Keeping Your Head Still Like Federer

If you have watched pro tennis over the years, you likely noticed that Roger Federer keeps his head down and still through the duration of his swing. As you can see here, you will find most pictures show his head still down by the end of his swing. However, every student I have worked with moves their head either before making contact with the tennis ball or while they are making contact. And no matter how many times coaches tell students to keep their head down during the swing, most will never fix this problem. In this article, I will explain why it’s important to keep your head still, the reason most have not been able to truly fix this problem, and the solution to a permanent change.

The reason you must keep your head still as you’re swinging is because when you move your head, your shoulders tend to follow. That leads to opening yourself up too soon before or during the swing. This also means your swing path will shift along with your shoulder movement. This causes one of two errors: (1) if your swing path shifts up before making contact with the ball, your strings will hit the top of the ball and send the ball towards a declining trajectory, which increases the likelihood of hitting short or the net; (2) if your swing path shifts up as you’re making contact with the ball, you will lift the ball up and it will likely sail long.

Why is this happening? Imagine yourself playing tennis. Now, visualize how you’re set for the shot and are about to swing and hit the ball. In the live scenario, what I always witness, is that once the student is set up and ready to swing, their mind has figured out within the few split seconds how to intercept the ball. Confident they will hit the ball; the player then turns their attention to where they want the ball to go. And bam, they don’t hit the shot they intended to because their swing path was altered suddenly.

Many will try to fix this problem by mechanically forcing their head down. But there is a problem with this approach: it’s not sustainable. Forcing your head down and keeping it still means that you must be attentive to keeping your head down. That attention takes away from your state of awareness for everything else. And once you stop focusing on keeping your head down, your problem will resurface. Your best tennis will be played through intuition and not controlled thinking.

The underlying problem is a lack of self-trust and a need to control the outcome of shots. Players move their head because they want to see where the ball goes with a hopeful wish to control the outcome of their shot with eyes. It’s absurd because once the ball leaves your string, you have zero control over where the ball goes. It’s already determined.

This underlying problem brings us back to fear of failure. We don’t like to fail and thus feel the need to control our outcomes. But the world of physics does not know about the tennis scoring rules and it will thus not make any adjustments to make you feel good about yourself. It just tells us we must play by the laws of physics and geometry.

Roger Federer has talked about letting go of outcomes. He learned to trust himself and be OK with missing shots. You can do the same and learn to stay in the moment. All you need to do, is work on letting go of controlling outcomes, being OK with missing, and keeping your mind in the moment.

Mindfulness training and acceptance of missing shots are the best tools to keeping your head still like Roger Federer as you’re swinging. The universe does not care if you win or lose. We invented scoring to make it fun, entertaining, and to measure our progress. Tennis is just a game that teaches you intuitive physics, math, psychology, and athleticism. These benefits far outweigh the need to win points or make your shots in.

Winning Against Less Skilled Opponents

I cringe at my own blog title because I do not like to judge people, especially for their skill level. I do not like to call players unskilled because everyone can get better – skill is not a measurement fixed at one point. Skill is a moving variable that usually grows as you train more and learn to adapt to different shots. With that said, for the purpose of this blog, I will recognize that players are at different skill levels. Some are better players than others. And you will play people who are not as skilled as you in the game of tennis. But, even if they are not as good, you can lose to them.

So, here are five things you need to know to ensure you win against less skilled opponents:

(1) Do not underestimate any opponent. If you think you will win easily or that you must beat them because you’re the better player, you’d be setting yourself up for the risk of losing.

• First, the pressure of "you must win" could crack your mental game if you start making unforced errors. I had that experience and lost multiple matches where I was up a set and a break and would suddenly choke. One example was at a $15K Futures event. I was winning 6-0, 3-0 and up 30-0 in the game. I missed two backhands in a row and suddenly felt a rush of pressure. Couldn't relax and lost the match 6-4 in the third set. The reason was I set a lot of pressure on myself using the "I must win this" talk.

