Tag Archives: elite tennis coach Frank Giampaolo

Tennis Tipping Point Tendencies

Posted on July 19, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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TIPPING POINT TENDENCIES

 

Experienced champions have developed seemingly hidden skill sets I call, Tipping Point Tendencies. To the untrained eye, as the athletes warm up, opponents may appear to be equally matched with similar physical abilities. It is during match play that tipping point tendencies become apparent. The game is on and “playing catch” is over and playing “keep away” begins. These pre-developed skill sets are the critical factors that tip a close match in ones favor.

The tipping points are those hidden moments in each match when an emotional energy shift is about to happen.

 

“In close tennis matches, positive and negative energy and attitudes flows back and forth.”

 

Most intermediate athletes and their parents don’t even realize that this critical struggle for power is taking place. That is… until now! Mental readiness is required to control the positive energy.

Think back to the last few times your athlete lost tight matches. Chances are you blamed the losses on bad luck, or the opponent cheated, or your kid just did not have the “feel” that day, or for you superstitious types… you went to Quiznoz’s instead of Subway. Those re-occurring close defeats are most likely due to your child’s incomplete training and not lunch meat. Tipping point tendencies are essential learned behaviors that athletic royalty must master.

An athlete that shifts focus to the following tipping point tendencies, accelerates the learning process and a competitive warrior is born. Close matches are often decided by a handful of points. Let’s look a little deeper at ten of the top “hidden” tipping point tendencies that can help tip your athlete’s matches in their favor. Once again, these are terrific conversation starters for your athlete and their coaches.

 

Top Ten Tipping Point Tendencies:

1) Pay attention to the energy flow throughout the match. Who’s cranky and negative, who’s eager, hungry and positive? If you’re negative, apply your triggers and steal the energy back.
2) Monitor your state of mind. Is your mental and emotional state in the under arousal state of mind, in the optimal peak performance state of mind or in the over arousal state of mind?
3) Learn to spot the mental and emotional signs of choking (over-thinking) and panicking (under-thinking).
4) Manage the score to manage your adrenaline. Different points have different psychological values. Pay attention and get pumped up before big points.
5) Note that tennis scoring isn’t numerically fair: You can win more points than the opponent in the match and still lose the match. Winning requires spotting tipping points.
6) Spot the mega points (game winning points) and run the appropriate pattern that you’ve trained to death versus going rogue.

 

7) Spot mini-mega points. A 30-15 lead isn’t the correct time to relax. Winning that crucial point earns you a 40-15 advantage, lose it and you’re staring at a 30-30 tie.
8) Spot mini-mega games. These games in a set hold crucial building blocks. A 4-2 lead isn’t time to relax. Winning that mini-mega game earns you a 5-2 lead. Lose is and the sets a 4-3 dog fight.
9) Opponent profiling is crucial. It’s the flip side to running your Top 7 Patterns. Competitors who pay attention not only spot the opponents preferred patterns but actually shut them down on these big occasions.
10) Self-chart both sides of the net. Witness where errors and winners stem from and problem solve accordingly.

 

In regards to higher learning, I’m amazed at how often very young intermediate athletes understand this type of mental and emotional training. It is not reserved for the older advanced group. Parents and coaches, please remember, their world isn’t remotely like ours at their age. With Google on their smart phones, they are accustom to collecting and quantifying data at lightning speeds.

Have you ever witnessed your child on their phone with one friend, doing their homework, skyping another friend, snap-chatting, while eating and watching TV?  Children can multi-task. Asking an intermediate tennis player to improve their mechanical stroke components while improving their mental components is a piece of cake!

 

Mastering the tipping point tendencies is the art of winning under stress. Those seemingly “little things” are actually the extremely “big things” that make all the difference in tipping the odds in your favor.

How to Beat Moonball Retrievers – Part 3

Posted on July 14, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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3) Movement, Fitness and Strength

While lateral movement is important, the key to beating pushers lies in the forward and back directions. Here are two rhymes to help you attack moonball retrievers:

“When the ball is high (defensive moonball…Fly!” Go (Fly) into the court for a swing volley.

“When the ball is slow (defensive slice)…Go!” Run (Go) through the volley

Speed is broken down into anticipatory speed and foot speed. Combine cognitive processing speed with foot speed drills to maximize court coverage. What is anticipatory speed?

