Before the tourney began, I instructed him to hit the one-hander no matter what happens, but to be prepared for some of them to sail out! He said okay, he was up for it. Actually in two months, after he had hit close to 8,000 backhands, the one-handed backhand had improved tremendously, yet it was not ready for the level of competition in this tournament.

I was on the sideline watching his first match. That was an experience in itself! You should have heard all the comments every time he sailed a backhand out! "What in the world is he doing, he should use his two-handed backhand!" "Why the one-hander, it looks too weak?" "Why did he change, it's not very good?" Meanwhile Todd is on the court having a blast going for his shots, once again becoming familiar with tournament play and dealing with the misses fantastically. A true Tennis Warrior mentality! And I was having a blast watching him.

This situation reminded me of the fact that most people are externally oriented. Everyone seemed to be focused on Todd's failures and not on the tremendous display of internal mental muscle! He was in a building stage of his game. Todd lost the match 6-1, 6-0, but he fought to the end and WON THE MENTAL BATTLE! Let me repeat that...Todd WON THE MENTAL BATTLE! Will this help him in his future matches and tournaments? Absolutely!

Surprisingly, the benefits became evident sooner than I thought. That night in the tournament, in a mixed doubles match, he won 6-2, 6-3 while continuing to use his one-handed backhand. The next day he played a singles consolation match and lost 7-5, 6-4. Some backhands still sailed, but he kept plugging away and almost pulled out the match!

That night again he played mixed doubles and won 6-4, 6-4. Todd and his partner were now in the mixed doubles quarter finals of the Coca Cola Open! All this with a new one-handed backhand and a dynamic mental attitude. There was a difference in his game already, but it was not physical, it was mental. Todd had used the first match to set the mental stage for future mental momentum, despite the fact that he had a new one-handed backhand. He was determined to do the best he could with the skills he possessed on that day. He succeeded!

I often wonder why some players can handle negatives and failures on the tennis court better than others? It really is just a game! Why should a negative, mistake or a loss make you miserable and affect your partner, your team, and even your life?

Maybe it's just a matter of perspective. And I suppose in this area Todd had an unfair advantage. You see 10 years ago at the age of 18 Todd broke his neck in a swimming accident diving in shallow water and was laid up for months followed by years of rehabilitation. Fortunately he did not lose all of his functions, but whether he would play tennis ever again was a big question mark. Somehow, call it determination, call it the grace of God, call it fate, Todd slowly after many years regained use of his crippled motor skills and through sheer determination became an accomplished tennis player again. His hands and legs are still not 100 percent...but you would never know!

Yes, Todd is one mentally tough individual who has been told many times that he cannot do this or that. Recently, he was told he could not master his new one-handed backhand. Once again Todd is proving the naysayers wrong. He has the Heart of a Champion and continues to focus on his dream of becoming the best tennis player he can be.

I challenge you to continue focusing on your dream and to become the best tennis player you can be. Whether you would like to move from a 2.5 to a 3.0 player or from a junior to a pro, you can develop the Heart of a Champion. But beware, many will tell you that what you are attempting to accomplish cannot be done. Many will tell you, as in Todd's case, that a new stroke will not work. And many will tell you, when you fail, to give up the fight. Champions focus within themselves, ignore the critic's words and move undaunted toward their goals.

Todd and his partner eventually lost in the quarter final match, but not before Todd proved that in the future he will be giving it his all and silencing the critics with actions that speak louder than words..

Here is an illustration using Agassi as our model to help you understand the dynamics of this concept. If Andre is on the baseline rallying with his opponent and does not have a clear opening for a winner, he will suppress the desire to attempt a winner. Does Andre have the ability to hit winners most of the time in many different situations? Yes! But would this be beneficial to his long-term strategy? Would the percentage of winners fall in his favor? No, they would not! Oh, on occasion they will, but Andre is too smart to accept overplaying winners for the sake of that occasional victory. Andre Agassi and all great tennis players focus on LONG-TERM CONSISTENCY, not SHORT-TERM GAIN.

Here is a graphic illustration. Andre hits 10 balls from the baseline and goes for winners on all 10 of them (inches from the line) when there was NOT a clear opening. He wins 6 out of 10 points...not bad! Tempting, isn't it? In a similar situation Andre takes those same 10 balls and instead of going for winners (even though he has the ability) he hits them 2 to 3 feet inside the lines giving him more margin for error. He then waits for a better opportunity before he pounds a winner. The result? Andre maneuvers himself into position to hit an easier winner and he wins 7 out of 10 points instead of 6 out of 10. In addition, his opponent has to hit many, many more balls. When Andre's opponents have to hit many more balls, patience and conditioning becomes a factor.

