In tennis, one of the biggest mistakes most amateurs make comes from a lack of preparation when hitting a stroke. As soon as a ball is coming towards you, the tendency is to get ready to hit a responding shot too late with a fast, hurried motion or to be out of position or balance to hit the shot. Balance is the most important factor in playing tennis well. Inevitably, lack of balance happens from poor preparedness in the racquet, footwork and shoulder turn.

In tennis and life in general, we encounter unfair obstacles. You may have encountered players who played mind games, would cheat, or try to get other people to help them win against you. Sometimes referees begin insidiously working with your opponent against you. However, no matter the transgression, you should not allow anything to affect you and your game. Tennis is a wonderful sport because it provides students with a safe space to learn to deal with unfairness.

Motivation helps you succeed. It gives you energy to work hard and inspiration to pull through when things get really challenging. But sometimes you find yourself feeling alone or like there is no point in working hard as all your efforts seem fruitless. Your mind thus enters a tunnel and you lose sight of all the good things you may be doing and the great things you could be doing.

The rate at which COVID-19 has been spreading is terrifying. I truly hope that you, your family, and friends are staying safe. I am also sorry that you have to miss out on tennis practice. But do not despair, you can continue improving at home if you practice deep visualization.

Get back to the middle! Every competitive junior player gets yelled at by their coach at some point in their lives for not recovering. I do not condone yelling, but I can sympathize with the coaches for wanting their students to recover back to the center after each shot. It's hard for young players to understand how recovery can make or break their game. So, here are the reasons you need to think about your shot recovery.

Your tennis equipment matters. Everything between your string tension and racquet weight will affect the way you play. While having the right tennis equipment won't win your matches for you, having the wrong equipment could prevent you from playing your best.

It takes years to develop a big enough forehand or serve to truly have a weapon. But not everyone will develop one as part of their game. That's acceptable as long as you have at least one strength to use in a match. If you don't have big shots but are very consistent, then you can win a lot of matches getting every ball back. Or you could be the type of player who hits soft shots, breaks rhythm, and takes away your opponent's ability to play their A-game. No matter what kind of style you use, your goal should be to get your opponent to hit short.

In 2005, at a USTA high-performance camp, I watched former number 1 in the world Andre Agassi practice a day before his Davis Cup match. As Agassi was returning serves he said "say hello to my little friend." Indeed, his return was a friend. Probably the best in tennis history. In this blog post, you will learn the essentials of a good return of serve. 

Happy New Year! The calendar resets and gives you a chance to reflect on the positives and negatives of the previous year. It's an opportunity to create a better plan for this year. Most importantly, start the new year with a better attitude towards yourself and others. There's always room for becoming a better person and making good judgement calls.  Your head will be in the right place and, knowing this, you'll find confidence within yourself. Consider yourself lucky if you have coaches who not only teach you to play better, but also ask you to be respectful, hard-working, and fair. Listen and learn from them. That said, I want to make sure you can go out and practice. So, this post is about preventing and managing injuries.

Five years ago, an ex-Navy SEAL spoke to us at JTCC. He served on the Green Team, also known as Seal Team 6. The Green Team is the elite unit within the Navy SEALs. Think about how tough this person had to be to belong there. Speaking to us, he kept repeating that "failing is not failure, quitting is." The quality that makes champions successful is they fight through setbacks and failures. They don't give up just because they're having a bad day or not getting results. Pete Sampras won the US Open with an ankle injury. His ankle swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. He had every reason to quit. But he showed up to each match. To everyone's disbelief, Sampras played well and won.

As a junior, I was invited to a few camps run by Billie Jean King, a winner of 39 Grand Slam titles. Each time my friends and I worked with her, she would give us two coaching tips, one related to staying in the moment and, the other, dealing with pressure. Billie Jean would tell us to "play one ball at a time" so that we focus on the moment and not think of the past or future. And she would tell us that "pressure is a privilege." Tennis can feel like a high stakes game because it's a game of many errors and you're usually dealing with that on your own. You don't get the teammate helping you set up for a score (doubles is the exception). If you don't know how to deal with that kind of pressure, you'll probably lose most of your matches against players with similar or better playing levels. So, in this blog post, I want to discuss how pressure can be used to your advantage rather than demise.

On paper, the players who can hit bigger serves and harder shots appear to be the favorites to win. Yet, in reality, it's not the case. For example, in 2005, Donald Young won the Australian Open Juniors. He was 15 years old. Most of his adversaries were physically fitter, had bigger serves and groundstrokes, and were more experienced. Some had ATP ranking points already. The difference in physical abilities between 15 and 18-year-olds is significant. Despite being disadvantaged on paper, Donald became the youngest male to win a junior Grand Slam event. Donald didn't have big shots and had a relatively weak serve. So, what tools did he use to win?

When I was coaching, I would frequently hear parents and students talk about the need to hit hard.  Children as young as eight often told me they needed to smack the ball as hard as possible to become good at tennis.  And parents would express concern when their child hasn't been hitting hard and fast during practice. Many of you reading this blog might be thinking along the same lines--that the better players are the ones who hit harder.  So, my job is to change your belief on the importance of hitting hard. 

In the summer of 2001, I played my first European Tennis Association tournament in Germany. I didn’t know any of the players, and so I did not feel the pressure I would typically get playing tournaments in the U.S. I competed without expecting to win or lose and thus reached the finals without dropping a set. My game was so steady that, in the finals, I took the first set 6-0. During an early changeover in the second set, however, I began thinking about what I would say for my post-match interview (there was a local news crew filming the match). At that moment, unbeknownst to my opponent, I handed him the tournament title.  I cashed in before finishing the job. I signaled my mind that I had won after only reaching the halfway point and thus lost sight of my game.

In my previous blog posts, we learned that developing the right contact point and using good judgment on shot selection are the essential ingredients to winning matches. But how do you get there? Many players are aware that a good contact point is a requirement for hitting a good shot. Yet, in sport, knowing is not enough. Imagine Michael Phelps tells a person who's never been in water the game-changing aspects of swimming. Will that person suddenly swim well? Unlikely. That person needs a formula and a pathway to acquiring those game-changing skills.

When I was 14, I played in the quarterfinals against the top seed in a 16’s international event in Florida. I was shorter, thinner, and weaker than my opponent. I won the first set 6-2. I surprised myself. But I earned that set because I controlled most of the points by mixing my shots between low, high, soft, and angles. My opponent never found his rhythm in the first set, and he had trouble making clean contact. Unfortunately, I felt overjoyed and lost sight of my game plan. I began hitting hard. My shots continued to feel good, but my opponent suddenly began winning more points. He started controlling the majority of the points and thus won the following two sets 6-2, 6-2. I won the first set because I was actively thinking of my shot selection. The following two sets, I didn't make smart decisions.

     Many junior tennis players don’t feel in control of their game. On bad days, players will try magic to make their shots go where they want it to land. I’ve seen kids pray, wear lucky shirts, sit only on the left side of the court, and eat the same thing at the same time every day during the tournament to not jinx their luck. In junior tennis, superstition is as common as it was in the Dark Ages because they lack the control that professional players have.

Dear all,

     I hope your summer is going well. You will receive an email from me every two weeks on tennis related topics.  My goal is to furnish you with the right knowledge and provide you with a logical understanding of the game. The topics will vary from physical and mental training, technique, drills, and understanding the physics of the game. Today’s email is an illustration of the importance of having the right knowledge. Subsequent emails will dive into specific components of tennis. Please get in touch with me if you have questions, feedback, or simply want to say hi. LeoaRosenberg@gmail.com