In this 2010 French Open tournament, she rolled over Jankovic, roared back against Justine Henin, and stuck to a winning plan when she played the almost unbeatable Serena Williams – all former world #1s, essentially back to back to back.

Then… went into the final as the overwhelming favorite. But… lost to a 17th seed girl by the name of Francesca Schiavone.

How did this happen? How could this happen? How did the under-dog manage to defy the 1 to 120 odds of winning this unbelievable tournament in Paris?

Well, check out a pretty detailed analysis I just completed and find out some of the main reasons for this historic upset.

1. Superior Serving: This is definitely one of the biggest reasons.  Previously at TennisMindCamp, we’ve talked about how much of an impact the serve can have on the outcome of a match, and on Saturday, Francesca showed just how true a concept that is. She…

A. Played The Percentage: Early on, it was easy to see the nerves being tested and the anxiety seeping through for both players who were on the biggest stage of their lives. Both were a little tight.

But as the the first set began to unfold,  not only did Schiavone make it difficult for Stosur, by giving her minimal break opportunities, ZERO, the amount of serves that she was strategically placing around the service box reached a high of an amazing 70%!

And when the serves started popping in one after another after another after ANOTHER, the sky opened up and the confidence began to pour on the 29 year old Italian.

As a result, the shackles of tension and unfamiliarity were broken, and her game really began to flourish.  She began to fully extend out on her shots and seemed to effortlessly float (…or fly), depending on the tempo of the point, to each ball and execute with great precision.

Now, seeing that the score was only 6-4 in that set, by no means did Schiavone completely run away with the set, but that noteworthy first serve percentage is what enabled her to really play “HER” game (…which was to use ALL of her shots) and to steal a boatload of momentum heading into the second set.

Now was she “serve perfect” throughout the entire final? Well…Almost. She did have one minor mental lapse in the second set where Sam was able to get a break and hold at to take the score to 4-1.

And as you would predict, that’s when the Australian power-hitter began to pick up some steam.  Though it made for a great wrinkle in the match and stirred things up a bit, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise to us.

Why? Mr. momentum usually likes to stay on the side the player who serves the best – which was definitely the case here. The one “ON” when serving usually can do so many great things like dictating the tempo of the match and making the opponent play at an undesired pace.

Luckily, Fran stuck it out, stayed as poised (…as humanly possible), and got back on serve, which lead to winning 3 of the biggest game of her career back to back to back – dumping all of the pressure  right back onto her opponent.

B. (Fooling Around): Anyone who’s seen the scouting report on Miss Samantha “Smack That Thang” Stosur, knows that she has a thunderous forehand stroke that can reek  havoc on her opponent strings – both ground strokes and the return of serve.

So, this being the case, normally an opponent would force them to return the serve from her backhand side up the T, the weaker of the two strokes. And Sam “expecting” this to happen, would (…if possible) run around it and smack back a smokin’ hot forehand. So… No harm done, right?

Not quite. Schiavone, fooled her by going the opposite side.  Yes! She did the reverse.  She sporadically would serve balls directly out wide into her opponent’s deadliest weapon. On purpose? on Purpose !

Guess what happened? Easy points! It frequently left Stosur wrong-footed. And if she did get it back, it didn’t have enough on it to do any real damage.  Stosur wasn’t prepared for it. Why? She didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to do that.  She was wrong, and it cost her.

See, sometimes it’s good to go down the road less traveled! She did, and made tennis history because of it.

2. Weakness Exploitation:

A. Placed Instead of Punished: You might say, “Wow, how did Schiavone produce such a top-level tennis performance against one of the heaviest hitters on the WTA without using power. Power? What for?

That’s actually one of the biggest mistakes even the most seasoned and competitive tennis players make. They try to out muscle the “power monger” as I like to call it.  That does NOTHING but add fuel to flame.

Fortunately, Schiavone did NOT make that mistake in her French open final match this past weekend.

Instead, she denied her opponent that gift and took the pace away!  She put it in her pocket, and sealed it.  Well, she would pull out the big gun O-ccasionally haha. But for the most part, she used milder shots like soft high-topspin loopers and sexy slice backhands.

This strategy not only almost drove the Aussie to the looney bin,  a big it also drove a stake right through the heart of her rhythm gaining hopes! And as a result, she was forced to generate her own pace – something difficult and out-right exhausting to do over and over and OVER again.

