So tonight I'm playing my match and I am so bad about what you said regarding overthinking technique as the main thinking point since I changed my forehand technique recently. I only play once a week and I use this match play (league) to practice. But tonight...I'm like, stop, you are playing a match to win. No more technique thoghts. I only focused on the match, the play, the ball coming at me, picking the shot, not what I WANT to hit. I was down 2-4, and this video kicked in. I relaxed, fixated on the incoming ball, just hit cleanly, good depth, no winners, just quality balls and placement. I won 8-6 - I ran 5 straight games before he adjusted to my changes. It was simple. This felt so good.
I'd love to see a full video on managing your body/nutrition and eating. I come from a bodybuilding background and have a good idea of how to eat to cut bodyfat/slow bulk etc but I don't know how to eat for tennis other than increase my carbs before & after a match.
Same, I’ve actually been wanting to learn how tennis players are able to eat enough in order to not lose weight with all the training going on. I’m also trying to find a balance between working out and playing tennis without one affecting the other’s performance.
Lol you don't need some special diet to play tennis well. Djok is a pescetarian, fed likes pasta, nalbadian had 10kg excess fat and still beat Nadal, fed and djok in the same tournament.
A singles tennis match is an endurance event with bouts of high intensity. So carbs are king! Quality, complex carbs before the match. Easily digestable, quick acting simple carbs during the game and then carbs and protein after the game for recovery. In any weather water is a must but in hot weather, water + electrolytes are key because the sweat rate in a hot concrete court is so much higher because there is no cooling since you are still most of the time and the surface amplifies the heat.
I loved what you said about making matches a normalization of your tennis routine. In every match, I look to improve just one fundamental thing (intense footwork, watching the ball, swinging out), and I'm happy, win or lose.
I wish I knew this when I started but it took about 50+ tournament matches and so many losses before I didn't care anymore. I did care about playing well, and hitting well, but the result, I stopped caring - granted I always tried to win, you are supposed to right? THEN I started winning lots of matches. I had normalized. And winning didn't really mean that much at that point either. Sure it's fun, but I just like playing matches and not being tight thinking too much.
I struggle a bit with my conditioning in matches, so it would be nice to see how you as a pro make sure, that your body is in the right position for a match. Like to see your fitness plan or special exercise would be amazing!
Played my first competition for 10 years today and it was a disaster! Been practicing great,even points, but when it mattered I fell apart. I really need to implement your advice!
Yeah, it hurts. Especially when you know that your technique was much better than his. But at the end of the day.... Let's try to stick to Karue advice and pick the tools that are reliable during the match (we may not know what those are in advance). And by using those tools we need to concentrate only on one thing - make opponent to feel as uncomfortable as possible. After the game we can concentrate again on our own mistakes and work on them, but only during the trainings. That's how I see it now.
Amazing advice. Point 3 is me. I love training but have had less time to play matches in the last few years and it’s hard to get back. I know I give too much importance to matches because I don’t play enough. Need to have reasonable expectations and play more to get the nerves out. Great video!!!
“Normalizing” match play. Love it! I struggled so much with this in high school to the point where I had anxiety going into matches. It got so bad I quit tennis after my senior year and never thought about playing college.
Great video Karue. Love the advice of normalizing matches. Management of body has become #1 for me at 30 years old. Hard to have a high level with low fitness.
after watching this video I started realizing what I should be strategizing for my match, this video helped me get more calmer and not overthink while playing
Took your advice about pace the other day, and then watched this yesterday. Just had my best tennis match ever! The best guy in my league group who's beat everyone and we had a super even game. He won it having a mental edge on advantage points but it was super enjoyable. I just forgot about technique and told myself to focus on the ball. Thanks Karue.
Karue, thank you for this video. Yesterday, I had a second tennis match where I had been down 0-5* in the third set and ended up losing 4-6. I actually feel great about these losses because I’m proving to myself that my mental competitiveness is growing. I started playing matches six weeks ago after taking weekly group lessons and playing recreationally for almost a year. It felt so scary and nerve-wrecking to be actually under pressure - I lost the first set in my first ever match 0-6. Yikes. Looking forward to more videos!
Reg. getting beaten by "pushers": Whilst I mostly agree with your comment that being beaten by a "pusher" means he is the better player, I do think there is a broader lesson to be learnt, esp. in the context of training vs match play. Ime, most players that complain about "pushers" do not acknowledge the (technical) difficulty of the balls pushers produce: f.inst. high trajectory and low pace, often the result of a slice, or short and low bouncing balls. This moves you front-to-back, often keeping the ball outside of your comfort zone, and more often than not, there is little-to-no forward momentum on the ball (f.inst. a high BH slice), which means you have to inject the pace, similar to hitting hand-fed balls. Often, when taking the time to objectively assess such a match, I've come to the conclusion that it is the "pusher" that is in command of the rally, even though he/she might lack pace. Better players acknowledge this is is difficult; just look at how intense pro-player movement is on short balls. Imo, this is where the problems lies, when losing to "pushers": you're using your current skill set again regular TS players to assess your skill set against a "pusher", but you haven't trained (enough) on these types of balls, and you're not patient enough to offset this lack of skills. These skills and situations need to be trained a lot before you are able to consistently win over "pushers", but most prefer to hit big TS from the baseline when training. Are you comfortable hitting chest height (or above) approach shots or winners from the service line, when running from the baseline on a ball with backspin and no pace? If not, why are you consistently giving your opponent the opportunity to setting up this shot? Aso.
