For instance, you had some bad luck and lost a point, this is not unique to you only, it's happened over and over again....you've been passed at the net with a blazing shot from your opponent, this is not unique to you, It's happened over and over again...you were ahead 5-1 and then lost, this is not unique to you, it's happened over and over again....these and many, many more situation happen over and over and over again. What happens on the tennis court will repeat itself!

You may be saying to yourself, you're right, all of these things have happened to me....it's horrible! I know I have to correct these problems before I can win...right?....wrong! These things happen all the time, yet champions still win! They've missed easy shots and won!...they've had bad breaks and won!...they've been passed numerous times and won!...and they've played poorly and still won!...these situations are not deciding factors in whether they are winners or losers.

The point I'm trying to make is to look at the long term picture, don't isolate these situations by thinking short term. These situations are always going to occur, so you might as well get used to them. Listen to this excellent definition of tournament toughness found in Carlos Goffi's book entitled "Tournament Tough." "Tournament toughness is that mental resilience and flexibility that separates the champions from the pack, allowing them to win against opponents who are technically more skillful and physically more powerful, even when they themselves are playing poorly." I like that ending, "even when they themselves are playing poorly." In other words, mentally tough competitors do not always have to play perfectly to win. They have learned to improvise when they are confronted with obstacles and adverse situations.

If you're like most players you have in your mind a preconceived idea about the way you think you should play. When this does not occur you become frustrated and angry. Since tennis or for that matter anything else in life, does not happen exactly the way you think it should, you spend a lot of time being a little frustrated. As a result, you lose confidence and start playing tentative or you just mentally quit!

It's always tough for me to get players to part from these false expectations. For example, after listening to these tapes you'll go out and play, miss an easy shot and immediately you think, "I make that shot all the time. What happened? Why did I miss? I can't believe how horrible I'm playing." Somehow your brand of mistakes are not the same as the mistakes I've been talking about. You rationalize...I make that shot all the time, I shouldn't miss!

My answer to you is this, it's obvious you do not make that shot all the time because.....you just missed! How's that for being blunt! The truth is, you're so hung up on preconceived ideas about the way you think you should play, you become mentally distracted by your mistakes and never apply the solution. You are so preoccupied with the problem, you ignore the solution! Again, the solution is, tennis repeats itself....so lighten up!!!

The question is - why do players have such a short term focus in the face of these negative obstacles? The one word answer is - emotion! Their mentality is being controlled by their emotion. Here is a principle you should remember. When emotions control your mentality you will make decisions that offer only short term solutions, but when your mentality (with the correct information) controls your emotion you will make decisions that have long term solutions. Do not let your emotion dictate to your mentality, instead let your mentality dictate to your emotion.

For instance, you are learning something new and making a lot of mistakes. Immediately you begin thinking, I hate doing this, I will never learn it. If I went back to the old way I could do it much better. Now, do you think this makes a lot of sense? You have been working on a new technique a whole five minutes and you just cannot do it correctly so you might as well go back to the old way. This is a typical emotional response of choosing a short term solution. You are more interested in protecting yourself from failure and feeling good about yourself, than you are about learning and improving. Obviously this is counter productive. You may feel better about yourself for a moment, but in the long run, because you have not learned correctly it will catch up with you - and then what?

In a match or when you are practicing you must learn to override the terrible feelings you are experiencing when you fail. How can you do this? By constantly choosing to control your emotions with your mentality. That is why they call it MENTAL toughness. You keep the correct perspective by using your mentality. The next time you are in a match and experiencing negative feelings practice controlling the incorrect emotional response with your mentality. Remember, you control whether or not the negatives, mistakes, and failures will affect you.

If you are controlled by your mentality your response will be "the next shot is more important than the last mistake," but if you are controlled by your emotion your response will be "the last mistake is more important than the next shot." It is your choice! Stop letting your emotion dictate to your mentality and you will begin experiencing the mental control that champions must exert over themselves to play at their optimum level.

