Tag Archives: mental tennis

Tipping Point Tendencies

Posted on January 3, 2020 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 NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order 

 

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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 one’s 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 flow 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.

The Mental Component: Strategies and Tactics- Part 2

Posted on December 29, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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 NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order 

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Stylistic Strategy

Stylistic strategy is your child’s ability to adapt tactics depending on the current style of the opponent. Remind your child not to change their winning tactical system just because the opponent changes game styles. A change is only made if the opponent starts to win and the momentum switches to the opponent’s favor. Styles include retriever, hard-hitting baseliner and all court players. It is imperative that high-performance tennis players develop and rehearse patterns used to beat each style of opponent.

If your athlete has spotted the opponent’s style of play and is still struggling, I recommend shifting focus to the third tier called custom strategy.

A smart competitor will change a losing style of play (shift to plan B). Has your child developed rock-solid B and C game plans? The players who are winning national titles also have solid B and C game plans. Please remind your athletes to rehearse all three styles of play.

Encourage your child to play lesser players in practice sets. This will allow them to rehearse their B and C game plans- often your child’s A plan (hard-hitting baseliners-style) is exactly what the opponent enjoys and playing that system is a losing proposition. Shifting to plan B (steady retriever- style) may be ugly but is the exact system the opponent hates playing against and an extremely difficult match becomes another routine win.

 

Custom Strategy

Custom strategy is your child’s ability to adapt to the day. Your child has to customize to different environmental elements (wind, heat, and shadows), court speeds, brand of ball, elevation as well as the particular strengths and weaknesses of the current opponent (See Opponent Profiling later in this section.)

A common word in the custom strategy phase is tendencies.

To borrow from the boxing world, your child needs to spot what is causing the opponent to “bleed” and then do it more. It is just as important for your child to spot what is causing their own “bleeding” and systematically stop the bleeding.

 

When to Modify versus Change:

If your child is competing well in every game and often has the winning shot on his/her racquet, it is in their best interest to modify their tactics slightly while keeping the current strategic style of play. If they are losing and are not even in the points or games, a much larger shift of complete-game styles may be in order. (For example: Take a bathroom break then change from a hard-hitting baseliner to a steady retriever style of play.)

 

Strategy Basics:

1) Get 66% of your first serves in and preferably into the opponent’s weaker side.
2) Simply return deep balls high, heavy and deep.
3) Attack any ball landing inside your short ball range.
4) Apply the laws of offense, neutral and defensive shot selection.

The Mental Component: Strategies and Tactics- Part 1

Posted on December 27, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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 NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

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THE MENTAL COMPONENTS: STRATEGIES AND TACTICS

 

High-performance athletics demands strong mental skills.  Top competitors regularly train their customized mental game components which are their personal best patterns, strategies, and tactics. Well-rehearsed patterns make for a mentally fit competitor.

STRATEGY MADE EASY

Strategy can be so easy yet so complicated. Strategy is changing, adapting and yet ritualistic.  It is science and art. It is psychological yet physiological. It can be beautiful and oh so ugly. Strategy applied correctly allows your child to meet the opponent under advantageous conditions. Applying strategy keeps your child focused and in the correct optimal performance state of mind.

Let’s look at strategy in a simple but effective format. Below are three categories of on-court strategy that elite players must understand and master: generic, stylistic and customized.

Generic Strategy

Generic strategy is simply applying the player’s core strengths with pre-planned patterns and strategies. The goal is to expose a player’s natural strengths and force their opponent to respond to those strengths. Generic strategy consist of your child’s optimal serving patterns, return patterns, rally patterns, short ball options, and net rushing patterns. These tactics are identified and practiced prior to match play and will be used January through December, from the first round through the finals, in Miami or Moscow, on clay or on hard courts. The Generic strategy is your child’s every day “nuts and bolts” game plan. Learning to apply one’s genetic tactical assault, will lead to your athlete hitting the same old “boring” winners match after match.

