One of them is that they don't transition what they learn in the coaching training in practice over into Matchplay. Or don't simulate proper matchplay conditions in practice and just hit the ball aimlessly around with no pressure for when I was coached by former a Bolliteri coach who now coaches nationals the coach would simulate proper matchplay scoring pressure situations on the court in training and then we carry that from the training over into our matchplay so when the players go off to play real matches they won't be like a fish all out of the water being fearful of the scoreboard and can't deal with the intensity of pressure and heat in matches and choke.
Amazing video Nic ! Great tips and suggestions to deal with the nervousness of a tennis match in the best way. I love it when people talk about the mental game, because I think too little is said. I always give this example: imagine that you are training with your best friend where everything is going well, in a natural and relaxed way. Now imagine that you are going to play a game (as soon as you say that word, many feel a knot) and that your performance is exactly the same as when you train, what happened is that you would win many times more. When we go to make a match 4 things usually happen: 1 - you don't look at the ball as well as you should. 2 - you stop moving so well, your legs feel heavier, etc., etc. 3 - you stop breathing in the best way. 4 - you care more about the result than the process.
I like your point about doubles partners. The ones that are bossy usually lead you to playing worse, especially for players at the improver stage. Likewise partners who don’t compliment you or avoid eye contact are not fun to play with and don’t inspire confidence. Positively communicating with your partner is massively important in doubles. The renowned doubles coach Louis Cayer advocates the 3 second rule. That is that partners should meet each other, tap rackets or touch hands etc within 3 seconds after the point has ended.
I think one of the biggest things I’ve seen in transitioning lower level juniors to higher level juniors is a lack of realistic assessment and expectations of their levels both by coaches and by the students themselves. I think many students experience a practice session or even a part of their practice session at a certain level, and think “this is my true level - with complete focus, I can always play here” . Often times they are assessing this at 100% energy or flat out ignoring major red flags, and their mental model of who they are as a player is based off their 90-100% level when you are actual going to play most matches at 60-75% of your best. Then when they go out and try to do the same thing in a tournament, they are disappointed because they didn’t have an accurate perception of what they are able to do in the first place. It creates an endless loop of unrealized potential because they are not actually working with what they have. This for me was a big hindrance for me and I see this with juniors trying to leave the sectional level quite often.
NEVER EVER be bossy or negative in dubs. Your job is to help observe and problem solve -(" this opponent is getting jammed on backhand, she's late coming in on drop shots, her forehand returns all go wide, if you get pushed, I'm covering the middle" etc) - you don't coach. You hype your partner. And singles is another beast - it's SOOOO mentally tough. I found Brad Gilbert's book about managing the scoreboard helpful - 30/30 is crucial - you have to refuse to lose that point and get to 40/30 first. And games. 3-all is crucial. Get to 4-3 first.
10:00 One way to deal with pushers is to invite them play doubles with you. Now, all of a sudden, you have the pusher on your side, which should help you appreciate and respect their game more. Next time you play single against another pusher, you won't put yourself under any pressure where you "should be able to win against him", which makes your game play likely better as well.
Pushers are horrible at doubles. They're poor net players overall and don't have the reflexes and coordination required for fast-paced game of doubles. Beating pushers requires extreme patience. Keep developing yourself and don't fall into the trap of pushing back to them in response. Keep building your shots, and taking the losses to them initially until the day comes you'll see the light come out and you'll blow them away on the court with ease and at will.
Hi Nikola, The person you are describing in the first example is “me”, but the reasons you give for losing are not why I lose. I lack consistency and lose focus. I try to end long rallies and often make mistakes. This is particularly true when I play pushers. It is mental!!! Your video on playing pushers, has helped me somewhat, but I still end up losing more matches (that I could win without much hassle). Good video nevertheless, and I salute your effort in bringing your experience to people like me.
The only way to beat pushers at their game is embracing the grind. Playing a disruptive game helps, going up to the net more, drop shots, slices, short angles... basically take them out of their baseline side to side comfort zone. Oh and embrace suffering too :)
@@leonardoramirez7667 That's if you have the repertoire of all these shots mentioned. Developing those range of shots takes years of constant practice to be able to use them in match-type scenarios
I actually play better when others are watching. I feel like I keep my swing speed up, like in practice, and if I miss, it's not as embarrassing as pushing the ball back, bc it was the best that I could do
With me, the irony is the more hungry I am to win the tighter I play. I noticed when my mind is ready to quit and go home I play some of my best relaxed tennis because I've let go of all expectations.
