Flawed Tennis Form? Or Flawed Tennis Thinking?

How many times have you seen a tennis player miss a shot and walk back to the baseline taking a practice swing? When was the last time you did this yourself? You're thinking that you missed the shot because of some flaw in your swing, and that's why you're practicing it.

If we could somehow search the brain of every tennis player in the world, we'd find in most the belief that errors are caused flawed form.

If that's true, then you would never miss a shot if you achieve perfect form.

Golfers think the same way. And this thinking is what underlies the common obsession with form in both sports. The "perfect swing" then becomes a sort of Holy Grail that all pursue for as long as they play the game.

It's an exercise in frustration and futility. In fact, players learn learn in spite of, not because of, their efforts to perfect their form.

That's because this thinking is what's flawed. It is NOT true that you miss a shot because of some flaw in your form. No amount of perfecting your form will enable you to play error-free tennis. And there is no such thing as "perfect form."

Tomaz Mencinger has a good two-part instructional article on the subject, The Biggest Tennis Myth that's Hurting Your Game and Why Tennis Players Obsess So Much About Tennis Instruction.

OK, so here's the Big Myth:

If I miss the ball, I must have done something technically wrong (meaning I moved my body parts in the wrong way). Thus, if I can correct that mistake (move my body parts "correctly"), then I will not miss the ball again.

Based on this myth, we tennis coaches have been earning money giving tennis lessons for decades.

Based on this myth, club and professional tennis players have wasted millions of dollars and thousands of hours, all on trying to improve their game. Without much effect, of course...

Read the rest, and next time I'll come back with some thoughts of my own on the subject.

Part 2

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TM: Q and A - Reality Check

Do you always believe yourself? That little voice in your head - do you always believe it? Is it always telling you the truth?

Is believing yourself believing in yourself?

All right, I'll cut it out now ;-)

This Q & A with Tomaz Mencinger may be one of the most important things you'll ever learn

---

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

I am a 15 year old girl, and always before a tournament I either practice my serve or play a set against someone at my club. Almost always I play at my top performance. But at the tournament, if I start off poorly, my mental game goes downhill from the start. I understand that I'm supposed to move on and go to the next point, but I try and more times than not I'm not able to move on, and I continue to hit the ball in the net or out. For example at today's match I kept trying to encourage myself and focus on the next point, but every time I missed another shot I would get more frustrated and rush points and loose games more quickly. Also if I am playing against someone that I know I'm better than and can beat I get even more frustrated with myself when I make stupid errors. I understand mentally what I'm supposed to do, but I have not been able to actually do it.

I understand what you are saying.

What happens is that when things go wrong at the start you BELIEVE them and then they define your future performance.

You look for proof of how good you are and then you play accordingly.

I suggest you go through your past experiences and think whether your performance in a match has ever gone up and down? Or did it ALWAYS stay the same through a whole match?

If your answer is that your performance has gone up and down during a match, then you KNOW that even when your performance at the start is low, it can go up.

In fact, if you don't become negative about it and just keep playing it will almost ALWAYS go up. That's because you'll get used to the conditions, you'll warm up your body and mind to the competitive level, you'll start reading your opponent better and so on.

Try to remember a match (or several matches) when this happened. This will give you proof to counter your own doubts the next time you start a match not playing well.

And about playing weaker opponents and frustration: one thing to keep in mind is that at your age you still cannot blast someone off the court, even if they play poorly.

You'll have to construct points, and it will take some time to win a point. And it will take some time to win a match. You have to stay in the NOW and play each point. DON'T go into the future where you have already won, since this will make you lose focus on the current situation and play poorly.

Copyright 2008, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and How to Play Tennis: A Step-by-Step Video Instruction Guide for Tennis Beginners.

Archive of Past Articles

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Tennis Tip: Learn How to Pick Up a Tennis Ball

Does your husband refuse to play doubles with you because you can't pick up the stupid ball right? Do your teammates act like they don't know you when someone points at you and asks, "Who's that klutz over there who can't even pick up the ball right?"

