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Lessons Authorized & Published at wimbledontennis.co.uk © 2000 - 2008 Tom Veneziano tennis coaching and training expert.
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If you would like to learn to play tennis or reach a higher level at a quicker rate you must understand that stroke production is based on a ‘feel' of a particular stroke, not ‘mechanics.' Are you thinking, "not mechanics, I thought strokes were all mechanics!" Well, that is what conventional methods would lead you to believe, but it simply is not true. The truth is all pros have developed a feel of a given stroke by many hours of repetition. Either by having someone feed them balls or just having fun as a child playing day in and day out. As they develop a feel for a given shot then the mechanics work correctly. Did you catch that? The feel of a stroke allows the mechanics to function properly. The mechanics themselves do not make the stroke function correctly. An example of this would be a player who has the perfect mechanics and looks good, but cannot keep the ball in the court with any consistency. He has painstakingly forced himself to do the mechanics correctly, but has developed no ‘feel' of the stroke through repetition. What do I mean by ‘feel'? A feel is an identification with a stroke as a whole unit, not its individual parts. By the way this is true for all sports. If you think Michael Jordan was one of the all time greatest basketball players because he had the best mechanics you would be dead wrong. His ‘feel' of the game, shots, and situations were beyond most players in the history of the game. He developed that ‘feel' from long hours of repetition when most would become bored! The same is true in tennis. Develop a feel of a shot and that feel will make the mechanics work correctly. Try it and see for yourself! Go out and practice any one of your shots for one month, just one half hour a week or more and watch what begins to happen. Use a ball machine or a partner that will simply feed you balls. Hit for ten minutes, then rest by practicing another stroke for three minutes, then come back to the same stroke for ten more minutes. Do this for as long as you like each week for a month and watch the different ‘feel' that develops for that particular shot. Even if you are not doing everything perfectly you will still improve!!! Why? THE MAGIC OF THE LOST ART OF REPETITION! That's right I said the lost art of repetition. Most players now-a-days want a pro to tell them what they technically did wrong so they can correct it and then they think everything is fine. Only one problem, if that is all there were to it everyone would be a pro! Everyone seems to forget repetition. Repetition is so powerful that many times you do not even have to be technically correct and you will still improve. Besides with a little guidance and a lot of repetition many of the mistakes you are making will disappear on there own. Why? Because most of the mistakes players make are based on incorrect balance, timing, judgment, and undeveloped muscle. All four can only be developed by repetition, not by forcing yourself to do a host of technical things. This is the same problem a child is having when he learns to walk. He lacks the balance, the timing, the judgment, and has undeveloped muscle. How does the child solve this problem? With the same principle you should use to develop your game - REPETITION! REPETITION develops
balance, timing, judgment, and undeveloped muscle which in turn
leads to a feel for any given stroke and that feel makes the mechanics
work properly. This is exactly how repetition taught you a feel
for walking as a child and eventually a feel for the advanced skill
of running. Learning tennis is based on developing a ‘feel'
for the whole stroke through repetition, not on learning each and
every intricate mechanical movement. |
A couple of weeks ago I was reading an excellent book called "Coaching Tennis" by Chuck Kriese. Chuck Kriese is the tennis coach at Clemson College. I'm always checking out different coaches, their style of teaching, and where we agree or disagree. There is always more to learn. Occasionally I run into some information that is so similar to my methods that I'm shocked. On page 40 of Chuck Kriese's book he writes about his experience studying under Harry Hopman. Harry Hopman was the Australia Davies Cup coach for 20 years and developed the talents of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson and many others in the 50's and 60's. Here is some of what Kriese had to say when he first stepped on the courts to study under Hopman. "In the fist month of working for Hopman, I was shocked, surprised and somewhat disappointed to find out that I was not learning all the fancy schoolbook techniques of the great players that I had heard so much about. Hopman was working with current junior players John McEnroe, Peter Fleming and Vitas Gerulaitis. He would put them on workout courts and make them hit THOUSANDS of balls as he ran them from side to side and up and back, the whole time encouraging them to push themselves physically beyond their limits. Very seldom did I hear Hopman talk about certain shot techniques, and when he did, it was always in a way that gave leniency to the player's INDIVIDUAL FORM AND STYLE ALLOWING THE PLAYER TO IMMEDIATELY ADAPT." Hit thousands of balls! Leniency to the individual form and style of a player! I'm loving this stuff! A few paragraphs later he explains that it took him three months to understand Hopman's approach and how Hopman thought it was much more important to TRAIN THE INNER PART OF THE ATHLETE than it was to just