Yup that's the mentality to play, but yeah . . . easy to know but dam hard to do, I know first hand as I'm a singles club player too🤣🤣 went through this too
For me it is example number 2. Playing in front of large group instead of off in a back court is very bothersome for me and I can’t seem to shake it off and just play normally.
I totally agree to your reasons. Looking at my own struggles, I sometimes tend to stop moving my feet the way you call it "play with high intensity". The lack of movement results in way more unforced errors. And more of those result in a decrease of confidence. I can fix that problem more or less once I observe it by more movement. The other issue is a stiff wrist in match situations. It doesn't hurt my forehand dramatically, but my serve, my volleys and especially my one handed backhand. I lose all the trust to my top spin backhand and switch to slice only that is partly working with that stiff wrist. As of now, I don't have a solution to relax my wrist. So it's a huge challenge to progress to the next level (my goal is a level comparable to the US NTRP 4.5).
I seem to be getting worse and worse. I played a match the other week and could barely get a serve in. I had to resort to a easy to return slice serve. Everything after that went right down the toilet. I wasn't feeling any noticeable tension at the beginning of the match. My opponent wasn't really that good. He was actually fairly new at tennis and was very basic but consistent. When he saw me falling apart he just concentrated on getting it in and watch me demolish myself. It was one of the rare times I wanted to quit a sporting event in the middle. A large part of my sad match was me not playing for a week prior to the match(work and life). And, it was my first time on clay-the ball was never where I thought it would be and my slice serve was an easy return on clay.
Clay is very different vs hard. My first clay match a year ago was pretty bad. Do you have clay specific shoes? if not, I highly recommend, night and day. Definitely slices may not bite so much. And, it is a world fact that we usually play less well with a worst opponent, and more if you are thinking you should beat him and that he's not that good. The ego, our ego, ends up beating us pretty bad . So don't feel that bad, it's happened to millions. My advice in this situations is force yourself to play intense, Nick advices the same. Hope this helps!
I feel you. It's so painful and depressing when this happens. I've so wanted to quit... But I love the game too much and I'm sure you do too. I do have depression and anxiety and I think meditation and mindfulness will help with both that and my tennis... Good luck and keep at it! It'll get better.
over estimating yes and under estimating is another issue as you can go in too confident this effects you play, the numerical results mean very little considering different styles of play have a huge impact and this is something that cannot be characterised by numerical figures.
The scenario: a pusher, pushing. And me mantaining my intensity and effort at the beginning, hitting the ball, but not a winner. And every ball keep returning slow, low (slice) and me still intense. At some point my mind says: you don't have all that physical prep, so or you stop spending energy or you hit a winner. Result: loss of intensity, or lots of unforced trying to hit the line. Even a battle of pushers - that I already tried, failed. How to deal with it?
Hi Nick! My problem right now is…. I get cramps on crucial Moments of the game, I entered a tournament Right now and we lost Coz I got cramps in the 10th game. We were up 7-5 and never bounced back Coz I can’t serve at 100%
Hey, I saw a lot of videos reviewing the new wilson racquet line, SHIFT, can you make a review on that one? Because I heard so many people like it, I just want to know your opinion on the racquet cause I want to buy a new one :) peace
When i play against ball machine I hit like roger Federer . When I’m in real match I hit like ana . LOL . It’s mind boggling . It’s like I have no clue how to hit the ball anymore in a match
I played 2 sets of the most horrific tennis today, the guy I played hasn’t played in many years (20 years), he’s 35, I’m 33 but have been grinding away since I started playing in November.. he continuously pushed the ball back, a lot dropping on the lines after stretching for it, so lucky as hell but I just could not put the ball away and then I began hitting 1 unforced error after another 2-6, 3-6… I honestly wanted to smash the sh*t outta my racket.. sadly I know that fatigue cripples me pretty bad and also having had a pretty bad ankle injury 9weeks ago means I can’t play unless I use a brace but hell… tennis is addictive and it’s summer 😂
Sometimes an opponent can be particularly annoying. I knew one player who could aggravate his opponents by teasing them -- by pretending to hit a shot that was going out -- but instead of going out it would end up landing just a foot or two inside the line. He would do this over and over again. There's no rule against doing that (I even asked about it). Then there was another guy who, if I hit a good shot to one corner to set up a winner on the next shot to the other corner -- he would run back as soon as he finished his return without even waiting to see whether my next shot would go to the other side. But the time I hit my next shot, my opening for a winner was gone. Normally, this would be considered a foolish way to play, as it would quickly tire a person out -- but instead improving his tennis skills he developed his legs so that he could keep doing that for entire match!
