David Ranney's Tennis Blog

What I Learned at My Last Tournament

What I learned at my last tournament

This last week, I played in the Pacific Southwest Tennis tournament at the Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach, CA. I lost in the quarter-finals in the 60’s Singles and in the Semi-finals in the doubles. I always learn a great deal when I lose and this was no exception.

As you may know, I have been talking about and doing the bounce-hit while I am playing matches and this tournament was the first time I did it in a tournament. Have you been doing it when you are playing games?

I played a guy who was very consistent and did not hit a hard ball but had very good control. I usually don’t play very well against these kinds of players and it usually takes me a long adjustment time when I go from indoors to outdoors. Nevertheless, I played very well doing the bounce hit. However, I had some problems. In the past, I was thinking that doing the bounce hit may be causing me to use more energy and maybe tensing me up more than usual even though I always try to say the bounce hit softly and relaxed. I just thought that my being more tired was caused because I was hitting more balls in the court and therefore having to work harder.

After the first set, I was very very tired. I realized that as hard as I wanted to relax when saying the bounce hit, I was very tense. So, in the second set, I went back to the normal breathing pattern. I felt very much more relaxed but I felt I missed more balls. That could have been because my body was so tired. But I still played better than I usually would have.

So, what I am going to do now is experiment with some combination of the bounce hit and my breathing. It may be that now that I have been doing the bounce hit for a while that I still will be able to play as well when I do the breathing instead.

In my doubles, using the bounce hit was amazing. In the past, I don’t handle (I miss them) hard balls hit to me (what I call reaction volleys) when I am at net. I think I have hit more reaction volleys in the court than I have in the past 2 years. I don’t think I am exaggerating but maybe I am. In any case, doing the bounce hit while playing doubles has helped immensely.

I am hoping that after reading this you go ahead and try the bounce hit. I am sure it will never hurt and the benefits seem to be huge. At least for me.

Having trouble with the breathing? Who Isn't?

I got an e-mail about having difficulty with the breathing. Anybody out there not?

 

Yes, I know the breathing part is hard. It was the last thing for me to be able to do. However, the end result is worth it so just keep on working on it. Remember, this whole mental game is a process and like any skill, it takes time.

 

Have you tried just focusing on the breathing and not thinking about anything else? Have you said to yourself, “ I am going to play a different game today. Today, I am going to just focus on a relaxed exhale and if I miss every ball and lose 6-0, 6-0, I won’t care about it.”

 

Here is another idea. Sometimes when I was playing, I would play two points breathing, two points seeing the ball and then two points combining.

 

In case you want to know why people have difficulty with the breathing, it is because they have to really let go of trying. The conscious mind really wants to get involved with hitting the ball and will take away focusing on things like the breathing.

 

So, have fun with it and know that it will be what it will be when it wants to be. I think you will have to translate that into plain English. Let me know if you need any help with the translation.

How to practice on a back board

I have talked with some of my students about hitting against a back board but not many people actually do it I think it is because there are not many around.

 

Anyway, here is what I tell my students.

 

Because the ball comes back so much sooner than when playing on a “real” court, you must stand back far enough so that the ball bounces twice. This will also mean that you need to hit the ball higher on the backboard so that when the ball does come to you on the second bounce, it will not be too low.

 

You can practice seeing the ball to the blur, breathing, being aware of the relaxation of your body and doing the bounce-hit while hitting on the wall. Doing the “Mother of all Tips” (holding the follow through) is a little more difficult because the ball is coming back so soon. But you can work on your “stroke awareness.” You do this by “feeling” your stroke. Feeling your stroke means that you pay attention to how your racket and arm is going back, the path of the racket as it hits the ball and most importantly of all, where it finishes.

 

If you work on your serve, the thing to do is (other than feel your stroke) is to work on seeing the ball to the blur of the racket and making sure that your breathing is relaxed before you hit the ball.

Singles Strategy for Young players

I get many great questions from my book owners. Here is another one that I thought may be of interest.

Do you by any chance have any suggestion to good strategy books software that is really good for younger players.(teen and younger)?

I do not know of any books on good strategy for younger kids. However, from my way of thinking good basic strategy for kids (or anyone) is not difficult. I think that too many people try to make strategy too complex and therefore difficult. Here is what I know works and what I tell my all my students. Even the very advance ones.

When serving, hit all balls to the backhand. First serves and second serves. Once you are able to do that, start mixing up the first serve but 85% to the backhand and 15% to the forehand. If you have a fast serve you can try hitting right at the person. Hit 98% of second serves to backhand. Have you noticed where Roger Federer serves his second serves almost 100% of the time?

When returning serves, hit the returns like I talk about in my book (Lesson #32).

After the serve and return of serve, hit all the balls to the backhand. I do mean all. Once the student can do this, I have them hit at least the first 3 or 4 balls to the backhand, then keep hitting to the back hand until they get an easy forehand then hit that forehand crosscourt to make them run. If the opponent returns it, go back to hitting to the backhand.

