Marginal Gains: Are You a Right Side or Left Side Player?

[nickw]

Hello Nick,
Your observation that a tournament player can imagine himself as an actor performing a role is quite intriguing. Children are especially good at imitating their favorite players. And I have noticed that a number of the top players enjoy imitating each other. I have seen Federer imitate Wawrinka's serve perfectly. Do you believe it might be helpful for an introverted player to play a more risk taking style on occasion. That would take some real acting. It is true that many professional actors love playing tennis. Perhaps tournament tennis players should try and embrace acting.

Norman Ashbrooke

Thanks for your comments Norman. I often get my juniors to act out many things on the court, be it styles of play (aggressive player, counter-puncher), emotions (fired up, angry, very calm), and then they compare the roles to what they normally do, and think about how they can add to their on-court personality in a positive way. Certainly, an introverted player can be encouraged to act out an aggressive risk-taking player, and then they experience it, and can better judge if they would like to adopt changes towards taking more risks. It's a tough transition, and even the most well-intentioned plans can easily see the player revert to type when they next play a real match!

[stotty]

Great thread, great comments. I like the 'acting out' concept. I coached a very good junior a long time ago who had a passive mentally on court. The LTA took snapped him up and placed him on in what was then called the Rover Tennis Initiative, where he played full time at Cambridge. There was a 3 month changeover period where I continued to work with my player but would also ferry him up to Cambridge for the LTA's input. One of the things we worked on during that time was his passive mentality. We decided to counter it by videoing the player during matches while trying to get him to adopt a more 'warrior' type body language, with the theory being "I act the part therefore I become the part''. Rather like method acting...Brando style! It worked pretty well over a period of time, especially since we could use before and after video clips to show the differences. But you can do these things to great effect once you have a player training 20 hours a week, more difficult with players you see only frequently.

Me, I like to rally deep cross court on my backhand, wait for a shorter one, then knife a sliced backhand down the line, leave a tiny carrot for the opponent to hit his forehand cross court, then punch a forehand volley (my favourite shot) away into the open court for a winner. How's that for a plan?

[johnyandell]

A winning plan

[flatflat]

Yeah, I like to attack (and bludgeon) with my flat backhand (see the Don Budge videos on this site). A heavy sidespin-underspin backhand down the line leaving a teeny window for a crosscourt pass, which I hit a dead-fish drop volley off of, winning the point with only one volley.

[johnyandell]

I like it.

[arturohernandez]

Great thread, great comments. I like the 'acting out' concept. I coached a very good junior a long time ago who had a passive mentally on court. The LTA took snapped him up and placed him on in what was then called the Rover Tennis Initiative, where he played full time at Cambridge. There was a 3 month changeover period where I continued to work with my player but would also ferry him up to Cambridge for the LTA's input. One of the things we worked on during that time was his passive mentality. We decided to counter it by videoing the player during matches while trying to get him to adopt a more 'warrior' type body language, with the theory being "I act the part therefore I become the part''. Rather like method acting...Brando style! It worked pretty well over a period of time, especially since we could use before and after video clips to show the differences. But you can do these things to great effect once you have a player training 20 hours a week, more difficult with players you see only frequently.

I really like the acting a role part. For a whole summer, I tried my best Nadal imitation (VAMOS!! minus the underwear pulling). Then tried acting like Borg or Federer. Just staying as quiet as possible and staying calm. It kind of worked to try these different roles. Eventually, I found my own hybrid.

I mentioned working with my daughter to get her to show a more warrior personality. She is working on it. Video really helps because you can see everything, including body language and the way they play their points.Even things like making sure you put your weight into the ball, preparing early, etc.

All of these things have to be practiced in match-like situations. Otherwise, a person is left with all the platitudes. Be aggressive, put pressure on your opponent, but don't miss. So many conflicting messages.

But act like Brando is not so complicated. Putting weight into the ball, preparing early, moving your feet. All very doable things but getting a player to recognize what they look like in a match is important.