I was a decent athlete growing up in Berkeley CA.
Baseball was my thing. Little League, Babe Ruth, American Legion, HS ...
I dabbled with tennis as a junior but never really got serious about being competitive until my mid 20s.
And when I started to play in tournaments, whoa, I really had no clue how to play the game of tennis.
I was trying to be an athlete out there and just use my natural ability to hit balls, run around, and yeah, never had any decent results.
I'd become a 1/2 way decent player after a couple of years, but then I got stuck at a mediocre level, and I just couldn't play as well as other guys who I knew didn't have the athletic ability that I did.
You can see this coming, right ;-)
So, I had to suck it up and actually go watch these better players compete to try and see if I could figure what they were doing that I wasn't.
And what I discovered was they were playing a different brand of tennis.
Here it comes ...
They were playing the geometry of the court, they were playing the percentages based on the height of the net, they were playing shots determined by where they were on the court in relation to where their opponent was on the court.
Again, they were decent athletes, nothing world class, their strokes didn't look any better than mine, but dang it, they were winning their matches ... and I wasn't.
So, after studying these guys for awhile, I figured out how to play as a tennis player out there --- not just an athlete, and yep, I started winning.
I now play with a few guys who are just pure athletes out there.
Oh yeah, there are times when they can look a million bucks, BIG screamers up the line for outright winners, but at the end of the day, they're shaking hands with the winner who's on the other side of the net.
So look, if you're not getting the results you want in either your singles and/or doubles matches, do this ...
Go study the top players in your age group.
Study.
Observe when they DON'T panic.
Observe when they play a shot that keeps the point neutral.
Observe how they don't rush to end a point.
Get a sense of how they seem to be OK to stay in a point until a true opportunity presents itself, and even then, they seem to win points more often because of their court positioning - not their outright winners.
Observe how it seems that those better players win most of their points because their opponents make waaaay more errors than they do by having to hit winners.
Study your age group's best players. That's a really tangible goal for you.
Trying to figure out how to play your best tennis by watching Fed and Rafa?
Really? Come on ...
You know in the back of your mind that you're trying to copy Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal and that there's just no way ... right?
Go search out those guys and gals in your age group who've figured out how to play the game of tennis.
It's much different than playing solely as an athlete.
Once I began to study those players, and I still do, my results got better.
Yours can too.
If you want to become a better tennis player, then figure out how to do just that --- be a tennis player and not just an athlete ...
Let me know if this resonates with you ---- yay or nay ;-) Just hit Reply.
You know what ... this tennis thing? You got it! Make it a great day out there ;-)
Brent
P.S. - want to support my online tennis instructional work? Well then that's cool ;-)
Here's what to do ...
Pick up a "WTRS?" t-shirt at a 50% discount, get one of my $97 courses as a gift, and spread the love ;-)
2 t-shirt versions. Lots of colors and sizes.
Use discount code: wtrs50 at checkout - click here.
Thanks in advance !