For another guy, just sometimes hit behind him (opposite of where he's running) for the surprise winner to break his ankles. Always keep him guessing so he can't always run to the other side. If he moves too early you'll know where to hit, or even hit some drop shots. Works dam well for me cheers 🙂
Nikola… You really produce quality videos. Bravo! Enjoyed your podcast with the Tennisnerd…. Two question: how old is your oldest student? And, what is that white racquet you are using? Hope you are doing well… ciao, John
Nikola: should we be coming to matches with recently strung rackets? Or is that something we shouldn’t concern ourselves with? If I’ve hit with each of my 3 rackets for 3-4 session (2 hours each) do I need to consider if my gear is consistent enough for competition?
I’m sure it’s in my head… but I swear those Penn USTA league balls are mushy. I suspect it’s just a new ball is unfamiliar. But when I hit those things I notice them in a way I don’t notice other balls.
Subscribe!! I’d hate for you to miss what’s coming in the next few months 🔥🔥
One of them is that they don't transition what they learn in the coaching training in practice over into Matchplay. Or don't simulate proper matchplay conditions in practice and just hit the ball aimlessly around with no pressure for when I was coached by former a Bolliteri coach who now coaches nationals the coach would simulate proper matchplay scoring pressure situations on the court in training and then we carry that from the training over into our matchplay so when the players go off to play real matches they won't be like a fish all out of the water being fearful of the scoreboard and can't deal with the intensity of pressure and heat in matches and choke.
Amazing video Nic !
Great tips and suggestions to deal with the nervousness of a tennis match in the best way.
I love it when people talk about the mental game, because I think too little is said.
I always give this example: imagine that you are training with your best friend where everything is going well, in a natural and relaxed way. Now imagine that you are going to play a game (as soon as you say that word, many feel a knot) and that your performance is exactly the same as when you train, what happened is that you would win many times more.
When we go to make a match 4 things usually happen:
1 - you don't look at the ball as well as you should.
2 - you stop moving so well, your legs feel heavier, etc., etc.
3 - you stop breathing in the best way.
4 - you care more about the result than the process.
I like your point about doubles partners. The ones that are bossy usually lead you to playing worse, especially for players at the improver stage. Likewise partners who don’t compliment you or avoid eye contact are not fun to play with and don’t inspire confidence. Positively communicating with your partner is massively important in doubles. The renowned doubles coach Louis Cayer advocates the 3 second rule. That is that partners should meet each other, tap rackets or touch hands etc within 3 seconds after the point has ended.
I think one of the biggest things I’ve seen in transitioning lower level juniors to higher level juniors is a lack of realistic assessment and expectations of their levels both by coaches and by the students themselves. I think many students experience a practice session or even a part of their practice session at a certain level, and think “this is my true level - with complete focus, I can always play here” . Often times they are assessing this at 100% energy or flat out ignoring major red flags, and their mental model of who they are as a player is based off their 90-100% level when you are actual going to play most matches at 60-75% of your best. Then when they go out and try to do the same thing in a tournament, they are disappointed because they didn’t have an accurate perception of what they are able to do in the first place. It creates an endless loop of unrealized potential because they are not actually working with what they have. This for me was a big hindrance for me and I see this with juniors trying to leave the sectional level quite often.
NEVER EVER be bossy or negative in dubs. Your job is to help observe and problem solve -(" this opponent is getting jammed on backhand, she's late coming in on drop shots, her forehand returns all go wide, if you get pushed, I'm covering the middle" etc) - you don't coach. You hype your partner. And singles is another beast - it's SOOOO mentally tough. I found Brad Gilbert's book about managing the scoreboard helpful - 30/30 is crucial - you have to refuse to lose that point and get to 40/30 first. And games. 3-all is crucial. Get to 4-3 first.
10:00 One way to deal with pushers is to invite them play doubles with you. Now, all of a sudden, you have the pusher on your side, which should help you appreciate and respect their game more. Next time you play single against another pusher, you won't put yourself under any pressure where you "should be able to win against him", which makes your game play likely better as well.
Pushers are horrible at doubles. They're poor net players overall and don't have the reflexes and coordination required for fast-paced game of doubles.
Beating pushers requires extreme patience. Keep developing yourself and don't fall into the trap of pushing back to them in response. Keep building your shots, and taking the losses to them initially until the day comes you'll see the light come out and you'll blow them away on the court with ease and at will.