It takes a ton of patience, near perfect timing and boundless concentration – something that few possess – even a 7th seed at Roland Garros.

Bait is what it was. Most players end up becoming impatient and wanting to blast it out of the stadium. Sam took the bait… went for the BIG SHOT… and shanked a bunch because of it.

3. Flucuated Between Offensive and Defensive Posture: Much to many player’s dismay, we can’t be running and gunning on high-octane offense 100% of the time. You have to be able to tactically switch between both as each situation changes.

Schiavone did that. She analyzed and evaluated each situation one-by-one.  If she had Sam with her back turned or in an inferior position, she made an offensive advance.  If Stosur had her scrambling she would shift to a more defensive gear.

Do the opposite, or mixing the two up can spell disaster! So, great job!

4. Became The Neutralizer: As I mentioned before, Sam “Smack That Thang” Stosur is a baseline-banger. That being the case, Schiavone knew it would be championship suicide to engage in a slug-fest battle from the baseline.

So, her plan was to get aggressive and neutralize her brutal baseline strokes by aggressively attacking the net. She ended up being quite successful more than 80% of time she went net hunting – deflecting well angled volleys to finish her off, point after point, after point.

And when she saw it working, she doubled the dose – winning 14 of the total 15 times she came in.  Smart girl!

The Tie-break: So with all this wonderful strategy working for her, by the time the tie-breaker came around, it was lights-out for Stosur. Confidence, momentum, and the adrenal push were all on Schiavone’s side!

She felt almost invincible. I mean, everything was clicking. And like anyone would do with that type of feeling,  she went for broke – firing away with ease – executing gutsy (…yet intelligent shots) like the cross-court backhand into her opponent’s weak spot. She was hitting corners and nailing lines.

It was really incredible to watch.  She just steamrolled through the final few points needed to capture the 2010 French Open crown. And that was that – 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

So, though it was a hard fought match… It turned out the way she ironically predicted the day before when she said, “The smartest player will probably win the match – not the strongest.”

And indeed… It came down to the more strategic player who had the calmest nerves. Fabulous job Francesca!

Oh, and that making history thing (…the first Italian to win a Grand Slam in the Open era, well… that’s good too. Enjoy the biggest win of your tennis life. We all here at TMC wish you much continued success!

Let me know if you liked this French Open Finals Analysis by leaving a comment in the blank below. Have a great week, and an even BETTER game!

Brian Hall, Founder
TennisMindCamp

TMC Strategy Secrets Coming Soon…

Andy Roddick defeated Tomas Berdych to claim the 2010 Sony Ericsson title in Miami, not by learning to hit harder, but by using a more strategic and tactical approach.

Of the many mental punches Andy gave Berdych throughout their two set rumble over the weekend, there were two main strategic blows that were most responsible  for Tomas taking home the consolation prize instead of the one given to the last man standing.

Strategy: #1: Mixing It Up.
Strategy: #2: Go Low.

Strategy#1: You always hear how important it is to mix things up on your opponent in order to keep them on their heals and off balance, right?

Well, if you saw any part of the match between American darling Andy Roddick A.K.A A-Rod and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic this past weekend in the Sony Erricson Open, you got a chance to see a great example of this fundamental strategy worked to absolute perfection.

This past Sunday in Miami, Andy showed that the “mix it up” saying isn’t just a bunch of coaching mumbo-jumbo that your instructor tells you in practice to sound like they know what they’re talking about .

Now, if you’re wondering if this is the same Andy that has been known to serve over 140mph… the Andy who is predominantly known as a fiery lightning rod with a thunderous serve and very powerful ground game – one that is almost guaranteed to make anyone take notice (fans and top-seeded opponents alike).  Aboslutely. It is the same Andy.

Except this Andy showed he’s more than just a one dimensional player.  Against Berdych, he changed his usual power game approach and toned his aggression down a notch. By doing that, he demonstrated how going after power shot after power shot after power shot isn’t always the best pathway in getting the win.

On Sunday, it was quite the contrary.  Andy Roddick’s *softest* shots actually made the biggest impact. He disrupted Berdych’s ability to gain a rhythm by hitting delicate backhands, high-looping forehands that seem to just hang in the air and altered his first serve with varying speed, spin, and angle (..instead of incessantly going after the flat-bomb that we so often see).

