Choking in games and not going for shots

[eaglesburg]

I have two big problems in many of my matches...

1) I often go up big in a game (40 love, 40 15) but then I end up losing that game a lot of the time. To combat this, do I just need to be more aware during these situations and not let up? Something else?

2) When I play against someone who I hit with a lot and I know he hits well I tend to not go for my shots.I feel like I just mentally tighten up because I know he is a good player. I don't take opportunities when they are there. I kind of just mindlessly hit the ball back. I sort of mentally freeze and tighten. Also sometimes after I miss I notice that my eyes left early/my head pulled early. How can I work on this?


Thanks!

PS: does anyone any recommendations on their favorite tennis books and/or articles?

[GeoffWilliams]

We only have 4/1000th/sec on string contact, that means our minds have to hit the shot before contact occurs, just like an nfl quaterback sees his throw, pats the ball to his hand, before actually making the pass! This has to be done a lot in practice. Feel the shot before it's hit, is a practice skill you have to work on, just like chinning your non dom arm on your forehand. Play down at first to acquire your confidence, or guys who you are familiar with who don't change their tactics, so you know what to do. There is only one tactic you should be working on, to cause your opponent to pop up the shot, and to make a mistake, and to hit a weak shot that you then attack without mercy, which takes a lot of practice in itself! Know that courage is independent of results. Know that it is a noble thing to improve, your game, your mind, your shots, your self in any arena, not just tennis. Know that no matter what, hold your courage, regardless of the win/loss ratio, and be stubborn, keep believing regardless of loss, or of failure to improve. That is your goal, to shine your mind above all else, and to believe above all else, that you will succeed above any obstacle, no matter how hard, or how stuck you will be. And you will be stuck. It will be the hardest thing in the world to believe in those stuck moments, and gauge your self worth on that belief and courage, not the win! Do believe, and you will feel your self gaining in ability and improving.

So how do you cause him to pop up the shot? Your shot has to jam his body/mind, so he makes the weak shot. This most often happens due to your shot having a lot of: kick/spin/pace/depth/ and changes speed/direction after the shot bounces, so it jams him. Twist serves. Kickers. Heavy top/flat/depth and or: short game shots if that's his weak point in general. Equipment has a lot to do with a players' ability to jam. Super light frames cannot hit jamming shots other than topspin and short slices. Bhb7 is the best string as main for slice/chop shots if that's your strength. Gut/x1 biphase hybrid is the best for power/touch/control/depth if the frame is the right tension/weight. It would take several articles to go into the real depth your question deserves! (Ask John to commission me to write it, ha, ha.)

AS for books/articles, go back and read every issue, every article, every piece of information on this site, and study the stroke archives in order to compare your own shots side by side with your own videos of your own shots so that you come to accept how bad you are, and honestly see the improvements made.

Eyes/head pulling early are due to tightness. Practice relaxing your upper body after you hit each shot, your neck, arms, shoulders, chest, hands, and mentally focus on this interior kingdom, while the lower body stays like spring steel/tight and fast. It's a dichotomy, I know, and takes attention/focus and intention to transfer it to a normal condition. Guga/drunken monkey upper body, and Ninja/Nishikori lower.

[lobndropshot]

How may matches do you play? Are the matches you above or below your level?

[eaglesburg]

How may matches do you play? Are the matches you above or below your level?

Maybe about 3. I play all kinds of levels. I do a lot of drills though with hitting partners and sometimes ball machine too. Another question I have is what is the best way to practice, drills or matches? I get different responses from different coaches.
Btw I have an apd 2013. 4.5 grams at 12 and still experimenting. Will probably add more soon.

[eaglesburg]

We only have 4/1000th/sec on string contact, that means our minds have to hit the shot before contact occurs, just like an nfl quaterback sees his throw, pats the ball to his hand, before actually making the pass! This has to be done a lot in practice. Feel the shot before it's hit, is a practice skill you have to work on, just like chinning your non dom arm on your forehand. Play down at first to acquire your confidence, or guys who you are familiar with who don't change their tactics, so you know what to do. There is only one tactic you should be working on, to cause your opponent to pop up the shot, and to make a mistake, and to hit a weak shot that you then attack without mercy, which takes a lot of practice in itself! Know that courage is independent of results. Know that it is a noble thing to improve, your game, your mind, your shots, your self in any arena, not just tennis. Know that no matter what, hold your courage, regardless of the win/loss ratio, and be stubborn, keep believing regardless of loss, or of failure to improve. That is your goal, to shine your mind above all else, and to believe above all else, that you will succeed above any obstacle, no matter how hard, or how stuck you will be. And you will be stuck. It will be the hardest thing in the world to believe in those stuck moments, and gauge your self worth on that belief and courage, not the win! Do believe, and you will feel your self gaining in ability and improving.

