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

Now let me ask you a question… Have you ever played a match against an opponent who isn’t a power-monger and doesn’t really hit the ball hard, but his game still makes you feel rushed and off balance?

Well if so, your opponent hitting the ball on the rise, is probably one of the biggest reasons why you felt so uncomfortable.  And as the famous quote says,  “Success imitates Success.”

So if you want to make your  next opponent uncomfortable without having to put more on your stroke  and widen your margin for error at the same time, then I suggest you start doing it too.

Now, just in case you’re unfamiliar with the term “hitting the ball  on the rise”, it simply means that you strike the ball when it’s on it’s way upward from the court surface or as soon as the ball reaches it’s peak.

With both of these perspectives, the goal is the exact same. You’re doing whatever it takes to hit the ball before gravity starts to bring it down .  By catching the ball on the upswing, you’ll be snatching a ton of setup and recovery time away from your opponent as well as getting off a much cleaner shot.

Let me tell you, this is a great strategy to keep your opponent on the defensive end, especially if they’re slow and don’t have incredibly fast reflexes or footwork.  To them, it’ll feel like your shots are coming twice as fast and twice as hard  - which is sure to keep them off balance. They will definitely feel the effects of it, and that’s truth.

And what’s great is, you won’t have to swing any faster or exert any more power or energy for your opponent to feel it.  All you have to do is catch the ball sooner.

Now if you’ve been experiencing problems attempting to execute this strategy and you find yourself catching the ball when it’s already started on it’s descent,  it’s probably due to these two main reasons:

If you feel that you may be suffering from either of the two, the ball will end up dropping low and beneath your ideal strike zone. And you’ll have to hit the ball as it’s coming down. Then, what happens? Exactly, you’ll have to open the racket face (…to try and generate some extra lift).

Then, if you want any chance at getting any offensive firepower on your ball at all, you have to work 5 times HARDER to get off a last second prayer.  And you’re going to have to contort your body in an awkward position, just hoping make good contact.

And most of the times, your prayer will not be answered.  You’ll usually mishit or “shank” a lot more balls while trying to get in that position - especially if you’re dipping your shots in a deep-dish of heavy topspin.

Oh, but you will get your wish of some added air-time. Combined with the added force, late preparation, and the face of the racket already pointed to the sky, you’ll end up popping the ball high in the air. Your ball will take flight and fly clear over the fence. SOUND FAMILIAR?

And if all that wasn’t enough, you’ll also be giving your opponent the gift of added prep-time, which will allow him to produce a much more effective shot. Now, this is a vicious cycle and will continue to happen, unless you change something.

So, to prevent that from happening, you have to change your mental perspective.  You want to have an “Active Mindset.” Don’t relax and “wait.” Be aggressive and GO “TO” THE BALL - go get it!

Just by changing the core of your thinking or thought process, it’ll almost seem magical. You’ll automatically find yourself in much better position. You’ll get to the ball much sooner and find it much easier to take the ball at it’s peak while generating much better contact.

Not only that, but you’ll feel much more fluid when executing your shot, and you’ll be able to recover for the next one a heck of a lot sooner.

Oh, and notice… When you execute the active mindset properly, you’ll see that the face of your racket will be closed (…and not open and tilted up like before).

By having a closed racket face…

This will ultimately change what would’ve been a viscous cycle of “pop-ups” and “look outs” , “body jolts,”  “jagged court movement”, and weak returns into a beautiful one  comprised of effortless movement and easily executed shots and technique -

Now if you try the active mindset, and you’re still a little slow at first, don’t worry. It’s not going to come right away.  It’s going to take a little while to become consistent at it.

An excellent way for you to become proficient in the “rising” phenomenon is to PRACTICE it.   A great way to do that and cut the time for you to see results in half, is by hitting against a wall or backboard.

After the many repetitions of going after the ball with a active (…killer) instinct over and over… you’ll be able to ingrain everything it takes to make it work . All the movement, footwork, mindset, along with quickness and reflexes will start to sink deep into your muscles and your mind so you won’t have to think twice about it.

This will also help you with possible problem number #1, in that a backboard will give you tons of wacky, crazy  balls to hit. This is great because no ball that comes to you will be the same, just like you’d see in a real match. You’ll be forced to react on the fly without being able to cheat like you can do with a ball machine.

Now, while it may appear mundane and simplistic, it’s highly efficient. Hey, not everything has to be hard and strenuous to produce results for ya. Oh, and a bonus of practicing on your own is that you can stroll onto the court and surprise your hitting buddies with your new heightened game.

Give them an extra 6-0 in their stocking this year :).

Have a Merry Christmas filled with bagels, aces, and smiles!

-Brian

P.S. I’m actually in the recording studio for TMC Strategy Secrets 101 writing this on a quick lunch break. Things in here have been crazy, but we’re getting a lot done. I’ll try to get an update video on the latest sometime tomorrow (…in between last minute shopping for the family). Have a great one, and Merry Christmas!