And it wasn’t just the fans and commentators who noticed this type of play frustrating Berdych. He openly confirmed the idea and named Andy’s serve as one of the main culprits when he said…

“He [Andy] was just too strong today,” “He’s not just serving the big bombs. His variations of the serve are a really big improvement. … I was really looking for maybe to get one chance, but he held pretty well. I didn’t get any chance during whole match.”

The reason why Berdych found it so difficult to play and gain any ground in that final match was that Roddick was desperately working on (…and had obviously achieved) a goal that every player should be looking to obtain  – unpredictability!  As a player, we love to be able to figure out what our opponent’s tendencies are.

We love patterns. Those patterns allow us to develop our own plan of attack (…what shots to use, how to cover the court better, our foundation, etc.) to make properly counter. Our muscles get used to the movements to whereby we can do them with less thought and/or concentration. And things feel much more natural.

But Berdych didn’t have that. He wasn’t given that luxury. Why? Because Roddick kept switching things up. He wasn’t allowed to just stand there, set up and execute in the same position, preparing for the same type of ball point after point as if he we’re drilling in practice.

His mind and body we’re consistently being uprooted and sent on the move – leaving him no time to regroup and gather himself. So before he knew what hit him, he was physically and mentally exhausted! As a result, Andy seemed to always be a step or a shot ahead – which consequently left Tomas a shot… a move.. or a step behind.

And hey, I don’t care who you are or what kind of game you have… If you can’t gain your footing and you’re playing catch-up throughout, the odds are are going to be heavily stacked against you pulling anything out. Yea, even if you you’re  a seasoned vet like Tomas Berdych.

It happens to all of us. We need balance. We need to find our groove if we want to be successful. And Tomas couldn’t attain it. By the ninth game, Berdych was so confused and disoriented, he even lost track of the score and even lined up to play a point on the wrong side.

I mean, Wow how often do you see that happen? So yea, Andy had him mentally rocked! He couldn’t settle in.

Strategy #2: The second key strategy Roddick used was when he cut him down with his slice.  Now, why would the slice shot be a good decision here? Well, Andy noticed a major weakness in Berdych – not in his game but in his F-R-A-M-E.

Berdych being almost as tall as Kobe Bryant, standing at 6-foot-5, does have it’s advantages in that he has a longer reach laterally… B-U-T he also had a glaring flaw. When you’re that tall, it’s very hard to hit balls that are low, because he has to reach much further downwards to make contact with balls that rise much or take high bounces.  It’s a lot more demanding on his body.

So given that fact, what did Andy do? He bombarded Berdych with slice backhands. And when I say that, he just didn’t give him one and forget about it. He saw it was a major weakness, so he executed slice backhand after slice backhand  after slice backhand – over and over and over AND OVER again!

He was relentless!  As a result, Tomas was forced to hit the ball at ankle level, stealing almost all the power from his massive forehand.  Oh, and not only did this hurt him physically (…body strain), it most likely affected him mentally as well.

Because when you’re forced into very unpleasant positions time and time again, and begin to string together a few lost points in a row, you may begin doubt the fact if you can ever emerge from that circle of terror, if you will.  Like there’s no hope…. Like at the end of the tunnel so to speak.  All hope is lost. Ahhh, you get the picture .

And shortly thereafter, sure enough, he cracked. Well, he was broken .  The match officially turned two games later, when Roddick reached the first break point of the match. He broke when Berdych hit a forehand out out bounds, then held at love to take the first set.

That was part of a streak where Roddick won five consecutive games. He broke again to start the 2nd set. After that, the match was pretty much just a matter of time. Then, a few games later, Roddick had done it.  Roddick beat Berdych 7-5, 6-4 to win the Sony Ericsson Open.

And with this win, Roddick, who made the final in Indian Wells last month, has more match wins than any other player in 2010 with 26.  The 2004 champion becomes only the fifth man to win the Miami title twice.

Roddick joins Andre Agassi (6), Pete Sampras (3), Roger Federer (2) and Ivan Lendl (2) as multiple winners in Florida.  When it was all said and done, Roddick offered reporters this quote,  “I’ve been able to have a game plan and execute it regardless of what kind of shots it takes.”