Remember the practice match oxymoron? It goes like this. You may be having a practice match, but there is very little practice...everyone is trying to win! As a result players continue to hit the wrong shots and never change an incorrect pattern of play. During practice matches you must PRACTICE moving out of your comfort zone and taking some risks. If you do not, you become predictable.

Let me show you an example where players have become to predictable. When teaching a doubles clinic I would often play with my students. When my opponents were up at the net volleying they would be amazed how I could, with very little speed, figure out where they would hit the ball. I would explain that the reason why I could read their shots quickly was because they were hitting the most comfortable shot and not attempting to hit the correct shots. Usually the shots that are the most comfortable to a player are the easiest ones to hit, but not necessarily the correct shot. All I had to do was stay mentally ready to cover that side.

Because my students had not challenged themselves to hit the more difficult correct shots during their practice they had unknowingly become predictable.

Here is what I noticed that made my opponents so predictable. You should PRACTICE changing this pattern of play in your fun matches or in your practice sessions. The explanation will be for a right handed player. For lefties it will be the opposite.

THE EASIEST SHOT TO HIT WHEN EXECUTING A FOREHAND VOLLEY FOR A RIGHT HANDED PLAYER IS TOWARD THE LEFT. THE EASIEST SHOT TO HIT WHEN EXECUTING A BACKHAND VOLLEY FOR A RIGHT HANDED PLAYER IS TOWARD THE RIGHT.

Why? Because moving the arm across the body to hit a crosscourt shot is more natural and easier than moving the arm across the body than outward to hit to the opposite direction. And if that's the easiest shot, that's the shot players practice. Whether it's the right or wrong shot is irrelevant!

This simple fact enables me to anticipate many of their volleys without using my speed. Now, let's take this fact and show you a doubles scenario that occurs constantly. The players are in a one-up, one-back formation. The right handed net player on the deuce side receives an extremely low forehand volley. Where does he hit the ball? Answer, crosscourt. Why? It's the easiest shot. You may be thinking, what's wrong with that? Well, for starters there is a net person that's catercorner to them. The chance of taking a low ball and hitting it back low at the opposing net player is not very probable. More than likely he will pop it up and set up his opponent to smash the ball down at his feet.

Usually the player who popped up the low ball to the net person feels like there are no other probabilities. They have been so conditioned to hit the easiest shot and not the correct shot, they think it was the only option they had! By the way the correct shot would have been to hit the low ball away from the netman back toward the person who was on the baseline and wait for a better opportunity to hit at the netman's feet. A better opportunity would be a ball that is high and short.

The next time you are practicing attempt to hit a number of forehand volleys toward the right and a number of backhand volleys to the left. Even if you do not make the volleys, at least you will begin changing the incorrect pattern of play. Stepping out of your comfort zone will increase the options you will have in match play and make you less predictable.

Remember, the easiest shot to hit when executing a forehand volley for a right handed player is toward the left. The easiest shot to hit when executing a backhand volley for a right handed player is toward the right. If you would like to break this predictable pattern you must make a conscious effort to PRACTICE. Here is where a ball machine or a friend feeding balls to you can make a huge difference in your game. Get out there and hit forehand volley after forehand volley to the right side and backhand volley after backhand volley to the left side.

To direct the ball correctly with your volleys simply aim the racket face toward the direction you would like the ball to go. We have been over this before - the racket face determines the direction of the ball. Point the racket face toward the left and that's where the ball will go. Point the racket face toward the right and that's the direction the ball will also go. The concept is simple, but the application of that concept requires many hours of repetition to acquire a feel for the racket face.