What if I told you that by making yourself run more on the court could help get you the win? Would you believe me? Well, it’s actually true. Running for more balls can actually help improve your chances of obtaining a great victory.

One of the critical things that really separates the successful players from the players who seem to be stuck and find it hard to make it to that next level, is heart.

Sure it’s ok to have great mechanics. And yea, it’s even better have sound strategy, but the ability and the willingness to push yourself to the limits is one of the biggest difference makers in the sport today.

The winning players, they’re hungry for it. And they’ll do anything in their power to get it. You see this in the way players like Andy Roddick and “Raffa” Nadal go after every single ball like it was their last.  They DON’T QUIT!

They treat each point as if it’s a tie-break in the 5 set at the US Open. THAT’S why they see so many outstanding results.  But check this out… That’s the exact same reason why so many club players DON’T. That’s why so many club players don’t get the results they’re looking for.   That killer instinct… That hunger… It’s not there.

When playing points, too many players end up calling it quits way before they should. If the shot LOOKS to be a tad out of their immediate reach, they won’t budge.  They’ll just reply with something like “too good” or “GREAT SHOT.” Both of those are just cop out responses because they didn’t “feel” like asserting themselves to put forth the needed effort to get to it. Why? Too much work? Probably so.

You don’t want to do this. If you do, you’ll be just like the thousands of other frustrated players out there wasting tons of time and not seeing the winning results they want.  Now, I can’t manually give you the heart of a champion or the will of a tennis warrior, but I can tell you a quick way to help jump-start a change. (see below)

1. Go For It.

If it’s in bounds, (…and if you’re not already out of breath and desperately gasping for air), go for it! Kick it up a notch and try to get those balls you used to think we’re to far away or weren’t “worth it” to try for.  As long as it’s not sailing 10 feet out, it should be fair game for you.

So stay on your toes and be ready to move.  If you “believe” (…like Melanie Oudin) that you can get to those balls and that you will make it there in time, then the probability that you’re going to be able to get there and execute is going to more than double.

How so? Well, just like I mentioned in the tip on pre-match anxiety, your mental has direct control your physical. If you believe you’ve got what it takes… And you can visualize and see yourself achieving that success, you’ll send positive energy through out your body.

Your body will then be more loose, much more fluid and ready to explode to your ideal destination.  If you don’t believe, you’ll send negative energy through your body, your legs will feel like cement and you won’t go anywhere, and the point, game, set, match, or even championship would have been lost.

Now this isn’t going to be a night and day switch right away.  Changing your mindset does take some time to really be re-programmed.  But hey, after going through it a number times, you’ll really start to see the change.

2. Get Inside Your Opponent’s Head

If you make a habit of going after every ball, then your opponent’s mindset will begin to shift in a negative direction.  He’ll begin to feel hopeless, because nothing that he has in his arsenal will seem to be working. Then, your opponent will begin to feel that he’s on the story of the never ending point.

And if he’s not an object of good consistency, he’s going to try to do things to help finish the point sooner - which may force your opponent to attempt more lower percentage shots. Why? Because he won’t want to be run around like rag doll over and over again. That’s no fun.

Hopefully you got something from this. Hopefully, it ignited a spark inside :).

Have a great weekend,

Brian

P.S. I’ve been living in the studio working hard on the latest additions to Strategy Secrets 101 the past 4 days. Every time I think it’s done, I keep finding other stuff to put in - a lot more than I announced a week ago. Will the adding ever stop lol? I hope so. I’m desperately trying to get this done and out to every body (… especially all my pre-order folks) by Christmas. Wish me luck.. Santa Help me!

Hey guys…

Ready for your Thanksgiving weekend? I know it couldn’t come sooner, right ?  OK. Now for the news… Even though you guys know I love to talk and type tons of stuff on these posts… I think this video really does express everything that I want to get off my chest and reveal to you. So, just press PLAY (..then pause it). Once it’s done loading, then press PLAY to resume. There are a lot of really cool visuals in this one - So it’s going to take a little longer to process.

All the best,

Brian.

P.S. Let me me know what you thought of the video. Did it help in any way? Did you learn anything new? I’d love to get your feedback. Oh, and remember to check out the “Flow With A Pro Interview #1″.

Hey guys,

Here’s a pretty-informative interview I did one-on-one with a dynamic WTA rising star by the name of Brittany Augustine. She’s played at the top academies, traveled all over the globe, plays and practices against the world’s top players like Venus and Serena Williams etc.

Yea, she’s definitely got the goods and loves the mental side of tennis just as much as we do :)! So I was thrilled when I got the chance to grill her and get her to give us some insight on some opponent-crushing strategies and concepts that continue to help her in the professional ranks and how you can use them too (see below).