So… What’s the moral of this story? (A) Don’t give your partner the same look over and over again. And (B) If you’re playing a giant of the court, make him go low with a steady diet of the slice shot!

Have a great one guys!

Brian Hall, Head Coach
TennisMindCamp

1. Pin your opponent back by the baseline – crippling his ability to attack you.

2. Run your opponent off the net and force him/her into a more inferior position, while (…at the same time) causing him/her to expel more energy – compromising their ability execute on future shots.  And hey, if you don’t have the gas in the tank, you’re going to lose the match. It doesn’t matter how good your strokes are.

3. Buy you more time. When you feel like your opponent has you on the ropes,  the lob will give you the precious seconds you need to get you back in the point and in good position for the next shot.

All this sounds tremendous, right? Absolutely. But,  the problem is you as a player can’t enjoy any of these benefits if you fail to do one very important thing – get your shot DEEP!

Yea, you won’t see any success if your lobs don’t land deep enough in the court.  In fact, you’ll actually get destroyed. Why? Because your lob shots won’t be putting your opponent on the defense.

It won’t force him into an awkward position.  It won’t cause him to sprint back to the baseline. Oh, and if you’re behind in the point, you can forget about getting back in it. You’ll be more cooked than the frank (hot dog) you forgot to take off the grill on 4th of July weekend.

Instead, you’ll be giving your opponent the type of shot he can really feast on, sink his teeth into, and rip to shreds! Yea, your opponent will be able to save his energy AND he’ll be in a great offensive position to pound it right back to (…or at) you.

Because with the ball landing just a few feet in front of him – he won’t have to do too much to shove it back down your throat.  All it’ll take is a couple moderate steps, and he’ll quickly be able to get to it  and really apply some bone-crushing pace behind it – which is likely to win them the point.

Now, if you’ve experienced something like this before… If you’ve witnessed your lobs get hammered back at you over and over again… Don’t worry, 10s of thousands are in the same boat you are. The great thing is that there is an easy way to fix it.

One of the main causes for your lack of depth and impact resides in your incorrect use of physics. Yea,  you thought you were done with that stuff after 11th grade? Haha, think again. You see, that’s why your high school teacher was  trying to get you to pay attention in class.

It was for your TENNIS CAREER .

You see, what ends up happening a lot of the time is that we hit our lobs straight up in the air instead of up and out (…towards other side of the court). When this happens,  the apex (…or peak) of the ball’s arc is directly above the net.

You want to avoid that as much as you can. Why? Because the rule is this. The closer the ball’s high point is to the net, the shorter in the court your lobs will fall.

And in contrast, the deeper the ball reaches it’s peak, the further back your lob is going to land.   And the more impacting it will be on your opponent. (see diagram to the left).

So yea, when the high-point is right above the net, that’s when you’ll see your balls land very short – somewhere in the service box – or slightly behind the service line… if you’re LUCKY!

And get this this. Luck doesn’t matter much anyway. Why? Because you’ll still get creamed! So, what you want to do is aim to get the ball to peak further on your opponent’s side – instead of right above the white tape.

Somewhere around or a .5 to 1  foot within the service line would be ideal.  Now that said, if your ball ends up peaking a little further than that, don’t worry.  You can aim as far as right above the service line, and you’ll still be cool and won’t run into many problems.

Your lob will still land comfortably within bounds – around 1.5 to 2 feet from the baseline, and your opponent will definitely feel its effects.

Now you might say, “Hey, why can’t I just try to get my ball to peak even FURTHER and try to get my ball even CLOSER to the baseline (..like within .5 to 1ft) or even smack dab on top of it baseline. I mean, the deeper the better, right?”

Excellent observation! But it’s definitely the WRONG strategy to use here! Why? Because you don’t want to hit it out and give your opponent a free point. That’s why!

Now, to tell you the truth, deeper IS better in most cases, yes. But in this specific situation, the closer to the lines you aim your lob, the more probability you have for your shot landing out.

You see, with the pros on tour, they can afford to go for a little bit more and still get away with it. Why? Because that’s their job. They eat, sleep, and breathe tennis 24hrs/day.

Those are the ones who can, at times, pull out some hidden tricks to get those extra couple inches (…without hearing the word ‘OUT’), and really put the clamps on their opponent.