TRAIN THE ATHLETE'S TECHNICAL SKILLS. Kriese went on from there to write. "I started asking myself questions about teaching and playing styles. Why were the strokes of the top players in the world so completely different? Why were some players baseline players, and why were others net rushers? Why did almost all the players use different grips to hit the ball? I thought of all the coaches who were teaching structured styles and forcing their pupils to play in certain ways. Then I would watch Hopman. I saw how he could coax the inner part of a player to produce the results that he wanted, but always in a unique way, suiting each players's personality." "I realize that although certain fundamental skills are important to deliver a ball with the right force, spin and direction, a player's strokes are developed pretty much according to his individual temperament and his own style." I love it! With all this is mind I had a question from one of my readers about how they could stop swinging on the volleys. Here is the way I approach this problem for most players. In the first lesson I Immediately begin working on their thinking. I ask my student to slow down and hit the ball easier. I explain that most players hit the volley fast (an anxious swing) and then recover slowly for the next shot, instead of hitting the volley slowly (less swing) and then recovering fast for the next shot. Players actually reverse the process! They hit fast and recover slowly. After the explanation and a demonstration the student begins to volley with a slightly reduced swing. Since I have a hitter that hits for me while I teach I can stay on the sideline encouraging my student to volley easy and then recover fast. Hit easy, recover fast, hit easy, recover fast, hit easy, recover fast is the concept I try to instill in them through repetition. Notice I'm not trying to force the block volley, or giving them excessive technical information. However, I am laying the foundation for them to think better about how they hit the volley and eventually mold the volley according to their own style. Every once in a while I remind them to relax. This too, helps to reduce the swing. Next, either in this lesson or the next lesson as they begin improving and automatically reducing the swing, I begin to teach them the concept of working the racket face, not the swing. Again, I'm working on their thinking in regard to volleys. I explain you do not make a ball go where you want by swinging, but by how you gently adjust the face of the racket. I demonstrate by holding the racket and moving the racket face so it points in different directions. Slight movements of the racket face determines the direction of the ball, not the swing. Work the racket face, not the swing to develop a good controlled volley. I harp on this concept for a number of lessons until I eventually mold them into a block volley. In time the correct volley begins to happen naturally and they still have their own style and personality involved in the process. Rarely do I even say block the volley. Although sometimes a few words about blocking the ball or just letting it rebound off their strings works like a charm. This is up to the teacher and what he/she feels will work with that particular student. THUS, THE ART OF TEACHING IS A MOLDING PROCESS COAXING A PLAYER IN THE CORRECT DIRECTION WITH A VARIETY OF MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TECHNIQUES - all with the students personality, style, form and instinct as part of the learning process. This is called learning from the inside out. Try it! |
This lesson will be in the form of a question and answer. My friend Bret Essing who is a 4.0 player and takes private lessons from me had a few questions that he asked via email. After Bret read my response he said, "you just wrote your next newsletter." I thought he was right so after getting his permission I published it as my next email lesson. Enjoy and thank Bret for this one! Tom, I have a few questions I'm still not sure of. How do you know which shot to hit. You've seen me play - sometimes my shot selection is based more on the shots that I ‘know' that I can make. For example, when I play my friend and he hits a short ball, I hit a dropshot because I ‘know' that I can make that. If I try and hit a drive with it, I put holes in the back wall. I know that it's not an ‘impossible' shot - I've seen it done, but when I run up to the shot, and drive it, it sails long. Since my friend is slow, I ‘know' that I can win the point with a dropshot (however a ‘good' player would get to the dropshot, drive it, and hurt me by driving the ball through me). So... back to the question, how do I know that a drive is better than a dropshot, or a passing shot is better than a lob, or a down the line shot is better than a crosscourt... you get the idea. Also, you mention getting mentally tough rather than emotional. You gave a lot of reasons why, but I didn't understand how you avoid the emotion. How can you get into a state that you ‘know' that you are going to make the next shot? Thanks for the help! You're email tennis student, Bret Following is the response Bret, Excellent questions that are loaded with different scenarios. First you have to make a decision as to what you want in a given match, to win or learn to play on a higher level and improve your strokes and mental attitude. If it's to win, you do what you do best even if it's wrong. Your thinking is subordinate to the principles and shots you do best, even if they are wrong. This is an accepted strategy because you are choosing to do this in an important match where winning is a high priority. In another scenario you may