Tennis Match Scores Can be Deceiving...

I had a good tournament last week over at the Marin Seniors, a national Super Category 2 tournament held at the Mill Valley Tennis Club.

Despite winning the tournament without losing more than 2 games per match (4 matches), I'm telling ya, every opponent was a quality player, and it forced me to concentrate (go through that 4 part between points routine) just as much as any other match I've played this year...

Taking an opponent for granted, assuming a certain outcome, whether it's a match victory or worse looking forward to the next round, all of those things are the kiss of death.

And I know you've heard all of this stuff before ever since you were a kid. It's common sense, but you know what, we still do it, and even if that thinking it's just a hair subconcious, it plays havoc with our abilty to concentrate and go through the processes we need to go through to play at our highest possible level for any given match.

Here's what I want you to do this week...

Schedule a match against a player you know you're going to beat 10 out of 10 times.

And play that match where you force yourself to concentrate between points as if you're up against a player who could beat you at least half of the time.

Go really into your 4 part between points routine and force your self to continue to do so even if you're winning easily.

I'm telling you, it's not as easy as it may sound, but the benefits for your game are enormous if you can find that emotionally controlled place in between points despite what's happening in the match.

Once you finish that match, see if you can schedule another practice match against a player who can probably beat you 10 out of 10 times, and simply repeat that between points routine.

You really have to get comfortable with the between points routine during practice matches if you ever want it to be effective in either a league or tournament match.

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OK, hope this has helped...

Have a great week out there and keep moving forward!

Brent