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!

We have two basic primary types of muscle fibers, slow twitch and fast twitch. For this weeks tip, we’re going to work on your fast twitch muscle fibers.  Fast-twitch fibers assist us tennis players with fast-explosive movements such as an quick overhead smash,  attempting to execute a ground stroke while running at full speed, or being able to pivot… shift your body weight and change direction with only a split-second heads-up. Now in order to strengthen and further enhance your fast-twitch muscle fibers, you must work at a very high intensity.

Now, you might be wondering why we’re digging into something so closely embedded in the physical realm at Tennis Mind Camp. Well, the truth of the matter is, if you’re not physically fit and unable to actually get to those balls your opponent hits to you, it’s actually going to bother you mentally.

You’re not going to feel as free and fluid out there on the court to go for your shots. You’re going to be tentative. As well you should. If you’ve recently added a couple extra pounds, you might feel sluggish when you get back out there on the court for your next session.

And when you feel sluggish, you are going to unconsciously begin second guess yourself and quiestion whether or not you’re in good enough shape to get to that ball or not. You won’t really feel that you can fully extend and put your all into each shot, because you had an extra plate.

Step 3: Bend down and touch the service line with your hand. Immediately after you make contact with the line, you want to turn around and bolt full speed back to the baseline where you started, making sure to bent down and touch the line all the way. Then switch directions, and turn around again.

Step 4: Without hesitation, dash toward the net. Touch the white tape at the top of the net (…yea you get a break here), just touch the top of the tape.

Step 5: Finish it out by switching directions yet again and return to the baseline, and race back to the center of the baseline where you started, and of course touch the line :).

*Repeat process 1 more time after 90 second rest time.

A. The outside alley
B. The Inside Alley
C. The T
D. The Inside Alley on the opposite side
E. The Outside Alley on the opposite side
F. Then finish it out back where you started

PARTNER UP: Try doing this with a friend. It’s a lot more FUN. When you get those competitive juices flowing (…trying to outdo each other), you’ll be able to push each other even further that you thought possible, AND you’ll see even BETTER results. Hey the loser buys Subway. What? You thought I was going to say Burger King? Yeaaa Right. Time to EAT FRESH… 5$ foot looongs .

If you’re suffering from a holiday food hangover, this short but powerful workout will whip you back into shape or even get you in better condition than you we’re before the food frenzy. Remember, the body… the mind… they’re connected. Exercise them both! You’ll feel wonderful afterwords.

Have a Great day , and an even BETTER game!

-Brian
TennisMindCamp

P.S. I did receive a lot of emails this past Friday and Saturday regarding the release of TMC Strategy Secrets 101. Just a reminder, I sent out a video announcement that it had been postponed due to me being crazy and wanting to add more stuff to it. I’m terribly sorry if I wasn’t clear enough. I guess the 43 or so emails asking me “Where Is the Order Link?” was proof of that

No new date has been set as of yet (…it will be soon), but if you’d like more info on this course and a kick-but tip on how to cure pre-game anxiety, click here.

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… 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.

Hey, I’m glad you made it for this tennis tip of the week…. AND… on a Friday at that.

Now in tennis, there are two very important things that you want to be doing and that are absolutely vital to your ability to perform well out there on the court:

A. Court Movement: Deciding on the correct movement needed to get to the ball the quickest  and in the least amount of time.

B. Shot Recovery: Executing the right recovery plan so you’re ready to properly execute the very next shot.

*WARNING* This (lack of shot recovery) is  a big problem that I see in so many player’s games today. Once players hit a shot, they just stand there without moving to the next position to extend the point.  Then they find themselves drastically out of position and late on the next shot and end up losing what could have been a “make-or-break” point in the match.

So, you’ve got to keep moving once you execute your first shot!   You’ve got to get back! Remember, there is always one more! Never think that ONE shot is good enough! Haha… Sorry about that. I really needed to get that off my chest, and definitely wanted to make sure you don’t ever make a mistake like that :).

But anyway, I’ve got a powerful tennis strategy for you that’ll help you move correctly and properly recover when your opponent tries to take you out with an out wide forehand.