So how do you cause him to pop up the shot? Your shot has to jam his body/mind, so he makes the weak shot. This most often happens due to your shot having a lot of: kick/spin/pace/depth/ and changes speed/direction after the shot bounces, so it jams him. Twist serves. Kickers. Heavy top/flat/depth and or: short game shots if that's his weak point in general. Equipment has a lot to do with a players' ability to jam. Super light frames cannot hit jamming shots other than topspin and short slices. Bhb7 is the best string as main for slice/chop shots if that's your strength. Gut/x1 biphase hybrid is the best for power/touch/control/depth if the frame is the right tension/weight. It would take several articles to go into the real depth your question deserves! (Ask John to commission me to write it, ha, ha.)

AS for books/articles, go back and read every issue, every article, every piece of information on this site, and study the stroke archives in order to compare your own shots side by side with your own videos of your own shots so that you come to accept how bad you are, and honestly see the improvements made.

Eyes/head pulling early are due to tightness. Practice relaxing your upper body after you hit each shot, your neck, arms, shoulders, chest, hands, and mentally focus on this interior kingdom, while the lower body stays like spring steel/tight and fast. It's a dichotomy, I know, and takes attention/focus and intention to transfer it to a normal condition. Guga/drunken monkey upper body, and Ninja/Nishikori lower.

Thanks for the great response! Quite motivating actually! A couple things for you...
1) you sound knowledgable. Do you coach or have you in the past?
2) I think you might have hit the nail on the head. I don't know exactly where I am going to hit beforehand. That's pretty much what I meant by mindlessly. Also relaxing after every shot like you said I can then become more aware of my tightness and combat it. But I have a question...if I have technical issues too should I work those out first or these issues first?

[GeoffWilliams]

I have coached in the past and am working with a couple of guys now. The mind is more important than technique. When you go into the "fog zone", you don't know what you are doing, or what you are going to do. It's pretty much a mindless zone, but not a good one! Instinct and the real zone have a lot to do with not thinking, too much, at all. While the fog zone, is it's counter part: no think without instinct.

[johnyandell]

The mind and technique are one.

[GeoffWilliams]

The mind encompasses far more than just stroke technique. Feel, happiness, confidence, stubbornness, guts, morality, soul, warrior mind set, belief, desire, stick to-it-tive-ness, courage, delusion, hope, tightness, toughness, battle hardened strokes, nerves, speed to attack, or choose to defend, strategy, is all in the mind independent of stroke technique while stroke tech resides in the mind, it cannot operate freely without practicing relaxed freedom. The players' soul and body cannot reach full potential to attack nor control an opponent without a greater practice/installation/belief/understanding of self than strokes.

[hockeyscout]

Thanks for the great response! Quite motivating actually! A couple things for you...
1) you sound knowledgable. Do you coach or have you in the past?

Geoff is a world class sports man. Listen to what that guy has to say.

[don_budge]

The Book is Bill Tilden…"Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent"

I have two big problems in many of my matches...

1) I often go up big in a game (40 love, 40 15) but then I end up losing that game a lot of the time. To combat this, do I just need to be more aware during these situations and not let up? Something else?

2) When I play against someone who I hit with a lot and I know he hits well I tend to not go for my shots.I feel like I just mentally tighten up because I know he is a good player. I don't take opportunities when they are there. I kind of just mindlessly hit the ball back. I sort of mentally freeze and tighten. Also sometimes after I miss I notice that my eyes left early/my head pulled early. How can I work on this?


Thanks!

PS: does anyone any recommendations on their favorite tennis books and/or articles?

eaglesburg…I wrote this series of posts on a thread titled…"Learning from pros is great, but there are far better options." I think that you need to understand how to play to the score and exactly what that means. Each point takes on a different significance relative to everything that is involved in any given single unique situation in any given single unique tennis match. This is what you might say "The Realm of Match Play Psychology". Click on the thread below...

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=2328&highlight=maintaining+pressure+opponent

From the Book on Tennis...Bill Tilden

Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent

The habit of establishing and holding pressure on a tennis adversary will pay big dividends. So many players bear down only in fits and starts. An early lead will give many a player a sense of false security and cause him to let up when actually he has nothing more than a slight advantage due to his opponent’s starting slowly. The match actually has not yet begun. The letup may be fatal because once a man has relaxed his pressure and let his opponent get started he often finds it impossible to lift his game again and stop him. The place where most players are likely to throw away matches is about the middle of the second set in a two out of three set match. A man has taken the first set and leads at perhaps 3-1 or 4-2 and decides that the match is as good as over. He stops concentrating, plays carelessly for a few moments and before he realizes it he has lost his service. His opponent holds his service and the game score is tied, but now the man who led a few short minutes ago senses his danger and starts thinking how foolish he was to let up on the pressure. The other man is buoyed up by the reprieve, senses his opponent’s uncertainty and it apt to break through the first man’s service again and run out the set. If he does, the entire complexion of the match is changed. Now the strain is on the man who threw away the lead and unless he has a remarkably good match temperament he is likely to blow up and throw away the third and deciding set. Until you have won the last point of a match, there is no time when you are completely out of danger, if you let up. I know this only too well from many sad personal experiences. I cannot too strongly stress the absolute necessity of concentrating and keeping the pressure on, no matter how big your lead, or how helpless your opponent may appear. Win first, and then be sympathetic. Don’t get sorry for him too soon or you may wind up being sorry for yourself.

This leads right into one of the most intricate aspects in the study of tennis, but one which is of inestimable value to the person who really appreciates it and plays with it always in mind.



Then the chapter progresses into Playing the Score which is a fascinating explanation how to play a match by the score and what each point means to each player. If you or anyone likes I can continue to type out this fascinating piece of tennis literature.

…and

nikae...your observations about pro technique are pretty darned good but you must understand that those players have arrived at their conclusions, technique wise, largely as their understanding of how to play the game became shaped by the tactics and strategy. True...technique is an all important facet of the game but there are others as well and it isn't wise to believe that by solely improving your technique that it will automatically make you a great tennis player. The game is fundamentally mental and cerebral as well as technical. Throw in emotional stability and there you have it...the ultimate challenge in terms of recreation for mankind. God’s gift to mankind. Of course he first gave it to the elite...and the control of it still remains in their not so trustworthy hands.

I would never suggest that you quit devoting attention to improving your technique and the same can be said for ignoring your footwork for that matter. But you will find that your most worthy opponents as you climb the ranks...ascending on the food chain...are those opponents that are "mentally tough". Guys that do not crack because they are dead certain in their minds what it is that they are trying to accomplish in any given tennis match. Plus...they have the fundamentally sound technique that will not crack under pressure. Keep in mind that the more motion...the more can go wrong. Aspire at all times to be FC (fundamentally correct). Master yourself at all times...then proceed to the next level. Your compatriot Novak Djokovic is arguably the most mentally tough player in the world today and he is currently reaping the benefits.

But the chapter entitled "Maintaining Pressure on your Opponent" from Tilden’s book “How to Play Better Tennis...a complete guide to technique and tactics.” remains one of the most important chapters ever written about the sport of tennis and much of it is devoted to how to play to the score. I wonder...with so much talk about technique and the attention paid to the infinitesimal detail...what is being overlooked? So nikae...take heed. Technique is merely one piece of the puzzle to be developed in the maturing of your repertoire. Paying more attention to the tactical and the strategic is more apt to start paying dividends on your investment of work, practice and study. Play to the score and you will see that your opponents will be more impressed with your mental resolve than if you attempt to flash an ATP type 3333 in their face. Each point should have some thought behind it and once you understand this your technical game just may make the necessary adjustments as a result. Questions such as to how much to clear the net by, may find answers that vary from point to point or by the tactics that you employ against specific opponents. Best of luck...my friend from Serbia. Always know the score...in any given situation in tennis and life.

