#BP

Tennis Strategy #28 The Myth Of Racquet Head Speed

When it comes to winning points, there are two very important considerations to keep in mind. One is technical, one is philosophical. The technical component is that you have more to gain from clean, efficient contact with the ball, than you do from pure racquet head speed. Clean and efficient contact will lead to better control. Which leads to the philosophical element, that you should value control over absolute power, even if you are a power player. One thing my friend an

Tennis Strategy #27 How Do I Know When To Change Strategy In A Match?

“Remember, it’s never too early to panic.” ~ A Coach Patton-ism. The Guidelines For Shifting Strategy It’s very common that players at the lower part of the scale, can panic thinking “my strategy isn’t working”, which is completely understandable. However, when you are having feelings that you are being beaten, do your best to shift away from feelings of despair and hopelessness and into problem solving. When a car doesn’t start or make any noise at all, we start by checking

Tennis Strategy #26 Meet The Disruptors

If you have seen the American hospital drama HOUSE, about the crazy doctor by the same name, you might have seen there was a pattern to the show. Someone brings him a patient with a mysterious illness that no one else can seen to diagnose and treat. He has his team of doctors and they all put their heads together, then House, comes in and orders that they place the patient on 12 different medicines. His staff says, “…but that's gonna kill him.” House says, “yes, of course”,

Tennis Strategy #25 Drop Shots, Lobs, and Chip Shots

Giving Unwanted Time And Space Up to the 4.0 level, there are plenty of players who are very impatient in the way they play. One of the earmarks of a 4.5 and above player is that their rally number is larger, they are less likely to feel more pressure in longer rallies, or suffer from poor fitness after five or more shots. Less experienced or fit players may want to bang the ball, just for the sake of shortening the rally. Longer rallies make some people feel more pressure, b

Tennis Strategy #23 Pressure Time And Space Intro

I’m starting this section with a story of a very successful college player that I coaching beginning when he was 13 years old. He came from a Romanian family, brusque and a paternally dominated clan, and that plays into his reactions to what follows. The boy himself carried himself like a man, and was maybe the most stubborn player I have coached. We had a lot of fun anyway as the trust grew between us, as I teased him many times for his stubborn traits. The father paid me we

Tennis Strategy #22 Establishing Movement In Return Game

Flipping It Around To the Return Game One of the best possible ways to gain control of the point in a return game is to steer as many shots to your forehand as you possibly can, except of course if your backhand happens to be a stronger shot. If indeed you want more forehands, then you need to return the serve to their forehand. Conversely returning to their backhand will get you more backhands, with some exceptions, if you are able to jam their backhand in tight, you can oft

Tennis Strategy #21 The Movement Game

If you want to pressure movement well, you at least need to be either a better player at making angles with your shots, or a better, faster mover on court. If you are not either of those, then it’s foolish to play the strategy in that match. Ideally, in order to excel at this strategy to make it your A game, you will both be better at making angles and moving. Will It Work Today? Assessing which gives you the better advantage, early in the match, will determine how you approa

Tennis Strategy #20 Consistency: Branching Out

Every level you go up, you face a new level of power. So even though you were a power player at a certain level, you might not be able to win that way at a new level. The same is even more true of the counter punching baseliner. You could hang out of on court at one level, but there is a finite amount of foot speed you can muster, and eventually the ball will be harder and harder to outrun. Rock Beats Scissors The power player who can overpower the counter punching baseliner,

Tennis Strategy #19 What Is Consistency?

Much is made of the word ‘consistency’ and many salutes are given to the player who can extend a rally, but is that really the best way to win in tennis? The retriever is the person who simply runs around and hits one more shot back. For my money, I would choose winning that way over losing in any other way, on any day of the week, but it comes with a cost. This style requires the greatest expense of energy. This player will have to be supremely fit, and even so, when they me

My Headspace #3 Atomic Habits

Lately I have been reading and re-reading Atomic Habits, which I strongly recommend to anyone who wants to get better at almost anything. One thing I have struggled with over the years is continuity of posting blogs and videos here on my website and on YouTube. Atomic Habits is helping with that. Today’s chapter was basically about how missing one time at doing a habit is an accident, and missing two is a new habit. I’m completely fine with missing one day of the blog or post

