I have worked for many years with top level athletes and have come to realize that the 24 hours leading up to any big event will determine how you do during your match. Here are the basic psychological approaches that will help you to win: 1. It ought to be obvious that any high level…
The top tennis stars have distinctive styles that we love to mimic because the sport is so highly individualistic. Back in the 1970s, young players carefully applied surgical tape to their racket grips to be like local hero Vitas. They wore Fila headbands to embody the coolness of Borg. They had huge windups to try…
For many young tennis players, finding the right tennis program or academy that offers a consistent balance of academics and tennis can be an elusive process. But if you look far out onto the South Fork of Long Island, The Ross School is providing just that. Five years ago, the institution launched The Ross School…
“Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.”—Serena Williams I want to win the moment … this is something I often say to my players at the collegiate level. Serena Williams…
Commandment #1: Thou shalt always be forgiving The most important key to good tennis is to learn how to accept a lost point. If you allow the point to get under your skin, you will begin to make the long downward spiral to defeat. You must learn to totally forgive yourself for a…
The benefits of playing against a stronger opponent are more obvious than those of playing against a weaker opponent. A player who “plays up” has the opportunity to experience first-hand the skills of a stronger player and hopefully learn from it. A stronger player might implement tactics against you that are unfamiliar with and produce…
What if your primary focus in tennis wasn’t about the winning or losing? What if it wasn’t about being better or worse than your opponent? Certainly, that seems like a radical approach. But when we view competition through a completely new lens, the lens of “More Than an Athlete,” where the performer brings their whole…
All great players do many things that helps separate themselves from the rest of the field. My coach in the 1980s always talked about Bjorn Borg’s diet being superior to the players of his time. My friend Viorel Marcu (longtime practice partner for Borg) says Bjorn would practice in the morning and then again after…
Over the past four decades, I've spent thousands of hours as a coach at local, national and international junior tournaments, and as they say, "I have seen it all." Here are 20 candid observations about the behaviors and interactions between players, coaches and parents before, during and after matches. I'm sure readers could suggest many…
What a great time of year to be playing tennis and what a crazy year 2016 has been so far in the world of pro tennis! First, the match-fixing and gambling scandal and now Maria Sharapova fails a drug test? I'm not sure how closely you have been following the drama off the court, but…