Please keep on putting stuff like this out, Karue. You're so absolutely right. The "don't like competing," the "you think you're better than them because you hit 2 or 3 better balls in a rally," all of it. Especially good reminder to us that the best use of the mental energy during a slog of a match is not on our technique. It is so easy to have a couple of things inexplicably not working one day, and to then let that lead to poor competing, which is actually the true cause of the loss. A lot of what you said in this video sounded like "remember that winning ugly is winning."
One thing that I find helpful is to start the match off like I practice, by trying to rally more up the middle with good pace for a couple games. Kinda have the mindset that the game is just an extension of the warmup. Then once you’ve worked up a lather you’re ready to start working angles and creating winners.
I really like the advice to identify and play only with the tools that you have on a given day and not to worry about the ones that aren't in optimal condition. I've been thinking about this for several days and find it just super solid life advice for dealing with any problems in general (and dealing with your dealing of those problems). Nice video.
This is awesome! Thank you so much. Many things rang true for me, but especially about playing more matches so that each one doesn't feel special!! I needed to hear that!
Mental syntax. How you organize your thoughts. Playing a lot of matches, with same or better players, helps you manage thoughts and shot selection (loop deep ball) at the right time then use opportunity. Not when you only feel like it. That way it's just another match, not a special match.
There is a lot to absorb and digest behind this insightful video. This is a four course meal to delve deeply into these topics. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this - - always nice to get in the mind of a great player
1 October marks my 1 year anniversary of playing tennis. Took a lesson. Didn’t know how to grip the racquet. Took lessons all winter and spring. Played in a league this summer. Record was 2-17. I’m more motivated now than ever. Thanks for this video.
The results will come! This video is a great reminder that the practice court should be seen as an entirely different place than the match court. Best of luck going forward.
This is such a ** GREAT ** video with so many valuable tips. I can use 100% of what you said here it to improve my game. Thank you, can't wait to see part 2.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on mental preparedness prior to the match, how to manage emotions during the match when you either behind or ahead, and also post match mentality on processing victory or defeat.
I've been following your videos for a little while now and this is one of the best (which is saying something!). Such brilliant advice, especially on the mental side of things. Would love more on that.
at a high level the game becomes mostly mental. I played my first match in a very long time against an equally skilled opponent with great form and consistency and this gave me performance anxiety that made me quickly lose the first two games. I decided I was fine with losing, but I was not okay with losing because I was too pussy to attack the ball with confidence. The moment I made that mental switch my game improved and my opponent then was the one to get nervous and he started to totally crumble. I bet him easily 6-2, 6-1 after that. We’re equally matched in terms of ability but I had better composure.
when I was giving lessons, I felt like my students were great at rallying then couldn't find the court in competitive play (drop feed games nor playing out a set). i created a "game" where we do 3 rally balls without keeping score/nobody can hit a winner, then a drop-feed game to 5. the catch is, if they out rally me in the rally part (ie, I messed up first) they got a bonus point for the rally game. it helped a lot of my students be able to play like they warmed up a lot better.
Great fundamental tips Karue. Especially reminders the ball always dictates, recognize opponent is making quality shots too (their objective same as ours to make us uncomfortable) and respect the best shot might be less paced/higher shaped neutralizer. And your advice interspersed with some of your complex taxing rallies (against Giron, point construction we'll rarely approximate) brought your points home. I feel i manage emotions fairly well except when Big Mo against me (like a wave that serves to deflate the spirit and cloud the mind). Maybe discuss how to manage against Mo to get back on track?
One point at a time. I like to focus on just putting together good points. Mixing up pace and spin. Mixing up serves too to see what the other player can handle. Sometimes 4 or 5 medium paced balls are better than 1 or 2 hard hit shots and vice versa. Some days it best to just get it in with spin and some days you gotta swing away with cofidence
Emotions are key for me, I get far to passive just keeping the ball in and pushing it around. I have to go in with a positive mindset - that I am looking for the chance to pull the trigger, not every shot but the purpose of pushing it around is to get a weak ball, and when I get it I will attack and not worry. Last match but one I was in was 3-3 and we had to stop for a while due to rain, inside a coach was talking about another player who he was looking at and just didn't have that killer shot so was never going anywhere. I decided he wasn't going to be saying that about me. I went back out positively looking for the chances to attack and when I got that ball in the zone I would smack it. I won the next 9 games comfortably, and it wasn't just the rallys, my serve improved too (won the match with an ace). So much of match play is in the mind - that mix of being positive, going for it when you have the chance and not worrying if you miss, but equally not being reckless and just trying to hit low % highlight reel shots.