Tennis Strategy #18 Time/Space And Court Position

Another aspect of pressuring time and space is to change your court position to distort the court, change the timing, influence your opponent’s shot selection, and take away their favorite shot. When I played basketball, one of my favorite things to do was to discover my opponent’s favorite place to take a shot. As soon as I saw them moving that way, I would hurry to beat them to the spot, or at least get close enough to make it uncomfortable. This is your number one objectiv

Tennis Strategy #17 2of5 The Pressure Time And Space Game

Pressure Time And Space If I were to say that I want to pressure my opponent’s time and space, but all I do is stand 5 feet behind the baseline hitting high loopy shots, then I’m not really achieving the objective. I would essentially by decieving myself about my strategy, because my actions are telling a different story than my stated intention. Yes, sometimes you can give your opponent more time and space, as part of this game plan. Remember, with this strategy, you want t

Tennis Strategy #16. 1of5 The Power Game

This is the first of five chapters where we will break down each of the same number of major strategies that exist in tennis. Power Game One of the great things about playing a power game is that there is not a lot of thinking that goes into the execution of it. The power player has a few targets they hit, over and over again. While they don’t always hit the ball as hard as they can, each ball they do hit is struck well for pace. The idea is to force a lot of errors, and als

Tennis Strategy #15 Broad Strokes Of Strategy Part 2b

Why Don’t Players Play A Strategy Very Well? The problem for many players is that they feel lost when it comes to strategy, so they revert to what they think they see, and what they have been told. They play with vague objectives, or nearly none at all, and they seldom are measurable. Generally, people will fall into one of two categories by default, they will try to overpower their opponent and when that is not working, then they will push, becoming the retrieving baseline

Tennis Strategy #15 Broad Strokes of Strategies Part Two

Today I have the idea of sharing the development of my writing. This is a 1.5 draft, because it's almost a second draft. If you come back tomorrow, you will see the second draft. If you want to suggest some changes, that will be nice and I will give you attribution in the book. A great way to build SEO. *** The problem for many players is that they feel lost when it comes to strategy, so they revert to what they think they see, and what they have been told. Generally, peo

My Headspace #2 Reality v. Idealized Portrayal

I'm not complaining. I actually have learned to go through some times of adversity, waiting, things breaking, and flowing to what works. I didn't finish the blog I had planned because there were so many loose ends to clean up today. People don't often share when things don't go well. They portray themselves as someone for whom everything is always peachy. It's not real. Today, you will know that I have many of the same struggles as you have daily in simply getting a few thing

Tennis Strategy #14 Broad Strokes Of Strategies

Can You Over Power Them? When you are the stronger player, you can overpower your opponent on the day, time after time, hit hard to them, that is a great way to win because that's the fastest way to finish the competition. Winning that way also expends the lowest amount of your energy. When you are not able to overpower them, or they are your equal in this regard, then you need to win another way. They Run More Than You? If you like to run around the court some, and you happe

Tennis Strategy #13 A Lack Of Subtlety In Strategy

You have read Tennis Strategy 101, or you think you don’t need to do so. It’s important to be sure you have stopped making the subtle mistakes that are like a ship taking on water, making you sink in your match. You no longer are losing winnable matches that you now win convincingly. Now it’s time to take it all to the next level, so you can improve your scores, ratings and ranking. and now you are ready to start building more blocks on the foundation you have already establ

Tennis Strategy #12 Intro To Tennis Strategy 201

Here is a second draft of the introduction to TS201 Who Is This Book For? There are a few types of players who are going to benefit the most from this book. Those of you who starting playing, or dramatically increased your amount of dedication to Tennis with the pandemic of 2020, welcome and welcome back. Also, some players who have felt stuck in their progress, and unsure of what to do next after taking many lessons for their strokes, but still are not winning matches they

Tennis Business #107 Owner V. Victim Mentality

Be An Owner, Not A Victim You are in charge of where and how you work. You either accept conditions as they are and work within them with good cheer, work to change them for the better, or leave to go build something somewhere else. Act Like An Owner One of the guiding principles for my every action in the tennis industry is to ask myself the question, “If I owned the place, how would I act?”, or “What would the owner want me to do?”. Many times that means stopping to pick u

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