Michael Wayman Interview - Play Better in League/Tournament Matches Mindset - Part 1

My good friend and men's coach at St. Mary's College out here in northern California, Michael Wayman, and my coach for the past year or so, was kind enough to spend some time on the phone with me this morning.

You may have not heard of Michael, an outrageously good player at 55, but he knows the game of tennis as well as anyone I know.

Michael was an All-American at USC - University of Southern California (that's right, we won't hold that against him fellow Cal Bear fans, right...?) and he played on the men's pro tour for 8 years.

During his playing career, Michael had singles wins over then world #5 Gene Mayer; Ille Nastase; Guillermo Vilas; and doubles wins over John McEnroe and Stan Smith.

This guy has been there, done that, and to me is a vast wealth of knowledge...

And Michael is one of those rare former top world players who has been able to articulate the game to "the rest of us" in terms that we not only can understand, but in terms that actually helps us improve our games.

And believe me, that's not as easy as it might seem.

OK, enough of an intro for Michael and let's get down to the 3 questions I asked Michael to discuss this morning.

Lots of players are frustrated about:

• Being a good practice match player but play nowhere near that level in either a league or tournament match when it counts.
• In a league or tournament match against an equal or lesser rated player, we win the first set, get up a break in the 2nd, and can't close it out.
• In a league or tournament match against a higher rated player, we win the first set and can't close it out.
• For the above questions I asked Michael to help us define what's the problem, what's the solution, and how does one practice the solution?

The interview is about 37 minutes in duration.

MP3: You can also download the mp3 file by right clicking here and then choose "Save Target As".

TRANSCRIPT: You can also download the transcription PDF file by clicking here.

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Just imagine this...

So far, you've played this match with confidence, and after winning the first set 7-5, you're now ahead serving at 4-2 in the 2nd set...

In the past however, you consciously sensed that the finish line was close.

In those prior matches, you used to want the victory so badly that you almost hoped your opponent would simply just lay down and give you the rest of the match.

But instead, your opponent felt relaxed with nothing to lose, starts to play that way, and the next thing you know, they'd be serving at 6-5, and all too often you'd lose that 2nd set and eventually the 3rd set as well.

But those days are gone, a thing of the past, and instead, at 4-2 in the 2nd set, you coolly take your time, don't consider the outcome of winning or choking the match, and simply and easily keep your mind on each individual upcoming point, hold serve at love, and then break your opponent's serve to close out the match with a victory 7-5, 6-2.

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And The Winner Is? - Part 2 - Overcoming The Pusher

2009 National Women's 35s Indoors Singles Finalist!

That's right!  My wonderful bride Mai (and your ball feeder extraordinaire on our WebTennis.net video tips) just recently brought home the Silver Ball from the national 35 Indoors in Chicago (Homewood Flossmoor Racquet & Fitness Club) in singles.

Mai had a great victory in the semis over a type of player I'm not sure she could have beaten 6-12 months ago...

Her opponent was a bit more than a classic "pusher" because she could drive the ball into open corners when she wanted to, but all in all, Mai had to find the will and determination to mentally overcome a tough opponent who's major weapon was clearly the ability to track everything down and simply not miss.

And as I said before, and I know Mai agrees, both of us don't think she would have won this match a year ago.

What has made the difference in her game?

Click the audio player > button below to hear in Mai's words what has changed this around for her.

Also, check out the post below for more tournament updates and photos.

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Why I Need A Tennis Professional

I received a nice email today from one of your fellow WebTennis.net subscribers who complimented me on employing a fellow tennis coach to help me with my own tennis game.

Here's what I had to say in response to that email...

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Hi Bill and many thanks for your email and kind words.

I really need someone like Michael Wayman to continue to reinforce the fundamentals into my brain.

Michael was a top tour player from England back in the 70s with wins over such players as Gene Mayer when Gene was #3 in the world.

One of the things that has always stuck with me from the coaching I received from Tom Stow a long time ago was to continue to work on the fundamentals so nothing in my strokes or movement is "artificial".

Tom couldn't stand any movement (swing shape, footwork, etc.) that appeared to him to be unnecessary.

Unnecessary meaning that it might even distract from being able to apply a stroke or footwork fundamental.

Michael helps keep me in line with the fundamentals, and I've always thought that if you continue to work on them, you'll get better.