You can see why players struggle when playing Agassi. Even when they beat him, his opponents are mentally and physically exhausted. He is a master at setting the point up so his opponent must work hard for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING! His opponents rarely receive a free point. Bjiorn Borg, the great past champion played with a similar mindset. I remember reading a comment from a player that beat him. He said, "I won, but I feel like I lost!"

Who wants to play a player with that mindset? And to make matters worse, players who just beat a Borg or an Agassi may have to play them again in the next tournament! Day after day, week after week, year after year is where these players tend to shine. The ultimate in CONSISTENCY.

Now, you may be thinking, "but wait, that mindset only won Andre 7 out of 10 points versus 6 out of 10 points. What's the big deal?" This is where the veteran and that long-term focus comes into play. If you are constantly winning one extra point every 10 points and play 40 points, that's an extra 4 points that you have won. If you play 80 points you would win 8 extra points. Eight extra points! That's possibly 2 games! Extend this out over a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis and you will understand why Agassi wins so many matches. Because of his mindset he is SNEAKING in points and games that other players are not winning.

Also remember if you are winning one extra point, this means your opponent is losing one extra point. In the long run, the advantages and ability to maximize your game potential is enormous.

Can you develop the same mindset as Agassi? Well, it's not a matter of CAN YOU but WILL YOU! You simply have to make a decision to suppress the desire to hit winners too soon and wait for the clear opening. If you can execute this plan you will have a secret weapon. Most players think in terms of 'individual excellence' and not 'percentages.' They are constantly trying to hit great shots and have NO concept of long-term thinking.

Once again, lest you forget, tennis is based on 'percentages,' not 'individual excellence.' Often a subtle and difficult lesson to learn!

Why is this important to understand? Because most players overplay their winners! That ’s one of the main reason players lose control of their put-a-ways! For some reason when they finally have the right opportunity to win the point they abandon control and go with power! This is a key, so let me repeat it again. They abandon control and go with power! This makes them tighten up their muscles, lose their visual focus, and yes, sometimes even hold their breath!!! Somehow from holding their breath they think they’re going to gain control of the situation! They don’t, and the ball usually goes anywhere, but where they’re aiming! By the way, power is achieved by timing and rhythm, not by tightening up your muscles and trying to hit hard! Every player has done this and probably does not know the main reason why. The main reason is you’re confusing winners with power!

Now, it's all right to hit a winner with power, but you must maintain control when you do. When most players hit with power they inevitable go out side of their control range! Therefore, the solution to this problem is to tone it down a notch. The next opportunity you have to hit a winner, take your time and slow it down a little! Think about placing it for a winner, not pulverizing it for a winner!!! The interesting thing is when you think like this, you relax your body and as a result wind up hitting the ball pretty hard anyway! But, the power will come correctly from timing and rhythm!

In this situation, just like many other situations in life...... less is more!!! The next time you’re playing, give it a try. It may take you a while to acquire a feel for this technique, but you’ll be one up on your competition! Remember, they’ll still be thinking winners means power!

For those of you who are new to tennis, the open stand forehand is hitting with the body facing the net, whereas the closed stance the body is sideways.

In the match they were watching Cliff argued that the forehand a pro just hit was fine with the open stance. The other commentator argued that it would have been better for the player to use the closed stance. I was on Cliff's side, if it were natural for the pro to hit with this stance...so be it!

By the way the closed stance is generally accepted as correct with conventional methods. Although because of Bjion Borg and his tremendous success with the open stance, conventional methods are changing. Even at that, many teaching pros are still sticklers on the closed stance for beginning players. I have no problem with either the open or closed stance. I allow my students to use whatever is natural on a given shot.

In the Indian Wells tournament Cliff Drysdale made a fascinating comment. After one of the pros hit a ball poorly he said, "every shot you hit has a mental challenge." Did you ever think in terms of each shot having a MENTAL CHALLENGE? Do you think the pros just hit the ball and that's that? When the pros play do you focus only on the external shot and are not aware of the internal challenges? If you do, you are missing the inner game of tennis! And missing a golden opportunity to improve your own game.

To start with you must understand the pros have the same challenges you have when hitting a ball. The difference in many cases is they have learned through experience to ignore the incorrect mindset and go with the correct mindset.