Anticipatory Speed

Anticipation is the action of expecting or predicting, which is a required skill at the higher levels of the game. Once anticipatory skills are developed, athletes begin to cover the court like a pro.

Foot Speed

Acceleration speed, deceleration speed, recovery speed, changing of directional speed and cardio fitness obviously play a critical role in a 3 hour moon ball match. Often in a national event, your child may have to play two retrievers back to back in the same day.

Core and Upper Body Strength

Upper Body Strength is required in the war against retrievers because your child must be able to hit balls above their primary stroke zone. The head level strike zones requires tremendous upper body conditioning and strength.

 

4) Emotional/Focus

So as you can see, emotional breakdowns and lack of focus issues stem from a variety of key areas. Players often fall apart because they honestly are not preparing properly. Lacking in just one of the four major tennis components/categories is enough to lose to a retriever. I have discover that some talented athletes are lacking in all four areas.

 

“Emotional resilience is needed versus pushers.”

 

For both the parent and the athlete, it isn’t so painful to experience a beating by a superior competitor. The agony of defeat stems from self-destruction. The next section will uncover 10 unique self-destruction techniques that, when applied, will bail your athlete out when they’re losing to a toad.

 

How to Beat Moonball Retrievers – Part 2

Posted on July 13, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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Four Major Tennis Components:

1) Technical Strokes

Your child must develop world class “secondary” strokes. Patterns used to pull a retriever out of their comfort zone consist of secondary strokes such as: drop shots, short angle swing volleys…Etc.

Your child may have better “primary” strokes, but unfortunately they are little use against a pusher. It is important to understand that often good primary strokes will only work in the pusher’s favor! A tool belt full of great secondary strokes needs to be developed.

Often your child’s loses are caused by their lack of secondary strokes. Each primary stroke has secondary stroke “relatives” that also need to be mastered. For example: A primary volley is the traditional punch volley. Secondary volleys are swing volleys, drop volleys and half volleys. These secondary volleys are needed in order to beat a retriever.

 

2) Tactics and Strategies

While the game continues to evolve, the foundation of strategy has not changed much over the past 100 years.

Jack Kramer taught this theory to Vic Braden, Vic Braden taught this to me and I am passing it on to you. “If your strengths are greater than your opponent’s strengths, then simply stick to your strengths. If your strengths are not as great, you must have well-rehearsed B and C plans to win the match!”

Example: If your child can out “steady” a world class moon ball pusher…simply pack a lunch for them and plan on a 3 hour “push-fest.” If your child can hit so hard that they simply blow the ball past retrievers …simply instruct them to hit a winners every point. If not, it may be in your youngster’s best interest to develop the secondary strokes and patterns used to take a retriever out of their game. Below are three patterns that work beautifully against pushers.

Best Patterns to Beat Retriever’s:

  1. Moonball approach to a swing volley.
  2. Short angle building shot to drive winner.
  3. Drop shot to dipping passing shots or lobs.

 

“Often the weakest ball a crafty retriever will give your athlete is their serve. I encourage your athlete to focus on the above three patterns
while returning the retriever’s weak serve.”

 

 

 

 

 

The Art of Consistency -Part 2

Posted on July 4, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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Common Inconsistency Situations

Below are six “oh-yeah” stumbling blocks that require your athlete’s attention. Remember, they can’t fix a problem if they’re not even aware it exists. Please ask your athlete’s coach to discuss the below “everyday blunders.”

Common Match Play Stumbling Blocks

1) After hitting a great winner, players commonly give the next point away by committing an unfocused-unforced error.

2) After missing a sitter, players don’t re-group and commit another unforced error.

3) Players commonly lose their own serve right after breaking the opponent’s serve.

4) Players often double fault after hitting an ace.

5) After winning a tight first set, players commonly play loose and find themselves down at the start of the second set.

6) In tournament play, players scoring an upset victory over a higher ranked player often lose to a lesser player the very next round.

 

“If you are persistent, you’ve got a great shot at being consistent.”