It would be amazing to learn your training routine outside of tennis. For example, what do you do or I can do to keep your fitness level? to improve feet work? to improve resistance or flexibility? It would be great for me to train those things outside of a tennis court as one is not always available. Great channel by the way!!
Awesome tips and alot of fruit for thought. I actually took notes. I am one of those "dang pusher beat me" guys, haha but, I see that they just work the court better and maybe i shouldn't try to define my opponents but "manage" my own game a bit more... TY
Great channel! Your videos are very different than other tennis videos I could find on internet, keep up the good work! I'm a 5ish player, and I have a challenge that I'd love if you could address as well. My body warms up very late and my shots are way off as I pick up a racquet and go to the court. Hitting 10 mins, stress free, and I would be back to my normal level. However, before the match (club/tournament), I usually don't get the time to warm up properly and that's why I am always behind at the beginning of the first set. So far, nobody has been able to give a tip or a practice routine to resolve this. i guess I have a weak muscle memory!
Learn to play well when you have bad days and you'll win more than you think. I think Pete Sampras said something to this effect. Learn to play an effective serve for the days when your "Good" serve is not working well. Learn a style of play that works when your feet are heavy and so on. If you play a lot of tennis you're gonna see you have more off days than perfect days. Perfect days are rare and sometimes that perfect form doesn't even last for the whole match. Maybe it lasts for a set or less. So learn how to play with your tools at 75% and win and you'll have a much better time on court. If you wait for the planets to align so everything works at 100% you're going to do a lot fo waiting.
Hey Karue...Great insight as always...I wish your channel was available when I was playing high school in late 70's but you weren't even born I'm sure..lol...stubborn is my word of day that stood out...im gonna rip that down the line over and over during a match cuz I practiced it was my stubborn mindset to a loss...so funny to think about it now...thank you...gonna be at bnp?...do a clinic or would love to say hello in person...cheers
would love to hear as much as you're willing to say on body management. I've started eating a lot more during matches and it has helped enormously but i'm just sorta feeling my way through it. would love to hear about food, warm up, whatever.
Will do! I try to stick to subjects I am more knowledgeable here on the channel, so I tend to avoid fitness and nutrition because each individual is different. But I’ll work on it
@@KaruesellHQ I get that but maybe you could just make it a personal approach since you're not a doctor. could be "how I prepare and sustain myself during match play" and then it's just specific to you. i started eating because just seeing all the pros eating rather frequently throughout their matches. little bites like homor simpson eating rations on a raft at sea.
Could you please talk about/give tips for situations where you want to "go for your shot" during match-play? I find that during matches when I get that ball I can rip, especially playing faster/stronger players whose balls have more pace and rarely 'sit' I put to much emphasis on putting it away and I open up the chest or hips too early/hit too flat/take away my own time (over-eager to hit 'in front') with my feet and I hit a sub-par shot. Thanks Karue!! Love the series!
Great video!!! I have one question about winning "ugly". Don't you think that if you don't use your weapons from practice in matches you can end up with result that you will never use them?
I have this problem and i need your help: in my practice sessions i play with quite deflated balls, u know, coaches do not buy new balls every week. When i play in the tournament with new balls, i feel i cannot let it go like in pratice since the ball fly over the fence if i use the same power i used to put in training. It is not a mental issue, it's a feeling issue, since all the sensations are different from practice and match. How can i manage this problem? Do u change your tension between practice and tournament?
You said it yourself. It's a feeling issue. You're just not that familiar with the feel of new balls. An easy fix for that would be to play (more) practice sets/matches with new balls!
@@SaneATgaz i play practice matches regularly with new/decent balls, but this not solve the problem. Practice match has no tension, so i can adapt quickly. In tournament instead my brain want to reproduce the movements learned at lessons and i feel the need to let it go, probably overhitting. Maybe i should rise the tension a lot.
So cool your videos man, But I just realized that you are Brazilian, is that right? I'm Brazilian too, living in Montreal, Canada, and play just a bit, injured for almost a 1 year.
Hi thanks for your advice! I’ve found myself playing matches when I’m always on the run either bc of opponents good placement or drop shots, while my opponent is barely running and have plenty of energy through later games in the match. How can I regain offense when I’m being put in the run? Thanks
Sometimes when there's a lot of pressure i try to relax and Swing slower. However that results en bad hitting or the ball flying. But if I hit normal (like in non pressure situations) I may over hit. I don't know if I explained it properly, but the question is: should we change the swing or speed of the stokes? It is difficult to maintain the same level all the time but the minor different when hitting in those situations affect a lot.
Is it a lot like the sport of boxing? Jabs jabs and jabs just waiting for a mistake, then strike when it's there? The deep ground strokes medium or slow paced down the middle are like the jabs and attacking a short ball is the power punch.