In this fashion you will break out of your comfort zone and begin developing a new volley for your repertoire. Also as an extra bonus, you will be politically correct. You are on the LEFT as well as on the RIGHT. :)

This is the typical cycle players go in as they attempt to develop their game. Of course, when I learned the game of tennis I practiced, played, ate, drank, slept, and thought tennis for months and years to become an accomplished player. But, you're going to take a short cut and have someone or a book tell you to keep your knees bent, than go out and do it, and that will be the reason for your success. Right!!! I hope you have read my lessons and web site enough that you no longer think in this fashion. You should execute the technical correctly, but not as the all consuming cause of your development. The all consuming cause of your development should be the same thing that has gotten every pro where they are today, PRACTICE AND REPETITION.

Hidden within the repetition practice is the MISSING LINK that is undeveloped in most players. This MISSING LINK is the foundation for developing the technical skills and will help you execute the technical skills more naturally and efficiently. Learning the technical skills without it is like trying to run before you learn to walk. The MISSING LINK is your balance, timing, and judgment of the ball. You can learn the technical skills all you want, but if these fundamentals are not in place your progress will be frustrating and slow. Not to mention when you over emphasize the technical skills you will have a total misconception of what is necessary to improve and become proficient at this game. This is why you may even be having trouble understanding what in the world I'm talking about! You cannot efficiently learn the advanced skill of making a turn on a bicycle until you first develop some balance, timing, and judgment. The same principle holds true when learning tennis.

You may be thinking, I'm an "A" player or I'm a championship player I have already developed these fundamentals. Not so fast! The balance, timing, and judgment of the ball are all relative to the level of your play. As a beginner, or intermediate player you need them as a core for developing your strokes. As a championship player you need the refinement of these fundamentals to develop the subtleties necessary for advanced play.

Yes, you need guidance in some technical skills (minimum), but even more important is the development of balance, timing, and judgment that only comes through repetition. Lots of repetition. This is not good news for the lazy or the slothful!!!

Repetition is the chariot of genius!

Let me close by giving you a different perspective of what you saw in the 2001 US Open mens finals between Sampras and Hewitt. Hewitt, I must admit was outstanding. In beating Sampras he played flawless tennis. What you saw in Hewitt was not a player with superior book like technical skills (he was jumping, diving, and flailing with controlled abandonment everywhere), but what you did see was a player with superior balance, timing, and judgment which allowed his own style of technical skills to flow effortlessly.

Spend more time improving your balance, timing, and judgment with minimum technique and maximum repetition and watch your game soar !

Many years ago I had a paradigm shift in tennis. I had preconceived ideas about the way you learn and play tennis based on traditional and accepted truths. When teaching I often remember thinking, why am I teaching my student this technique, when I do not do it myself? I dismissed the doubt and kept teaching figuring this is the way it is supposed to be done. I thought, I'm a pro and my students can not do what I can do yet.

Then, the next haunting dilemma popped into my mind. Exactly at what point do my students abandon this so called correct way and begin playing the way I was playing. Unknowingly I was TEACHING a rigid, robotic type of game with all this emphasis on technique, but I was PLAYING a more free flowing automatic instinctive game with entirely different techniques. Now what? I began questioning the conventional wisdom and experimenting on my own.

I remember one of my first breakthroughs. When my students hit a groundstroke and stumbled off balance I would say, "try to stay still and balanced after the shot." Of course, when I played I didn't stay still and balanced. Instead I recovered to be ready for the next shot by jumping off the ground if necessary. This prompted me to experiment with my students. I had a hunch that if I said nothing when my students fell off balance eventually their balance would improve by itself. Week after week I said nothing and watched astonishingly as my student slowly went from stumbling all over the place to a more controlled recovery similar to the pros. What I was trying to force them to learn was happening automatically by sheer repetition and challenging their body to figure it out.

It seemed like a miraculous breakthrough at the time, but when I thought about it what was happening was exactly the same principle we all used when learning to ride a bicycle. You simply fall off balance over a over again until your balance improves and you learn to ride. You do not learn to ride a bicycle by trying to stay in one spot still and balanced. In fact it's funny to even think about it. Tennis is also a moving game. You do not efficiently learn balance by standing still and balanced in one spot. From day one you must practice recovering by allowing yourself to fall off balance until your balance improves...it works!

