The Lesson Lounge - Tennis Warrior

Your Link to Professional Thinking!

Watching a professional match

Since, everyone is in the Wimbledon mode, on this lesson we are going to cover how to watch a professional match with an informed and intelligent eye. All too often we miss some of the key things that are happening because we are too caught up in the sensational or the dynamic winners! Because of this we miss the simple consistent things the pros do that ultimately are the reason why they are so successful. As a result we develop misconceptions about what we are suppose to do to play tennis correctly.

The first thing which I am constantly telling my students to do is to recover quickly after hitting the ball. Do not stand there and watch the greatness of your last shot. Watch the pros closely as they recover by straddling back and at the same time watching their ball go over the net. That's right! They watch the ball just like you do, the only difference is they are not standing there watching it, instead they are recovering and watching at the same time! I have discovered that this is a technique that can take months to learn. Watch the Pros closely and maybe that will motivate you to begin recovering faster.

The next thing to watch is when hitting ground strokes or volleying they are not always going for winners. Many times the pros just move the ball around looking for an opening to finally hit a winner. I guarantee you this is not the way you play. Too many times you are trying to win the point on every shot, instead of keeping it in play looking for a better opportunity. I call this mental attitude playing in the hit-winners mind-set.

And finally, watch to see the depth they hit on some of the low volleys or approach shots and what happens when they do not hit deep. By the way note that the pros do not have to hit the ball harder to get the ball to go deeper. Instead, they slightly open the face of the racket and let the correct racket face carry the ball deep. All too often players try to send the ball deep by hitting it harder.

To summarize when watching the pros, watch for some simple things that really make the difference. A few are:

1. Recovering quickly after their shot.

2. Not trying to hit winners all the time.

3. Hitting deep on volleys and approach shots.