wish to learn and practice (like with your friend) and begin selecting the shots and mental attitude that you know are correct, even if you miss. Your thinking is subordinate to the principles and shots that are correct even if they are not your best shots. For instance, any short ball is hit for a deep approach shot with medium speed. This does not mean you hit it hard and over play, but you mentally let go and attempt to hit a control approach shot. In another situation your opponent may be at the net. There is no one right shot, but you pick a shot and go for it. Down the line, crosscourt, right at him or lob. As you practice you become more skilled at mixing it up and keeping your opponent off balance. And you begin to recognize which shot is more effective against a given opponent and use it more. How can you ever learn and know what is the best shot if you never practice any of the correct shots with any consistency? You may lose, but that is what mental toughness is all about. During practice you are choosing the best shot to develop your game (Mental Toughness Sphere - click here ), not what makes you feel good because you won (Emotion). These choices develop your mental attitude, your game, and eventually give you the courage to go for your shots. As a result you begin making a higher percentage of your shots and your confidence soars. Belief in yourself as well as your ability to make these shots sky rockets! So, in answer to your first question. You know what shot to hit, by first practicing the correct mental attitude on the shots you know are correct...like a deep approach shot. This is not rocket science, it's more about the mental attitude to go for the shots you think are correct and the rest develops by itself. Residing in the Mental Toughness Sphere is the ability to use the information and principles in the sphere, like my example above: the choice between attempting to win or improving your game. It has nothing to do with winning immediately, but with the utilization of mental principles to eventually improve and win more in the long run. In answer to your second question. You do not avoid the emotions. They are with you always, but through the Mental Toughness Sphere you learn to overrule them with your thinking. Like "the next shot is more important than the last mistake" or the example above is a perfect case. In practice your emotions may only want to win instead of practicing to improve your game. But the thinking overrules and you practice the correct shots anyway. Eventually this becomes a habit and your thinking changes. And to your third question, how to know you can make the next shot. You do not know that you can make the next shot, but you think you can, and you are not afraid to miss. How do you develop this mental attitude? The next paragraph as stated earlier in the lesson has the answer. It all works together. |
Has this ever happened to you? You are in a pressure situation in an important match. You tighten up, and one more time you choke. What can you do that will help you learn to play under pressure? I have been asked this question a thousand times by players from many different levels of play. The answer to this question is a kind of oxymoron. You must learn to fail in order to learn to play under pressure. That's right - FAIL! Think of it this way. You have two separate skills you are trying to master when playing under pressure. The mental skills and the physical skills. The mental skill of not freezing up, and the physical skill of getting the ball in the tennis court, which now under pressure looks like the size of a place mat!!! If you know when you are not under pressure the physical skills operate fine, obviously the mental skills need some training. Therefore, first and foremost is to experience what it ‘feels' like to go for your shots under pressure. Unfortunately most players fall into a major pitfall. They will say, "I did go for my shot, but I missed!" But I missed? Who said anything about making the shot? EXPERIENCE ‘WHAT IT FEELS LIKE' was the phrase. You must treat this situation exactly like learning anything else in tennis...you practice! You practice going for the shot every time you are faced with this type of pressure situation. How do you think the pros have learned to think correctly under pressure. They have been practicing over and over again to go for their shots under pressure. By the time you see them on television they have already practiced over and over and over and over again that similar situation. As a result, they make it look easy. They have developed SPONTANEITY THROUGH PREPARATION. You can do the same, but it will require a mental toughness on your part to accept the failures that come with going for your shots under pressure. When I am teaching a play action doubles drill where my students are playing points I constantly try to put them under pressure. I may say something like, "this is a key point, your partner is counting on you." Sounds cruel doesn't it?...They think so too!!! But, many of them have learned from these little tests to play relaxed under pressure. I let them know I do not care if they win or lose the point, what I am interested in is their ability to go for the shot and accept the outcome. Mental toughness does not mean you never fail. Mental toughness is the ability to accept the failure and keep moving toward your goal. YOU ARE FAILING FORWARD! It is this mindset practiced over and over again under pressure that will prepare you to play automatic and spontaneous tennis. You must experience what it ‘feels' like to go for your shots under pressure whether you win or lose the point. Will you be able to learn to play under pressure? Well, you probably already have learned! Many things in life, at work, or whatever profession you are in requires you to perform under pressure. Just beginning a new job alone can provide pressure. Eventually you become comfortable because you practice day after day. The same is true for tennis, if you would like to learn how to play under pressure you must put yourself in pressure situations over and over and over again and consistently choose to go for your shots. Eventually you will shock yourself. And your opponent too!!! |