@@KaruesellHQ and sometimes a simple jab well placed is extremely effective. Same with a deep shot in tennis. Or even on a serve, might not have the most power, but we'll placed can set up the next shot.
Hi Karue, great content. I have this problem during my matches this is incredibly frustrating and I'm still not sure how to fix. During practice, my two-handed backhand feels solid and I feel like every shot will go in and I can "feel" very consistent with it. But during a match, sometimes my backhand will completely abandon me and I have zero feeling. It feels like every shot that goes to my backhand will go out. How can I fix this? I even try to remember the good "feeling" of the backhand during practice, but I still cannot flip it like a switch during a match. When my backhand abandons me, it's almost gone the entire match until I get to practice the next day, then suddenly my backhand returns.
Hello, I have been playing tournaments for 3 years and am 12. Though that special feeling is not left yet is there any other advice to get rid of that pressure.
Hi Karue, question for you. will a Head extreme tour nite (brand new) feel the same as a Extreme tour day ( used demo). I have a conundrum hoping you can help figure it out. do brand new rackets have to be " broken in" ?the day one was strung with a 1.30 gauge while the nite (brand new one) was strung with a 1.25 gauge both Lynx Tour. I had been using the demo for a few weeks and the new racket (nite) didnt feel the same.it felt a little lighter and also felt like it was launching the balls too much.( aka too much power)
I have great ground strokes and can probably outhit everyone at my level and even people a little above my level. I finally started to fix my serve in practice and I can serve bombs, but in matches, I literally can’t stop double faulting. So does this come with practice or just more mental training? Just because of that, I’m a 5.8 utr instead of an 8 or 8.5 utr.
You need to manage whats going on during the match. If you're hitting lots of doubles, try to use more spin on the ball; slice or kick serving will help. Hitting bombs looks great on the highlight reel, but if you only get a low percentage in, it hurts you rather than helps you. Tennis is a game of percentages.
@@rishinatarajan2887 And that's what I'm telling you. In matches, you're getting tight. You're not hitting them the same way (otherwise you'd get the same result). I could go into the technical Q&A, such as, is it going long, short, wide, etc. But the quick answer is, if you're constantly making mistakes, how can you fix it in the short term to win the match. That was what my answer was relating to. If you're looking for the long term solution, then yes, we need to look at SPECIFICALLY what is happening. To simply say "I make lots of doubles" isn't enough to be able to tell you the answer to the problem. No amount of psychology can replace good technique in the first instance.
@@bigrobsydney I just open up way too much under pressure on my serve, cause even my groundstrokes are the same as practice but it’s my second serve that is holding me back. I go back to my old bad habits when I’m under pressure.
So tonight I'm playing my match and I am so bad about what you said regarding overthinking technique as the main thinking point since I changed my forehand technique recently. I only play once a week and I use this match play (league) to practice. But tonight...I'm like, stop, you are playing a match to win. No more technique thoghts. I only focused on the match, the play, the ball coming at me, picking the shot, not what I WANT to hit. I was down 2-4, and this video kicked in. I relaxed, fixated on the incoming ball, just hit cleanly, good depth, no winners, just quality balls and placement. I won 8-6 - I ran 5 straight games before he adjusted to my changes. It was simple. This felt so good.
I'd love to see a full video on managing your body/nutrition and eating. I come from a bodybuilding background and have a good idea of how to eat to cut bodyfat/slow bulk etc but I don't know how to eat for tennis other than increase my carbs before & after a match.
Noted! that's actually a great topic!
Same, I’ve actually been wanting to learn how tennis players are able to eat enough in order to not lose weight with all the training going on. I’m also trying to find a balance between working out and playing tennis without one affecting the other’s performance.
Lol you don't need some special diet to play tennis well. Djok is a pescetarian, fed likes pasta, nalbadian had 10kg excess fat and still beat Nadal, fed and djok in the same tournament.
Yes! Great topic being a heavy guy myself..
A singles tennis match is an endurance event with bouts of high intensity. So carbs are king! Quality, complex carbs before the match. Easily digestable, quick acting simple carbs during the game and then carbs and protein after the game for recovery. In any weather water is a must but in hot weather, water + electrolytes are key because the sweat rate in a hot concrete court is so much higher because there is no cooling since you are still most of the time and the surface amplifies the heat.
I loved what you said about making matches a normalization of your tennis routine. In every match, I look to improve just one fundamental thing (intense footwork, watching the ball, swinging out), and I'm happy, win or lose.
I wish I knew this when I started but it took about 50+ tournament matches and so many losses before I didn't care anymore. I did care about playing well, and hitting well, but the result, I stopped caring - granted I always tried to win, you are supposed to right? THEN I started winning lots of matches. I had normalized. And winning didn't really mean that much at that point either. Sure it's fun, but I just like playing matches and not being tight thinking too much.
I struggle a bit with my conditioning in matches, so it would be nice to see how you as a pro make sure, that your body is in the right position for a match. Like to see your fitness plan or special exercise would be amazing!