From Bill Tilden...

Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent: Playing the Score...the best fundamental mental approach ever written. The simplicity is like a white light of inspiration in the Gold Mine of the cerebral cortex.

Every point in a match is naturally important but there are certain points in each game, certain games in each set and certain sets in a match that are crucial. The player who knows those points and games and makes special effort to win them will greatly increase his chances of victory. The crucial points in a game are the third and the fifth. The crucial games in a set are the fourth particularly the seventh and the ninth. The crucial sets are the first, in a two out of three set match and the third, in a three out of five match.

While understanding the psychology of these vital moments in tennis, never lose sight of the fact that every point, game and set counts, and you must play to win them. Do not think that you can play carelessly at other times if you play well at the critical stages. What I mean in stressing them, is that you should exert extra effort at these times.

Consider the third point of a game. Your score is given first. The score stands 30-0, 15-all, or 0-30. In the first case if you win the next point it gives you 40-0 and you will win that game about nine times out of ten. If, however, the score is 15-all, then the point means the advantageous position to you at 30-15 (or at 15-30, if you are receiving), from which you can press on to game. At 0-30 if you win the third point you still have a life, not too good, but still a chance whereas if you lose it and are 0-40, then you have only about one chance in ten for the game.

The fifth point means that the score stands at 40-15, 30-all, or 15-40. Here you are playing a point which, in two cases, actually means the game, while in the other case you are both fighting for a very important advantage. Certainly, if you’re ahead at 40-15, you cannot afford to be careless since a lost point will make it 40-30 and one more point won by your opponent evens the game at deuce. Yet many players play that 40-15 situation with an air of having such a commanding lead that they need not worry about it. I see more games booted away by a careless, half-concentrating shot at 40-15 than at any other time and second to that is at 30-0, where the situation is fairly similar. The necessity for special effort on the 30-all and 15-40 situations is so obvious that I need do no more than point it out.

[don_budge]

The Book is Bill Tilden…"Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent" (cont.)

Continued reading...

Every competent tennis coach knows something of technique but a truly great coach is the philosopher and the psychologist as well. Believe me...you can preach technique until you are blue in the face but when it comes down to it...when it comes down to “game time” you better have your head into the match or else all of your pretty strokes will be useless once the ball is in play.

I really enjoy teaching technique to my students. It is a really wonderful feeling to watch them develop and potentially master a stroke...to watch them master a handful of shots over the course of the first year of the tennis experience. But the real payoff comes when you send them into matches and watch them become more comfortable with the competitive experience. Here is where the value lies.

Yesterday I watched Novak Djokovic defeat Rafael Nadal in Monte Carlo...at a tournament that Nadal virtually owned. He had it won it eight times in a row which is a unheard of mark as far as holding a specific title goes. One can only begin to ponder the significance and the mental toughness that it takes to accomplish such a feat. But Djokovic took it away...and he did it with his mental toughness. Not with pretty strokes so much as with strokes that have been forged in battles over the years in order that they hold up along with his mental discipline in order that he can carry out his tactics and get the mission done.

Watching Djokovic roll to a 5-0 lead while maintaining a constant stream of intense pressure on Nadal in the first set caused me to reflect on these words by Bill Tilden. I looked into the Djokovic personna and saw that he was playing each and every point with purpose...clearly he knows the score and knows all of the potential outcomes and what they mean to his chances of winning. After leading 5-0 he managed to finish off the set 6-2 with a little stumble at the end of the set. You see how tough these two are...Nadal too was fighting and he was fighting to not go down 6-0 and never letting go of the set until his opponent sealed the deal. He had to serve notice towards the end of the first set to Djokovic that he wasn’t going away and if Novak wanted his title he was going to have to take it...and earn it.

And so it went into the second set...and it became quite a see saw battle for the control of the set. This was a real struggle to maintain pressure and if Nadal had prevailed in this second set it would have set up quite an interesting third set. Nadal went up a service break twice but each time Djokovic responded with a break of his own. He maintained pressure on his opponent and this is something that no other player seems to be able to do against Nadal. Two years ago at the French Open I suggested that players have been unable to put enough pressure on the Nadal backhand (you can read it in the French Open thread from 2011) but now Novak had figured this out. Tactically he has come up with the combination of shots that are needed to expose the lesser of Nadal’s weapons. Wins like yesterdays match come as a result of superior tactics...which are enabled by technique that has been forged to steel like strength.