The Art of Consistency -Part 1

Posted on July 1, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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THE ART OF CONSISTENCY

 

The battle cry heard daily on every teaching court around the world is, “You need to be more consistent!” Makes sense right? It sounds simple, but how? If your child has an issue with consistency the information applied below will surely push them into a higher level. These mental training tips should be revisited often by your entourage of intelligent coaches.

 

Being consistent holds different meanings for different levels of players and is dependent on their individual growth development schedule.  To some readers, playing at ones peak performance level for three shots in a row is successful consistency. For others it may require playing solid for three points in a row, or three games in a row. Followed by performing at a high level for three sets in a row, or even three matches in a row…dare I say, consistently playing well for three tournaments in a row?

 

Incorporate the following solutions into your athlete’s developmental plan to help your athletes become more consistent.

Expose Strengths

Practice in the manner in which you’re expecting to perform. Design patterns and positions to expose your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Winning two tough matches a day for 5 days straight is the criteria for winning a national title. Winners expose their efficiencies and hide their deficiencies on a daily basis.

Rehearse Shot Selection

The most common type of error in the higher levels of junior tennis stems from low percentage shot selection. Abiding by the laws of offence, neutral and defensive is a factor.  Consistently focus on choosing to hit the appropriate shot the moment demands.

Focus on Depth

On-court depth is a goal while seeking consistency. Lack of depth opens up the opponent’s on-court angles which translates to your athlete playing defense. The “window” their ball travels above the net is crucial in the development of depth. This is called “air zones.” Consistent height and depth is a key to consistent wins.

Simply Match the Speed of the Incoming Ball

Champions are comfortable matching the ball speed.  Fighting the compulsion to always increase the ball speed is a sure fire way to be more consistent. When you don’t have the feel in a match, shift to this plan. This is also a super warm up routine. It shows the opponent you are stable versus crazy.

Hit the Appropriate Side of the Ball

Beginner and intermediate players are happy simply hitting any part of the ball. If they’re getting a tan, they’re happy! Top players understand that to hit secondary shots such as short angles, topspin lobs and slice shots, it requires more skill. The part of the ball your athlete strikes dictates its outgoing spins and angles.

Spacing

Proper movement and positioning around the strike zone is called spacing. Using adjustment steps to align each stroke is an underlying factor in the ability to actually use good form. A common cause of errors is spacing.

Proper Form

Form includes grips, backswings, strike zones and follow-throughs. Core strength and balance is required to keep the head still throughout the strike zone phase of the stroke. Cleaning up flawed strokes often involves “trimming the fat” versus adding more to the player’s stroke.

Master Spin

In high level tennis, spin is simply used as a consistency tool. The key ingredient in hitting the ball hard and in is… spin. Also, as the ball speed increases in a rally, a player then must slow down the ball with spin (usually under spin) to re-gain a positioning advantage. Controlling the point consistently is done with spin.

Avoid Repainting the Line

It is not the player’s job to paint the lines. Risky competitors who gun for the lines typically become early spectators. Hitting the lines also allows a cheater easy access to hook. Gunning for the lines increase frustration and complicate even the easiest of matches.

Increase Your Fitness

Being fit has wonderful benefits. It increases your overall confidence, allows you to stay in points longer, think clearer, problem solving better, accelerate and decelerate quicker, use cleaner strokes, calm the breathing and heart rate, recover faster after long points, recover after long matches and prevent injuries.

Increase Your Focus Ability

A common issue with inconsistency is playing solid, winning tennis three games in a row; then getting bored or unfocused and giving three games right back. Staying in the moment and focusing on your next point’s performance goals is “key.” This is done by mastering an inner game. Focus on simply winning three points in a row when you are bored or feel you are losing focus.

 

“Being great once and awhile means your good… not great.”

 

Coaches and players should make time in their developmental plans to visit the above solutions proven to help the art of consistency.

 

 

Developing Your Athlete’s Top 7 Patterns

Posted on June 25, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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DEVELOPING YOUR ATHLETE’S TOP 7 PATTERNS

 

Over a decade ago I conducted an on-court developmental case study with a group of similar age and ability level, top ranked Southern California players. For eight weeks, I trained a group of six athletes with the familiar old school, common academy methods. You’ve seen it a million times. It’s basically playing catch, back and forth, grooving to each other all day. I called them the Red Group.