If you would like to get a jump on the ball the Direction Reaction Technique will do wonders for your game. The Direction Reaction Technique is your ability to react to the direction of the ball from your opponents racket. Keep in mind you do not know exactly where the ball is going you just see a direction and go! The ball could be going upward, to the left, to the right, etc. Here are two things that may come as a shock to you. 1. Even the pros do not know the exact destination of the ball. 2. However, most people can quickly read the direction of the ball from their opponents racket. That's right the pros do not know the exact destination of the ball, they only have a general idea of the direction and they are off running. They analyze the exact destination of the ball while on the run. From practice this is all done quickly and instinctively. Unfortunately most players have conditioned themselves to stand still and analyze exactly where the ball is going first, then decide to run. They have unknowingly reversed the process! You must practice reading and reacting to the direction of the ball from your opponents racket immediately. Not sure you can do this? I disagree! As stated above most people can quickly read the direction of the ball from their opponents racket. The problem is, you read the ball fast, but you have not conditioned the body to react to that information. You have the DIRECTION part of the Direction Reaction Technique, but there is a breakdown in the REACTION part of the Direction Reaction Technique. How do I know you read the direction fast? Simple, every time your opponent hits the ball watch what your eyes and head do. Your eyes and head will immediately follow the path of the ball. I have seen this phenomenon over and over again when watching my students cover a lob. I will usually yell, go, go after the ball! They look at me and say, "I never knew that it was going to be a lob!" I look at them and say, "then why did your head immediately follow the ball upward right over your head? Think about that, they are looking up at a ball saying, " I don't know where the ball is going." Yes, you definitely read the ball from your opponents racket much faster than you think. The key to improving your speed is to practice following your head like the pros. If the ball is hit to the right and your head moves that way, make sure your body is moving with your head. If the ball is hit to the left and your head moves that way, make sure your body is moving with your head. Whatever way your head moves make sure your body moves with your head. If while moving after the ball, you see the ball going out, then you can stop. The Direction Reaction is designed to make you react to the direction of the ball exactly the way your head and eyes do. Test yourself the next time you play to see if your head is moving, but your body is staying in one spot. If you are, get off your dear derriere and get moving!!! |
Have you ever been on the court playing extremely well? You know, everything seems to work. The forehand you have been practicing is going in. Your volley's are crisper. The serve is placed well and you are even making overheads. You walk off the court thinking, "I have arrived. All the hard training was worth it"... you wake up two days later, play a match and find the dream has turned into a nightmare. You are no longer as good as you were two days ago! You think to yourself, "I know I can play better...I just did it!" By the end of the day you are frustrated because you could never achieve the level of play you know you are capable of playing. I have seen this scenario over and over and over again. Most players have an incorrect preconceived idea about the way they think they should play. Usually this preconceived idea is related to the time they have performed the best. If they do not perform as well each time they play, they become frustrated. Let me give you the simple truth about this situation. Your game will always fluctuate, so get used to it. Sorry, but the time you performed your best is not your consistent game. Cheer up though, because the time you performed the worst is also not your consistent game. You are somewhere in between both extremes. Understanding that your game will have up and down cycles is a very important principle. Not only does this happen with your total game, but also with individual strokes within the same match! One moment your serve is great, the next moment it is not as good. Does this remind you of something in one of the previous email lessons? Remember, repetition has the ability to handle up and down cycles built right into the process. Fluctuation is one of the five mental dynamics of repetition. First, when practicing a stroke over and over again you do real well. Then, suddenly you are hitting the stroke poorly. If you have done enough repetition and understand this principle you should not be surprised when you also have match play cycles. You should learn from the repetition of your strokes how to mentally handle match play fluctuations. That is, if you do any repetition!!! If you do not correctly orient to this fluctuation principle, two things will happen. First, you will constantly have false expectations and remain frustrated. Second, you will be running from pro to pro trying to figure out what has gone wrong with your strokes...I mean, after all you played so well the other day! Here is my advice to you. Do not fall prey to this pitfall, accept the peaks and valleys as part of your game and save yourself a lot of anguish and frustration. Maybe even a little gray hair too! |