Let's go over a few of the MENTAL CHALLENGES that exist in a match when hitting a ball. I am not going to explain in any detail what the correct mindset is in each situation, because the situations are too numerous. The point is, even though you may be hitting the same shot, THOSE SAME SHOTS ARE NOT THE SAME depending on the situation at hand. These situations require complete control of your mind to work your way through these MENTAL CHALLENGES. You must learn to recognize the different situations and adjust accordingly. Below is a list of some of those challenges. When reading these different situations imagine what it feels like inside at that moment, rather than your present state of mind when reading them.

* Hitting a ball when you have made a mistake on your last shot.
* Hitting a ball when you've made a series of mistakes.
* Hitting a ball in the opening points of a match.
* Hitting a ball to win a game when you are in the lead.
* Hitting a ball to keep you in the game when you are about to lose.
* Hitting a ball to win a match.
* Hitting a ball when you are about to lose a match.
* Hitting a ball to make a comeback after falling behind.
* Hitting a ball to make a comeback after you were in the lead, than fell behind.
* Hitting a ball when your opponent is on a roll and playing aggressive and well.
* Hitting a ball after you have hit a brilliant shot, but lose anyway.
* Hitting a ball after you have had a long, long point and lost.
* Hitting a ball after you have had a long, long point and won.
* Hitting a ball after you have had a bad line call.
* Hitting a ball when your opponent is beating you badly.
* Hitting a ball when you are beating your opponent badly.
* Hitting a ball when the match is close.

That's right you are not just out there hitting balls, you are playing the moment, the situation, the mental balances of the match...always! Your challenge is to maintain a relaxed 組o for your shot' mentality regardless of these different mental situations. Sometimes you have to step up your game and increase your intensity and other times you have to slow down your game and not over play.

Many players ask me how they can stop losing concentration because their mind wanders. With all these MENTAL CHALLENGES I don't know how their mind wanders that often!!! I can only think they are NOT keeping track of the MENTAL CHALLENGES of a match or perhaps they do not even know these MENTAL CHALLENGES exist.

If you are one of those players maybe this lesson will help. Each shot has a different mental challenge. You must learn to not worry about playing perfectly, but instead learn to cope with the changing situations and be prepared mentally to QUICKLY adjust to the challenges at hand. In this fashion you will think exactly like the pros.

Here's a couple of other reasons why you should seek out players that can beat you. It will stop you from being lazy on the tennis court and developing bad habits. This is a toughy because you get away with being lazy and doing the wrong things when you win all the time, but when you advance to another level it doesn't work anymore. You can stop this from happening by constantly seeking out players that are a little better than you are.

The next reason is the one I like the best. If you play people you can beat all the time you'll never take risks, never challenge yourself, and never explore new options. Why should you, you can win without doing all those things and stay right in your comfort zone. Yes, its true in order to win more you have to lose.

I challenge you to find players or teams with all different styles that can beat you and learn to adapt until you can improve against those styles. Now, you may lose for a while, but in the long run it will pay huge dividends. Go ahead give it a shot and you'll learn what most successful people have learned... and that is they fail their way to success!

How do you accomplish this? Practice! Practice what? Practice shutting the conscious mind off, like you would turn a radio off, just shut it off. There will be silence in your mind. No thought! No anxiety! Just silence. Actually you will still be thinking, but you will have successfully turned on the sub-conscious. This is the way tennis should be played. In a sub-conscious, instinctive, automatic mode. Shutting the mind off in this fashion and operating from the sub-conscious is what I call the Relax Technique. When players take the time to learn this technique they improve their game rapidly. You must learn to shut off the conscious mind and access the sub-conscious.

To help you better understand how it feels inside when you use the Relax Technique, let me give you an example that all of you have experienced before. You are returning serve and you are anxious and ready. The serve is a little long, so you yell "out" and at the same time you casually hit the ball back for one of your best return of serves ever!!! You are shocked and stunned at how easy you returned the ball. How did this occur? Actually the answer is simple. Because the return did not matter, missing was not an issue, and as a result you were relaxed. Unknowingly you have shut off the conscious mind and turned on the sub-conscious mind. This is the same mind-set you must access when you play.

Try the Relax Technique the next time you are practicing. Shut off your conscious thinking and have complete silence in your mind. No thought! No anxiety! Just silence! Do not try to over think every point, just let go and ‘let it happen.’ In this fashion you will come closest to thinking like a pro. The pros play in an instinctive, automatic, sub-conscious mode that you also must learn to access. You can access this mode by practicing the Relax Technique often. Now, if all of this fails to work, there is one last thing you can do...take a Valium! Only Kidding.