The other group, called the Blue Group was trained very different. We customized each athlete’s Top 7 Patterns of play and religiously ran those patterns every single training session. These players focused on offense, neutral and defensive situational protocols and were not allowed to rally back and forth to the opponent. They played keep away for two months…never catch.

 

“Winning matches is a game of keep away… not a game of catch.”

 

After the two month period, the Blue Group beat the Red Group handily for five consecutive team matches. I then decided to permanently switch my training philosophy.  My students started racking up national title after national title.

It’s time to work with your athlete’s coach in designing your child’s very own Top 7 Patterns. Reactive tennis is played at the intermediate levels of the game.  It is simply reacting to the moment without any real plan. Proactive tennis is having a pre-set plan for every point.  Proactive tennis forces the opponent to react to your strengths. These strengths come in the form of strokes and patterns. Most points in junior tennis are almost over when the server walks up to the line to serve, meaning …points are typically short. That’s why this section focuses on starting each point with a specific plan.

“It is estimated that the average point played on the WTA/ATP professional tour is under 4 hits.   This is why starting points with a plan is essential.”

Remember, spectacular performances are preceded by spectacular preparation. It’s time for your athlete to begin to prepare spectacularly.  Proactive competitors control the tight matches because they control the big points by routinely running their Top 7 Patterns. This means that on game points, mentally tough players run their very best patterns. This awareness, tips the odds in their favor.  I urge players to design and rehearse their Top 7 Patterns and begin to run these patterns religiously with their coaches through pattern repetitions. They then apply their Top 7 Patterns in practice matches and of course in real tournament competition.

 

The “Top 7” Pattern Categories:

1) Top Serving Pattern to the Deuce Side (2 Ball Sequence.)

2) Top Serving Pattern on the Ad Side (2 Ball Sequence.)

3) Favorite Return Pattern/Position versus a Big First Serve.

4) Favorite Pattern/Position versus a Weaker Second Serve.

5) Favorite Rally Pattern.

6) Favorite Short Ball Option.

7) Favorite Approach Shot Pattern.

 

Lesson Learned: I brought some junior athletes to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden BNP Paribas Open with the purpose of dissecting the patterns used by the professional. Their mission was to chart the professional’s Top7 Patterns.  During that chilly night in the California desert, Rafael Nadal ran his same old, boring winning service pattern on the ad side 82% of the time versus Ryan Harrison. Rafa hit a mid-tempo slice serve out wide to Ryan’s backhand…ran around the return and “Ahh-Hay” Rafa yells as he hit his inside out forehand into the opposing corner.  Result: Rafa won routinely while conserving energy for future rounds.

 

Assist your child’s coaches by encouraging them to take your athlete’s practice sessions up a few levels and replace simply grooving back and forth with grooving your athlete’s customized Top 7 Patterns.  Later in this mental section we will look into the flip side of developing your athlete’s Top 7 Patterns. In the opponent profiling section, we will uncover how and why it is also critical to develop the skills required to spot and defuse the opponent’s Top 7 Patterns of play. This is an analytical function.  Controlling the critical tipping points begins with anticipation.

How to Build Mental Toughness

Posted on June 20, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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HOW TO BUILD MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Players who are confident have a mentally tough aura about them. They are extremely intimidating because their confidence is obvious to all. It’s evident in their body language and facial expressions.  So, how can your athlete develop radiant confidence?

First of all, your athlete starts by reading about it. Then they earn it on the practice court. Mentally tough competitors earn this impenetrable wall of confidence by preparing properly. Mentally tough players are actually much more than just mentally tough. They are mechanically sound, emotionally unflappable and physically fit enough to thrive in third set warfare. Yes, they’re actually mechanically tough, emotionally tough and physically tough.

Below is a checklist of components that need to be developed by your child’s coaches.  Remember, it is your job as the CEO to assist the coaches in raising athletic royalty.

 

Developing Mental Toughness Checklist:

Stroke Mechanics:

  • Develop reliable fundamental (primary) strokes.
  • Develop a tool belt of secondary strokes.

Mental:

  • Organize & rehearse your child’s top 7 patterns of play. (Generic Strategies)
  • Rehearse patterns of play used to pull different styles of opponents out of their game.(Stylistic Strategies)

Emotional:

  • Organize their between point rituals & changeover rituals (both internal & external.)
  • Pre-set protocols to handle performance anxieties.