“The key is to normalize matches…”, soooo true. This is true in many aspects of managing emotions and anxiety.
Played my first competition for 10 years today and it was a disaster! Been practicing great,even points, but when it mattered I fell apart. I really need to implement your advice!
been struggling with this for years - cant get over it.
Yeah, it hurts. Especially when you know that your technique was much better than his. But at the end of the day....
Let's try to stick to Karue advice and pick the tools that are reliable during the match (we may not know what those are in advance). And by using those tools we need to concentrate only on one thing - make opponent to feel as uncomfortable as possible. After the game we can concentrate again on our own mistakes and work on them, but only during the trainings. That's how I see it now.
He called us noobs. Personal attacks hurt Karue; take it easy on us mere mortals. Great video!
😂😂😂
This is one of the best videos on tennis on TH-cam, if not the best. A real coaching, competitive play wisdom. Thank you and please keep it coming.
Thank you for the kind words!
Amazing advice. Point 3 is me. I love training but have had less time to play matches in the last few years and it’s hard to get back. I know I give too much importance to matches because I don’t play enough. Need to have reasonable expectations and play more to get the nerves out. Great video!!!
“Normalizing” match play. Love it! I struggled so much with this in high school to the point where I had anxiety going into matches. It got so bad I quit tennis after my senior year and never thought about playing college.
Your comments are right on! I am playing a match tomorrow and after your video I see it from a different , more relaxed perspective, thank you
Great video Karue. Love the advice of normalizing matches.
Management of body has become #1 for me at 30 years old. Hard to have a high level with low fitness.
after watching this video I started realizing what I should be strategizing for my match, this video helped me get more calmer and not overthink while playing
Took your advice about pace the other day, and then watched this yesterday. Just had my best tennis match ever!
The best guy in my league group who's beat everyone and we had a super even game. He won it having a mental edge on advantage points but it was super enjoyable.
I just forgot about technique and told myself to focus on the ball. Thanks Karue.
That's SO NICE to hear Harry, I'm super glad I could help!
Karue, thank you for this video. Yesterday, I had a second tennis match where I had been down 0-5* in the third set and ended up losing 4-6. I actually feel great about these losses because I’m proving to myself that my mental competitiveness is growing. I started playing matches six weeks ago after taking weekly group lessons and playing recreationally for almost a year. It felt so scary and nerve-wrecking to be actually under pressure - I lost the first set in my first ever match 0-6. Yikes. Looking forward to more videos!
Wonderful analysis and makes it seem so easy!!
Reg. getting beaten by "pushers":
Whilst I mostly agree with your comment that being beaten by a "pusher" means he is the better player, I do think there is a broader lesson to be learnt, esp. in the context of training vs match play.
Ime, most players that complain about "pushers" do not acknowledge the (technical) difficulty of the balls pushers produce: f.inst. high trajectory and low pace, often the result of a slice, or short and low bouncing balls. This moves you front-to-back, often keeping the ball outside of your comfort zone, and more often than not, there is little-to-no forward momentum on the ball (f.inst. a high BH slice), which means you have to inject the pace, similar to hitting hand-fed balls. Often, when taking the time to objectively assess such a match, I've come to the conclusion that it is the "pusher" that is in command of the rally, even though he/she might lack pace.
Better players acknowledge this is is difficult; just look at how intense pro-player movement is on short balls.
Imo, this is where the problems lies, when losing to "pushers": you're using your current skill set again regular TS players to assess your skill set against a "pusher", but you haven't trained (enough) on these types of balls, and you're not patient enough to offset this lack of skills.
These skills and situations need to be trained a lot before you are able to consistently win over "pushers", but most prefer to hit big TS from the baseline when training.
Are you comfortable hitting chest height (or above) approach shots or winners from the service line, when running from the baseline on a ball with backspin and no pace?
If not, why are you consistently giving your opponent the opportunity to setting up this shot?
Aso.
Please keep on putting stuff like this out, Karue. You're so absolutely right. The "don't like competing," the "you think you're better than them because you hit 2 or 3 better balls in a rally," all of it. Especially good reminder to us that the best use of the mental energy during a slog of a match is not on our technique. It is so easy to have a couple of things inexplicably not working one day, and to then let that lead to poor competing, which is actually the true cause of the loss. A lot of what you said in this video sounded like "remember that winning ugly is winning."
That's it! I'm glad I can help!
One thing that I find helpful is to start the match off like I practice, by trying to rally more up the middle with good pace for a couple games. Kinda have the mindset that the game is just an extension of the warmup. Then once you’ve worked up a lather you’re ready to start working angles and creating winners.
That’s a solid strategy. It helps to start the match not making too many unforced errors and lose confidence
I really like the advice to identify and play only with the tools that you have on a given day and not to worry about the ones that aren't in optimal condition. I've been thinking about this for several days and find it just super solid life advice for dealing with any problems in general (and dealing with your dealing of those problems). Nice video.