But if you consider yourself an average level club player, and you try going for that baseline, your success rate isn’t exactly going to be eye candy, I can tell you that. Why?

Because the truth is, the player who doesn’t have the million dollar endorsements or play 7 hours a day,  usually isn’t able to pull off the almost PERFECT stroke that’s needed when going for that kind of depth.

Oh yea, I’m talking about speed, pace, height, AND angles.  All of those things have to be 100% “spot on” for them not to make an error. And Lord knows, perfection is NEVER consistent .

And you want something that’s going to create favorable results for consistently, not once in a while.  So hey… If you go for much more than the service line (…windy or not), your ball, more times than not, will go “TOO DEEP” and sail out on you.

So, do what we talked about, and aim no further than that. That’s all you need to make a great play and make your opponent feel it.  You don’t have to be a sharp-shooter.  Ok, do that, and I guarantee you that you’ll see a lot more of your lobs landing much deeper in the court. And you’ll see a tremendous difference in your shot’s impact.

You’ll be able to take advantage of the 3 awesome benefits mentioned above.  You’ll be able to force him off the net, pin him back by the baseline, as well as get yourself out of a tough point when the time comes (…and it WILL come).

Let me know what you thought of this tennis tip, and if it helps you out there on the court in any way.

Have a great week AND an even better game!

Brian Hall, Head Coach
TennisMindCamp

You see, we’re tennis players – true. But we’re human beings first. And in life, we’re creatures that are very “reaction” oriented.

For instance, our moods can change rather quickly when something happens to us directly or alters  our environment in some way – many times involuntarily.

And that, many times, can greatly effect our performance and the outcome of the match.  Now, this can be a great thing yet can lead to our downfall at the very same time.

Let me explain. When we’re able to smack shots  for winners, string a few consecutive points together where we come out ahead or if we just made a great play to save a critical service game, we do pretty well.

We react very positively when emotionally responding to those situations. We’re jumping for joy on the inside, and we’re feeling great.

And we get to enjoy that feeling, often dubbed the “natural high.” And thus, the likelihood that we’ll continue to play on a high level begins to go up. More shots go in… Our movement on the court appears effortless…

But on the other hand, if we lose that critical break point or lose a couple games in a row, it can (…and often times does) have the opposite effect.

We tend to either get enraged about our under performance (…and give our racket a good thrashing) or begin to doubt ourselves a bit and wonder if we’ll ever be able to turn things around again.

And if that happens, 2 negative things can result: You’ll…

1. Receive A Biological Error: When you get angry or start to feel down and doubt your ability to perform, it’s mental, yes. But it’s also biological. Yea, when your emotional state goes haywire, it causes problems throughout your entire body – not just your mind.

When you allow those negative thoughts to flood your mind, your body immediately responds, N-E-G-A-T-I-V-E-L-Y.

Your adrenal glands will begin to GUSH out adrenaline. Now,  you may say, “I thought adrenaline was a good thing.” Yes, when it’s being secreted at an appropriate speed over a certain amount of time, it’s a great thing!

But in this case, it’s going to flood your system at a rate that’s extremely difficult to manage and for your body to keep up with.

As a result, your muscles will begin to constrict, causing difficulty in court movement and your ability to hit fluidly and with good form on your shots. And you guessed it, error-city.

2. Boost Your Opponent’s Confidence Through Facial Expression Failure: Yes, this feeling of discomfort will show in your strokes, but sometimes it can be looked at as just a bad slump that any player can pull themselves out of.

But when it moves to your face and its expressions, that can be a dead-on giveaway to your opponent that you’re having real mental troubles. Your head is hanging down, your eyes are drooping etc.

And this isn’t a matter of  “if.” It’s bound to happen. Rarely do players feel poorly but  look vibrant and booming with excitement.

That said, when you have that sad and defeated look on your face, this will ignite your opponent’s competitive fire.  You’ll look like a wounded gazelle in the African Wilderness.

And your opponent will quickly become the lion who is looking to feast. Oh yea, it’s definitely survival of the fittest out there. Your opponents are always looking for blood.

Now, if you find yourself in this type of situation and feel it starting to go downhill, don’t wallow in sorrow and think that all hope is lost. Yes, you’re in an undesirable situation, but you can still get the victory.