Oh, and remember to check out the video in the middle for all the updated information on the new strategy resource!

Interview Part 1 of 2

TMC STRATEGY SECRETS LATEST VIDEO UPDATE

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Interview part 2 of 2

Remember to leave a comment for Brittany and let her know that we’re routing for her and thank her for the time spent.

Also, don’t forget to get on the special interest list so you can get your hands on those bonuses next week. Just put in your first name and email address in the peach box (above), and you’re set.

Now, for this week’s tip.

Have you ever come into a match and just sort of “gone with the flow?” You know -  “letting the game come to you.” Now if you have, and you lost the match in the process, that quote was probably a big part of it.  And to be honest, I really don’t like that quote at all.

It’s trying to convey the message of “not forcing it.” But it’s really unclear and pretty vague. And it tends to lead a lot of players in the wrong direction. They end up taking it too far and then find themselves being too passive.  As a result, a lot of players  just don’t have that fire or that drive they need to start them off and carry them throughout the match.

Then the thought of “I’ll just warm up now, and turn it on when the points really mean something; it’s only the second game right now… No need to rush things” floods your mind.

Then you start out too slow. Your opponent gets a jump on you.  And you end up playing catchup for the rest of the match. And that’s NO FUN! I can tell you that. It’s no fun when your opponent has all the confidence in the world because he’s got a sizable lead and has you scrambling.

He can afford to take more risks, because he’s got a cushion and you don’t. Bummer . But hey, no worries. You just had a passive mindset. Just learn from it. And correct it before it happens again and causes you to lose another match.

If you want to be in the hunt, with hopes of winning any match and getting that sizable lead right out the gate, you’re going to need a warrior-like mindset, not the passive one mentioned above. What do I mean by that? Well, you must be ready to really extend yourself to the max from the coin toss or the racket spin.

You can’t afford to “wait” to get it going. After the warm-up, you’ve got to be on your toes and ready to attack.  I’m talking about things like sprinting full speed to catch a short ball if necessary and contesting every shot (..not saying that’s too good man). You’ve got to approach and play every point as if it’s one that would fall in the make or break category.

Yea, you can’t be afraid to break a nail or get dirty out there. You’re supposed to sweat. It’s good for ya! You have to be relentless, and go ALL OUT! There is no in between, no middle ground. Either you’re giving your 110% or you’re failing.

Now in order to do this…  In order to reach that 100%. Excuse me… 110%.  You’ll need to do two things:

NOTE: Just in case you missed the big post on Wed. where I talked about the  “big surprise” and some behind the scenes stuff, click there… ==>Wed. “Surprise” post. <== I’ll be revealing more, how big, how long, what it’s really about and what it’s going to cover, and how you’ll be able to interact no later than next week. I promise!

Thanks again guys for all the feedback, warm words, and support.

best regards,

- Brian

PS. If this tennis tip of the week helped you or made you realize anything that could positively help your game, please do leave your comments below.

Showing your excitement is a great thing… AFTER THE MATCH. That’s right, during a match, I recommend you put a lid on it and don’t let the world see your insides. You need to control them and keep them under wraps.

A great way to regulate and control your emotions during a match is to show no reaction at the end of a point. That’s right, keep your eyes on the prize so to speak, the win.

Physically: You don’t need any outbursts like jumping in the air to show the crowd and/or your opponent that you’re pleased with what you did. The only fancy footwork you need is the kind that will get you back to the baseline the quickest :).

Mentally: Move on. Don’t dwell.  You want to act like it’s just another day at the office. Once the previous point has been played out, it’s over and your thoughts about it should be too.

Just look at basketball great Michael Jordan on the court or when football superstar Tom Brady takes the field. After they do something great, they’re not screaming to the top of their lungs or dancing in front of the fans. Why not?

This is business, just another day at the office to them. You should take that same approach.  If you choose not to and make a habit of reacting every time a point is completed, you become very unstable as the match goes on.

When you win it, you’re going to feel good… maybe even great about yourself, but when the tables turn around, and you lose the point, your heart, your mind, and your body, go into the tank.

You end up feeling like you’re on a date with an on again off again girlfriend/boyfriend. And you know how utterly shaky and gut-wrenchingly unpredictable times like that can be. You never really feel grounded, nor do you have any foundation or mental base.

Your significant other says something nice about you and your emotions run super high, and you’re jumping up and down. But when he/she turns around and does something you hate, then you feel worse than when Shaq saw Kobe win his first ring without him. Horrible!

Nothing’s consistent. You’re emotions are in limbo and all over the place. Once, you feel you’re somewhat used to something, it changes.

You can’t be that mentally unstable and be going through that type of emotional teeter-totter during a competitive match if you want to be successful. I recommend being even kill where you’re right in the middle. That way, your play, your thoughts, and your mood is constant. You have a much needed internal balance.