Hi Nikola, The person you are describing in the first example is “me”, but the reasons you give for losing are not why I lose. I lack consistency and lose focus. I try to end long rallies and often make mistakes. This is particularly true when I play pushers. It is mental!!! Your video on playing pushers, has helped me somewhat, but I still end up losing more matches (that I could win without much hassle). Good video nevertheless, and I salute your effort in bringing your experience to people like me.
The only way to beat pushers at their game is embracing the grind. Playing a disruptive game helps, going up to the net more, drop shots, slices, short angles... basically take them out of their baseline side to side comfort zone. Oh and embrace suffering too :)
@@leonardoramirez7667 That's if you have the repertoire of all these shots mentioned. Developing those range of shots takes years of constant practice to be able to use them in match-type scenarios
Good stuff
Awesome info
All true
Thank you
🔥
I actually play better when others are watching. I feel like I keep my swing speed up, like in practice, and if I miss, it's not as embarrassing as pushing the ball back, bc it was the best that I could do
Me too. The higher the stakes, the more I focus.
With me, the irony is the more hungry I am to win the tighter I play. I noticed when my mind is ready to quit and go home I play some of my best relaxed tennis because I've let go of all expectations.
Yup that's the mentality to play, but yeah . . . easy to know but dam hard to do, I know first hand as I'm a singles club player too🤣🤣 went through this too
We all have strong & weak points. You hit all my weak points, which is good. Focus on amping up the weak parts of my matches. Thanks for this video.
🔥 keep improving
For me it is example number 2. Playing in front of large group instead of off in a back court is very bothersome for me and I can’t seem to shake it off and just play normally.
I totally agree to your reasons.
Looking at my own struggles, I sometimes tend to stop moving my feet the way you call it "play with high intensity". The lack of movement results in way more unforced errors. And more of those result in a decrease of confidence.
I can fix that problem more or less once I observe it by more movement.
The other issue is a stiff wrist in match situations. It doesn't hurt my forehand dramatically, but my serve, my volleys and especially my one handed backhand. I lose all the trust to my top spin backhand and switch to slice only that is partly working with that stiff wrist.
As of now, I don't have a solution to relax my wrist. So it's a huge challenge to progress to the next level (my goal is a level comparable to the US NTRP 4.5).
People often mistake the feeling of not being relaxed with the relaxation of the wrist
th-cam.com/video/-kclVGWgIVo/w-d-xo.html
Hi Nik, love your channel! Can you please make a video about Mouratoglou's concept of the dominant eye? Would love to hear your opinion about that!
I seem to be getting worse and worse. I played a match the other week and could barely get a serve in. I had to resort to a easy to return slice serve. Everything after that went right down the toilet. I wasn't feeling any noticeable tension at the beginning of the match. My opponent wasn't really that good. He was actually fairly new at tennis and was very basic but consistent. When he saw me falling apart he just concentrated on getting it in and watch me demolish myself. It was one of the rare times I wanted to quit a sporting event in the middle.
A large part of my sad match was me not playing for a week prior to the match(work and life). And, it was my first time on clay-the ball was never where I thought it would be and my slice serve was an easy return on clay.
maybe youre going through some dark times, depression and anxiety affects a LOT playing tennis.
Clay is very different vs hard. My first clay match a year ago was pretty bad. Do you have clay specific shoes? if not, I highly recommend, night and day. Definitely slices may not bite so much. And, it is a world fact that we usually play less well with a worst opponent, and more if you are thinking you should beat him and that he's not that good. The ego, our ego, ends up beating us pretty bad . So don't feel that bad, it's happened to millions. My advice in this situations is force yourself to play intense, Nick advices the same. Hope this helps!
I feel you. It's so painful and depressing when this happens. I've so wanted to quit... But I love the game too much and I'm sure you do too. I do have depression and anxiety and I think meditation and mindfulness will help with both that and my tennis... Good luck and keep at it! It'll get better.
@@hannynnahI was one day on medication for depression and I never felt so calm and confident on court. Side effects threw me away from taking it.
over estimating yes and under estimating is another issue as you can go in too confident this effects you play, the numerical results mean very little considering different styles of play have a huge impact and this is something that cannot be characterised by numerical figures.