*BUT* if you have any hopes of getting back in the match before it’s time to shake hands, you better do something, and you better do it fast. Otherwise, the match *WILL* be over.

So… what can you do?

Smile. Smile? Yes, smiling, though simple, can act as a great antidote to get you out of your mental rut. How?  Well, it…

A. Improves Your Mood And Your Mobility: Smiling is an extremely potent form of f-r-e-e therapy.  By smiling, you’ll send a message to your body that everything is going to be alright and that you do have the ability to change things.

Almost immediately, you’ll  notice that you’re not as agitated or feel as down on yourself or as doubtful about what you’re capable of pulling off.

Hey, and even if you don’t feel happy at the moment, try to smile anyway! You see, the body is tricked very easily.

Within seconds, it can improve things from the inside out by lowering stress hormones like cortisol, improving the regulation of the amount of adrenaline your body secretes and will send a massive amount of endorphins (a.k.a) the “feel good” hormone  throughout your body that’ll help boost your confidence *AND* relax your muscles.

As a result, you’ll have a much easier time getting to the balls and following it up with great execution. Yea, no more error-city.  It’ll be more along the lines of winnersville haha.


B. Regain Confidence And Stifle Your Opponent’s: By turning your frown upside down, this will send a much different message over to your opponent – one of confidence and determination – not fear and vulnerability. This way, your opponent won’t receive that royal confidence boost and see you as prey to be taken advantage of.

Instead, he’ll see you as an equal ( a strong adversary capable of taking him out). And he’ll have to look for another way to exploit you. Why? Because you’ll appear mentally stable. And even if you lose a few points, even a big point, you’re going to keep fighting.

So, when you feel like you’re in a mental rut, feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to help your cause. Solve the problem.  Smile and show those pearly whites. It’ll help you get back on track and increase your chances at getting that win.

And heck, you might even get a contract with Crest or Colgate .

Have a great week, and an even better game!

Brian
TennisMindCamp

Mental Mistake #1

Mental Tension & Wasted Winning Opportunities: Murray was nervous from the get go -  so internally rattled, it really affected his court movement and his ability to capitalize on short balls as well as defensive positions produced by Roger. And because of that, there we’re many times during the first set where Andy failed to take advantage of his hard work.

What ended up happening was, he would start to close the door on a point, get Roger on the defense with a great shot to his backhand, and then just sit back there 2 to 3 steps behind the baseline and wait for Roger to get back in position again.

Then he’d just hit another stroke from virtually the same spot as the one prior. He seemingly would do everything imaginable except come in and attack Federer when the opportunities presented themselves. It looked like to me that he wanted to sit back and let Roger beat himself.

So, in other words, he was basically swinging the door wide open again for Roger to get back in the point time and time again. And as he continued to do  this, the deficit kept getting wider and wider in Federer’s favor. And Federer would come back around and repeatedly make the best of that second chance with a winner of his own.

And with that, came extra pressure on Andy and further blocked him from being able to play care-free tennis. So instead, he became even more tight, and even more reluctant to leave the baseline.  At that point, he *REALLY* didn’t want to make a mistake.  He even looked frozen at times. He wasn’t moving (…floating) effortlessly or freely at all.

How did I come to the strong conclusion that it was nerve related? Well, Andy love coming in and attacking.  In fact, that’s what he’s been doing it all tournament.  In fact, he’s won 80.2% of the points when he’s made an advance to net.

So, why would he stop now when it could mean the biggest win of his career? Nerves. He was playing NOT to lose the match instead of playing TO WIN match.

It must have been driving his coach and supporter’s box insane. Roger even said that he noticed Andy was a bit passive in the match, and that gave him some great opportunities to take capitalize on.

CORRECTION: Learn from Andy’s mistake and take the initiative when you have your opponent on the run. Play TO WIN. Once you see that your opponent is on the ropes, you’ve got to turn on the attack switch. Get your butt off that baseline.

Unless you’re a “pusher,” you don’t have to wait for your opponent to miss. You’re in control of things out there. Don’t just give it all up and give them tons of second chances.  Without going  overboard, take the reins and make them pay.

If you don’t feel comfortable going to net, at least come forward some to cut off more of your opponent’s angles and apply some added pressure. This will hopefully force them into making more errors.