I began challenging many of my conventional teaching methods and replacing them with more automatic, instinctive techniques that are the signature of a champion. My books, tapes, web site, and newsletter are a result of that paradigm shift.

With this newsletter I want to encourage you to keep experimenting, explore new options and have your own paradigm shift. Many of you are beginning or have already had this shift. The testimonial under READER FEEDBACK at the end of this lesson is an excellent example. Make sure you read it.

Tennis is a magnificent game that anyone can play in a more automatic instinctive mode. Yes, learn some correct procedures, but in your matches you must learn to let go mentally and just play without over analyzing every technical failure. Try to breakout out of that confined box mentality that conventional methods stuff you into which tends to make perfect conventional techniques and form the reason why you win. Psssst, here's a secret...the pros don't play that way either.

As I have mentioned before this does not mean to play sloppy tennis and to abandon all technique. But, you must learn to play more automatically with the game you possess on any given day, even if it is not technically correct according to conventional wisdom. Learn to let go and let it happen.

To help you with your paradigm shift; if a pro were to take a conventional lesson he would be incorrect in just about everything he does!

Can't you just hear a conventional lesson given to a top pro. You know Pete, you have a few problems. Here is a list of some of them:

* You jump off the ground on most of your shots.
* You swing upward instead of outward.
* You hit entirely too much with an open stance.
* Your racket preparation is much too late.
* You are not staying still and balanced on each shot.
* You definitely are not staying down through the stroke.
* You are hitting too many times with your body weight moving backward.
* Your knees are not always bent.
* Your racket head drops below your wrist too many times.
* And you are rolling your wrist on your groundstrokes just about every time.

In short, you're a mess! I think you need about ten hours of lessons a week for the next year to straighten all of this out.

Pete Sampras responds, "but I just won Wimbledon!"

Marla Runyan ran in the 1500 meter event in the 2000 Olympics and came in eighth. She was the first American woman in history to place that high in the 1500 meter race. And it was only the 4th or 5th time she had ever run the 1500 meter event. What caught my attention in her book, "No Finish Line" was how she constantly used her mind to learn the different ranges of mental and emotional challenges that any athlete must endure. As a top runner in the world she had experienced the whole range of self-doubt, confidence, frustration, exhilaration, aggression, complacency, disappointment, and jubilation. Sometimes in the same event!

Yes, the top athletes experience the same mental and emotional challenges you do. It's how the top athletes deal with these challenges that separates them from the pack. In one race Marla experienced the whole range of mental and emotional fluctuations from confidence to self-doubt but kept running successfully. After the race she realized that as a top athlete you still experience a wide range of changing attitudes. She changed her perspective and accepted these fluctuating attitudes as part of the never ending journey toward excellence. In her book she said she wished someone had prepared her for these emotional and mental swings, then she would not have been so frustrated when facing failures and setbacks. She finally saw the big picture and how to handle the fluctuation by being patient and not focusing on isolated situations.

These valuable lessons applied not only in the races themselves but when she was injured or had other problems in practice. Now if she doesn't do well in practice instead of ending her practice in frustration, she is relaxed and waits for another day. No longer does she isolate a situation blowing it out of proportion; she now thinks in terms of the big picture and makes the bad experiences as well as the good experiences part of the package of being a seasoned athlete striving toward excellence. You must learn to do the same.

There is one other thing you should know about Marla Runyan. Although she never liked to make it an issue in her running, Marla Runyan was legally blind. She was the first legally blind runner to make the Olympics. She had some partial vision and could see some colors, but could not see a persons face five feet in front of her. She could not see the finish line and was not sure who was who when she was running. The title of her book, "No Finish Line," literally meant she could not see the finish line!

More important to her was that she could run and run with the best in the world. She was a top notch runner with extraordinary abilities. Her mind exemplifies the ultimate warrior mentality. She said she wished that someone had told her that these mental and emotional fluctuations were part of the process. She had to learn through hard knocks that success and failure are not on the opposite ends of the spectrum - instead, they ride together in tandem toward her goals.

Do not separate success and failure. Like the pros, whether you're training or playing you will experience the whole range of self-doubt, confidence, frustration, exhilaration, aggression, complacency, disappointment, and jubilation. Accept them as part of the process of learning, playing, and striving toward excellence.

I am not telling you to like these fluctuations. But the fact is, learning and playing tennis can be like an emotional roller coaster ride. One minute you're up, the next minute you're down. Many of you fight the roller coaster ride by holding on too tight, becoming anxious, and losing mental control. By the time you are through with your match you are mentally beat up and emotionally exhausted.

Stop isolating these fluctuating attitudes as if self-doubt or frustrating situations are unique only to you. Mentally step outside yourself and realize these fluctuations happen to everyone including the pros. Mentally push the self-doubt or frustration aside and keep moving. Like Marla, learn to focus more on the big picture; and you will save yourself a lot of anguish, frustration, and you will be light years ahead of your competition.

Why? Because you can do more with the ball! To reel yourself in becomes tougher when you play your percentages, and wait for the correct situation to go for the final winner. You'll need a mental arsenal that includes self-discipline to play within yourself, as well as tennis savvy to understand why.

Whatever the level of your play you must learn to think in terms of percentages, not individual excellence. Here is an example. You are up at the net in doubles and one of your opponents is on the baseline. The player on the baseline hits a hard low ball at your feet. With laser precision you skillfully go for a winner, hit a dynamic angle, and win the point. Everyone applauds you for your EXCELLENT volley. Yes, indeed it was a great shot, but it is not the way to win consistently. You may even be thinking, "what a great shot, I'll have to hit more of them to win this match." Voila! You're in trouble and thinking in terms of individual excellence not percentages. The percentage shot would have been to hit this tough low ball back to the player on the baseline and look for something better to go for a winner.

Although junior players are guilty of this big time (they think hitting speedy winners is cool) adults do the same thing relative to their level of play. Although many adults have developed some patience they still think in terms of excellent shots to win which results in too many unforced errors. If you have to make great shots all the time to win, the questions arises - why are you always in so much trouble that you have to make great shots to win points? Hmmm, that's something to think about.

I remember reading an excellent billiards book in college that illustrated this concept. Billiards was one of my majors in college. I spent hours in the recreation hall shooting billiards. :) I believe the book was written by Willy Mosconi. Willy Mosconi was world champion in the 40's and 50's - an unbelievably skilled player. From what I remember his high run was something like 525 balls without missing! Incredible isn't it? But, it is not the highest run recorded. Michael Eufemia was reported to have a continuous run of 625 balls in a tournament in 1960. One of the most important concepts that I learned from this book was that the greatest shot makers were not the greatest players. The principle: if a player always has to make great shots, then they were in trouble all the time. In contrast the great players have such superb control of the cue ball, they're able to position it well enough to easily make 75 % of their shots.

Are you always in trouble on the court? Do you always have to make great shots to win? Maybe it's time to examine your over all thinking. Are you going for too much too soon? Most players do. Tennis is a game of percentages not individual excellence. The majority of your shots should be easy shots, positioning yourself for the winner. Keep it simple is the phrase! Okay so it's the K.I.S.S. principle - keep it simple stupid. No offense. And that's the point, you will have no offense without keeping it simple continuously playing the percentages.

Here is another phrase. Do the simple right, then do the simple better, then simply be the best at doing the simple. The pros do the simple so well you think it's complicated. This is a concept I teach relentlessly. The true dynamics of playing at a high level is keeping it simple.

Don't take years to understand this principle. Watch the top pros with an informed eye and see it for yourself. The foundation for their great play is always rooted in percentage play not individual excellent shots. Sure they have a flare here and there where they make exceptional shots, and that's fine. The key is NOT, and I repeat NOT to build a game plan around those exceptions.

Are you getting it?