If your athlete’s generic (day-in-day-out) strategy is working, there is no need for change. In fact, juniors who change a winning strategy usually suffer the consequences. If it is not working, then it’s simply time to shift into the second phase of strategy called stylistic strategy.

 

 

Discuss Conflict Resolution and Fear of Confrontation

Posted on September 29, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s NEW Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
Click Here to Order

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Discuss Conflict Resolution and Fear of Confrontation

 

“Solving problems begins by confronting problems.”

When athletes are expected to be the competitor, the score-keeper, the linesman, and the umpire conflicts will exist. “Being judged” can bring out the best and worst in all of us. Often opponents who believe that they don’t have the physical tools to win employ gamesmanship to sabotage their opponent’s level of play. There are many gamesmanship situations that athletes need to be aware of, and it is the job description of the coaching staff to address these scenarios. It is also important to teach them to look systematically beyond the incident.

Often, it is not the specific opponent’s gamesmanship tactic but your player’s response to the drama that causes the emotional break the opponent seeks. Preparing for pressure includes how an athlete responds to confrontational situations and whether or not they can remain focused on their performance goals and avoid unraveling.

Covert gamesmanship in tournament play is also applied when the crafty opponent spots the nonverbal clues found in our athletes’ fear of confrontation. If your athletes have a fear of confrontation, address why standing up for themselves versus enabling the “bully” is in their best interest. Nurturing timid athletes to stand up for themselves improves their confidence as they learn to solve problems.

In the intermediate levels, emotionally weak competitors assume that confrontation is bad. If they disagree, the opponent won’t like them and therefore not want to play with them in the future. This is a false assumption. In tennis, the opposite holds true. Opponents that can easily bully and beat your athlete don’t return their calls. Athletes that stand up to gamesmanship and triumph, not only earn respect, they also benefit by getting to choose their future practice match opponents and doubles partners.

 

Confidence is earned by standing up to conflicts.

Does Tennis Charting and Analytics Matter? -Part 1

Posted on September 13, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s NEW Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
Click Here to Order

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 Does Tennis charting and analytics matter?

“Solid analytics spot winning trends and reoccurring nightmares.”

 

Statistics in tennis is currently in vogue, but it isn’t necessarily new. While teaching at The Vic Braden Tennis College/Coto Research Center back in the 1980s, I was involved in multiple statistical chart studies. Computennis was a tennis-based analytics group that also did wonderful work in this field 40 years ago. These research projects looked deeply into “quantifying data” in various levels of play. We uncovered basic stats that still hold true today. One is the average length of points in singles (3.8 hits) and doubles (2.9 hits). Another vintage stat identifies the most missed shot in the game: Return of serve (which is also still the least practiced shot in the game). A third old school stat that still holds true 40 years later is that approximately 70% of errors are located in the net.

Although analytics don’t tell the whole picture, they have greatly affected my students’ lesson plans since the 1980s.  I’ve designed specific match charts to assist in preparing serious athletes for competition. These simple to use analytics provide more in-depth data than the typical phone apps and guarantee to improve your athlete’s win-loss record. Samples Include:

FIRST STRIKE WINNING PERCENTAGE:

The First Strike is the very first shot your athlete hits- serve or return of serve. Identifying the winning percentage of the location of your player’s serve and return of serve (First Strike) is shot selection awareness which benefits strategical play.

BETWEEN POINT RITUALS CHART:

This chart identifies the player’s ability to stay focused and execute their critical between point rituals. Players who do not keep their brain focused on the task at hand have to defeat two opponents-the opposition and their own wandering mind.

 

CAUSE OF ERROR CHART:

Tennis is a game of errors. The first most critical step in error reduction is to spot the actual cause of the error. This chart will require you to identify the cause of the error. This information leads to the customization of future lessons. Note: the four leading causes of errors are poor technique, poor movement, reckless shot selection, and negative emotions/focus.

SPOTTING ANOMALIES

Posted on September 9, 2019 by in Preparing for Pressure

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s NEW Amazon #1 New Tennis Book Release, Preparing for Pressure.
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SPOTTING ANOMALIES

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“You can’t spot competitive tendencies by simply feeding balls to your students.”