Well, your shame has come to end. To the rescue - Tomaz Mencinger with the key to tennis happiness. No, it ain't your service motion or your backhand. It's how you pick up the ball.

Introducing the ultimate weapon in psychological warfare...

How to Pick Up a Tennis Ball - From Hopeless to Jedi Master



Ha! Wait until your opponents see you do THAT!

May the Force be with you.

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TM: Your Tennis Energy Needs, Both Mental and Physical

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Q: I am a 46 year old woman, fit and known for my endurance. I lift weights a couple of times each week, do cardio (outside of tennis) 3 days each week, and play 3 hours of tennis singles 4-5 days. I have been playing tennis for only 9 months, but advanced quickly and am on 2 leagues playing singles and doubles. I win more singles matches than doubles, about 50% overall. I am more comfortable at the baseline, but advance to the net given the opportunity. My matches tend to be long for women's 3.0 matches, usually 2½ hours or more and almost always going to 3 sets.

My question is this: Why during some matches do my arms start to feel like Jell-O? Last night I played in a doubles tournament and lost 7-5/7-5 in over 2 hours. We could have won; we were evenly matched. However, in the second set at 5-5, my arms just felt like well done pasta, and my serve was broken. I am beginning to wonder if it is mental because it doesn't always happen. Or maybe I am not eating right pre-game. I usually have some oatmeal, peanut-butter toast, and lots of water (we live in Louisiana, USA & and it is very hot). Also, I have noticed it happens more often in doubles games, but there I usually spend much more time at the net, and am keyed up more(?) My friends and I love your newsletter and web site. We find it amazing how you can "see" what is happening in people's head. I look forward to your advice.

I think you could be right on both of your ideas: it could be food, and it could be mental.

With food I mean energy. When running low on energy, some people first feel in the arms, others in the legs.

Make sure you eat carbohydrates - pasta - and not too much meat (since it take long to digest). I remember Michael Chang saying in one interview, that the best thing about not playing a tournament is that he doesn't HAVE to eat pasta. ;)

The other reason is mental and is also connected with energy, mental energy. You see, when you play a match you are under stress. There is pressure on you every few seconds. This is tiring for the mind.

And the same as we have certain fitness level for our body - an energy storage - the same way we have mental energy storage. You are using your mental fitness energy every time you are under stress.

In long matches you run out of your mental energy and this affects your concentration and at the same time your body. Mind and body are strongly connected, and tiredness in mind shows as tiredness in body and vice versa.

What to do?

You get better with practice. If you play long matches often, you will get better at keeping your concentration for a long time and being able to withstand stress for a longer time.

Also note that any stress outside your tennis life - such as family matters, job, money and so on - will take their toll on your mental energy reserves.

Copyright 2007, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand. He is also the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and How to Play Tennis: A Step-by-Step Video Instruction Guide for Tennis Beginners.

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TM: Q & A on Positive Thinking and Imagery

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

I recently received the following question from a reader in Venezuela:

Hi, well this is my problem: I have a good and strong drive but sometimes when I am receiving the serve my return, unexplainabily, becomes too weak and goes to the net. Why? Concentration matter?

Does this ever happen to you too? If so, you might be interested in my answer:

One of the reasons why this happens is if you play "too careful". Especially if you are thinking that you "don't want to miss".

Although the intention may be smart - to keep the ball in play and be consistent - it is a negative intention - not to MISS.

If an image "missing" is present in your mind - it will tend to guide your body toward missing.

For the mind-body connection it doesn't matter whether you are imagining "missing" or "not missing". It's the same - there is an image of missing the shot that exists in your mind, and you are trying to NOT to make it come true.

Your body responds to images in the mind, not to logical words.

So in order to hit the ball IN, you need to see that in your mind. Imagine it going IN, not out.

Be decisive and play with a positive purpose.

Will you still miss some returns? Yes, but a lot less than if you had an image of "not missing" in your mind.