These are the kinds of things that tennis students should be trying to glean from the professionals game...along with the technique. That was quite a show put on by Novak Djokovic. I was most impressed with his fundamental understanding and application of the Tilden chapter Match Play and Tennis Psychology. It was a living demonstration of Maintaining Pressure on your Opponent while he was Playing to the Score.

It was a masterpiece...as in a work of art. The paint was flowing off of the artist’s brush.

From the book of my coaching model...Bill Tilden. The fundamental book prerequisite to coaching tennis. The book is Bill Tilden. The model is Richard Gonzales with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach and Roger Federer is the living proof.

How to Play Better Tennis-a complete guide to technique and tactics

Part 3-Match Play and Tennis Psychology

Chapter 16- Maintaining Pressure on your Opponent...Playing to the Score

There are many psychologically important games. For that matter, every game is important, and no player should throw one away by carelessness or inattention. The psychological effect of winning the very first game, particularly if you can break your opponent’s service may determine an entire match. If you possibly can your opponent’s first service game and hold your own. Still the chips are not really down until about the fourth game. Here is the first big psychological moment in game score.

Let’s look at the possibilities. The score may be 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, or 0-3. This next game really puts it up to you. If you win it and lead at 4-0 (in the first instance), you hold a double service break and will win the set an overwhelming majority of times. If you lead at 2-1, you are playing to establish or to hold a service break and to stay in the lead at the halfway point in the set. This is a big advantage that may well make your opponent “press” in an attempt to recover. But if he wins this fourth game you are all even, with the psychological edge to him particularly if he broke your serve to do it, since he has cut down your lead. If you are on the short end of 1-2 or 0-3, the reverse of all the above is true and you must win the fourth game to stay in the set. Strange to say, the psychological advantage of winning the fourth is greater than that of the fifth or sixth, although both the latter are important, but the really big moment comes in the seventh game.

The set usually hangs on it. The score is 5-1, 4-2, 3-all, 2-4 or 1-5. Since the set ends if the player leading at 5-1 wins the game you can forget that situation. With that lead he will almost always win the set anyway. It is the 4-2 situation that is so vital particularly if it is on your own service. Here you have the chance to push your opponent into an almost hopeless position. If you win this seventh game he must win three games in a row to get even to a deuce set, a far from pleasant prospect. On the other hand, if he breaks your service he is within a game of being even with his own service to follow. Encouraged by his success in breaking your delivery he will probably reach 4-all easily. Once more you will have allowed the psychological edge to get away from you and pass to him. Always make your greatest effort to consolidate a 4-2 lead. The 3-all situation explains itself since you are both fighting for the obvious advantage on the first step after the halfway mark of the set. If your are down 2-4 you must win that game to stay in teh set, as shown conversely above.

[don_budge]

The Book is Bill Tilden…"Maintaining Pressure on Your Opponent" (cont.)

Continued reading…

The real reward of a tennis coach is when he sends his charge or his protege off to battle. To train you student to engage with the opponent is your ultimate responsibility as a coach, mentor and Svengali. To merely emphasis the technical aspect of the game is to forget or worse, ignore, the game of tennis is largely an intellectual, psychological and emotional endeavor. Of course stroke must be sound and fundamentally correct (FC) but equally or more important the tennis player's head and heart must be in the correct spot.

Tilden asserts somewhere that it takes one year to play the game...five years to be a tennis player and ten years to be a champion. Keep in mind that champion does not necessarily mean to be number one in the world. It may mean being the champion of your city or even your club. At any rate...it is a long process. With this in mind, the tennis student should realize that to copy the professional game at the onset or even in midstream of their education will be fool hardy and even worse detrimental in the long run of their education. Better to stick to the fundamentals and build on a solid foundation of rock...as opposed to shifting sand. Recognize that little pearl anyone?