Mental Mistake #2:

Murray Rode The Emotional Roller-Coaster: Oh, this one really hurt him. He was “wearing his heart on his sleeve” throughout a great piece of that match. You could see it in his face, in his body language, and of course when he slammed his racket during that third set.

That shows us, and more importantly his opponent, that he was riding an emotional wave and could be crashing against the rocks at any given moment.

Oh yea, and Roger did notice. After the match he sited this, and that was a cue for him to get more aggressive with Andy to make him break that much faster.

CORRECTION: You never want to show your emotions out there during a match. Why? Because you’re never going to be working on an emotionally level playing field.  You’re going to be on cloud 9 when you win a point , then down in the dumps when you lose one.

You’ll be in mental limbo throughout the match and have no stability.  You’ll be playing under different circumstances almost every time you swing.  You don’t want that.

If you stay even and don’t let yourself get too attached to any one point, you’ll have much more of a mental balance throughout. And the likelihood of you getting rattled will be very low.

Oh, and by keeping it inside, you don’t want to give your opponent’s confidence a boost and add fuel to your opponent’s competitive fire. You want to put it out .

Mental Mistake #3:

Double Fault Drama: His ability to get his serve in was a major problem in this AO final.  Throughout all Andy’s matches, leading up to the final, his serve was pretty “ON.”  In 19 sets against the world’s best, he only double faulted 9 times.

That’s pretty remarkable. But against the great R-FED, it took a turn for the worse. Murray had already accumulated 3 “Doubles” by the time  the second set rolled around. And this is the only match that he lost. See a pattern?

The truth of the matter is that your serve is your flagship, one of your MOST important weapons.  It’s the steering wheel for your game plan.  It helps everything else in your game plan  flow for you.  And if that starts to go south, everything else will be taking the plunge as well.

CORRECTION: You don’t want to only focus on having great ground strokes or say, “I’ll get to my serve later” or “I can win it with my forehand.”  That alone won’t get you the win.

So, you want to make sure you dedicate just as much time (…or even more time) to strengthening your serve – and most importantly, the consistency of it.

Having a strong serving game, will allow you to dictate the tempo and control the point from the start.  That said, you don’t want to be able to get it going just “once in a while.”

Do that, and it’s not going to do you any good.  You don’t want to only win every now and then.  The more often you hold serve, the more likely the win will follow.

Oh yea, during your practice sessions and exhibition match play, you want to make sure you serve during pressure situations (…i.e simulated sets).

Because yea, you may be able to do it 49 out of 50 times when your mind is free and clear, but (…in a real match) when you have high stakes and a fire breathing opponent staring at you from the other side, it’s going to be a whole different world.

This will help you gain experience serving with a lead as well as serving while behind.  The MORE you serve during pressure situations, the BETTER you’ll serve in pressure situations.

Mental Mistake #4:

Tentative 2nd Serve: Because Andy’s nerves we’re getting the best of him in many cases, it also effected the speed of his second serve. He couldn’t defend well with it.  Being down to the #1 player in the world on one of the biggest stages in the world can do that to you…wink.

See, since he wasn’t able to blow us away with his first serve percentage, he was forced into a lot of second serve situations.

And when he was attempting to execute them, the outcome wasn’t very pleasant. He tightened up in my opinion.  And as a result, he failed to get much pace on the second serves he did get in. And he put himself in very defensive positions that Roger was able to take full advantage of. BANG BANG BANG!

So, even though your main goal is to get the ball in play on your 2nd, you don’t want to put the point on a silver platter for your opponent to devour. You, at least, need to have something on it. If you don’t, it’s only going to give your opponent tons of free points and give him a royal boost in the confidence department. Two BIG negatives!

CORRECTION: Play with this in practice and find a good  mid-point between your first and your second. You want it strong enough so it doesn’t get crushed, and you want it to have enough spin to keep it controlled and to bring it down into the box.


Mental Mistake #5:

Stuck In A Broken Game Plan: Murray started out the match playing very tentative and very passive on his shots. It looked as if he was just waiting for Roger to make the error (…which he rarely does). Ok.   It was like the inner part of the court was a pit of wild pythons.

He was standing way behind the baseline and would never cross the line.  And it wasn’t working. All it did was produce a 3-6 first set loss.  Ok. Now, you might say, “He made a mistake, all players make mistakes.” Fair enough…  But when he saw it wasn’t working, he didn’t change his main match strategy.

