drop shots, and whatever they give you back, lob directly over their backhand side. Also, you have to practice hitting your groundstrokes with some footwork moving towards your target at contact. Rather than having to swing fast to get the pace you want, use your body weight moving slightly forward towards your target as your power source so you can maintain some swing control. -------------------- 31. I'd say that a relaxed attitude and playing in the now would be a good thing to develop. It’s now or never as the song goes, but it's true with tennis game as well. The present is so important and how to connect oneself to the present space and time would be a life long tennis challenge A. - This is simple unless you try to make it into some complex ooey gooey mess. Your 4 part between points routine will help you relax and stay more in the moment when you play the next point. -------------------- 32. I would have to say my #1 mental challenge in singles is to stay aggressive and not play a laid-back baseline game. Being a mainly doubles player I have reasonable volley skills, and prefer to stand in front of the baseline

hitting everything on the rise or with swinging volleys, of course this uses a lot of energy, so without aggression, I tend to "cruise". A. - Going on cruise control as you say is basically “hoping” that your opponent is going to give you the rest of the match. You really should figure out who you want to be on the court, what type of style best suits you, and then practice and train for that style. If you want to stay back and wait for your opponent to make a mistake, that’s fine, that is a style of play, but if you want to play singles more like you do in doubles, then embrace the mindset that you’re going to challenge and force your opponents in singles to have to pass you 50 times in a match. -------------------- 33. I would like to be able to hold a strong focus throughout the entire match. Sometimes, as the match progresses, I don't pay as much attention to my opponent's racquet and where he is directing the ball, where he is moving to, and where I need to be to return the type of ball I am receiving. (I play doubles) A. - It’s easy to lose focus during a match. It takes a lot of practice and discipline to maintain your between points routine throughout the entire match. Depending on how the match is going, we can always find lots of distractions either from within ourselves or from outside sources. You’ve got to go through your between points routine all the way through the finish line. Practice it forever… -------------------- 34. It seems that unless a lot of my 1st serves go in, my game and confidence seem to deteriorate. Also, when playing new players of same ability that confidence lacks until I start playing a second set with these players. Mind set and strategies for singles and doubles cause confusion when playing alternating games during the same session. A. - I’d suggest you practice your 2nd serve so much that you’ll always be confident that if you do miss that 1st serve that you’ll be OK with your 2nd. Most players dread missing their 1st serve only because their 2nd serve is so weak. Work on developing a good spin 2nd serve that will solve your two getting the ball in play serving problems: hitting a serve that clears the net with a good margin of safety that also has a spin that will bring itself safely back down inside the service box. www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Serve.htm Regarding new players… That’s the deal. It may take you a set to get comfortable with what that new opponent can and can’t do. Don’t fight it, just go with the learning curve during that 1st serve and you’ll be much more relaxed in that 2nd set.


-------------------- 35. In your opinion what is the best way to build your "consistency" when playing tennis. How do you practice to be consistent? A. - I love your last sentence. “How do you practice to be consistent?” That’s the missing ingredient for most players, and that is, no matter what it is you want to improve, whether it’s physical or mental, you have to practice it with somewhat of an organized plan. There are a couple of things that will help you become a more consistent player. #1, start with the between points routine. And that also applies to when you’re practicing or drilling. After you exhaust the balls in a drill, go to your between points routine every time. Make sure you don’t have any extreme emotional highs or lows in practice. And #2, practice your stroke fundamentals. Spacing, relaxed hands, head down through contact, feel your finish. Players who are consistent go through the same stroke fundamentals every time as much as possible and always go through the same between points routine. -------------------- 36. I was wondering how to achieve more consistency with my serve. Some days it will be powerful and consistent, and others I can barely get it over the net. I seem to be using the same motion every time and I practice 5-6 times a week. What causes it to be so much better some days than others? A. - I don’t know… Without seeing your motion, I can’t really give you any specific advice. The serve requires a consistently light grip tension, and one of the things that throw off our serve is when we bring slightly but different grip tensions to our serve from day to day. Think about it… If you have a very stressful day, the chances are you might be gripping your racket a little more tightly than on those days when you’re feeling pretty relaxed. Also, differences in grip tension can be brought on by your perception of what you have to do with your serve. If you think you need to hit your serve a little better because you feel your opponent is better than usual, there’s a good chance you’ll load up a bit on that grip tension. My suggestion would be to try and be aware of your grip tension when you practice. Find a tension (or looseness) that equate to what you feel is your good serve, and then try to practice that grip pressure. -------------------- 37. I played college tennis and after 25 years have decided to play again. The problem is, besides the twenty pounds that I have gained, is tensing my wrist at contact during my forehand, and hitting it flat causing the ball to go long most of the time. When I play the machine, this is not a problem and I have