So many players out there have this perception that the fundamentals, the basics, are only for beginners, and that there must be some "magic bullet" that only a few really good players understand.

Maybe it's just an excuse to not have to get into that practice mode where it can seem as if there is no tangible improvement at times if not most of the time.

Lots of us tend to fight the practice - improvement relationship.  It's taken me a long, long time to stop trying so hard to measure how I'm doing with my practice and improvement.

The more I simply "keep working", don't look for the improvement, and trust that improvement will eventually show up, the more I actually get tangible results somewhere down the road.

Our culture these days, even with those of us over 60, tends to lead us to a quick fix expectation.  

Ain't going to happen...

The reality is that none of us will ever (at least in this lifetime) completely master each and every fundamental of the game.

That's not a negative, it's for me simply an acceptance that there's nothing else I need to work on other than a specific fundamental today.

Thanks again Bill for your email.  Have a great day out there...!   Brent

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Tennis Strokes - Living In The Future

As cliche as it has always sounded to me, "stay in the moment" has finally sunk into my thick skull.

I've been working on my own game with Michael Wayman, Men's Head Coach at St. Mary's College here in Moraga, CA., off and on for the past year, and Michael has really helped me with several specific areas of my 

game, and possibly the most important one has been to tangibly understand "stay in the moment" along with "don't live in the future".

I've got to give full credit to Michael for helping me win the National 60 Hardcourt Singles title in early April 2009.

Living in the future for me was about what might happen in the next second or two.  It was that short of a time frame.

For example, we were working on that situation where in a baseline rally you 've played a nice shot that has moved your opponent way out wide, they've scrambled out there just to get your shot back, and they've now left you with a relativley short ball somehwhere in the middle of your court that is just begging for you to take their shot early, and rob them of their time to get back into the court as you play an approach shot to

 their open court.

And time after time, either in a match or on the practice court with Michael, I could find a way to miss this shot.  That's right, not even get it back in play...

And what Michael finally said to me was that just prior to the moment of contact with my approach shot, I was thinking a couple seconds ahead to the "result" of that approach shot.

And you know there are a million and one things that can go through your mind as it applies to what might happen in the next second or two.

It's crazy...

Thinking ahead to the future was disrupting my ability to maintain good stroke mechanics including staying against the ball and not lifting up a hair too soon.

So we worked on "staying in the moment" with that approach shot, quickly setting up on balance as early as possible, taking as much time as I needed with the shot, and in fact, almost exaggerating staying against the contact point, and not thinking ahead.

And it's tough to NOT think ahead.  I believe it's a learned skill for most of us.

It requires lots and lots of practice on the court and additional visualization time off of the court.

We're so concerned about what's about to happen in the future that we lose focus on taking care of business in that moment.

So for me what's helped the most with this subject is to exaggerate staying down against the ball, to exaggerate not looking up too soon to see my shot, to have faith and trust that I don't have to get rid of the ball, and to take enough time so I can "feel" this shot.

The more we think about future events with our shots, the less we apply good stroke mechanics.

And what are we talking here?  A matter of nano seconds...

Practice this next time you're on the court.  Stay in the moment with your shot...

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How To Cough Up A 5-1 3rd Set Lead & Still Win

You know, this game is a little strange at times.

Just when you think you've got a match well under control, poof, within a few minutes that lead is gone and you're holding on for dear life.

My doubles partner in the 55s, Chris Morgan, and I played for the Bronze Ball (3rd place) this past Friday up in Boise, ID at the National 55 Indoors.

After winning the first set 6-2, we promptly lost the 2nd set 6-2, and we lost Chris's serve to open up the 3rd set.

And yet, we broke right back, and in fact, won 5 games in a row for me serving at 5-1 in the 3rd.

We were rolling, in control, and just had to cross the finish line.

And the next thing you know, we're at 5-5 and down break point on my serve.

Those nasty thoughts of how you're going to feel after losing this match when having been up 5-1 and serving for the match started to creep into my head.

But, I kept telling myself and Chris that we're simply even with these guys, let's just hang in there, stay aggressive with our movement, and play the high percentage shots.

And, let's really take our time between points...

And for me, those high percentage shots equate to not forcing a shot into a place where the geometry just isn't in your favor.

If that means staying calm and not forcing something just to end the point, but more to stay patient and play a shot where even though you know your opponent will be able to play a shot back to you, at least you've got good court position up at net, and let's see what happens...