(2) Prepare the same way for every match. Sometimes, we may not think we have to win or that we are much better, but we show it by taking the match less seriously. The physical and mental preparation for the match gets a little lame, we don't hydrate or sleep properly. Maybe we will go out to a party thinking we’ll be fine the next day – there will be enough energy to play and win.

• Good preparation is about making sure that you will play at your top level. If you do not prepare well, you risk lowering your level, and then you could end up making the match balanced, giving your opponent a chance to win.

(3) Practice hitting dead-ball feeds regularly. Dead-ball feeds are shots fed by hand and not the racket. They are slower and generated from minimal force, which means you must do all the work to make it a good shot.

• Solid players usually hit a heavy ball. These are easy to counter-punch. But some less skilled opponents will give you “junk” shot and those are not easy to hit because there is less momentum and “weight” behind those types of shots. You need to be comfortable generating your own power and acceleration consistently if you want to control the points against players that don’t generate much power behind their shots. Otherwise, you will find yourself making a lot of unforced errors.

(4) Master the approach shot. Many less skilled players will hit shorter more often. But I've seen so many solid players mess up matches against less skilled players simply because they are not comfortable attacking the short ball. After missing a few short balls, confidence begins to wane and seep into the rest of the game.

• Simply practice attacking the short ball repetitively, and you’ll feel comfortable stepping inside the baseline and attacking the short ball.

(5) Be consistent. You might have a bad day, which will lower your playing ability. So, you need a plan-B game: that is consistency. If your A-game, where you attack the ball, is not working, you can’t keep it going because your unforced errors will pile up and affect the score. You could lose. Grinding, playing high-percentage tennis, is thus the best way to ensure that lower skilled opponents won’t get to take advantage of the days when you’re just not feeling good.

• Consistency is practiced by drilling cross-courts and playing with movement but without trying to end the point.

Lastly, enjoy the game no matter who you play.

Post-Match Routines: Conserving Legs and Energy

The preceding post on post-match routines covered the reasons you need to take care of your mind and body after a match and how to replenish yourself. In this post, we go over your second recovery objective: to save your legs and conserve energy. Your priority should be to minimize stress on your legs. If they're stiff and tired during a match, you'll feel slow like there's lead inside. But you want them light and fast so you can get to any ball.

• Standing consumes energy and fatigues your legs. You need to take care of physical recovery with exercises and stretching, explained here. Otherwise, you should stay off your feet whenever you can.

• Take off your tennis shoes when you don't need them. Tennis shoes are heavy and stiff compared to running shoes or slippers.

• Elevate your legs to reduce the heaviness you feel from leg fatigue. The research is not conclusive as to the benefits, but you will feel a difference after spending 10 to 30 minutes. Taking pressure off your legs will reduce swelling and add to the resting component.

• Get some alone time where you're doing nothing. Chatting and socializing constantly is fun but takes up energy as well. You need to listen and pay attention to other people, which takes up resources. You don't need to completely isolate yourself, but try to find at least 30 minutes where you're relaxing.

• Minimize stress. When you're stressed, your brain will release adrenaline and cortisol, and your muscles will get tense. The key to addressing stress is to avoid things you know will stress you. But the best method is to work on mindfulness so fewer things outside your control will stress you out. In a state of mindfulness, you're not judgmental about things that happen. Mindfulness is also an important skill to use during a tennis match.

• Practice breathing deeply. Shallow breathing causes stress and slows recovery. There are also negative long-term effects from shallow breathing. Deep breathing improves your oxygen intake, makes it easier to relax, and will help you focus.

Resting, hydrating, and eating well do not complete proper recovery. You must also help your body recover with light exercises and stretching. More on that here.

At competitive events, you want to be at your top physical and mental state so you can perform your best. Part of your top performance is accomplished by proper maintenance during the tournament. A good post-match routine is critical to your well-being and your ability to play your best the following day. Your routine must help you recover your mental, physical, nutritional, and emotional states. The goal is to recuperate well enough to be mentally and physically energetic and to feel good about moving your body and paying attention to the ball.