Pete Sampras is a great example of a player who has tremendous inner balance. He would always look so calm after every point. Whenever I would watch him, I could never tell the score.  I didn’t know if he was winning or losing by his body language and the expression on his face.

This was a great asset to him and one of the biggest reasons I believe he won so many matches. This not only aided in his ability to maintain strong focus, but it never gave his opponent an opening to take advantage of the way he was feeling either.

Why? Because his opponent was in the same boat as you and I, he didn’t have a clue what was going on in Pete’s head either haha. Yea, a double whammy!

Now, by no means am I saying that Pete never made mistakes or got out of character. Of course he did. And it’s ok to make mistakes and show a little bit ONCE IN A WHILE.

I mean, if you we’re down 1-5 in the final set and had double match point against you, and came roaring back to take a 6-5 lead,  go ahead and give it a quick fist pump. I mean, I don’t think Sampras or Federer could have resisted that one haha.

But the key phrase there is “once in a while.” When you find yourself going up and down on an emotional roller coaster through the entire match, that’ll just lead to unforced errors by the boatload.

So, yes you CAN celebrate. Just make sure, it’s after the match is over or something like the extreme exception I mentioned above.  Make sure your emotionally centered out there, and you’ll see a lot more wins.

Have a great weekend!

Brian

There are some players who have that natural, innate skill that makes them perfect candidates for tennis superstardom. There are others who lack a natural ability but have achieved major tennis skills because of their hard work and dedication. Guess what, though? Both of these types of player still have the opportunity to fail. Sucks, huh?

People who have god-given skill usually get big-headed and don’t keep up their practice and skill-building. They’ll never reach their full potential and will eventually sit stagnant in a pool of their own smugness.

Those who bust their own chops in order to get better and better sometimes get bogged down in a routine, become bored and similarly let themselves taper off in their practice, reaching a plateau from which they may never rise any higher.

So how do we avoid becoming one of these terrible examples? No, the answer isn’t steroids; it’s consistent, dedicated, hard work day in and day out.

Right now you might be thinking, “Wow, what a revolutionary idea! Hard work and practice makes me better at tennis?!? What other nuggets of wisdom do you got stored up in there, Brian? The recipe for ice cream soup, perhaps haha?” Well, if you let me finish, you might learn something, junior. Effort is the backbone of skill.

The best tennis pro in the world could lose to an inferior player if that player has a lot of heart and the one who is expected to win isn’t giving it his or her all. Haven’t you ever seen The Mighty Ducks?

Basically, the point is to give it your all each and every time you’re on the court. Sure, you may just be playing a pickup game for fun, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t consistently challenge yourself!

Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that you should be busting your fuzzy yellow balls if you’re nursing an injury. Depending on the severity, you may not want to be within twenty yards of a net, service box, or sideline. Take some time and spend it with your bed, instead. Oh yes, there are going to be times when you may want to relax.

To put it simply, lets just say this: When you’re on the court with the intention of “training”, “practice”, or any type of instruction, don’t allow yourself to “take it easy”, “relax”, or whatever you want to call that. Whether you got to your skill level with hard work or natural-born talent, remember that stagnancy happens to the best of us, and it is often that trait that marks the worst of us.

So how can you ensure that you give it your “all” each and every time you step on the court? Here are a few quick and easy guidelines you can use to keep you on your toes.

1: No Excuses: This is an easy enough one to follow. There are plenty of reasons why you may have missed that serve or shanked that backhand, but 7 times out of 10, it’s because of something you did incorrectly. Make sure that you realize that and don’t blame it on external things like the weather, the racket, or not having the right shoes. By taking responsibility, you’ll subconsciously begin to play better before you know it.

2: No Mediocrity: This is in line with what we’ve discussed above. Remember to never be satisfied with a decent return or an “okay” volley. Be happy you made it over the net but don’t be comfortable with it, you know what I mean? Make sure not to pat yourself too hard on the back if you don’t deserve anything more than a light tap or a quick “good job.”

3: Reward Yourself When You Earn It: On the flip side, make sure that your back is patted when it is warranted. If you broke through a previously un-reached barrier or accomplished a goal, by all means get loud and happy about it! Don’t dwell on it too long, though. Accept that there are always new goals and barriers on the horizon.

4: Vary Your Routine: This accomplishes a few things. For one, you’re less likely to get bored and will therefore be less likely to reach a plateau. Also, switching up practices and lessons will help you set and meet different goals at different times. If you try day in and day out to achieve an unrealistic goal, you may quickly lose hope and desire and tire of the chase.

On the other hand, if you have several small “attainable” goals spread out in different areas, you will see encouragement and motivation skyrocket as you reach these goals with ease and fun (…the most important thing).

These 4 mental strategies should definitely make tennis fun again. You have my word.

Have a good one guys!

- Brian