The basic strategy I have in my book describes this strategy more formally.

The important thing that I don’t see very many players doing is hitting the first ball (after the serve and return of serve) to the backhand. And this applies to advance players.

As an example as to how well this can work, I was coaching a young 15 year old who pretty much wins all the tournaments here in Seattle area. After telling him to hit most balls to the backhand, he still didn’t do it. In his next match, I told him I wanted him to always hit the first 2 or 3 balls to the backhand and it was amazing (even for me to see) how many times he won the point on the first 2 or three hits just by going to the backhand side.

There are many variations to this, of course, but this basic strategy works big time at all levels. I use it unless I discover that my opponent’s forehand is truly weaker.

Do you by any chance have any suggestion to good strategy books software that is really good for younger players.(teen and younger)?

Would Seeing The Ball And Breathing Really Help An Exceptional Player

Here is an e-mail i received.

A friend of mine, ..... plays tennis everyday twice a day, plays doubles all of the time.  I don't think he see the spin or controls his breathing but is an exceptional player.  The thought comes to mind, "I wonder how much better he could be if he only knew?"

Yes, if your friend would get into seeing the ball and breathing, he will benefit greatly, just like you do. But a lot of good players are not open to this way since if makes them let go of control and many people don’t like to do that.

Here is a story about my friend Ken Stewart who wrote the preface in my book. After showing him how to really see the ball, he told me about a match he played about 3 weeks later. He was asked to play doubles with three 6.0 players. He insisted that he couldn’t play at their level but they were desperate for a 4^th. Anyway, he said he was “forced” to see the ball because of the pressure to play well and he told me that he was the best player on the court.

A Question About Breathing When Playing Doubles

Here is a question I receive about breathing in doubles.

When playing doubles, when do you suggest exhaling?  I am experimenting with, when the opponents hit the volley just like the serve.  Obviously this is a timing thing, kind of like the split step.

Breathing in doubles is, as you are discovering, is a little trickier. The thing to keep in mind is to start the exhale before making contact with the ball. This means that if you are doing an exchange at net your exhale will be short and quick but still as relaxed as possible. The good news is that the points in doubles are usually short so you shouldn’t get out of breath or hyperventilate.

Here is what I do when I play.

When my partner is serving, as soon as I see the ball bounce in the service box, I begin my slow and long exhale and, of course, begin to see the ball. That way if the ball does come to me, I will be as prepared as possible.

When my partner is receiving, I will do my breathing as if I were hitting the ball even though he is actually doing the hitting. That way it will be as normal to my breathing as if I were playing singles.

I have not played doubles since I have discovered the 2^nd generation bounce-hit exercise so I am not sure how that is going to work, but in singles I have played the best I have ever played three times now and even when not playing my best it is still at a higher level than before. And the only reason I haven’t played as well is because, for some reason, I couldn’t keep my focus. Some days are better than others.

A Question on Saying "hit" in the Bounce-Hit Excersise

I got this question from one of my subscribers to my Mini Lessons that i thought was a good one.

 

"Have you ever tried touch or hits by adding the s you more naturally tend to exhale. I have used the touch when I feel too tensed at key points and I guess the associations with the word touch seems to bring more calm than hit."

 

Here was my answer:

 

The reason I would not want to use “touch” is that I want to make sure that I am saying “hit” softly. When I make sure that I say “hit” softly and at a lower octave, I know I am relaxed. I have not tried using "touch" or adding the "s" and I guess I need to try it before I say it doesn’t work or isn't a better way. Thanks for the ideas.

A Classic Example of Trying Hard

I just finished watching the men's finals that I had taped earlier. Did you watch it also? If you did, you would have seen a classic example of trying hard by Djokovic.

Did it work for him? Yes, I would say that it did most of the time. I thought he played better than Federer much of the time.

But, did he win? No. If you saw the entire match when Djokovic had break points, all this trying hard broke down and he missed nothing ball after nothing ball. What did Federer do? He just played his normal relaxed game and saved break point after break point.

So, if trying hard works only some of the time and only during the times of the match when it is isn't tight, why do it at all? Why not play like Federer all the time so when the match does get tight or when the points are critical, you will have a better chance to keep playing well and even, as you saw at times with Roger during the tight points, awesome.

Why Don't Other Players Play Like Federer

Here is what I don't understand. Roger Federer is, in my opinion, the greatest player the world has ever seen or, at least close to it. Then why is it that the other players don't do what he does?

Is it because they don't know what he does or is it because they don't know how to do it?

Let's look at what he does. He sees the ball better than anyone else. Or, at the very least, he follows the ball all the way to his racket. This takes a lot of practice and a lot of letting go of "other things."

Look at his face. Most of the time Roger's face is very calm. Do you see other player's faces being calm?

If you did just those two things you would see a huge diference in how well you played.

Maybe players know what Roger does, but just can't do it. That is where my book comes into play. It will give you all you need to know on how to do what Federer does.

Prove me wrong. Go try it!