Now when your opponent tries to pull you off the court using a shot out wide to your forehand side, you want to make sure that you use an open stance. Why? Because if your opponent has hit the ball wide, this is going to send you “sprinting” in the direction of the sideline to get it - pulling you off the court.  The open stance will make it so you can still hit a great ball even when you’re on the run.

But if you want to be able to recover and get back into your ready position in the least amount of time (…which is the #1 goal of this strategy), you can’t just say ok, “I’ll use my open stance.” That’s only half of the puzzle. And you don’t want to be 50%, do you? If you were in school, that be an F.

So, to make it complete and give you the best chance to command the point and take the offense again, you’ll need to hit the ball in a very specific manner using a very easy trick.

What you want to do is  hit what I refer to as a brake step forehand.  The way you execute this is by bracing your outside leg and using a break step to obtain a much quicker recovery back to the middle. (see below)

NOTE: Those three movements should be done ALMOST simultaneously. Immediately following one (brace), the next one should have already started (the leg lift).  Then lastly, a split second after, utilize the brake. Don’t fuse them all together, because you’ll find yourself off balance.

If you attempt to combat your opponent’s offensive shot and don’t or forget to include this brake step, you’re going to be in some serious trouble. Why?  When you’re traveling to catch a speedy shot out wide, you’re going to be using a tremendous amount of “short-spurt” energy to propel you in the needed direction.

This means, all of your body weight along with gravity and momentum will send you completely off the court, leaving you waaaaaaaaay  out of position.  And it’ll also make it hard for you to get back to the middle in time. Yea, the fork will be in you. You’ll be done :(.

But by using the brake step strategy, all of that power and energy will be harnessed and delivered through your shot instead of pulling you off court and giving your opponent a ton of open court space.

Now like I said, you always want to recover. Never stop and stare after you’ve hit your shot or even after you’ve made your brake step.  Continue to move, stay on your toes, and get back to the center hash mark if you can.

Thanks for taking the time.

Have a great day and an even BETTER GAME!

Brian

P.S. Have a safe and fun halloween. If this tip helped you in anyway, please leave what you thought down below. It’ll help out a lot when all the other TMC campers read it.

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

Any tennis player with even the slightest bit of pride knows how wonderful it feels to nail that screaming eagle that falls right within the line. As great an esteem booster as this type of shot is, it is more often the smart, less amazing shots, that lead to victories in a match.

A spectacular shot may get you a point or two during a match but they can also be risky and, in many cases, may not be worth it. Giving yourself a cushion and more margin for error so that you get more than 85%  of your shots back with skill and control will go a lot farther toward ensuring the victory every time you play.

A steady supply of high percentage shots are far more useful and dependable than trying to go for the lines. This may seem self-explanatory but you will still see people of all skill levels trying to go for the easy point by trying to get the ball just inside the lines. Most of this is due to the temptation of scoring a point on the line but the risks nearly always outweigh the possible benefits. For many players, though, this will fall on deaf ears.

A high percentage shot is one that is almost guaranteed to land in with little risk of failure. A low percentage shot is a shot that may come off as spectacular but may just as easily fail spectacularly.

When you think of your shots as percentages and odds, you may begin to realize that tennis, just like gambling, can be played to your advantage by simply understanding probability and chance.  With this logic, you can see how hitting high percentage shots can be seen as not only playing it safe, but also playing it smart. Again, this may seem like common sense to anybody, but go ahead and take a look at a couple of amateurs playing.

You’ll see tons of opportunities for great high percentage shots that can yield victories being squandered and replaced with difficult shots that nearly always leave you cringing in disgust.  No one can deny that pulling off a low percentage shot and succeeding makes for a great feeling and a great buzz from the crowd, but losing at the end of the day because of your risk-taking can hardly be justified.

So, play the percentages, and you’ll see a world of difference. The crowd will be even more impressed when you win… TRUST ME

Have a GREAT day and an even BETTER GAME!

Brian Hall, Head Coach

TennismindCamp

webmaster@tennismindcamp.com

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