If you're not, and you still think you can build your game plan around excellent shots, I have one thing to say. If the best in the world can't do it, how come you think you can?

After a while I pull them all up to the net for a powwow. I have many such discussions in my day! I begin by quizzing them, "do you know why you are having trouble with this drill?" They usual are not one hundred percent sure why they are having so much trouble. My answer is, "because you are not good enough." Well, you can imagine that comment is not a big hit, but I usually do not get my self in trouble without a means of escape, so I quickly explain to slow down a shot and play at a different speed is an extremely high level of play. Have you ever seen a pro run full speed on the court then hit a slow touch angle? Do you think you can do that? To move fast and hit slow is tough!!! But, this is a level of play you must strive to reach. With this explanation I barely escape unharmed and we go back to the task at hand.

NOTE TO TEACHING PROS - try this at your own risk.

Another problem I run into is players think the ball they hit is moving too slowly. The truth is when they slow their shot down they are not really slowing the speed of the ball down all that much. What's happening is when they slow down their shot they have to slow down their mind at the same time, creating the illusion the ball is traveling super slow. Most players hit with their mind racing and think everything is happening faster. Do you? This is one of the main reasons I do this drill. To teach them to move fast but slow down their mind. If they can accomplish this slowing of the mind they will play more relaxed, aim their shots with more accuracy, and improve their feel of the point.

The reason their timing goes off is because they have their timing connected to this frantic state of mind when hitting. When they attempt to slow down their mind their timing goes completely out of whack!

The challenge is for you to learn to play with this relaxed slow mindset and not blame your misses on slowing down. Your top pros play with this mindset, so why shouldn't you. That's right the pros move FAST, but maintain a slow controlled mindset. Even when they are hitting hard they are mentally relaxed and controlled. You can do the same. But, first you must learn the art of moving fast and hitting slow.

Below is a list of benefits you can expect if you can master this mindset.

* Improved accuracy
* Play more relaxed
* Save energy
* See the ball better
* Improved feel of point play
* Move more fluidly
* Not over play as much
* Create a sense of mental control

This is only a partial list. You will even improve your confidence. This is one of those magical moments of doing less to get more. The art of moving fast but slowing down your mind is a mental challenge that is well worth the effort. To accomplish this mental technique, practice slowing down your shots just a little during some of your fun matches and experience the slowing of your mind. At first this can be frustrating. You will have to work yourself through some of the pitfalls explained in this lesson, but if you stay with it long enough you will experience an inner tranquility that you never knew existed on a tennis court. And without Valium! :)

You're down love 40, you're in a tough spot, if you can increase your percentage of wins a notch or two this could mean the difference between winning and losing the match! The first thing you have to understand is this, on the verge of victory your opponents are vulnerable to defeat. When they are winning 40 love they think they're going to win...this makes them a little vulnerable! The first point they play will be very relaxed, that's why I call this point, sleeper number one. They think they're going to win so you actually can catch them asleep. You should be thinking, lets play conservative, make sure they hit balls, and see if you can pick up sleeper number one.

If you do, the score is 15-40....they still think they're going to win because they're up 15-40. The next point therefore is another sleeper, after all if they miss they still have another shot at 30-40. You should play this point with the same mind-set as the first. If you win this point the score is 30-40. This is the most important point of the game and I call it the turn around point. Your opponent realizes they have to win, or lose the edge.. If you win, the score becomes 40-40 it's tied, but is it really? No, not at all...you're winning! Since you made a comeback from love 40 you'll feel like you're winning, and since they lost a 40 love lead they'll feel like they're losing! You now have the edge even though the score is tied. That's why the point at 30-40 is the turn around point, it brings you to a tie score that is not really a tie, but your advantage. From this point you need to capitalize quickly to ride on the momentum. If you do not win the next two points it will be anyone's game. You have lost some momentum and they will feel redeemed.

Practice "The Sleeper Technique," and the point by point thinking involved, so you can learn to mentally engineer your way back from a love 40 deficit.