1. For a few minutes warm up the eyes. Do not worry if the balls you hit go in or out, just keep your eye on the ball and WARM UP YOUR EYE TRACKING SYSTEM.

2. Next, try to consciously aim the ball at your opponent with increased accuracy. WARM UP YOUR BALL PLACEMENT.

3. And last begin moving a little faster to run down a few more balls. WARM UP YOUR MUSCLES.

Too many players immediately begin running fast, hit the ball much too hard, and even attempt to hit winners consistently in the warm up. When I confront them about hitting hard and hitting winners they usually tell me, "Well that is the way I am going to play." I quickly tell them they are not playing a match, they are WARMING UP! Probably the truth is that they have trouble slowing down their strokes because it throws off their timing.

Can you slow down your strokes and still maintain your timing? I can tell you one thing it will be great practice to try. In a match, depending on the circumstances you must learn to play at different speeds. The warm up is a perfect opportunity to see if you can control the ball at slower speeds.

The next time you play WARM UP SLOWLY giving your eyes, mind, and body a chance to work itself into improved timing and rhythm. You will be surprised the difference it will make in your match play.

The WARM UP is to WARM UP! I am not quite sure why many players cannot get that, but it seems to be a universal malady. Do not be guilty of attempting to win the warm up. Save it for match play!!!

When teaching I have seen many subtle versions of this mindset over the years. I call it the tennis victim mentality! For example, I may say to a student, "relax and hit the ball slow when volleying at the net." Their response, "but my opponent is hitting the ball hard and fast." In other words, what their thinking is, "it's not my fault, they're hitting it to fast! Tell them to slow down so I can hit it easier." Can you imagine a pro saying that to his opponent! I can hear Pete Sampras now telling Lleyton Hewitt, "Hey Lleyton could you please slow down your shots so I can hit a well placed touch drop shot and win. If you are going to hit that hard I'm going to take my tennis balls and go home."

No, instead Pete adjusts the best he can for the situation. HE TAKES CONTROL OF HIS TENNIS. Because a player hits the ball hard does not mean you have to clobber the ball back at them! You learn to control your racket face and speed. When I teach players to relax at the net, to slow down and to use their opponents speed, they seem to snap out of it and take back control of their game.

One of your greatest mental skills for all avenues of tennis is to learn to be self-reliant. The dictionary defines self-reliant as ‘having the confidence in and exercising one's own powers or judgement.' It's up to YOU!

YOU must take control of your tennis development -certainly you can seek help from a good pro, a tennis camp, or an academy but YOU are
responsible for YOUR improvement - not the pro, not the camp, not the academy.

YOU must take control of your practice sessions - Practice...really practice! Besides doing specific drills, when you play a fun match practice new concepts that you have learned. Stop worrying about winning and what your team or teammates will think of you in practice matches ...try something different ...practice!

YOU must take control of your mental attitude in matches - All tennis matches come complete with many failures, adversities, ups and downs, and surprises. Stop blaming everyone and everything else ...adjust mentally and move on.

YOU must take control of your point play in matches - Players can hit the ball slow, medium, or fast, they can lob it, drive it, or spin it and they can hit the ball in the air or on a bounce. You must learn to stay alert and adjust to these different changing conditions and stop thinking there is nothing you can do on your part.

In other words you learn to think from the inside out. Sound familiar? It should, in the July 1st lesson we discussed learning strokes from the inside out (I have a link to that article at the end of this lesson). Instead of discussing the strokes, in this lesson we are discussing your overall mental attitude and how you should also take inner control through your mind.

* As a side note this is one of the reasons I have changed my teaching methods. When you learn strokes from the inside out you simultaneously train your thinking properly. You will automatically begin developing mental skills that will affect your thinking from the inside out. Like a champion YOU learn to take control. With the Tennis Warrior System YOU learn mental toughness and the physical strokes simultaneously. It's built right into the system!

Let me illustrate the dynamics of learning to think from the inside out and learning to take control of your tennis.

You are in a match and your opponent hits you a short ball. You correctly hit an approach shot and come up to the net. Your opponent nails a beautiful passing shot and wins the point. Now what? Below are two opposing mindsets that could occur. The ‘victim mentality' vs the ‘champions mentality.'

VICTIM MENTALITY (Relinquishing too much control to the external) - "I hit an approach shot and came up to the net like I was suppose to, but I lost the point anyway. A lot of good coming to the net did for me. Now what do I do?"

CHAMPIONS MENTALITY (taking control from the inside) - "My opponent hit a good passing shot, but my approach shot was short. The next time let's see if I can deepen it up and create a little more pressure."