Best, Tomaz

Copyright 2007, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand. He is also the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and How to Play Tennis: A Step-by-Step Video Instruction Guide for Tennis Beginners.

Technorati Tags: tennis tennis instruction

TM: Solve tennis problems in the order they come

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

The ball is coming towards you, and now you have to hit it. What I often notice with players is that they don't take care of problems in the order they come to them.

What I see is that they hit the ball, wanting to force an error from their opponent. What they forget to take care of is the net and out.

Or they decide to play the ball in a certain direction – not necessarily to win a point – and they take a lot of care not to hit too long by playing very low. And of course many of the shots end up in the net.

When you hit the ball, your first problem is the net. Take care of the net first with an arc. It may sound silly but you WILL LOSE the point every time you hit the net. Don't do it.

Your next problem is to keep the ball inside the lines. You MUST make the ball curve down after it has passed the net. Take care of the »out«. Again, if you hit too long, it's a point for your opponent.

Only your third »problem« may be your opponent and how to avoid their better shots or something in this manner.

Remember, first take care of tennis – the net and out - and only after that worry about how to outplay your opponent.

How to do this? Not by analytical thinking as we did here. This was only necessary for understanding.

When you are hitting the ball, you need to IMAGINE the ball flight – over net, curving down and into a certain target that hurts your opponent – in that order.

This takes a few milliseconds, and then your brain and body have the right information to produce a winning shot.

Copyright 2007, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide
Tomaz Mencinger is an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand. He is also the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and How to Play Tennis: A Step-by-Step Video Instruction Guide for Tennis Beginners.

Technorati Tags: tennis tennis instruction

TM: If I play this 10 times...

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

After a good baseline rally, you finally force your opponent to cough up a short ball. You attack down the line, and your opponent hits a running forehand a few inches from the line passing you cleanly.

You think, "Wow, I’d better not approach like that next time. I must risk more or not come to the net at all."

Is that the right decision? Very likely not.

How can you know whether you should play a certain tactic or shot?

First, ask yourself, "If I play this tactic/shot 10 times, will I win more than 5 times?"

Or, "If my opponent plays this type of shot, can they make it more than 5 out of 10 times?"

That way you can judge whether your tactic works LONG TERM. There is something you need to know about the mind—that its No.1 priority is to protect you from pain, both physical and emotional. When your opponent hits a clean winner past you, you don't like it because you feel emotional pain, even if but a slight one. Your brain reacts by signaling you to avoid that situation.

Your mind isn’t interested in the distant future, where you will experience even greater emotional pain when you lose the match. (I hope not, but most people do.) It wants to protect you from immediate danger, so you start doubting that you should come to the net.

When you think, "If I do this 10 times what will be the result?" you realize that you may have to sacrifice a few little emotional pains to win the match and avoid a bigger pain, gaining greater pleasure.

Look for long-term strategies and tactics that will help you win the match. Avoid hasty decisions based on your emotions.

Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand.

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TM: Stupid Shots

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Have you ever said »Oh, what a stupid shot?« If you were referring to your own shot, how did you feel? Not too good, I bet. And how did you play after that »not good« feeling? Not well, right?

But a mistake isn't stupidity, it's just a mistake. You intended to win the point in one way or another: only after you actually play that shot can you see its results in that particular situation.

And since we are not computers, we sometimes need to miss many times before we realize that a certain approach usually will not work. Before that, we see that the approach isn't working, but we aren't sure whether the problem is the approach or just failing to execute it well enough. That's why we keep trying something even when it may seem stupid to an outside observer.

So now that we know all this and realize that there are no stupid shots, what are these mistakes then?

I simply call them "inexperienced" mistakes.

You haven't enough experience to decide perfectly every time. Sometimes you experiment. Sometimes you want to do your best, but you don't know all the strategic and tactical mistakes or the correct ways of playing the game.

This means that you just lack experience.

So, when you make a mistake, instead of labeling it as a �stupid� mistake, view it as an "inexperienced" mistake. How does that feel?