no problems with my backhand. My mind is telling me that if I go all out on my forehand with topspin, I will hit it long so I let up and stiffen up my wrist. I try to tell myself to relax and play my game but I can't get over this and have no confidence in the way I hit when I practice during a match. My opponents see this and you know the rest. A. - Practice being aware of your swing tempo and finish position where you hit a shot that you like. For example, on your forehand, see if you can control 3 different swing speeds (one is slow, one is medium, and one is fast). Then identify your ideal finish position for that forehand. I’d then practice those 3 swing speeds so you know you can replicate them whenever you want with the exact same finish position. When I’m in a match, I really like to feel my swing’s finish position after I make contact. If I rush that moment, I become inconsistent. -------------------- 38. In a couple of league doubles matches now, my partner and I (really number 3 doubles) have been assigned to play number 1 doubles opponents. In both matches, against the odds, we have taken big leads. One first set was 6-1. Then I tend to start worrying and get tense. It seems as if I start playing more defensively and trying to think too much. In effect trying to play not to lose. I get tense and my racquet arm makes tight little jerky swings at the ball. Each of those matches went to close third set tie breaks which we lost. Because of my tenseness, for the first time in one of the matches I made a crucial double fault while serving. I wish I knew of some way to remain loose with a clear mind and just play the ball. A. - This happens all of the time. Not only do I see it in doubles as you’ve described, but a ton in singles. Look, when you go out against someone you perceive is better than you and that you really shouldn’t beat, especially in a league format where your teammates know you’ve been thrown to the wolves, guess what, you play loose because you don’t have much to lose. Obviously, the key is to find a way to keep that mindset going all the way through the finish line. Once you consider the possibility of winning, it’s pretty much over. The chances are that in reality if you could keep your mind right, you probably wouldn’t beat that team or player all of the time, but you certainly could maybe 10-20% of the time.

What’s helped me in this situation, and I have played lots of players who are much better than I am, and I have in fact won some of those matches, is to simply stick to my between points routine. And you shouldn’t ever be surprised to find yourself ahead 6-1 after the first set. It happens all of the time. You play well because you’re so loose, they might simply be tight from the stresses of the day and trying to get loose, and maybe you got fortunate on a couple of let cords, who knows, but it’s very possible to win that first set if not also be up in the 2nd. If you’ve read all of these questions and my answers, clearly the most common of them is advising you to practice the between points routine. It’s naturally the reason you’re loose in the beginning of a match, and the lack of a between points routine is the reason you tighten up later in a match. Again, this between points routine won’t ever guarantee that you’ll now and forever more win each and every match you play, BUT it certainly gives you the best chance on any particular day to do so… 39. I think my biggest mental challenge is playing as relaxed in a match as I do in practice. My pro tells me I am a 4.5 practice player and a 3.75 match player. I just seem to be a step slower and my arm gets a tad tenser in match play than in practice. Often after a match I will hit balls with my opponent for a few minutes and I am a completely different player. A. - I used to be that way. I now have the opposite situation where I play better in a match than I do in practice. The reason I play better in matches is because of my between points routine which is tougher for me to bring to a practice match. Typically in a practice match I’m working on something. And that doesn’t mean I won’t ever practice that between points routine, I do from time to time, but not as often as I used to. Again, one of the biggest things that has helped me in matches play loose is to NOT “peek” at my shot too early. Practice feeling the finish position of whatever shot you’re playing and not looking up at your shot until you feel that finish. 40. By the way we are seniors (71 and 68). You asked about aspects that are a big problem. Mine seems to be two parts. First is everyone's problem, keeping my eye on the ball. I envy the pros who watch the spot long after the ball is on the way back over the net. Secondly, it is my mental state. Even this morning in a doubles match I started quite well, then I missed some shots I should make, get behind - then I am so down I make more errors and the ball game is over. I come home in a funk, thinking I should drop out of competitive matches and not let down the "team". By the way, my golf game has similar problems! A. - There’s no magic bullet here. You’ll simply have to go out on the practice court at least once a week and train the response you want. I know you’re not