The Tennis Masters Cup was in Houston, Texas this November. The eight best players in the world came together for a showdown at the Westside Tennis Club just around the corner from where I live. Great location! I was there to see the match between Roger Federer and David Nalbandian. I thought I would be seeing a great match, but Nalbandian played poorly and was crushed 6-3, 6-0. This was the first time Federer beat Nalbandian as a pro. In the next match, I watched Andy Roddick play Guillermo Coria. Roddick struggled but pulled it out to move on to the semifinals 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3. Roddick's serve is even more dynamic in person! Federer played Andre Agassi in the finals. Federer was on fire the whole tournament and beat Agassi easily, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. Agassi tried everything, but when a top pro is playing 'in the zone' with Federer's talent, there is not much you can do. Federer was executing everything flawlessly! The match that caught my attention, though, was the match that occurred days earlier between Agassi and Juan Carlos Ferrero. I was not there for this match, but since they had a sell-out crowd it was aired on television locally. Agassi was in trouble from the beginning of the match, but somehow managed to win. He displayed the perfect mindset of never giving up and looking for alternatives when things were not going well. In the first set he played poorly and lost 2-6, partly because Ferrero was playing well and making some excellent on-the-run winners from wide on the court. In the second set Agassi was still struggling and looked doomed when all of a sudden he did something uncharacteristic of his match-play demeanor. He angrily broke a racket! Agassi hit his tennis shoe with the racket so hard that it completely snapped the frame. Agassi looked at the racket, then calmly walked over to the side, placed the racket down, took a new one out of a plastic bag and went back to work. I was curious to see how he would play after losing it! For some reason, after that incident he changed his game. I guess up until then he thought the strategy he was using would begin to click. When he finally became so frustrated that he broke his racket it was like he thought to himself, "hey wake up Andre, change your game, it's not working." Next I watched Agassi make some subtle changes that allowed him to slowly engineer his way back into the match. He made a clear demonstration of how the power of thinking can turn a match back in your favor. Andre possessed the same skills, but was now mentally applying those skills differently. Here is what Agassi did to get himself back into the set and match. First, he began hitting the ball to the center of the court, taking away Ferrero's wide shots that he had been hitting so successfully for winners. Also it was allowing Andre to get his feel and rhythm back that seemed to have been lost for a set and a half. This subtle change was enough to clinch the second set 6-3. Phew! At this point I could not believe that the score was one set apiece. It felt like Andre was losing. All the great play and all the great shots for the majority of the two sets were owned by Ferrero. And yet the score was tied! There was more of the same in the third set. Andre was still not playing super tennis, yet the score was tied. You began feeling that he could pull this out for a victory. And then came another change that directly fed off of his previous changes! After he established his timing and rhythm by hitting to the center of the court, he added a little more pace to his shots and slightly flattened out his strokes. He then went back to his original game plan: moving the ball around, keeping Ferraro on the move. This time, because of the extra pace, Ferrero could not play quite as well and Agassi won the third set 6-4. Again, when it was over I could not help but think that Ferrero played better, but Agassi somehow came away with the win! A masterpiece victory that should be studied by all players. One of the most important lessons to learn from Andre's work of art is that you can make subtle but simple changes in your game that could mean the difference between winning and losing. For instance, hitting a ball with just a little more pace changes the whole game your opponent has to play. Your opponent will then have to move a little faster and react a little faster to stay with you. This could be just enough to take home the trophy! You do not have to go from hitting the ball at medium speed to blinding winners to make a change. When in trouble great players will make subtle changes and keep adding to these changes if necessary as the match develops. Below is a list of some of those changes you can make. * Hit with a little more pace * Hit with a little less pace * Hit with a more depth * Hit with less depth * Hit with more spin * Hit with less spin * Hit to the center of the court * Hit more angles * Hit exclusively to your opponent's backhand * Hit exclusively to your opponent's forehand Be creative and come up with your own subtle changes. Agassi, now the number four player, made some subtle but simple changes and won against the number three player in the world. When you are in trouble in a match there is no reason you should not do the same! |