Profiling athletes begin with spotting anomalies. I like to start the analysis by observing them playing a set. My initial focus is on two main issues: what is currently present that shouldn’t be there and what is not present that really should be there. Anomalies are components that deviate from what is standard, normal, or expected at the higher levels of the game.

My internal coaching inner dialog includes:

  • “Is he patient or impatient?”
  • “What’s her shot and frustration tolerance levels?”
  • “What are his stroke weapons and weaknesses?”
  • “How’s her foot speed, strength, and endurance?”
  • “How’s his cognitive processing speed and focus ability?”
  • “Does she apply between point rituals and problem-solve?”

One of my favorite ways of gathering information to prepare athletes for pressure is identifying trends within the cause of errors. In competition, errors stem from four leading causes: poor form, reckless shot selection, inefficient movement/spacing, and of course, negative emotions/focus. Errors may also be the result of a combination of the four causes.

Why is spotting the cause invaluable? If 22 of the athlete’s 28 backhand errors were caused by reckless shot selection, would feeding balls right into the athlete’s strike zone and continuing to perfect their form be the appropriate training pathway? Not likely.

Preparing for pressure requires identifying both the athletes winning and losing trends.

ATTITUDE IN BATTLE

Posted on August 12, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

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ATTITUDE IN BATTLE

 

“It’s impossible to be grateful and angry simultaneously.”

Athletes who routinely choose to play grateful versus angry have a distinct advantage under pressure. A proactive attitude helps players perform in the flow state they desperately seek but unintentionally destroy.

Even with the best of attitudes, athletes need emotional preparation. Pushing your athlete past discomfort on the practice court is often a heated affair. It’s much more difficult than the typical snow job tennis lesson witnessed at the country club. (Snow job: An avoidance of the real issues as the coach simply flatters the student until their lesson time runs out).

Preparing for pressure consists of building the competitors emotional walls of defense. This competitive development includes both delivering big weapons as well as taking repeated hits. As the famous boxer, Mike Tyson says, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

 

“It ain’t how hard you hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Rocky Balboa

COGNITIVE CONTROL

Posted on August 6, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, Preparing for Pressure

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Preparing for Pressure to be released AUGUST 20th.

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COGNITIVE CONTROL

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“Great competitors don’t just control the ball…they control their wandering minds.”

Preparing for pressure requires the ability to avoid meltdowns. The athletes wandering mind is a precursor to the bad patches that are often present in match play. Just because the athlete is physically standing on court #6 in tournament competition, doesn’t mean his/her mind is present. In intermediate tennis, thoughts routinely drift from past to present to future sabotaging their performance.

 

Importance of Charting Matches

Posted on July 2, 2019 by in The Second Edition of The Tennis Parent's Bible

The following post is an excerpt from Frank’s newest book, The Match Chart Collection. Click Here To Order through Amazon

 

MATCH CHARTING AND TYPES OF CHARTS

 

Charting matches will allow you, the parents to systematically evaluate your athlete’s performance. Maximizing potential at the quickest rate comes from actually providing your entourage of coach’s quantifiable data. Without regular tournament performance assessments, your child’s coaches are simply “winging” the lesson…and that isn’t very efficient, is it?

Unless you’re paying a high IQ coach to observe and chart your child’s matches, it falls into your match day job description. So why is charting valuable in raising athletic royalty?

Charting discovers your child’s efficiencies and deficiencies. Not only will they assist the coaches in correcting the actual cause of your athlete’s losses, but it is also a great stress buster for you as you sit and watch the matches. Charting also provides facts versus opinions. Charting will help you spot what I call “Reoccurring Nightmares.” These issues tend to show up week after week. The below true story illustrates facts versus opinions.

 

A few years ago I was hired to assist a fourteen-year-old, #1 player in Florida. We pre-set three performance goals before the match versus the older, bigger, stronger opponent. One was to isolate his backhand and serve about 75-80% to that weaker backhand side to control the court.

