Five Tips to use in Competition
by: Mike Sprouse/TennisCT
There is nothing that gets the heart pumping quite like playing a competitive tennis match. At the highest level, staring down another elite athlete on a tennis court engages all of one's senses, and creates a cocktail of physical, mental and emotional challenges unlike other sports. The sheer physicality of playing tennis competitively demands fitness and strength. The games within the game that the mind creates requires sheer will and determination in addition to situational intelligence.
All tennis matches are different, no two are alike. Climate, court conditions, your opponent and how you are feeling on a given day all contribute to the variables of the sport. Here are some basic tips to follow to give yourself a better than average chance that you will compete better on a given day. Try these in practice first, and then fire them up during competition.
Prepare both Physically & Mentally
Show up to the court ready, and I mean ready, to compete. Leave no detail to chance: make sure your equipment is prepared, racquets strung to the right tension, grips applied, with towel, extra socks and shirts in a bag. Make sure you have warmed up, stretched and gotten your body loose. Make sure you have water and healthy snacks with you. Mentally, if you know your opponent's game, play points in your mind that end positively for you. If you don't know your opponent's game, envision yourself hitting great serves and moving swiftly around the court. Visualization before competing is key.
Embrace Superstition/Repetition
In all sports, the most successful competitors have superstitions and embrace them over and over again. Think of the basketball player who bounces the ball a specific number of times prior to a free throw, or the golfer who takes a certain number of practice swings before addressing the ball. Likewise, in tennis, embrace your own superstitions. When the pressure mounts for you, it's a benefit to have a go-to set of movements that seem familiar. That's what superstitions do is create familiarity during times of uncertainty or doubt. A few you might have seen in tennis include not stepping on lines in between points, toweling off between points, bouncing the ball a certain number of times before hitting a serve, adjusting your shirt sleeves a certain way, or fixing your strings after each point so they look just right.
Practice the Pause
During competition, pressure mounts fast. Things speed up. The match can turn in a heartbeat the wrong way if you're not careful or paying attention. When this happens, practice the pause. It takes situational awareness to know when your opponent is on a roll, and to actively slow his or her momentum down. Even if you like to play at a fast pace, just take an extra 2-3 seconds in between points when you feel the match is speeding up.
Go with the Flow
Every tennis match has a distinct flow to it. No matter what you do, there will be a rhythm to the match once it gets started. This is often dictated by the pace of play of the competitors, or their playing styles. Points can be quick, or can be long. Either way, embrace getting into the natural flow of the match before altering your strategy. Often, we see players get 2 or 3 games into a match, be frustrated with how the match is starting, and change the flow of the points or what happens in between points, only to lose their rhythm. Play yourself into the match and see what happens from there.
"Pack Your Lunch Pail"
However the match is going, decide from the very beginning that you're in it for the long haul and that you're ready to compete to the end of the match. No matter what, do not let your opponent outlast you or out-tough you. If your opponent plays better on a given day and wins by hitting you off the court, so be it. But mentally prepare yourself to run down every ball, try on every point, and do all you can even if you're having an "off" day. Sometimes, the best wins you will ever have are on the days you know you weren't playing your best but still found a way to win.