Athleticism:

  • Build the speed, agility and cardiovascular requirements needed to endure two separate three set matches a day.
  • Build the strength and stamina required to close out 6 matches in a 3-5 day (64 player draw) event.

 

My students have won close to 100 National titles to date. Each one had a parent and an entourage of great coaches who were very involved organizing and implementing their developmental plan. Most often, these champs worked their deliberate, customized organizational plan for 2-3 months before becoming National Champions.

 

Special Note to Parents: A partially committed parent is simply a hobbyist. That’s fine – tennis is an incredible hobby that teaches many life lessons. However, a hobbyist parent should be satisfied with raising a hobbyist tennis player and not expect champion results. In today’s game, it’s unfair to expect your child to become a champion without parental commitment.

Tennis Strategy

Posted on June 3, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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The Match Chart Collection 2D

A NEW WAY TO LOOK AT STRATEGY

 

To understand on-court control dramas, take a minute and think of a tennis match as a control contest. Each player is attempting to pull their opponent into their style of play to gain command of the match.

Three Control Dramas Seen in High Level Tennis:

  • The Power Contest
  • The Speed Contest
  • The Patience Contest

To simplify the process, the goal of competition is to choose the contest your athlete performs best. Then formulate a plan to PULL their opponent out of their own world and into your athlete’s world. Let’s look a little deeper, yet keep it simple:

I have a top 300 WTA player training with me.  We have customized her game plan to hide her weaknesses and expose her strengths. Her body type and brain type play a major role in customizing her success.

Weaknesses

Ann is light in stature. Her opponents are generally much bigger and stronger. We checked off and excluded the “Power Contest” from her A game plan. This is not to say that she might use power as a B or C game plan. Ann also has focus issues. We checked off the “Patience Contest” and excluded it as her A game plan.

Strengths

Ann possesses great speed and anticipatory skills. We chose the “Speed Contest” as her A game plan. Ann is extremely intuitive. She can sense when the opponent is vulnerable and knows “How” and “When” to move in and take away the opponents recovery and decision making time.

When Ann chooses to play her “Speed Contest”, she most often is able to move the bigger girls enough to force errors. She can also pull the retrievers off the court to open up winning angles. When Ann chooses to get into a “boomball-power” contest with bigger, stronger girls, she loses. When she chooses to out moonball a “World Class” moonballer she loses!

 

As I mentioned earlier, this section should be a conversation opener with your athlete and their entourage.  Knowing who you are is an important step in formulating your most successful game plans.

THE “PROS AND CONS” OF TENNIS ACADEMIES

Posted on May 30, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
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THE “PROS AND CONS” OF TENNIS ACADEMIES

 

This is a touchy subject. Some of my best friends and lifelong business partners run successful academies. I am often presented business plans to open a full time academy, but I am convinced that a new blueprint is needed to ensure that each student is receiving the customized attention he/she deserves. My opinion regarding academies is a result of my years of professional experience- from my successful Mental/Emotional Tennis Workshops to opening and directing clubs and academies since the mid 1980’s in the toughest USTA section- Southern California. These include Vic Braden Tennis Colleges, the Rancho San Clemente Tennis Club and the Sherwood Country Club- some of Southern California’s most prestigious clubs. Academies are a very familiar territory.

 

“Just as tennis players can be placed into a beginner, intermediate and advanced categories, so can instructors and academies.”

 

The below pros and cons are examples of the typical “intermediate” academy found around the world.

 

Attending an Academy Pros:

  • Academies provide a terrific social environment for the young athletes. The players can hang out with their peers of both genders.
  • Players can experience the bonding of a team versus the individualism the sport requires.
  • Lucky players receive free t-shirts with the academies logo.
  • Players get to travel in the Academy van to and from events.
  • Academies provide a convenient one-stop shop for parents. In essence, the parents can rely on others to organize and develop their child’s career.
  • Most academies provide plenty of free hitting, off- court training options and match play for the “motivated” individuals.
  • Academies provide live ball repetition. Players grow from the daily battle.
  • Players experience many different coaches and coaching styles.