We hung tough at 5 all, eventually got into the TieBreaker, and despite going down 0-3 in the Breaker, we pulled it out 7-5.

And here's what I think we did wrong when we got to 5-1.

We were so excited that we tried to do too much to end the point too quickly, especially the first point.

You know me, I'm big on poaching, fake poaching, etc., but sometimes you can to do a bit too much, especially on that first point when you're trying to hold serve to close out the match.

We lost those first points on my serve at 5-1 and Chris's serve at 5-3, and now you're down 0-15 to start those games.  That's not a great feeling, and the pressure can mount where you feel you have to win points, not just play them smartly.

The old cliches work here.  If you're serving, take a hair off of that 1st serve so you can really increase your chances that you won't have to spin in a 2nd serve.  Since you're taking a bit off of that first serve, have your partner throw in a big fake poach to help visually distract the returner which will probably make that 3/4 first serve of yours look tougher.

If you're returning serve, don't go for broke, take your time, and make sure you cleanly play your return cross court even if that net player poaches.

Force that player to have to not miss that poach volley.

Practice these scenarios.  Go out there with a practice partner and play some cross court points (alleys are good) and just play your role as I've described above whether you're the server or the receiver.

You serve for 5 minutes to the same side (deuce or ad) and then switch to returning serve.

Alternate serving sides the next time you serve.

Do this twice a week, and you might be closing out that 5-1 3rd set lead alot sooner than Chris and I did...!

Tournament Link to National 55 Indoors Doubles Draw.  3rd Place results are at the bottom of the draw.

Let's Get YOU Mentally Tough For Your Next League or Tournament Tennis Match

A Practical 7 Step-by-Step Tangible Guide
 "How to Develop the Must Have Mental Skills for Competitive Tennis Players"
 Plus, Answers to Your Top 50 Specific Questions

Up next for me is the National 60 Hardcourts in Palm Springs starting this Saturday April 4.

I'm seeded 3rd in singles and 3rd in doubles with new partner Ken Dahl.
Tournament link to National 60 Hardcourts

Brent

Tennis Forehand Groundstroke - Swing Tempo

One of the keys to producing true topspin on your forehand is your ability to maintain swing tempo through and after contact.

Swing tempo can be generally defined as you being able to maintain the same swing speed you have prior to contact as you go through the ball and then also after that contact.

Way too often we tend to slow our swing down just a hair prior to contact, and then the freedom in your swing to be able to produce a nice tight spin gets messed up.

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2009 Australian Open - Random Rants

A few randon thoughts and rants about this year's Australian Open...

And some of these you can copy and model for your own game's improvement.

1. Andy Roddick...

I'm impresssed. For the past few years I've felt this guy was just going through the motions content to be somewhere in the world's Top 10 and enjoying the good life without really putting in the hard training miles off the court.

Here's what Andy has recently done and what he's now doing that you can copy and model and it'll improve your overall game.

Mental - From what I've seen so far in his matches, he rarely if ever shows any immediate demonstrative reaction after the finish of a point.

It's head down, check the strings, and walk over to get the towel no matter what just happened, positive or negative.

I've always believed that this fist pumping crap and yelling out "come on" (as Roddick used to do and so many of the players still do) does two really bad things. It drains you physically and it also tells your brain that that's exactly how every point should be played.

Every following point that doesn't live up to what just happenend is almost considered a failure.

Practice what we're seeing Roddick do between points. No immediate high or low emotional responses. This takes practice and it's not something you can just turn on whenever you want.

If you haven't already done so, go over right now and pick up a copy of my recently released complete lesson on the mental skills required for competitive tennis players.

Click here http://www.webtennis.net/tennis-mental-skills.htm .

2. Fitness

Roddick, Safina, Zvonareva, Dokic, and other players look physically different. Lighter and obviously in great fitness condition.

You can do the same if you want to. And there's the rub, most of us can find a reason to not put in a couple of extra hours each week of off court training.

There are a million and one reasons and we've all heard them. And the weakest one I hear is from those folks who say they're simply waiting around for the right program to be presented to them. They're just unsure of what to do.

Gimme a break...

Think about this. Do any kind of training that will help you better visually track a moving tennis ball while you're also on the move.

Long distance running? Not really. That will only break down those muscles that help you move smoothly and absorb the stops and starts so you can visually track a ball. Long distance running can get you in great shape, no question about that, but it won't help your tennis.