He stuck with the same plan that got him playing catch-up until right before the beginning of the third set. Yea, he waited almost 2 hours before he realized something had to change.

That’s when he finally started to be more aggressive. He started coming inside the court and getting to the net more.  And by that time, he had already dug himself in a hole few rarely come back from, down 2 sets against the world’s #1.

Now granted, when he started to do it consistently, it got him all the way to a 5-2 lead. But then, Federer came back to life, and ruined the young #5 player’s championship hopes. He waited TOO LONG.

Federer was already very relaxed and in a tremendous groove by that time. I mean, he had won the two sets and was cruising.  So, though the strategy change helped, it just wasn’t enough once Federer got going. If he’d have done it earlier, who knows, maybe the tempo of the match would have changed, and we would have had a different outcome. But he didn’t give himself a chance.

CORRECTION: As I learned from one of my coaches, Kirk Wilson, many years ago, you don’t want to stick with a strategy that’s not effective. No, you don’t want to wait until you’ve played 60% of your match and your opponent is already “feeling it” before you start to analyze what’s working and what’s not.

Whether it’s your ground strokes, your serve, baseline strategy, or what angles you’re using, you want to start doing that immediately – as soon as the first couple games of the match.

That way, you can correct it and decrease your chances of being faced with an uphill battle.

Hope you guys enjoyed the 2010 Aussie Open. I wish Andy the best of luck in his next tourney .  Let me know how you liked these tips by commenting in the box below. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a great day and an even BETTER game!

Brian
TennisMindCamp

I’ve noticed that a lot of players overlook one very important concept that’s absolutely crucial to succeeding at any level. I’m talking about that moment or split second right before you strike the ball, the prep-time.

What you do to get ready in advance will put you in a greater position to get the absolute most out of that upcoming stroke.

Not being in the correct position ahead of time will cause you to rush and do things quicker than you’d like. And often times, you’ll end up with an unwanted result.

1. Stay on your toes

Yes, I know this sounds easy, but if you analyze the play of others and that of your own, you’ll see how easy it is to become flat-footed which causes you to be late on almost every swing (…no matter how desperately you WANT and STRAIN to get to that ball).

To make this easier, try shuffling your feet from side to side. It’s extremely difficult to do this if your heals are touching court surface. It’ll keep you loose and your entire body in rhythm automatically.

2. Unlock Your legs

The term “legs of steel” is only for exercise videos and gym workouts but, for tennis, it’s the exact opposite.

You need to keep a slight bend in your legs (…not beyond 90 degrees) just enough until you feel a small crease in both knees. This will give you the ability to make the necessary movements quicker and easier.

This also lowers your center of gravity and keeps the muscles firing until you’re ready to explode into the next shot. Easier said than done (especially when you’re tired), I know. It’s expected for the body to wear down as the match progresses. You tend to stand straight up without even noticing.

Note: Strength and endurance training can help with this.

3. Ready Your Racket

Before the point starts, you MUST place the racket in the proper ready position.

I say this because, I’ve seen too many talented players lose points because they thought they could get their racket ready whenever they needed too.

What’s the correct way to position the racket?

Though it’s slightly different for many players. You’ll find for most, it’s held up with both hands about a foot in front of the chest with a slight tilt outward towards the net.

Note: Not hanging down by your ankles swaying back and forth.

And don’t just hold it up there without concern. You want to make sure you have the correct grip (western, eastern etc.) loosely in your hand so you’ll be able to switch as needed with each shot. There’s enough thinking being done out there already. Don’t complicate things more by having to rush.

4. Crack and Go!

Don’t wait until you see the ball coming over the net to start moving. There’s absolutely NO WAY that any human being can get ready that fast and execute the right shot consistently!

So, don’t feel bad if you’ve tried, it’s impossible . Faster than the speed of sound, I think not. Look at a pro like Roger Federer, his racket is cocked as soon as the other player’s racket strikes the ball.

How do they do that? Well, it’s not about what they see. It’s what they hear. To get the best jump on the ball, you want to move as soon as you hear the infamous “CRACK” sound.

That, my friend, will keep you ready for anything. Stay tuned for next week’s tip.

Have a good weekend, and have a great game!

All the best,

Brian Hall, Head Coach