telling me that physically you can’t keep your eyes down through contact because I know you can. Give yourself permission to miss a shot with your eyes staying down. Big deal. In the long run, if you can train the response you want and actually replicate that response in a match, you’ll be a much more consistent shot maker. And this mental state thing, come on, we’re all humans here and this will never become an exact science. Some days on the tennis court will be better than others. And I’ll be the first to admit that from time to time I can feel real sorry for myself if I have a bad day out there on the court. But I always feel like an idiot if I don’t find a way to let it go. We’re damn lucky we can get out there and enjoy this great game… -------------------- 41. It would definitely be my second serve, this is the shot I’ve had the most trouble to improve, and I think much of it has to be with mental stuff. A. - If you fear having to face hitting a 2nd serve, it sticks with you on every shot. It’s paralyzing. There is only one solution, and that’s to develop a spin that will insure you can solve both problems we have in serving, getting the ball safely over the top of the net, and do so without needing gravity to drop it back down inside that service box. If you can’t produce an effective spin direction on your serve, and a side spin won’t do the job because it doesn’t help curve the ball back down, only a reasonable topspin will, then you’ll have to allow gravity to drop it down and that is a pure setup for your opponent. Learning spin, specifically topspin for a 2nd serve is an absolute must, not only to be able to at least not give your opponent an advantage, but as important, to mentally keep you relaxed and not worrying about having to play a weak 2nd serve. There is obviously no substitute for practice, but you’ve got to have the right information. If you haven’t done so already, pick up a copy of my Serve Lesson over at: www.webtennis.net/Tennis-Serve.htm -------------------- 42. For me, I get some peeve when my opponent misses a call on a ball that had extra spin on it, feeling like they really did not see it all the way and then they say OH IT WAS JUST A HALF AN INCH OUT. Now I know I am not hawkeye, but you know when you hit it and SEE it land it was in. I tend to get a little despondent or angry with them after that. A. - We all have to face that situation and probably will for the rest of our tennis playing days.


If you’re in a tournament and you feel your opponent is missing calls (or worse, making bad calls), it’s simple to stop the match and simply say to your opponent that you want to get some help with the calls. I always try to do so without inferring that my opponent is making bad calls, simply that I’d feel more comfortable with someone giving us some help. In a league match, unless you’ve got players hanging around who are done with their match, you’re probably going to have to be on your own. You can always question your opponent about their call, and this is a real art to NOT put your opponent on the defensive. I will initially walk up to the net and ask him to join me there so I can ask if he is sure about his call without yelling it out so everyone else can hear. It’s distracting to the other players whether you’re playing a tournament or a league match to have a conversation going on from baseline to baseline. If I initially show some respect by trying to keep it between the two of us, then I have a pretty good chance of getting an honest response from my opponent, not that they intentionally made a bad call, but that yes, maybe they did miss the call. If you get an opponent who is clearly making bad calls, and we’ve all been there, if it’s a league match, you’ll have to stop the match and demand from the captains that you need help. Don’t accuse your opponent of deliberately making bad calls, simply state to the captains that you really need on your court with the close calls and can they find someone to help you. If they can, then great, if they can’t, well, it’s simply one of those things and you may have to submit a complaint to the league administrator about your opponent. The point here is that if you’re in a tournament or league match and getting some questionable calls, it’s more important for you to not lose your focus, especially with your between points routine. Unfortunately, we all know that there are opponents out there who deliberately try to unsettle you with a couple of well timed lousy calls. If you can get on court help, you’ll be fine… If you’re in a practice match and you’ve got an opponent who is making questionable calls, you can ask if they are sure (don’t make a big scene), and if it continues to happen, I’ve been known to stop playing with that player after the match for quite awhile. I don’t need it, and there are usually plenty of other practice opponents out there who are decent on the calls. The bottom line is that opponents who miss or make lousy calls are idiots and I don’t ever want to be in that group….

-------------------- 43. My biggest mental challenge is trying to keep playing aggressively (i.e. don't let up and start playing more passive shots) with a lead in the set/match. A. - This is a huge challenge that we all face and it basically boils down to not wanting blow or choke the lead. It’s almost like you want your opponent to simply give you the rest of the match when you’re ahead. The reality is that most of us play looser when we’re behind, and so, it’s no wonder that players who are behind can easily up their level of play because they feel they have nothing to lose. When I’m ahead in a match, I really make sure I’m staying disciplined to my between points routine. I remind myself that I’m going to refuse to allow my opponent to give me the rest of the match. It’s a bit of an acting job on my part, but I want my brain thinking that I’m going to earn this, that I’m not going let him give me the match. I mentioned earlier that when I played Dave Nash in the national 60s in April 2008 that he was serving at 2-5 in the 3rd set. That’s only being up one break of sere for me, and it would have been easy for me to tell myself that I had to break serve to win their match because I would be scared to death to serve it out, but instead, I kept telling myself when Dave was serving at 2-5 that I’m happy to serve it out at 5-3 if Dave should have serve. It was a bunch of crap I was telling my brain because I’d much rather break serve than have to serve it out, but the effect was that I felt much more relaxed at 2-5 and did in fact break serve to win the match. A lot of the mental part of tennis is being a good actor… Who do you want to look like out there? How do you want to respond to certain situations out there? Can you get out of your own head and “act” like someone else you admire? It takes practice… -------------------- 44. The biggest mental error I seem to face is what I call base line boredom. I’ll be in a base line rally of 5 to 6 stokes then end up making a low percentage shot to end the point. I say to myself “wait, let him make a mistake” but still I end up getting impatient and force a bad stroke. A. - You’ve got to zero in on how you want to be on the court. If you want to be the type of player that waits for your opponent to make a mistake, then fine, but stay true to that strategy.