The following excerpt from Tilden's "How to Play Better Tennis- a complete guide to technique and tactics" is indispensable sage wisdom that should be implemented at the one year point in the education of the tennis player. Hammer home the technical aspects of the game for the first year and then send your student out to play. Get them to play as much as they can possibly can. There is more to learning than being a casual observer...more is to be gleaned by doing. But learn them to appreciate all aspects of the learning process. Teach them to be a true student of the game. Teach them to "Play the game!". These are the fundamentals. Sure the game has changed but this wisdom will serve as a foundation from which to build. Make no mistake about it and don't be fooled...somethings have not changed. Even with the engineering.

Teaching your student to play to the score is the same as teaching your child to see the signs and to know their meaning. Focus on the point in front of your nose and at the same time have the peripheral vision and the awareness to see all that is around you.


How to Play Better Tennis-a complete guide to technique and tactics

Part 3-Match Play and Tennis Psychology

Chapter 16- Maintaining Pressure on your Opponent...Playing to the Score


The ninth game often winds up the set of course. The score is 5-3, 4-all or 3-5. Since a victory for either man with five games means the set, I need only say win it at all costs. The 4-all situation is where you are fighting for the set itself. If you win, the pressure on your opponent is greatly increased since he will have his back to the wall in the next game and every point will practically amount to set-point. If you lose that ninth game, then you will be the one who will be fighting for his life. Give all you own in the ninth game and if you win it many times your opponent cracks and the tenth is easy.

It goes without saying that every set is of extreme importance. Any time you drop a set you are in danger but in a two-out-of-three set match the first set usually carries the victory with it. I believe that the man who wins the first set wins 80 percent of the two-out-of-three set matches played. If you are a set in your opponent is placed under the tremendous pressure of knowing that he cannot afford to let you have a chance at another. Therefore, he is forced to work at top speed all through the second set, which, even if he wins it, may have nothing left in the third set. In a three-out-of-five set match, the climactic set, in my opinion is usually the third. The first is naturally of great psychological value but it is not actually decisive. If you can win both the first two sets so much the better. Still, the third set is the critical one. If the score is 2 sets to 0 a victory in the third means the match. But in many three-out-of-five-set matches, the players divide the first two sets and stand at 1-all. Now the real importance of the that third set comes to the fore. If you win it and lead, 2 sets to 1, the discouragement to your opponent is tremendous. By the end of a third set any player will be feeling the physical strain, more or less. To face the necessity of winning two sets in a row places a great burden on the mental and physical courage of your opponent. It looks like an awfully long road back. You may even be able to afford taking the chance of running him in the fourth set and even if you lose it, tire him so much that he will be easy in the fifth. It is, of course, better to keep pressure on in the fourth set and take no chances.

There is much more to playing to the score than just learning what points, games and sets are crucial. You must know how to put the pressure on your opponent in the most effective and winning way. Putting pressure on an opponent is not just hitting hard and rushing the net. There are many other ways, just as difficult for him and much safer for you. The method should be determined by the situation. When you have a commanding lead and an error will cost your opponent a vital point, perhaps even a game or set, give him every opportunity to make it. Keep that ball going back to him at all costs and always, if possible, to a new place so that he must move to reach it. Every time he hits the ball he is aware that, if he makes an error it’s costly and each return you send back to him makes him more and more nervous and tense. If he should give you a weak mid-court return which he is very apt to do under pressure of that kind then attack it deep, not too hard, very safe and sure and go in behind it!

Pass the buck to him. Now he must take a chance or lose, for if he defends you have the kill. He will probably go all out for his shot and miss. Whenever you have your opponent where he cannot afford to take a chance, keep the ball going back and vary spin, speed, direction and depth consistently but never so much that you are in real danger of missing. Give yourself plenty of margin. Only if you have an exceptional chance should you attempt to win outright. do not let him off the hook by making errors yourself. Make him earn his way off if he can, by the sweat of his brow and his own good shots because if he should get off he will have a psychological uplift that will make him very dangerous.

[hockeyscout]

Bill Tilden

I've got a hard time taking anything a convicted child rapist has to say seriously.

[GeoffWilliams]

Me too, considering he raped many young boys, and is still revered and touted, rather than scorned and trashed as he deserves to be. What if it was your child he raped? Would you be touting him then?

[lobndropshot]

Geoff do you have two accounts? You guys think so much alike it is kind of creepy