One of the biggest challenges in a match is finding your optimum timing and rhythm, which I call the "match play flow zone." To maintain a good match flow you must learn to create a balance between overplaying and underplaying in your game. If you can find the correct timing and rhythm in a match you will discover that your strokes will begin operating by themselves. The correct rhythm of a match has a way of carrying your game along with minimum effort. In all sports, coaches are constantly attempting to guide their players into the flow of a game or match. Coaches realize that good things can happen when players are in the flow zone and not overplaying or underplaying. You should learn to do the same. The best analogy I know to explain this flow concept is called 'drafting.' This is a term used in cycling where you are directly behind another cyclist and drafting along with him. The front cyclist is fighting the wind resistance while the back cyclist is shielded from that resistance. There is a perfect spot behind the cyclist that will allow the back cyclist to not exert as much effort, but still maintain maximum speed. This is an athlete's dream, having maximum results with minimum effort. You are in the flow zone! Now follow this closely. You are in the perfect drafting spot on the bicycle where you are not overworking or not under working. The flow is effortlessly carrying you along. However, if you pedal too fast, you will move yourself out of the flow or 'drafting zone.' You will begin bouncing off the bicycle in front, giving yourself a bumpy ride and exerting too much effort for minimum results. Your timing and rhythm will be disrupted and will affect your physical and mental game. In tennis, this would be equivalent to overplaying in a match. You are pedaling too fast and the ride is bumpy. You are hitting great shots, followed by complete timing failures. Many shots are landing in, but the mistiming is taking its toll physically as well as mentally. You feel completely disconnected and you do not know why. If you knew about the 'drafting' concept and understood its application, at this point you would back off a little to move yourself back into the correct 'draft.' But, since you do not yet understand this flow concept it does not make sense to play (pedal) slower to improve your timing and rhythm. As a result, you continue to overplay, lose the match and go away thinking, "I played hard and gave it my all." As you can see, knowledge of the flow zone could have saved the day! Now, what happens when you are in a match, playing cautiously, tentatively, and underplaying? Simple! You have moved out of the flow zone and have to work harder to keep up with your opponent. You have moved away from that perfect zone where the cyclist in front is shielding you from the wind resistance. You have moved so far away that you now have to fight your OWN wind resistance and work much harder just to keep up. At this point you must step it up and get yourself back into the flow zone where everything seems effortless again. Your battle on the tennis court, as far as timing and rhythm is concerned, is to learn how to back off when you are overplaying and step it up when you are underplaying. Learn to play in the flow zone where your shots are just flowing and the game is coming to you. This is not an easy task and does take experience, but the first step is to just be aware that this zone exists. All professional tennis players are aware of this zone. They are constantly trying to balance their game properly so they can let their strokes go! Since most players overplay in their matches I suggest that the next time you play, back off a little and see if you can begin recognizing the flow zone. If you happen to be a player who underplays, step it up a little and you may be surprised how you now can enter the flow zone! Whether cycling or playing tennis, balance between too much and too little is an art that you must master! |
Well, I had mixed feedback from my last quick tip on angles. Some understood it and some did not! Apparently I did not do a good job explaining some of the details, so I'm going to try again. Despite all the sophisticated technical information and all the complicated theories on how to hit that elusive little yellow ball over the net, the ball always goes in the DIRECTION THAT YOU AIM THE RACKET FACE. If you want to hit the ball down the line, you must point the racket face in that direction. If you want to hit the ball crosscourt, you must face the racket in that direction. If you want to hit an angle, you must face the racket in the direction of the angle. It does not matter if you are standing on your head, if you can get the racket face to point in the direction you want the ball to go and hit the sweet spot, the ball will go in that direction! Besides it may be the first time some of you have used your head in tennis...only kidding! The concept is simple. Unfortunately, the application is not! When you angle, you must place the racket face on the correct part of the ball to get the ball to go in the direction you desire. In the last email lesson I talked about hitting the outside of the ball when executing an angled volley. The outside of the ball is the side of the ball that is away from you. To help you understand more about this concept, pretend you are playing doubles and you are at the net on the deuce side of the court. The ball comes to your forehand (you're right-handed) and you would like to angle it to the left. You can do this by placing the racket face on