If the approach shot was deep and he still lost the point the champion would think, "maybe I'll add a little more speed to the deep approach shot to create pressure." If his opponent still passes him he would think, "let's see if my opponent can keep it up over the long haul. I'm going to keep the pressure on consistently with deep approach shots."

NOTE - The mentally tough competitor takes mental control and always thinks there is a way to solve the problem. As a result of this inside out thinking he keeps trying different options and solutions rather then concluding that the situation is out of his hands.

The bottom line is STOP relinquishing too much control to overt situations, conditions and people. Take control of your tennis by leaning to think differently. When you notice yourself thinking incorrectly and being controlled by an external situation, STOP and THINK AGAIN. Only this time think from the inside out and take control of your tennis. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT ...BREAK THE MOLD!

PART ONE - GETTING READY!

The first plan of action would be to practice hitting your serve and not to stand there watching to see if it has gone in! Instead you should prepare for the return. This sounds simple but there are two inherent problems that plague most players when recovering after the serve.

One, they wait to see if their serve is in before getting ready for the return. It does not matter whether your serve is in or out you should prepare for a return either way. And two, most players do not practice the balance to recover properly after a serve.

1. WATCHING YOUR SERVE

This problem is the downfall of many players in their match points. They are so busy watching their last shot, they do not get ready and prepare for the return. As a result they are slow to react to the opponent's ball coming back at them. It does not take a genius to figure out that if you prepare quickly after your shot, you will have more time to hit your opponent's return. I think the phrase "he who hesitates is lost" sums it up quite well! You must practice hitting your serve and not waiting to see if it lands in or not. Instead, begin your preparation for a possible return. Notice I said "possible return," whether there is a return or not is irrelevant...you prepare anyway! Doing this will keep you alert and ready to move faster in whichever direction the return comes.

* Many, many points are lost because players are NOT PREPARED to make quick adjustments (mentally or physically) to retrieve shots after they have served. They have fallen into the trap of watching the magnificence of their own glorious shot and not thinking about the possible return.

2. PRACTICING A BALANCED RECOVERY

Next you must practice your balance over and over and over again by serving and bouncing back to ready position about a foot behind the baseline (unless of course you are serving and volleying).

A word of caution!

Just because you can execute this move does not mean you're totally balanced yet. There is a smooth rhythmic feel to the movement that takes practice. In addition, this move has to be subconscious enough so that you can concentrate on your opponent's return while you are recovering.

Tying both techniques together you would serve and IMMEDIATELY (not waiting to see if your serve is in or not) BOUNCE BACK on balance to prepare for the return. This is all done automatically and instinctively without hesitation! A little practice in these two areas and you will be surprised how focused you become on your opponent's return of serve and how quickly you begin reacting to that return.

As I have said before learning tennis is doing simple things over and over and over again until it is committed to the subconscious. Then the magic begins!

PART TWO - WHAT SHOT SHOULD YOU HIT?

You own a slice, a flat, or a topspin shot off both the forehand and backhand groundstokes. Now, which shot should you select after your opponent returns your serve? The answer to this question is not black or white, but depends on many factors:

1. Are you in trouble?
2. Are you tired?
3. Does your opponent have difficulty with topspin or slice shots?
4. Are you trying to pass your opponent at the net?
5. Do you want to rush your opponent by hitting the ball with speed?
6. Do you want to dip the ball at their feet?

There are many different situations that dictate which shot you hit. In some of my matches I have even hit shots without knowing why I did it that way...it just felt right at the moment! I told you this game must be learned on a subconscious level!

Here are a couple of general guidelines that can help you make your decisions.

If you are on the defensive after your opponent returns your serve, a slice can keep you in the point. Why? The slice offers a slower more controlled shot and can be hit easier if you are in trouble and the ball gets behind you.

If you are not on the defensive and can get a good crack at the ball, use your drive or topspin. In fact, if you have good flat or topspin shots you must use them more often than a slice in a match. Your drive and topspin are weapons you must use in any opportunity to keep your opponent on the defensive. The slice has backspin which is naturally a slower shot that exerts less effort. So reserve the slice for the defensive, for taking a rest, for approach shots, or for slowing down the game.

If you only possess a slice shot, obviously you are stuck slicing the ball. But if you wish to use the slice as an offensive weapon you can move the ball away from your opponent, keeping them on the run.

Be flexible and adjust your game with the shots you possess at the moment. Champions do this all the time...why shouldn't you!

SUMMARY

After you serve, stay balanced and IMMEDIATELY recover for the return, then pick a shot that the SITUATION dictates and play ball!