For me, I know who I am on the court, and that equates to me challenging my opponents from my court position, not so much from being a shot maker to hit winners, but forcing them to hit perfect passing shots past me all day. If I’m back on the baseline, I’ll “wait” for an opportunity to play an approach shot and challenge my opponent to pass me. Often my approach shot turns out to be a winner, but I never tell myself that this approach shot is going to be a winner when I play it. -------------------- 45. I think my greatest on court mental challenge is staying focused and not over thinking all points. I start thinking I am a better player than my opponent or how good do I look to spectators. A. - It’s really easy to lose focus and start thinking all kinds of stuff that really gets in the way from you being able to make good decisions on the court. To me, good decision making is less a conscious effort and much more instinctive. The more I get distracted between points, the less instinctively I play during the points. Your between points routine will really help you stay focused onto something that is not distracting so you’ll be much more prepared to play each point instinctively. -------------------- 46. My number 1 mental tennis challenge is mustering the killer instinct in me. I frequently have this tendency to choke in games where I could have easily won. Help me have that killer instinct. A. - The killer instinct is not some magical thing where you now all of a sudden have this ability to close out a match at will. It depends on knowing your style of play, who you want to be on the court. And when I say who you want to be on the court, I mean what type of strategy do you use. What strategy best suits your physical skills and mental skills. Lots of players want to go out there and be a mystery to their opponent. If I play someone I’ve never played before, I would have no problem saying before the match, “Hi, I’m Brent Abel and I’ll be serving and volleying 100% of the time behind my 1st serve, 75% of the time behind my 2nd serve, and chipping and charging as often as I can behind your 2nd serve. I’ll be trying all match to force you to hit perfect passing shots. If you can do that, well, then nice going, you’ll probably come out the victor today.” As you call it, the killer instinct, is really about staying true to who you want to be on the court throughout the entire match and not changing once you get ahead.

I answered a similar question above where it can be the kiss of death when you’re ahead to want your opponent to now sort of give you the rest of the match. Don’t let your opponent do it. They might, but your attitude has to be that you want to earn this win and not by having your opponent just lay down and fold. Lots of players have this misconception that once they’re ahead in a match that their opponent now knows what they’re doing successfully and will change their tactics in a way that will make you change yours. Not sure if that came out right or not, but the point is this, the between points routine will help you stay on task and not lose focus during any stage of the match where these distracting thoughts can occur. Thoughts of closing out a match don’t happen early in a match, but later on. Early in a match you might have different kinds of distracting thoughts, and so on and so on. Train your between points routine and you’ll never need a so-called killer instinct, you’ll simply roll right on through the finish line… -------------------- 47. Although I feel I am in pretty good shape for someone my age, what I am struggling with is the inevitable deterioration of my physical condition in matches that last over 2 hours and the mental stress (distraction) that is caused by this. I start to hit double faults on my serve, miss easy volleys and my worst enemy seems to be the guy holding my racket. The other guy must feel the same but he doesn't seem to lose his concentration. And when I then start to play more aggressively (and risky) to shorten the rallys and to try maintain focus, I seem to make even more errors. Do other players experience the same thing and, if so, how should this be dealt with? A. - Great question. When we physically get tired, it forces us to make shot making decisions that are not comfortable with whom we are on the court. Once you force yourself to play like someone other than whom you want to be, you probably aren’t going to believe much in what you’re trying to do and it can go downhill in a hurry. And then your between points routine becomes a panic attack and it can get ugly. One of the great things you can do for your tennis is what you do off of the court. If you were to take one of your weekly tennis dates and substitute it with a fitness conditioning session, your tennis will get better despite the fact that you’ll be playing one less day a week than before. Give yourself ten training sessions to see the results, that’s right, this isn’t a quick fix overnight deal, but it’ll eventually show up. Make those training sessions as specific as possible for who you want to be on the court. Baseliners should train differently than serve & volleyers. Think about the actual movements you normally make on the court, devise a simple training plan, and then stay true to it.