the outside of the ball. The outside of the ball is that side which is closest to the alley. One of my readers emailed me and said, "I got it, it's the side of the ball that's closest to the alley!" Now, does that make sense? You must place the racket face on the alley side of the ball to hit an angle to the left from the deuce side and you must do the same when you are angling a ball with a backhand volley on the ad side. To angle on both the deuce side and the ad side you must hit the outside of the ball or the side of the ball that's closer to the alley. Whether you hit the inside, the outside, the top, the bottom, or the back of the ball, each racket placement on the ball will make your shot go in a different direction. For a nice crisp angle you must hit the extreme outside of the ball. To illustrate this concept I have a picture of Marat Safin hitting a backhand with the racket face squarely placed on the back of the ball. Study the picture and the explanation to further grasp the dynamics of racket placement on the ball. Click here
to see the Marat Safin illustration. A BIG PROBLEM If you have not yet figured out how difficult it is to control the racket face to make the ball go where you want it to, you are on a fine line when attempting to hit a tennis ball into any part of the court. That's why it takes so much repetition. There is no way you can consciously discern between the minute changes in the racket face to control every shot. A slight turn of the racket face placed on a different part of the ball will drastically change the direction the ball will travel. For instance, you could hit a ball ten feet out and the racket face could be placed on the ball only one degree off course! In fact, when I'm teaching depth there is no significance difference in the racket face between a ball that lands one foot out of bounds and a ball that lands one foot inbounds. The only answer is to keep hitting and hitting and hitting until one day the same ball that was one foot out of bounds now begins to land about a foot inbounds. The difference is oh so subtle! With this in mind, you must understand what you are up against when learning to hit an angled volley. A tough, tough shot! There is not much court to hit to when attempting to hit an angle. As a result, you must be extremely patient with yourself and hit many, many balls out of bounds before you acquire a feel for this delicate angled volley. Any slight turn of the racket face one way or the other and the ball is GONE! Does this mean you will not be able to learn to angle a volley? Of course not! It will just take some perseverance, determination, and consistent practice to eventually master hitting the outside of the ball. In other words, you will have to adopt the mental attitude of a Tennis Warrior! |
The other day I watched one of my students play a match. Her name is Julie and she is nice 4.5 player. After she finished we did a little analysis. Her comments were, "I was nervous, I played poorly, I made a lot of simple mistakes!" My comments were, "I thought you handled everything well. I liked the way you played." Interesting isn't it, two people with completely opposite views of what occurred! Obviously we must have been focused on two different sets of principles. For most tennis players their analysis is focused solely on the physical game. If everything physical goes well, they played fine, but if everything does not go well, they played poorly. Yes, you will be nervous and make mistakes. Yes, you will play poorly from time to time. And yes you will make simple mistakes. Do you think these ingredients are not part of winning? Do you think winning is about doing everything correctly? Do you think winning is about your playing the game you think you are capable of playing? If you do, it is time to change your thinking and spend a little more time in what I call the Mental Toughness Sphere. What I saw in Julie's match was a player that was nervous, but slowly working herself out of the nervousness. What I saw was a player making mistakes here and there, but forgetting them and moving on. What I saw was a player who was trying to stay in the Mental Toughness Sphere and develop some mental toughness, win, lose, or draw. Julie won in a third set tiebreaker, but even if she lost, for the most part she was thinking well. This can only serve to her advantage in future matches. The next time you play do not focus on the physical negatives, mistakes, and failures. Instead, focus on thinking correctly to handle whatever comes your way in the match. * You must eliminate from your mind the notion that to win you are suppose to play according to some standard that you have set. IMPORTANT! * You must eliminate from your mind the notion that to win you are suppose to play according to some standard that you have set. The best definition I have found that explains this whole concept in one sentence is from an excellent book titled, Tournament Tough by Carlos Goffi. Carlos says, "Tournament toughness is that mental resilience and flexibility that separate champions from the pack, allowing them to win against opponents who are technically more skillful and physically more powerful, even when they are playing poorly themselves." Hmm, no sign of perfect play in that phrase!!! Yes, you too can think this way, but it will take some conscious effort on your part. Learning to win even when you are playing poorly will require objectivity in the face of adversity. To begin you must not focus too much on your physical failures, but place a higher premium on thinking correctly in your matches, win, lose, or draw! |
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