Hey guys… It’s Mr. energy here haha. Glad you guys are having fun with the guesses from Wed.’s “Surprise” post. Definitely keep em coming!

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.

Do you know a tennis player in your area who is at the same level you are and has the same skill set that you do (…same strokes, same level of experience), but you’re terrified about facing him because you’ve been beaten by him the last few times in a row and fear that he might defeat you again… giving you an even bigger headache than before?

I mean, even though you’re virtually the same in every aspect like health, athletic ability, and overall game, one frustrating question is continuously swirling around in your brain and seems like it’ll never go away; “Why Can’t I Beat Him… EVER?

I bet you probably start to feel that you’re probably  just deficient in some unknown regard. And it’s killing you because you have no clue on how to fix it.  And then doubt sets in, and you begin to just accept that you can’t stand up to that particular opponent, am I right?

You start to avoid matches with them and even pretend you don’t see them when they show up on the court so they have no chance to say those words that make you cringe… “Hey, wanna play?” Why?

Because you already perceive what the outcome is going to be, a LOSS! And you don’t want to be put through that type of embarrassment anymore. I mean, who would?

But hey, don’t get too down on yourself. You’re not alone. This is a typical situation faced by literally every tennis player that has swung a racket.

In fact, I’ve witnessed the same thing myself and that’s why I can easily understand how you’re feeling. You want to know why this is happening to you? YOUR MIND IS OUT OF CONTROL. Let me explain.

A while back, I was the top players at one of the earlier tennis clubs I was a member of… until a friend of mine decided he wanted in too. We were both equal in skill and had almost the same number of wins under our belts.

When we first started playing, I lost a couple matches against him (…back to back). At that point, Randy was promoted to the top position on the team. Yea, my spot!

That really started to eat at me. I mean, I was top dog, then I dropped to #2 faster than I could blink my eye. I then started to doubt myself and even thought about leaving for another club across town or even in another state. An athlete’s ego is fragile haha, especially when you’re as competitive as you and me.

But no, I didn’t leave. I stuck with it, hoping it would get better. But in our next meeting, I started to make tons of mistakes that even more than before. As you can imagine, I got REALLY bummed out, and incredibly frustrated.

I really don’t like to lose. I actually despise it. So, I had to do something to change it and start winning again. After all, I couldn’t just sit there and do what I’d been doing and expect something different to happen. That’d be insane

So after a couple days of some intense thinking, I realized that the problem didn’t have anything to do with my strokes at all.

It was all happening between my ears. I was giving Randy the victory before we even stepped foot on the court. I was thinking too much about things that didn’t matter like past matches I lost against him, and how embarrassed I ‘d feel if I lost AGAIN, how awful it would be to see his stupid face grinning back at me at the end, and God forbid, I drop to #3!!!!

At first, I thought that highlighting those ideas would light a fire under me and give me the extra push to do better, but all it did was disturb my mental stability and decrease my confidence level. Why?

Because I was playing, hoping NOT TO LOSE instead of unleashing the killer instinct to WIN! When you do that, your anxiety level skyrockets. My body and muscles were tight before I even hit my first ball. This was the reason I was making so many stupid “unforced” errors.

But once I understood the problem, that I was focusing too much on him and NOT on the game, it helped me to turn things around pretty fast.

In my next match with him, I tried directing my focus to any and everything except my opponent: the ball, my racket, my shoes, the sidelines, anything but him. I didn’t want him in my thoughts at all, because it could trigger a response that I definitely needed to keep under wraps.

Without a doubt, it was mentally exhausting, but it definitely did the job. This approach helped me a lot as I wasn’t focusing my attention on him anymore.

I instead was more focused on my game,  the ball, its movements, my overall court coverage and my shot selection.

The idea is to de-clutter and eliminate the space occupied by your opponent and how badly you want to beat him by re-directing your internal energy on things that won’t distract you.

You’re there to play the points – one point at a time. The only portion of your opponent you should be focusing on are his weaknesses and figuring out a way to destroy and exploit them blow by blow. Or I should say stroke by stroke.

This seemed to solve my problem and I actually won that match 6-1, 6-3! We played a couple of matches after that, and there were few that I won and a few which I lost.

But this time, I only lost the match because he was just playing better. Maybe luck was on his side or maybe it wasn’t my day. However,  I didn’t lose any of the matches because I was busy worrying whether I would win or loose against my opponent.

You should take this approach whenever you face a similar problem. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a tennis player, boxer, wrestler or chess player; just remember that everything lies in your mind. You have to have full control on your emotions by:

So yea, focus on what matters, you playing well and executing what you’ve worked on in practice. Do this from the first  point to the last point, and you’ll achieve great results.  And don’t get upset if he hits an incredible shot from time to time.

Look at it this way, this player makes you nervous and uneasy to start with right? So you’ll already be on edge. These 4 strategies above will help you keep your cool and will help strengthen your emotional control.

And once you have full control over all your emotions, then it won’t matter if your partner is on the same level as you or even “better” then you. You’ll be able to give yourself a fighting chance every single time!

Remember, it’s not just about physical strength or mechanics; every match is a mind game! What do they say? It’s the inside that counts… wink . Exactly!

Have a great day and an even BETTER game.

Brian Hall,

Your Tennis Mind Coach