As I charted the boys 16’s tournament match, an interesting observation kept reoccurring. My student had a decent service motion, nice speed, and spin but kept getting broken. As I charted his serve, I tracked his percentage of serves to the opponent’s terrific forehand versus pitiful backhand. Ironically, this top Floridian kept “feeding the opponents forehand.”  In the 3-6, 3-6 semi-final loss, he served 81% to the opponent’s forehand!

After the match, we went for a smoothly to relax a bit. When he was ready to discuss the match, I asked: “How did you do with isolating his backhand?” “Good” was his reply. Then I asked. “What do you estimate your serving percentages were serving to his backhand versus his forehand?” “Um…I think I served about 80% to his backhand” was his reply. Case and point- athletes often have a very different view of their performance.

 

Nine Different Types of Charts

There are very different types of charts used to identify different issues. You can get as detailed or as basic as you like depending on maturity and ability level…. (And I’m talking about the parent’s…maturity and ability level…haha.) Below are nine different charts that I have designed to spot strengths and weakness.

1) Unforced Error versus Winner Chart

Focus: Is your athlete committing about 6 unforced errors to 10 winners every set like the current National Champions?

2) Serving Percentage Charts

Focus: Are your athletes first serve percentages around 65%?  How often are they serving to the opponent’s strengths or weaknesses?

3) Type of Error Chart

Focus: Where do their errors come from offensive, neutral or defensive? Does your child choose offense when they should be hitting a neutral shot?

4) Cause of Error Charts

Focus: Knowing the cause of the error is the first step in error correction. What was the cause of the error? (Stroke mechanics, shot selection, movement, emotional/focus)

5) Court Positioning Chart

Focus: Where were they standing when their points were won and lost? (Player positioned behind the court versus playing inside the court.)

6) Mega Point Chart

Focus: Spotting the critical game points and then executing the proper pattern is key to winning those close matches. Does your child spot and control the tipping points?

7) Length of Point Chart

Focus: What’s your child’s frustration tolerance level? How many points last 3 balls or less versus points lasting 4 balls or more? Do they win more long or short points?

8) Depth of Groundstroke Chart

Focus: What percentage of your athlete’s groundstrokes land inside the service boxes versus the backcourt? Do they know why “Heavy and high…makes’em cry?”

9) Between Point Ritual Chart

Focus: Most of the time spent in a match is in-between points. How often does your athlete apply critical between point internal and external rituals?

Special Note: Many parents get stuck in a rut of utilizing the exact same chart (paper or app.) I highly recommend utilizing all 9 charts to quantify data.

For those new to charting matches, many parents have found it successful to utilize one chart a month and focus on their athlete’s ability to simply improve a singular performance goal. Be aware that charts will be slightly different depending on the style of opponent your child is facing.

If charting data during your child’s matches isn’t something you are comfortable doing, I suggest hiring an experienced coach to act as your athlete’s tournament traveling coach.

To purchase a PDF copy of the eBook: The Match Chart Collection visit: www.maximizingtennispotential.com (A PDF copy makes it easier to print copies of each chart.)

 


 

Industry Quotes

Posted on January 28, 2019 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential, 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 NOW available through most online retailers!  Click Here to Order

 

Industry Quotes About Frank’s Best-Selling Tennis Parent’s Bible:

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“This book is a must read for any parent with a child who’s serious about competing in Tennis – or in any individual sport.”

Jon Wertheim, Exclusive Editor, Sports Illustrated

 

“Even if you think you are an ‘expert’ tennis coach or parent, you need to read this book.”

Johan Kriek, 2-time Grand Slam Champion Australian Open

 

“The Tennis Parent’s Bible is filled with invaluable information that any tennis parent or coach will benefit from in their quest to help children reach their full potential.”

Nick Saviano, WTA Professional Tennis Coach, Saviano High Performance Tennis

 

“Frank is quickly becoming one of the games most respected and influential teachers. As the coach of a #1 WTA player, I recommend The Tennis Parent’s Bible to anyone serious about developing a champion.”

Sam Sumyk, Former Coach of Victoria Azarenka