Post-Match Routines: Replenishment

In this series of articles you will learn about post-match routines that you can implement to get your mind and body ready for competition. When thinking about before and after-match routines, look at each action as a part of a connected chain. What you do after the match influences how you start the following day, nearly as much as your pre-match preparation. Your calculus should consist of a formula that takes care of your mental and physical energy and emotional state. That means every time you do something, the purpose should be understood. For example, you played your match early and won. After completing your post-match routine, you will go to the movie theater instead of shopping at the mall because you want entertainment to take the edge off but without expending a lot of energy from standing on your feet.

Before getting into the weeds, let's pivot to the motivation behind this series of posts. Imagine you're No. 1 in the world and about to play in the Australian Open finals. Your birthday is right before the final match. Instead of resting, you go clubbing to celebrate your birthday! Do you expect you'll perform your best the next day? You'll probably perform at 60% of your abilities after a night out partying. That happened to Marat Safin in the 2002 Australian Open – he was tied with Lleyton Hewitt as the youngest to reach No. 1 in the ATP (until Alcaraz broke their record in 2022). Safin won the 2001 U.S. Open, beating the great Pete Sampras in straight sets. Everyone expected Safin to dominate the tennis world, yet his ascent to the top post was short-lived. The decline began when Safin lost to Thomas Johansson in the Aussie Open in a surprise defeat. Safin went clubbing in preparation for his championship match. That sapped his mental and physical energy and limited his ability to play out a tough but beatable opponent.

Rest and recovery. Every time you're on the court, you're using resources to play. During a match, especially against someone close to your level, you use more resources than you're accustomed to. Even after a quick match, I felt slightly more drained than from a tough practice. That difference comes from competitive stress.

Your mind and body recover the most through rest, where resources are used to help fix muscle tears and replenish cell-level elements.

Your first set of recovery objectives are hydration, electrolyte replenishment, and high protein intake.

• Hydration and electrolyte replenishment need to be a round-the-clock affair. However, there are several ways of hydrating, and some approaches are healthier and better. You want to avoid the pattern of barely drinking during the day and then drinking a lot of water in a short period. It stresses your organs. Instead, you should sip water frequently and supplement with electrolytes.

• Do not drink sugary drinks or drinks with artificial ingredients. Carbs are essential to replenishing energy, but highly refined sugar in large quantities (often present in drinks marketed for sports such as Gatorade) gives you an imbalanced spike. The artificial ingredients are taxing on your body because the synthetic components must be processed and eliminated.

• Protein is essential for recovery, and you must consume a lot of protein throughout the day. Many rising tennis players are unaware of how deficient they are in protein intake during tournaments. The assumption while I was growing up playing is that high protein intake is for weightlifters. But research shows that runners and cyclists must consume on the higher spectrum. You can do some research on protein intake, but the recommendation is to consume between 1.5 grams per kilogram to 2.5 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Listen to your body and feel it out, but it's better to consume more protein than less.

Read the other part on conserving energy or stretching.

Post-Match Routines: Stretching

Nick Bollettieri said at the 2019 U.S. Open, "You're as good as your fitness takes you." For your first-round match, you'll be fresh and ready to fight with all you've got. After that match, if your opponent was tough, your body might feel beat-up and depleted. The constant sprinting, stopping, and changing directions cause stress and tension for your muscles. Playing also takes up energy, and sweating expels electrolytes. The cost of playing thus reduces your ability to play at full capacity and constrains your game. Stretching, resting, and good nutrition will get you closer to your baseline fitness.

Stretching is your best friend. Your primary form of physical recovery will consist of stretching. Stretching will help you increase blood flow into your muscles and help flush out toxins accumulated during an intense tennis session. Stretching will also help you heal faster and bring back your full range of motion. The mental engagement from stretching is meditative and will help calm your mind. However, if you avoid stretching, each subsequent match will lead to tighter muscles and fatigue. Muscular tightness could lead to injuries.

