Tennis world en n 49 Tennis World issue 49 | Page 48

demanding skills to master and so taking
time to understand what your optimum level
of activation is will be crucial for key
moments. Whether you are someone who
needs a heightened level of activation such
as Rafael Nadal or you are someone who
requires a calmer persona like Roger
Federer is inconsequential but being familiar
with this critical idiosyncrasy will undoubtedly
yield dividends.
When experiencing the dreaded ‘bad day’
tennis players are all too often caught asking
themselves the wrong questions “why is my
backhand so bad today?” or “how can I miss
that shot?”, when in actuality their energy
would be far better spent asking questions
about their opponent such as, “what are their
strengths and weaknesses, “what do I need
to do to get through this match?”
The best players in the world spend more
time focusing on the other side of the court
and what needs to be done to beat their
opponent rather than the narcissistic ‘I’
mentality that choses to focus only on
themselves and neglects to account for the
opponent down the opposite side who is
trying their hardest to counter your attacks.
There is no requirement in tennis that you
play your best to win, no courtside judges or
points for style, what really matters is that
you engage in the strategical battle of finding
a matchup that allows you to utilize your
strengths against your opponent’s
weaknesses. If you encounter an opponent
that is having a particularly good day then
submitting them to unconventional
circumstances such as a change in your
court positioning or a decrease in time
between points can disrupt their timing, and
so with a subtle change you can coerce them
in to becoming the one having to ask the
questions. Essentially there are two thought
processes at play, either raise the level of
your own game or bring down the level of
your opponents game. Failure to pay
attention to what is happening down the
other side of the court will decidedly impair
your levels of success, after all most of us
would agree we would rather win ugly than
lose pretty.
‘It’s not how you start the match, it’s how you
end’. While this popular statement certainly
holds water it does not account for how the
beginning of a match can have considerable
effects on its end. From the commencement
of the on-court warmup try to imagine
yourself as a computer rapidly gathering
information and data on your opponents
strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes