Adjust

[GeoffWilliams]

Sleep

Some don't sleep well before a match. Some do. If you don't sleep well, due to anticipation and nerves, it can destroy your chances to win. Here is a technique to go to sleep: bellows breathing for about one minute, and then, start visualizing a number count down: a red #10, a yellow #9, an orange #8, a pink #7, a green #6, on a white back ground, and so on, or start at 100 and visualize the count down until you fall asleep, with the intention of that process putting you to sleep.

[GeoffWilliams]

Playing hurt

You entered, and are now hurt, and don't want to default due to the loss of the money and the sportsmanship points now on your record will go down against you for defaulting. So you play hurt. Muscle injuries can be actually improved when you exercise, but joints will get worse usually. Some pulls/sprains are worse, such as ham string, calfs, leg injuries under match pressure. It's better not to play with a leg injury, and lose the money. YOu won't win anyway, and may worsen your injury, and your record will not reflect the real you, and your pride may take a worse beating than you deserve, so why take that risk over and over again when you cannot play well anyway? Nothing like losing due to a leg injury, and worsening it, and realizing you were an idiot. (Done it myself about 5 x the last few years!) Half the time it was work injuries, and half the time practice. Dangerous job I have, and my ham was hurt the other day. I've even played with a broken racquet hand against Wendell Pierce in an open tournament, and took the first set by attacking and shortening points.

[GeoffWilliams]

Wind sun cold hot icy

Wind has a a habit of taking your toss and blowing pushers shots sideways like a wiffle ball. Hear the voice: "Catch a bad toss.", in your head in the wind. Don't hit the bad toss, period. Anticipate the wind blow on no pace shots. Use the wind if sideways to the court on the appropriate deuce side serves to attain farther out slice shots. If against the court, use it by going into net when the wind will force lobs out, and vice versa: keep in mind if playing attacking guys, you had probably better pass with the wind than lob!

Sun: better have a hat in the bag, with sun glasses that don't fog up on really bad courts. Better have zinc oxide sun screen. IF the sun is with you, keep in mind it's against him. Esp. if he's not prepared with the right equipment, and in some cases, it's worse on the ad side returning/seeing the ball at all.

Cold: warm ups, not shorts. Run a bit before matches to warm up the legs, so carry running shoes to the cold matches.

Icy: Cold x 2.

[GeoffWilliams]

Wind sun cold hot icy

Wind has a a habit of taking your toss and blowing pushers shots sideways like a wiffle ball. Hear the voice: "Catch a bad toss.", in your head in the wind. Don't hit the bad toss, period. Anticipate the wind blow on no pace shots. Use the wind if sideways to the court on the appropriate deuce side serves to attain farther out slice shots. If against the court, use it by going into net when the wind will force lobs out, and vice versa: keep in mind if playing attacking guys, you had probably better pass with the wind than lob!

Sun: better have a hat in the bag, with sun glasses that don't fog up on really bad courts. Better have zinc oxide sun screen. IF the sun is with you, keep in mind it's against him. Esp. if he's not prepared with the right equipment, and in some cases, it's worse on the ad side returning/seeing the ball at all.

HOt: Better have salt in the bag and ice in the water to give you the edge and knowledge you are as prepared as can be.

Cold: warm ups, not shorts. Run a bit before matches to warm up the legs, so carry running shoes to the cold matches to run with rather than just the tennis shoes.

Icy: Cold x 2.

[GeoffWilliams]

Attitudes

There is yours and there is his. Ignore a hostile crowd and feed on a friendly one. Your attitude had better be even keeled and calm. Fake it til you make it. Fed won many matches like the one against Safin at the us open, by being calmer than his emotionally volatile opponents. It just took a couple of points to win that match. Project calmness and the feeling you will win even if losing. That can affect your opponents attitude, esp. if not too experienced in match play. Intend to project into his mind and affect him negatively. STop him from relaxing. Partner match play aside, banter belongs with friends, not enemies who are trying to take something from you. It's your pride on the line, and how much is that worth to you? Keep calm and don't cheat even if he is cheating. Scum will get what they deserve, and a win by cheat is not a win in the long run, only the short run counts with cheats. Don't be a short run punk. There are too many of them already. That is the main reason why so few of us play. Short run punks rampant in the tournament hallways.

Attitude adjustments: There's always the beer after the match! Or the port. Or the vodka. Or the wine. Or the, favorite drink.

[GeoffWilliams]

Peds

HGH works the best, and testosterone cream on the testicles. The clear and the cream. HGH synthetic is avail in Israel. http://www.btgil.com/products/recomb...ne-somatropin/

http://www.axiron.com/pages/low-test..._ub_rsch_na_na Genentec used to make it but quit, and they had a huge left over stock pile that body builders snapped up. They sell it also on black market sites. Doctors prescription nec. for the hgh, but they supply the doc. so that's not a problem. Can result in 8% higher speed and faster reaction times. TEstosterone is good for stamina: see Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis. Also doc. nec. Both have some serious side effects: see flojo dying at 38 yrs. old ie. Lots of pros using both of these, and using a chemist to alter the molecular strands a bit to avoid detection, and lots of pros injured use exemptions on steroids to quicken healing, ie: nadal knee. (Don't know if he got one but they don't advertise it.)

There was a writer who used all the major peds to write about the effects on himself. He decided, like many others, that hgh worked the best. His eye sight came back, his stamina, and his speed came back. No steroid worked on him as well.

[GeoffWilliams]

YOur best shot to improve

Is your strength. Weaker shots will never rise up to the level of your natually strong shot. Practice the hell out of it so that it just won't break down against top guys.

The weaker shots, good luck. Try everything, video, shadow swinging to change engrammed muscle habits.

[GeoffWilliams]

Playing an absolute a hole

Tough to adjust to these guys. NO matter what, they will make it an awful time for both of you. Competition brings it out of them. Former abuse by others created them. They cannot respond in any other way to a competitive match that they feel they can lose, so they will pull any psych to win. Including cheating, name calling, lying to refs, etc. They will even demand you respin the racquet claiming they didn't see the up/down. If they lose the spin. The urge is to sink down low and respond in kind, cheat, etc. The urge can get worse as the match degenerates. Gilbert even got into fist fighting at a match. It's a hard lesson to learn: compliment them. Say, "Nice shot." Don't challenge the cheating call, it will only get worse. Just call in a ref if you don't want it to continue, or, compliment the bully until he collapses in on himself like a black hole with nowhere to go\!

[GeoffWilliams]

Dealing with the delusional

You know who they are. These are the guys who yell,
"Don't go anywhere!", after they rear end you and give you whip lash! They will slander you and libel you and say, "See, I told you he threatened to sue me!"

Nut jobs abound in match play. Sad to say. It takes a great deal of discipline to opt out of a nut job's delusion. They are great at insulting and drawing you into that arena. Use Aikido on them. Fast footwork also applies mentally, and more than most are aware of or can appreciate. Side step them and use their own momentum to flip them 360 degrees into the dirt. Mental side step: Don't get angry, dodge the blast of nutness. Grab onto their mental wrist, and flip them fast and hard into the dirt: React with calm superb play, unaffected by any nutness. Use it to increase your own desire/reaction speed, motivation to win at all physical cost. Agree/decide to lengthen points out way beyond what you are used to doing. Clear the net at all costs. Run like your life depends on it, and it does.

It's not your right to breed at stake, it's your right to breath if the nut job really has his way, the fight would be to the actual death.

[GeoffWilliams]

If he's beating you with a shot sequence

Acing you dtl? Wait til he goes peripheral, and then cheat over 20". Most cannot hit the line to both sides. They have a favorite serve. Usually to the bh side. Beating you with no pace push shots? Play 2' inside the base line and cause him to think about hitting deep, and when he tried to do that, back up if he actually does hit one deep, then move right back into no mans land.

Beating you with high balls? Take them earlier, or take them later so they are no longer high. Nadal plays 10' off the baseline for that reason. Place the ball in your strike zone by adjusting depth of court on your end.


Beating you with volleys? Don't just pass, go right at him. Lob as well. Use a three or two shot sequence: short at the ankles, dtl pass, lob if he over closes.

Have an answering sequence for all the common patterns. Common patterns: super consistent pusher man: go into the court and attack the crap out of him at net.

Super pace man: Raise your shot tolerance, clear the net higher, and watch him beat himself.

Super slice man: These guys cannot hit a bh topspin passing shot so attack into net dtl against his bh and watch him lob, so at first over close, and then stop at the service line and put the over head away: show bh and hit it to his fh.

Super topspin man: This guy's grips make him vulnerable to a transition into the net game, or a short slice answer. He's not used to attacking and will often back up like a crab rather than take a short ball into the net. He's not dominant at the net and knows he never will be. So bring him into the net, and take away his answer: a drop shot or a weak approach to your bh side./ Cover both of those by following your short slice into the net, and first look for his drop or bh approach.

The all court spin master of both slice and top: Good luck on that one! They usually have weak serves as that's the hardest shot to master for most. Make sure to make him pay on weaker serves by deciding where you are going to return ahead of his serve, and aim for more devastating returns, closer to the lines, and take more risk on passing him, and less risk on grinding baseline exchanges, as this guy is more adept at net than at the back court usually;.

[GeoffWilliams]

Doubles positioning

Partner serving? Postion yourself about 4' from the center line. Crouch down. As if poaching. Fake the poach at first to draw a dtl return. Then fake and go for real. Mix that pattern up. YOu will create havoc with even good returners, esp. if you watch their racquets, and glean which return they are choosing ahead of time. Just as the frame starts forwards, should be the timing point of faking/moving for real. Many will just not be able to adjust at all, and you will feast at the net. Decide either to fake or go on every point. Never just sit there. Fake/go/go without fake/fake go back on every single point. Why do the Bryan bros do this? It works even against the best in the game, that's why.

It's all about net domination in doubles if you are playing the game. See the guys who never serve/volley? They suck at the net. Over close and let your partner cover any lobs behind you and tell him to cover them ahead of time. Close diagonally, not straight across, for better angle at net.

REturning positioning: Move around and don't just show them one position. Make the server think you are cheating fh, and move back. Move way in and then scuttle back. Move way back and charge in. Move around all the time to distract and disable.

Servers positioning: If he cannot return on the bh side, cheat over as if you are playing singles! He can't react anyway. Move way over to hit a better kick angle ad side. Lefty, same things. Why hit any other serve if he cannot handle one of them anyway? Don't mix it up at all.

[GeoffWilliams]

Court surfaces

Slower courts are going to require a higher shot tolerance, and fewer net advances, while faster courts are the other way around! Some are more slippery and require sliding into the shot. Some have divots and require shorter points in the strategic side.

[GeoffWilliams]

Over grips

If your grips get wet, they are coming out with a super tacky grip now. http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/catpage-TACKYRGRIP.html

[GeoffWilliams]

Balls changing speed

Some are slow and some are faster, esp. when worn down or fluffed up. Most of us just get two balls for the whole match anyway, and those get slower within a few games anyway, so they favor a slower tactical adjustment. Against some guys, you can only come into net when the balls are fast and the court is fast, but against others, it will vary, esp. if they can't return a twist serve ad side other than a high sitter.

[GeoffWilliams]

Play the score

When ahead, or killing someone, that's the time to change your game. Try a new sequence. When behind, that's the time to focus on your sequences that are working at all. Don't hit first serves against a top returner unless you get a lead, and are not totally sure of that shot. Play the score, if you won the first set, it's time to open up the guns! You don't have to worry about the match as much. YOu can relax and use your true power. He's the one who is nervous.