The scenario: a pusher, pushing. And me mantaining my intensity and effort at the beginning, hitting the ball, but not a winner. And every ball keep returning slow, low (slice) and me still intense. At some point my mind says: you don't have all that physical prep, so or you stop spending energy or you hit a winner. Result: loss of intensity, or lots of unforced trying to hit the line. Even a battle of pushers - that I already tried, failed. How to deal with it?
This is so common when players play worse in matches than practice.
I agree, I don't trust ranking at all, once I see through that, I just focus on myself
Hi Nick!
My problem right now is….
I get cramps on crucial
Moments of the game,
I entered a tournament
Right now and we lost
Coz I got cramps in the
10th game. We were up
7-5 and never bounced back
Coz I can’t serve at 100%
Hydrate prior to match starting
Hey, I saw a lot of videos reviewing the new wilson racquet line, SHIFT, can you make a review on that one? Because I heard so many people like it, I just want to know your opinion on the racquet cause I want to buy a new one :) peace
When i play against ball machine I hit like roger Federer . When I’m in real match I hit like ana . LOL . It’s mind boggling . It’s like I have no clue how to hit the ball anymore in a match
Biss und Ehrgeiz! ♥ plus: grinding 🥰
💯
I played 2 sets of the most horrific tennis today, the guy I played hasn’t played in many years (20 years), he’s 35, I’m 33 but have been grinding away since I started playing in November.. he continuously pushed the ball back, a lot dropping on the lines after stretching for it, so lucky as hell but I just could not put the ball away and then I began hitting 1 unforced error after another 2-6, 3-6… I honestly wanted to smash the sh*t outta my racket.. sadly I know that fatigue cripples me pretty bad and also having had a pretty bad ankle injury 9weeks ago means I can’t play unless I use a brace but hell… tennis is addictive and it’s summer 😂
Improve weaknesses and try again 🙌
Sometimes an opponent can be particularly annoying. I knew one player who could aggravate his opponents by teasing them -- by pretending to hit a shot that was going out -- but instead of going out it would end up landing just a foot or two inside the line. He would do this over and over again. There's no rule against doing that (I even asked about it).
Then there was another guy who, if I hit a good shot to one corner to set up a winner on the next shot to the other corner -- he would run back as soon as he finished his return without even waiting to see whether my next shot would go to the other side. But the time I hit my next shot, my opening for a winner was gone. Normally, this would be considered a foolish way to play, as it would quickly tire a person out -- but instead improving his tennis skills he developed his legs so that he could keep doing that for entire match!
For another guy, just sometimes hit behind him (opposite of where he's running) for the surprise winner to break his ankles. Always keep him guessing so he can't always run to the other side. If he moves too early you'll know where to hit, or even hit some drop shots. Works dam well for me cheers 🙂
Nikola… You really produce quality videos. Bravo! Enjoyed your podcast with the Tennisnerd…. Two question: how old is your oldest student? And, what is that white racquet you are using? Hope you are doing well… ciao, John
th-cam.com/video/6KcGbjmSYcQ/w-d-xo.html
Podcast with tennisnerd? Where is the link bro?
@@golllaur th-cam.com/video/TDh8uV2EJe0/w-d-xo.html
Nik…. Great stuff… now, what is the white racquet you are using? Shift? White Out?
@@johnnacke4134 it's babolat pure drive with the paint job. Strings are kirshbaum super smash, not sure about the gauge tho
Because this is how you learn you actually aren't as great at playing as you like to believe.
Matches are the real test 💯
Nikola: should we be coming to matches with recently strung rackets? Or is that something we shouldn’t concern ourselves with? If I’ve hit with each of my 3 rackets for 3-4 session (2 hours each) do I need to consider if my gear is consistent enough for competition?
th-cam.com/video/aTFZZhS8XqA/w-d-xo.html
Me, I over think and get really tight.
I’m sure it’s in my head… but I swear those Penn USTA league balls are mushy.
I suspect it’s just a new ball is unfamiliar. But when I hit those things I notice them in a way I don’t notice other balls.
Biss und Ehrgeiz hab ich ;)
💪
Is it possible to perform better at matches compared to practice tho?
Sure I am way more motivated in matches too
“We taking bout practice”
Yes I turn up several levels when it comes to match time and play my best.
@gollaur For sure, but not as common as the other way around
No mention of going into the match with a game plan.
All mental. Same with me.
I only have one reason….the other guy was better.
Ho Ho Ho buddy you are around 40 so - 30 years experience teaching??? So you start teaching tennis of age of 10 really??? 🥸
He's around 45, and yeah his father was a famous coach so he had a lot of clientele early on