When to stretch and how intense should you make it? I'm going to ignore some of the convention on this and use my personal experience. I've always been told to stretch right after my match but realized as a young adult that it helped only a little. After a long brutal match, you're beat. I learned that resting and replenishing myself with nutrients should be a priority and then, after some rest, allocating a good hour to warm up and stretch was most effective. So, the alternative approach is as follows:

• Immediately after my match, I would jog for 5 minutes and do a very light stretch (about 10 minutes). Barely any pull or pressure on the muscles. All I did was find a comfortable position and use gravity to help with the stretch. Doing this helped me loosen up and recover some range of motion.

• I would let my body recover for the day, hydrate, and supply myself with plenty of nutrients and electrolytes (more on that here). After resting, I would jog or cycle for 20 minutes to warm up my body again. Then I would get into a 30-minute full-body stretch. The prior recuperation always provided me the energy to focus on stretching properly. This is where I felt I optimized the most of my stretching and helped the body get back its full range of motion. Make sure to listen to your body. If you feel you have a deep tear somewhere, avoid stretching it. Your goal is to help with recovery and not push your limits.

Stretching should be your baseline post-match recovery routine. If you're a competitive athlete looking to make a bigger dent in the rankings, then you must also incorporate fitness training and some tennis practice as well so you can use the time spent at tournaments to improve.

Why Footwork Drills Are More Important Thank You Think

Sprints, quick-feet exercises, and the assortment of lateral drills are thought of as training tools reserved for tennis academies and high-performance ranked tennis players. Many programs at regular clubs teaching junior and adult clinics avoid making students do any footwork exercises. But now there are a growing number embracing footwork drills during practices. For those that don’t, I can only speculate it’s likely discouraged because it’s tough (causes leg muscles to burn) and doesn’t involve hitting shots. The reality is that footwork drills are good for every type of player: adult beginners, juniors who prefer swimming but attend tennis training because their parents make them, and competitive players.

Not convinced? Here are three more reasons you need to work on your footwork:

(1) Tennis is a movement sport. Movement gets you in position to hit the ball. So, the better you’re at moving, the easier it gets for you to move to the right place. Footwork drills is the way to practice movement you want to do well during play.

(2) Attentiveness is a big factor behind learning to do something well. If you can immerse yourself into footwork, without worrying about hitting, you will learn to move better faster.

(3) Roger Federer asserted that the top 20 movers are the top 20 players. Rod Laver has told students that movement is the most important part of tennis. There are no top coaches or pros who will tell you otherwise. So, if they prioritize movement, then you should take the cue and do the same.

Like with most things, you want to create an outline that will guide your movement goals. Below are several main areas that will cover most of your key movement needs during a match.

Recovery. For your recovery, you want to train yourself to get back to the middle quickly and efficiently. This means you must practice explosive and long steps after hitting your shot. Recovery is also the phase of the point you need to be most organized with. A bad recovery could mean a poor start for the next shot. The dominos won’t fall in your favor. The reasoning is that your ideal positioning is in the middle, in the space between where your opponent could hit. It minimizes how far you have to move per shot and makes the open space smaller for your opponent. So, think of the center as your home base and the place you recover to under neutral and defensive scenarios.

However, your recovery positioning could change if you’re in control of the point and attacking. In that case, you might not find it useful to recover to the center. When you attack, advance and cover to areas they are most likely to hit. You do this when your opponent is late (not hitting in-front). For example, you’re inside the court and hit a shot on-the-rise to their forehand.

Long Rallies. You might be fast at running a few sprints but can you handle a 30-ball rally at an intense tempo? Perhaps the average point is much shorter because of the serve, but there are plenty of points where the rally is long. These are oftentimes the critical points. Battle points. How do you train for that?

For long rallies, your footwork drills must contain elements of endurance sprints. These are drills that take up to a minute. A popular one among USTA High-Performance coaches was the “17.” You sprint from sideline to sideline 17 times, in under 50-seconds. You can always change the bar depending on where your baseline level is at. But you should aim to reduce the amount of time you need to complete the sprints.