I see what you mean, you're right, this is a good approach for dealing with problems too!
This is awesome! Thank you so much. Many things rang true for me, but especially about playing more matches so that each one doesn't feel special!! I needed to hear that!
Thank you a lot. Maybe the best video on Tennis strategy I've seen, this really helps me ! Great stuff, please keep on with it.
Mental syntax. How you organize your thoughts. Playing a lot of matches, with same or better players, helps you manage thoughts and shot selection (loop deep ball) at the right time then use opportunity. Not when you only feel like it. That way it's just another match, not a special match.
There is a lot to absorb and digest behind this insightful video. This is a four course meal to delve deeply into these topics. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this - - always nice to get in the mind of a great player
Outstanding video. Best coaching advice yet. Look forward to our next clip. 👍👍👍👍👍
this channel deserves much more attention!
Send it to everyone!
I absolutely love tennis!!! I wish that I knew how much I love tennis when I was in my 20's.
Still time to enjoy it!
1 October marks my 1 year anniversary of playing tennis. Took a lesson. Didn’t know how to grip the racquet. Took lessons all winter and spring. Played in a league this summer. Record was 2-17. I’m more motivated now than ever. Thanks for this video.
The results will come! This video is a great reminder that the practice court should be seen as an entirely different place than the match court. Best of luck going forward.
That's awesome DJP, you sound very motivated! That's the way to go!
This is such a ** GREAT ** video with so many valuable tips. I can use 100% of what you said here it to improve my game. Thank you, can't wait to see part 2.
Glad it was helpful!
I'd love to hear your thoughts on mental preparedness prior to the match, how to manage emotions during the match when you either behind or ahead, and also post match mentality on processing victory or defeat.
Will add this to my video list!
I've been following your videos for a little while now and this is one of the best (which is saying something!). Such brilliant advice, especially on the mental side of things. Would love more on that.
Thanks, we will bring more videos about that mental aspect of tennis!
Timely instruction sir, I needed to hear this. It will be most helpful as I progress through this season! Thanks for the great work as always!
Happy to help!
at a high level the game becomes mostly mental. I played my first match in a very long time against an equally skilled opponent with great form and consistency and this gave me performance anxiety that made me quickly lose the first two games. I decided I was fine with losing, but I was not okay with losing because I was too pussy to attack the ball with confidence. The moment I made that mental switch my game improved and my opponent then was the one to get nervous and he started to totally crumble. I bet him easily 6-2, 6-1 after that. We’re equally matched in terms of ability but I had better composure.
Wow,.....impressive perspective dude!
The doctor is in! 😄 Great video and sage advice Mr. K! 💯
when I was giving lessons, I felt like my students were great at rallying then couldn't find the court in competitive play (drop feed games nor playing out a set). i created a "game" where we do 3 rally balls without keeping score/nobody can hit a winner, then a drop-feed game to 5. the catch is, if they out rally me in the rally part (ie, I messed up first) they got a bonus point for the rally game. it helped a lot of my students be able to play like they warmed up a lot better.
Great fundamental tips Karue. Especially reminders the ball always dictates, recognize opponent is making quality shots too (their objective same as ours to make us uncomfortable) and respect the best shot might be less paced/higher shaped neutralizer. And your advice interspersed with some of your complex taxing rallies (against Giron, point construction we'll rarely approximate) brought your points home. I feel i manage emotions fairly well except when Big Mo against me (like a wave that serves to deflate the spirit and cloud the mind). Maybe discuss how to manage against Mo to get back on track?
One point at a time. I like to focus on just putting together good points. Mixing up pace and spin. Mixing up serves too to see what the other player can handle. Sometimes 4 or 5 medium paced balls are better than 1 or 2 hard hit shots and vice versa. Some days it best to just get it in with spin and some days you gotta swing away with cofidence
Emotions are key for me, I get far to passive just keeping the ball in and pushing it around. I have to go in with a positive mindset - that I am looking for the chance to pull the trigger, not every shot but the purpose of pushing it around is to get a weak ball, and when I get it I will attack and not worry. Last match but one I was in was 3-3 and we had to stop for a while due to rain, inside a coach was talking about another player who he was looking at and just didn't have that killer shot so was never going anywhere. I decided he wasn't going to be saying that about me. I went back out positively looking for the chances to attack and when I got that ball in the zone I would smack it. I won the next 9 games comfortably, and it wasn't just the rallys, my serve improved too (won the match with an ace). So much of match play is in the mind - that mix of being positive, going for it when you have the chance and not worrying if you miss, but equally not being reckless and just trying to hit low % highlight reel shots.
You man ... are great ...thanks for your lesson
It would be amazing to learn your training routine outside of tennis. For example, what do you do or I can do to keep your fitness level? to improve feet work? to improve resistance or flexibility? It would be great for me to train those things outside of a tennis court as one is not always available. Great channel by the way!!
Great video, thanks for the tips.
Look forward to watching Part 2. :)
Coming soon!
Great stuff! Keep going!