It sure does feel better, doesn't it?

It relieves you of the guilt feelings and gives you hope for the future. Indeed, seeing mistakes as stupid implies that you are stupid. And, since stupidity is a permanent condition, this view implies that you are doomed to make stupid mistakes forever.

The choice is yours--how will you view your mistakes from now on? As stupid or as inexperienced?

Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and The Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Tennis Academy of Asia in Thailand.

TM: Hope – your greatest weakness and your biggest strength

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Have you ever tried, or seen someone try, to throw a tennis ball into the basket from a distance? You realized (and they too) that the chances of actually making the shot are quite small and yet they try again and again.

Why?

Hope.

It gives us strength to achieve something, even when things look dark. We hope, persist and try again, eventually we will even make it (or not).

And have you ever tried or seen anyone try an impossible shot on the tennis court?

Why?

Hope again.

But there is one big difference – all the time you didn't make that shot you were losing points. Eventually you may make one and that makes you happy for a moment: »YES, I MADE IT!«

But a few minutes later your opponent shakes your hand thinking: »Yes, I made it to the next round!«

Think about it…

What do you want more; and impossible point or winning the match?

Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TM: Early Preparation -- Easier Said Than Done?

Here's another great tip from Tomaz.


By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Racquet back early - but when?

We've all heard the common instruction to "Take your racquet back" as soon as you recognize where the ball is going.

The problem with this instruction is that it makes your think too much (Self 1), and you lose perception of the ball. The result - you don't hit it well and you think that you did something wrong.

Negative emotions come into play and that's not good for your game, to say the least.

The other problem is that by quickly taking your racquet back you make a jerky movement and you disrupt the fluid motion of your body. You also cannot time the contact well.

I'm not a brain expert, and I cannot explain why that is, but from my 10-year experience of teaching tennis I sure can affirm that that is what happens.

Now what to do?

Here's one of the ways that I use with the players to help them prepare early: When the ball flies from your opponent's racquet, it flies over the net, bounces on the ground and flies again to you.

So there are two arcs - one before the bounce and one after the bounce.

What you need to do is to imagine that your racquet is somehow connected with the ball. And when the ball is flying in it's first arc (before the bounce) you need to follow it with your racquet.

The closer the ball gets to the bounce point, the more it "pushes" your racquet back.

So you move your racquet back in harmony with the incoming ball.

After the ball bounces, you will automatically move your racquet forward at the right moment.

Practice following the ball with your take back move and you'll notice you have more time to set up and hit the ball.

Enjoy your game!


Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TM: Hitting the ball in front - the ego and the inner game approach

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Here's a situation from one of my lessons: a player with an extreme western forehand grip wants to improve his forehand.

We've been working around 1 hour per week for the last 2 years. He has made good progress (that's why he still comes back to the lessons I guess :) but his forehand still lacks consistency.

Now we have discussed the inner game approach many times and he is now aware that when is thinking he cannot hit the ball well.

So today I reminded him again that he should hit the ball more in front since his extreme grip needs a much more in-front contact point than a regular forehand.

"Just meet the ball when it's coming to you - don't wait for it - and find your most comfortable contact point." - This is what I told him.

Here's what he understood and tried to achieve:

• He focused on his body rotation and tried to rotate earlier to get the ball more in front.
• He focused on his arm to move it more in front so that he'll be able to hit the ball there.
• He focused on starting his swing earlier so that he would be able to hit the ball more in front.

(He explained this to me after the lesson…)

So he was trying all these things without even me instructing him on that. It was just his (Self 1) idea on how to hit the ball more in front.

Obviously his timing was very off because of all that thinking and he made many mistakes.

I felt somehow that he was trying too much so I stopped playing and mentioned once again that he should just focus on the SPACE in front of him and hit the ball there.

HOW his body will achieve that IS NOT HIS PROBLEM.

Luckily - the word SPACE went through his Self 1 defense and he now focused on hitting THE BALL more in front and he wasn't giving commands to his body anymore.