 

Attending an Academy Cons:

  • Intermediate academies often recruit their top players AFTER a quality teacher has developed the student’s skills.
  • The paying customer should receive instruction equal to that given to the elite superstars, whom often attend for FREE. Unfortunately, in some cases, their best coaches are busy working privately with the non-paying super stars and NOT with your child.
  • In order to maximize potential at the quickest rate, detailed customization of the lesson plans are required. For example, if a player has holes in their transition game, sending them down to court #6 to get in line with the rest of the group and hit forehands and backhands may not be in the student’s best interest.
  • Paying customers do not progress at the quickest rate.
  • Often they have to win to move up into the “higher” level courts. This forces the junior to choose outcome goals over performance goals. This means they avoid building their new weapons as they choose to use their old comfortable “flawed strokes” to try to win. This behavior stalls the exact progression you seek.
  • A great young talent positioned in an unsupervised setting will often learn how to goof off, throw their racquet, waist time, go for low percentage shots, over hit, and give half effort.
  • Often inexperienced, overworked introductory coaches are employed to oversee the paying customers.

 

The truth is that most juniors are not truly interested in putting the hard work required to be a National Champion.  They are hobbyist. In that situation, intermediate academies could be the right choice. Remember, tennis is a terrific hobby for most players. If your athlete is serious and holds a higher ranking than most players in the academy, you may be able to negotiate attending for FREE in exchange for attracting lower ranked, paying customers to the program. Also, it’s important to note that some academies give every attendee a price break thus giving everyone a partial scholarship. That is, if you pay up front! Folks, that’s marketing 101.

It is not uncommon for a young, promising athlete to be approached numerous times per tournament by different academy recruiters.  Please don’t confuse a smooth “tournament” academy recruiter with a skilled tennis teacher.

Once again, I highly recommend secretly observing all future teams, coaches and academies before taking part in the action. Find out the day and times of their operation and quietly watch without them knowing you are there. This takes away the “dog & pony” show as you get a realistic perspective of their capabilities.

In the last few decades, most park & rec’s, high school courts, apartment complexes, college courts, country clubs and city facilities have changed the name of their after school junior tennis program to an academy. It sounds more official, doesn’t it?

OPPONENT PROFILING- PART 1

Posted on May 17, 2022 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

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The Match Chart Collection 2D

OPPONENT PROFILING

 

At the advanced levels, every player has efficient strokes. In tournament competition what often separates the champion from the field is their mental and emotional skill sets. This includes paying attention to why points are won and lost. They manage the score, their strategies and their performance anxieties as well as their focus control. Winners enjoy adapting to the ever changing challenges of closing out sets and matches. Winners maintain their poise under stress because they are one step ahead of the opponent by opponent profiling. I encourage both the parents and the coaches to begin to develop each athlete’s mental and emotional “muscles” at an early stage.

 

“In any sport, experts don’t simply see where the action is… they can see where the action is going to be in the very near future.”

 

Opponent profiling is essentially paying attention to the opponent’s patterns and tactics and applying the appropriate counter tactics.

 

Benefits of Opponent Profiling:

  • Controlling the tipping points and energy of the match.
  • Shutting down the opponents preferred play. Forcing them to shift to their less comfortable patterns at crunch time.
  • Gaining the critical mental/ emotional edge in tiebreakers.
  • Inflating their own confidence while systematically deflating the opponents.
  • Intimidating the opponent by out-thinking them by staying on top of their preferred patterns.

 

Just as I urged players earlier in this mental chapter to design and rehearse their Top 7 Patterns (2 ball shot sequence), I also have high hopes that your athletes will progress one step further and apply the art of spotting the opponents favorite shot sequences.

 

Identifying the Opponent’s Top 7 Patterns:

1) Top Serving Pattern to the Deuce Side: 2 Ball Sequence

2) Top Serving Pattern on the Ad Side: 2 Ball Sequence

3) Favorite Return Pattern/Position versus a Big First Serve

4) Favorite Pattern/Position versus a Weaker Second Serve

5) Favorite Rally Pattern

6) Favorite Short Ball Option

7) Favorite Approach Shot Pattern

 

 

“Forcing talented opponents out of their comfort zone requires your athlete to identify and systematically shut down the opponent’s favorite strategies and tactics.”