Awesome tips and alot of fruit for thought. I actually took notes. I am one of those "dang pusher beat me" guys, haha but, I see that they just work the court better and maybe i shouldn't try to define my opponents but "manage" my own game a bit more... TY
Great channel! Your videos are very different than other tennis videos I could find on internet, keep up the good work! I'm a 5ish player, and I have a challenge that I'd love if you could address as well. My body warms up very late and my shots are way off as I pick up a racquet and go to the court. Hitting 10 mins, stress free, and I would be back to my normal level. However, before the match (club/tournament), I usually don't get the time to warm up properly and that's why I am always behind at the beginning of the first set. So far, nobody has been able to give a tip or a practice routine to resolve this. i guess I have a weak muscle memory!
Excellent! Thanks for sharing bro!
You are welcome
Great vid man.
Thank you!
Well said Karue! And great haircut! 🔥
Thank you. My lady did a great job
Good video Karue and keep up the good work!
Thank you! 😃
Great tips 👌! Playing more matches like you said makes things more routine to manage.
Absolutely
Any videos on stretches you do before matches and after?
Of cource I also love your video. As always👍
Solid stuff for developing your own style.
Glad you like it!
Love this series, it's like you read my mind lol. I play so much better during practice but I choke in matches because I'm always afraid to overhit.
you're not alone! That happens to everybody, and you can practice this mental side of things!
Learn to play well when you have bad days and you'll win more than you think. I think Pete Sampras said something to this effect. Learn to play an effective serve for the days when your "Good" serve is not working well. Learn a style of play that works when your feet are heavy and so on. If you play a lot of tennis you're gonna see you have more off days than perfect days. Perfect days are rare and sometimes that perfect form doesn't even last for the whole match. Maybe it lasts for a set or less. So learn how to play with your tools at 75% and win and you'll have a much better time on court. If you wait for the planets to align so everything works at 100% you're going to do a lot fo waiting.
Hey Karue...Great insight as always...I wish your channel was available when I was playing high school in late 70's but you weren't even born I'm sure..lol...stubborn is my word of day that stood out...im gonna rip that down the line over and over during a match cuz I practiced it was my stubborn mindset to a loss...so funny to think about it now...thank you...gonna be at bnp?...do a clinic or would love to say hello in person...cheers
Great video!
Great tips, my fellow catarina .
It is amazing how many similarities tennis has with respect to trading the stock markets. Thanks again!
I wish I had the same mentality when i trade 😂
would love to hear as much as you're willing to say on body management. I've started eating a lot more during matches and it has helped enormously but i'm just sorta feeling my way through it. would love to hear about food, warm up, whatever.
Will do! I try to stick to subjects I am more knowledgeable here on the channel, so I tend to avoid fitness and nutrition because each individual is different. But I’ll work on it
@@KaruesellHQ I get that but maybe you could just make it a personal approach since you're not a doctor. could be "how I prepare and sustain myself during match play" and then it's just specific to you. i started eating because just seeing all the pros eating rather frequently throughout their matches. little bites like homor simpson eating rations on a raft at sea.
Great insights
Great insight Karue.
Thanks 👍🏼👍🏼
Could you please talk about/give tips for situations where you want to "go for your shot" during match-play? I find that during matches when I get that ball I can rip, especially playing faster/stronger players whose balls have more pace and rarely 'sit' I put to much emphasis on putting it away and I open up the chest or hips too early/hit too flat/take away my own time (over-eager to hit 'in front') with my feet and I hit a sub-par shot. Thanks Karue!! Love the series!
Hi! What type of watch are you wearing! Looks real nice.
Great video!!! I have one question about winning "ugly". Don't you think that if you don't use your weapons from practice in matches you can end up with result that you will never use them?
Quality advise.
thank you!
fresh cut, G
Brilliant and Incisive Vid. Thank you Karue. :)
Thank you 👍🏼👍🏼
Would love to know what you do in a week if you had a tournament on the weekend how many tennis sessions you do and how many gym sessions.
I have this problem and i need your help: in my practice sessions i play with quite deflated balls, u know, coaches do not buy new balls every week. When i play in the tournament with new balls, i feel i cannot let it go like in pratice since the ball fly over the fence if i use the same power i used to put in training. It is not a mental issue, it's a feeling issue, since all the sensations are different from practice and match. How can i manage this problem? Do u change your tension between practice and tournament?
You said it yourself. It's a feeling issue. You're just not that familiar with the feel of new balls. An easy fix for that would be to play (more) practice sets/matches with new balls!
@@SaneATgaz i play practice matches regularly with new/decent balls, but this not solve the problem. Practice match has no tension, so i can adapt quickly. In tournament instead my brain want to reproduce the movements learned at lessons and i feel the need to let it go, probably overhitting. Maybe i should rise the tension a lot.
So cool your videos man, But I just realized that you are Brazilian, is that right? I'm Brazilian too, living in Montreal, Canada, and play just a bit, injured for almost a 1 year.