Sprints, steps, short bursts up hills, etc.

And the reality is this, if you put in some focused off court training time into your schedule, and even if you don't work on your strokes, you're going to become a better player.

If you're not right now doing any off court training, then start today.

Don't feel like you have to justify it to anyone but yourself. There are going to be friends or family who are going to give you some crap, but believe me, in 3 weeks when you're all of a sudden setting up for that wide forehand and then unloading on it, you won't care what anyone says to you.

I'm in the process of putting together a fitness specific program for tennis to help you improve what we're talking about here, so until it's ready to be released, get into the gym twice a week if not more often. I wouldn't do your off court stuff two days in a row, space it out, but get it going today.

Again, what can you do to improve your ability to visually track a moving ball while you're also on the move?

3. Approach Shots

I've seen it enough in this year's Australian to be given hope that some of the men are finally figuring out why they're getting passed so often when they play their approach shots.

And we've all been saying for a long time that the topspin approach just sits up there nice and pretty.

The guys now have the ability to hit these amazing passing shots because of their extraordinary speed that helps them get set up but also because of the spin and power generated from the racket and string technology.

And some of the guys now seem to have figured out that a short sliced angled approach that stays down low and forces their opponent well inside the baseline works a whole lot better.

And geometrically it makes perfect sense.

You force your opponent to have to hit up to you from a short distance from possibly one of the alleys where it's almost impossible for them to top their shot and get that nasty "dip" that makes the ball fall below the top of the net.

And unless they do hit an outright winner, you've got a ball up above the net with a wide open court.

And if you show your opponent this type of approach a few times early in the match (yes, that's right, you can easily copy this strategy), guess what, you'll force them to play closer if not inside their baseline where they don't want to be, and any future approach shot you then hit deep will be a much tougher "short hop" / on the rise passing shot for them.

4. Women's Loss of Opportunities...

The women are just hitting monster groundstrokes these days. Combined with their fitness to get around the baseline to have enough time to step forward, turn the shoulders, and recover on balance, the gals' groundies are really amazing.

But...

What I'm not seeing often enough, if ever, is them taking advantage of a well hit groundstroke to one of their opponent's corners that really stretches out that opponent, and then moving forward well inside the court to immediately cut off whatever comes back with a volley or 1/2 volley.

They get their opponent stretched out wide behind an alley reaching for the ball and they just sit back behind their own baseline waiting to see what comes back.

Huge opportunity just flushed down the drain...

Learn how to play a simple approach volley where you make contact somewhere around 1/2 way between your baseline and service line.

Just redirect the incoming pace into the open court and get set up for the next shot.

Once your opponent gets stretched out because of your good groundie, and they are then thinking you're probably moving forward, believe me, you'll put a ton of pressure on their shot where they now feel they can't simply just float it back to you and take their time to recover to the middle of their court.

That pressure will translate into them feeling they have to go for a winner which most likely end up being an unforced error or a ball you can handle.

Yep, that's right, you're going to get passed from time to time, but the numbers are way, way in your favor over the long haul.

And for future points, your opponent is not going to want to give you a ball in the rally where you might be able to hit it deep to one of their corners and then have you move in, so guess what, that perceived pressure just turned into some more unforced errors by them trying to do too much in hopes of not giving you a ball you can drive deep to a corner.

Get out there and practice moving forward from the baseline where you have to receive a ball from one of your opponent's corners, take your time, and calmly play an approach volley to the open court. We're not talking about having to hit winners, but simply playing a simple transitional volley into the open court and then setting up for what will most likely be a lob from your opponent.

OK, guess you'll also have to work on that overhead a bit too!

Pick up either lesson on the volleys or the overhead or both over at:

http://www.WebTennis.net/Tennis-Lessons.htm

5. Martina...

I don't know about you, but if you get the Tennis Channel, you've been subjected to having to listen to Martina Navratilova's never ending irritiating color commentating.

I mean, it just goes on and on and on and eventually I've got to turn down the sound.

The holier than thou stuff that she spews is one thing, but the voice, oh my gosh, it's driving me nuts.

Hey, what a great player, arguably the best woman of all-time, but this announcing stuff is not her forte...

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OK, enough ranting for this morning. Hope you're enjoying the Australian. Mai and I are determined to get down there for the 2010 edition.
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