The results were beautiful - consistent, similar looking shots with good rhythm and pace.

And as soon as he tried to be in control again of what was happening he lost it again.

When I observe these situations I wonder - perhaps this game is "designed" is such a way, that it teaches us to trust our intuition and lose the ego. Perhaps there is much more meaning in playing tennis than just hitting a yellow ball into a big rectangle…


Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TM: Those "Easy" Sitters

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

Just two short questions to question your logic :)

Are sitters easy shots?

Then why do we see so many missed ones?

If they were really easy, we would see one missed sitter in a week. But in reality we see many missed sitters in one match.

Decide for yourself whether sitters are really easy shots.

Enjoy your game!


Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TM: Two handed backhand tips

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

I've recently had a lesson with a club player who had some problems with his two-handed backhand. Let me explain his problems:

1. He was gripping the racquet too tightly, his arms were too tense.


2. Most of the power for his backhand came from his right hand – instead of his left hand and left side of the body.


3. He didn't follow through-long enough in the direction of his shot. Instead he moved across his body and away from the ball with the racquet, finishing above his opposite shoulder.


4. His shots landed short as a consequence of his problems, and he also used a lot of energy to play his backhand.

Here's what we worked on:

1. First he needed to become aware of his tension. When he was, he relaxed a little.


2. He became aware that his left arm was leading the shot and that it should follow the direction of the ball longer.


3. He exhaled while hitting the ball to help him become more relaxed and hit more fluidly.


4. He focused on the word "fast" instead of "hard". Thinking about hitting the ball hard tenses your muscles. Not good.


5. He adjusted his level of trying: he said that in his opinion his backhand was a level 6 if he rated it from 1 to 10. So he focused on playing his backhand as a level 6 and 7.

After 20 minutes he felt that he could hit a long ball with a lot less effort and a lot more control. And remember – this is not the end. We'll be working on his backhand at least 3 -5 more hours before it will become a little more automatic.

Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

TM: How to solve problems with your strokes or any other area in the game of tennis (or life)

By Tomaz Mencinger
TennisMindGame.com

If you are one of those players who sometimes (or often) talk to their strokes like this: "My serve sucks, my backhand is really bad, I hate my volley, my overhead is so weak..." and you are stuck on how to improve it, then this article will be a big help. (If you actually apply the info.)

Let's say that it's your backhand that "sucks" or is "really bad." Now imagine that this backhand is a person. And that this person is you.

How would you feel if someone who was really closely connected to you would say to you that "You suck and you are really bad."

Not really good.

Now here is the key question: "WOULD YOU COOPERATE WITH THE PERSON WHO SAID THAT, WITH YOUR TOTAL EFFORT AND COMMITMENT?"

NO.

I'm sure you wouldn't. You would do the least you had to, just to get by. Or you might even sabotage them once in a while just to get even.

This is exactly what is happening with your stroke. You are having such a negative attitude towards your stroke that it either

• won't help you because it doesn't believe in itself since you don't (and you are obviously the boss!)
• won't help because you are unfair to it - maybe the backhand is doing it's best to improve but just can't do so as fast as you want and won't help you just to get even.

How would you want to be talked to if you had problems like the one your stroke has?

Encouraging? Supportive? Believing in you?

Change your attitude towards your strokes and they will change and start cooperating with you.

But remember - if you have had a bad attitude towards your stroke for quite a while, it may take quite a while to forgive you. Be patient and acknowledge your mistake.

You'll soon be a best friend with your stroke and enjoy the game to its fullest.

You and your (formerly "bad") stroke will be an invincible doubles team - that's what doubles is all about. Friendship, support and belief - no matter what happens.

Enjoy the game!

Copyright 2006, Tomaz Mencinger -- all rights reserved worldwide

Tomaz Mencinger is the author of The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners and an athletic consultant who works with nationally ranked juniors at the Benc Sport tennis club in Ljubljana, Slovenia.