Excellent
Thanks
Where is the. court location at 3:25? What a beautiful setting
0:13 my first time seeing a high-level guy playing with a two-handed forehand. Interesting.
Hi thanks for your advice! I’ve found myself playing matches when I’m always on the run either bc of opponents good placement or drop shots, while my opponent is barely running and have plenty of energy through later games in the match. How can I regain offense when I’m being put in the run? Thanks
What about managing the scoreboard
Sometimes when there's a lot of pressure i try to relax and Swing slower. However that results en bad hitting or the ball flying. But if I hit normal (like in non pressure situations) I may over hit. I don't know if I explained it properly, but the question is: should we change the swing or speed of the stokes? It is difficult to maintain the same level all the time but the minor different when hitting in those situations affect a lot.
Precious tips Karue! As a “manager” on the court, I am this close to being fired! Haha… tks bro
Is it a lot like the sport of boxing? Jabs jabs and jabs just waiting for a mistake, then strike when it's there? The deep ground strokes medium or slow paced down the middle are like the jabs and attacking a short ball is the power punch.
Omg I wish I used that analogy... Well I'm using it for now on hahah that's exactly it!
@@KaruesellHQ and sometimes a simple jab well placed is extremely effective. Same with a deep shot in tennis. Or even on a serve, might not have the most power, but we'll placed can set up the next shot.
When you were ranked 351 in the world, what was the lifestyle like? Did you end up at any of the big tournaments?
Hi Karue, great content. I have this problem during my matches this is incredibly frustrating and I'm still not sure how to fix. During practice, my two-handed backhand feels solid and I feel like every shot will go in and I can "feel" very consistent with it. But during a match, sometimes my backhand will completely abandon me and I have zero feeling. It feels like every shot that goes to my backhand will go out. How can I fix this? I even try to remember the good "feeling" of the backhand during practice, but I still cannot flip it like a switch during a match. When my backhand abandons me, it's almost gone the entire match until I get to practice the next day, then suddenly my backhand returns.
Hello, I have been playing tournaments for 3 years and am 12. Though that special feeling is not left yet is there any other advice to get rid of that pressure.
Hi Karue, question for you. will a Head extreme tour nite (brand new) feel the same as a Extreme tour day ( used demo). I have a conundrum hoping you can help figure it out. do brand new rackets have to be " broken in" ?the day one was strung with a 1.30 gauge while the nite (brand new one) was strung with a 1.25 gauge both Lynx Tour. I had been using the demo for a few weeks and the new racket (nite) didnt feel the same.it felt a little lighter and also felt like it was launching the balls too much.( aka too much power)
Took me way too long to figure out matches were too special and that my fitness was my main weakness.
Karue is the man
💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
One should never blame oneself. I always blame my equipment!! Pro tip
How can I hit a faster forehand do you have any video on that?
Plenty of videos on the channel on how to hit bigger groundstrokes. Browse our library
0:13 is that guy playing a two-handed forehand? Never seen that before.
good
Play the ball😎
What do you listen to before you play?
Music, ebooks. Stuff that gets my mind thinking about anything other than the match. That helps me
Thank you; this really helps how I can help my teen son play.. or better yet, not the best help is to not help him and have him watch this video!😂
You were waiting to show off that UCLA clip huh
Was that a two-handed forehand at 0:34?
I choke when I'm up. Lost a tie break from 5-0 up this weekend.
I have great ground strokes and can probably outhit everyone at my level and even people a little above my level. I finally started to fix my serve in practice and I can serve bombs, but in matches, I literally can’t stop double faulting. So does this come with practice or just more mental training? Just because of that, I’m a 5.8 utr instead of an 8 or 8.5 utr.
You need to manage whats going on during the match. If you're hitting lots of doubles, try to use more spin on the ball; slice or kick serving will help. Hitting bombs looks great on the highlight reel, but if you only get a low percentage in, it hurts you rather than helps you. Tennis is a game of percentages.
@@bigrobsydney No what I mean, is that I almost make every single first serve in practice. I only double fault during matches.
@@rishinatarajan2887 And that's what I'm telling you. In matches, you're getting tight. You're not hitting them the same way (otherwise you'd get the same result).
I could go into the technical Q&A, such as, is it going long, short, wide, etc.
But the quick answer is, if you're constantly making mistakes, how can you fix it in the short term to win the match. That was what my answer was relating to.
If you're looking for the long term solution, then yes, we need to look at SPECIFICALLY what is happening. To simply say "I make lots of doubles" isn't enough to be able to tell you the answer to the problem. No amount of psychology can replace good technique in the first instance.
@@bigrobsydney I just open up way too much under pressure on my serve, cause even my groundstrokes are the same as practice but it’s my second serve that is holding me back. I go back to my old bad habits when I’m under pressure.
How can you make the opponent become voluntarily compliant? And play like it's it's a free rally session?
"You think that because you hit 2 or 3 good balls in a point that you're better than them. You're not." Well said.
Wow❤