Changing Direction. Tennis movement is not linear. Your opponent is always looking for ways to hit where you’re not and put you off balance. So, your movement needs to be dynamic. A big struggle for many players who don’t work on footwork drills is changing direction quickly while maintaining balance. So, your drills must also include split steps, quick feet, and directional variation in all possible directions.

Play More Doubles

"Doubles is overrated" was one of the most amusing comments I've heard during a team meeting, especially since it came from an exceptional doubles player. Our college coach didn't find the joke amusing, and my friend ultimately paid a price for it.

In reality, doubles is underrated. It may not draw as many spectators, and the ATP and WTA rarely showcase doubles or mixed doubles on center courts. Moreover, doubles players receive lower prize money. Despite these challenges, doubles is enjoyable to play and offers unique challenges compared to singles. In fact, doubles is a popular choice among amateur players at tennis clubs, likely played more frequently than singles.

Even if you prefer singles, training in doubles can significantly enhance your game. Here are the top four benefits:

1. One obvious advantage is the development of a strong net game. Doubles matches are often won at the net, providing ample opportunities to hone your skills there. The increased net play will boost your confidence and improve your performance in singles matches.

2. Doubles play helps you become more comfortable facing opponents at the net. When an opponent approaches the net, you must place your shots strategically to avoid their ideal strike zone. In doubles, facing two players at the net adds difficulty, as there's less open space to exploit. This experience translates well to singles matches, where you'll only have to manage one player at the net.

3. Doubles play enhances your returns. Servers aim to attack and approach the net, while the net player looks to poach your return. You must direct your shots to neutralize both opponents. This challenge forces you to refine your returns. Otherwise, sloppy returns will leave you and your partner vulnerable.

4. Doubles play sharpens your reflexes. With most points played at the net against other net players, the ball has less travel time before reaching your opponent's racquet. This fast-paced action helps improve your reaction time.

These four benefits carry over to your singles game as well. Doubles play offers even more advantages, and the best part is sharing the court with a partner and working as a team. So, make an effort to play and watch more doubles and mixed doubles, and enjoy the unique challenges and camaraderie they provide.

Adapting to Different Environments

Andre Agassi excelled in windy conditions compared to most of his opponents. He attributed his ability to cope with strong winds to living in Las Vegas, where windy weather was common. Similarly, Roger Federer trained in Dubai from noon to 4 pm, allowing him to acclimate to the sweltering summer heat he would face during the Australian Open. These are just two examples among thousands of professional athletes who train in challenging environments to prepare for any situation they may encounter.

Imagine training indoors for seven months and only experiencing mild summers during your outdoor season. Then, you participate in a tournament in Palm Springs, California, where the climate is hot and dry. How do you think you would fare? Would the heat affect you during a lengthy match? If your opponent regularly trains in hot and arid climates, would they have an advantage? Although it may not always be the case, many players struggle when competing in unfamiliar environments.

For instance, in 2003, I competed in the Windmill Cup, a clay court tournament in the Netherlands. In the second round, I faced a player who was highly skilled on clay courts. He was more comfortable maneuvering on red clay and employed more topspin than I did. He won the first set 7-5. However, due to heavy rain that flooded the courts, the tournament director moved our match to an indoor carpet court. This faster and more predictable surface favored my style of play, allowing me to win 6-1, 6-0. On clay, my opponent had the upper hand, but indoors on a flat and fast surface, I held the advantage.

Over time, I dedicated more effort to training and competing on clay courts, which eventually enabled me to excel on that surface. Sometimes, I would even defeat superior clay court players. It's essential to identify your weaknesses and learn to adapt to various environments intuitively.

If you find yourself disliking certain surface types, windy conditions, extreme heat or cold, humidity, early mornings, or late-night play, recognize that this aversion often stems from insufficient training in those conditions. Your first step should be to identify and list the specific aspects that make you uncomfortable, such as "I struggle with high balls to my backhand."

Once you've compiled your list of discomforts, analyze how you can acclimate to those elements. While you may face some limitations, find ways to adapt within your constraints. For example, if you can't move to a warmer climate for training, arrive at tournaments a few days early to practice with other competitors and get used to the faster-paced play.