-------------------- 48. My most cumbersome mental challenge is lack of confidence. If I go out against an opponent, I seem to decide early on (even before warm-up sometimes) if I think I have a chance. If the opponent is large or well muscled, I fear them. If they seem aggressive in attitude, or brusque or dismissive, I fear them. If they seem confident, I fear them. I think I am something of a "head case". I have lost to players I should have beaten, because I assume they are better than me, and I start playing like the 2.5 player I was four years ago. I need to find a way to stay positive, stay aggressive, and even more, stay confident. A. - There is no question that our “perception” of another player is not always what is real. I’ve done the same thing, not only prior to the match, but during the match, and also after the match. What has helped me the most to get confident and truly believe that I at least belong on the court with players who are either ranked higher than I am, or simply, just look like they should kick my butt (!), not necessarily that I can win the match, but confident enough that I know I can at least make that opponent deal with my game, is the following:

- Get fitter than you ever have before. I like to have training days where I can tell myself, “no one out there is doing this today”. Your perception that you’re more fit than an opponent, even if your strokes are average, can knock off that fear.

- Over practice your ability to keep your eyes and head down through contact with every one of your shots. When you can produce that response in a match, your confidence will really soar.

- Once you’re on the court, get immediately in your four part routine. Do not look at your opponent’s face. Yeah, I know, this sounds sort of nutty, but it’s easy to look into a person’s eyes and face and lose your focus.

- And finally, my coach, Tom Stow convinced me that the so-called great players are all just humans like the rest of us. In fact, that’s why he taught me to be a court position player, where I always tried to be up at net when the point ended. Tom said that even the great players eventually become “human” if you force them into having to hit a ton of perfect passing shots all day long. They might be able to until 5-all in the 3rd set, but eventually, that relentless pressure would break them down.

-------------------- 49. My #1 mental issue is getting back into the game after losing two games and sensing a momentum shift. I am amazed at how fast games can slip away. Last weekend I was up 4-1 in the first set and lost the next 8 games and the match. The guy was 1/3 my age but I was up 4-1 and had him wondering what is going on only to lose something and ultimately the match 6-4, 6-0. A. - This is really the core challenge we all face. For whatever reason, and it doesn’t really matter what it is, but all of us can get it going nicely early in a match, then consider that we’re playing well or our opponent isn’t, even a combination of the two, and begin to allow our mind to wander to thoughts that weren’t there when we were playing well early on. The only solution is what you do between points. Once you allow the possibility of future outcomes into your mind, you’re cooked. Practice your between points routine on and off the court. Once you get ahead in a match and you start to get those distracting thoughts, and believe me you will no matter how disciplined you are to your between points routine, don’t panic, just recognize what’s happening and make your routine a very conscious effort. -------------------- 50. I have problems with keeping my head down and eye on the ball during my strokes. I have a tendency to look up at contact. Are there any drills to help me correct this problem? A. - If you can master this skill of keeping your eyes and head still through the contact point, your game will improve without making any changes to your other stroke mechanics. The challenge is to get away from needing to see your result (your shot) too quickly. In reality, you don’t have to actually see your shot to know where you’ve hit it, you can feel where it’s going, but you also have much more time than you think you do to react to your opponent’s next shot. I practice this skill more than anything else I do in my practice sessions, practice matches, and even during tournament & league matches. There are a million ways to practice this skill, but for me what works best is to know precisely where the finish position is for all of my strokes. Once I know that as a reference point, it’s pretty simple to practice a stroke either on the ball machine, with someone feeding balls, or just rallying where I practice not looking up, “peeking” until I feel that finish position. Once you can identify where that finish position is, then try getting to that position with different swing speeds.

We shouldn’t have the exact same swing speed each and every time we play a forehand groundstroke for example. I like to identify 3 different swing speeds when I practice, slow, medium, and fast (not strong, but loose and fast). So, not only will I practice keeping my head down when I practice, but I’ll also practice being able to control whatever swing speed it is I want to play. The other component to being able to keep your head down and control a specific swing speed is to be able to feel the tempo of your swing AFTER you make contact with the ball. You don’t want to rush to that finish position just to get there, you want to be able to maintain your swing tempo before, during, and after contact as you go out to your finish position. In addition to on court drills, throughout the day when you’re off the court, you can also rehearse a specific stroke without your racket and practice keeping that head down as you go out to your finish. Visualize what you want to do…

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