Learning from Elena

Tom Downs

Elena Dementieva was a consistent top 10 player from the very late 90s up until her sudden and unexpected retirement at an on-court ceremony at the conclusion of the 2010 WTA championships. Dementieva's break out year was 2004 when she reached the finals at both the French and US Opens. Her crowning achievement was her Olympic gold medal at the 2008 games in Beijing. Elena reached a career high ranking of #3 in April of 2009.

During her outstanding run in 2008, Dementieva trained at the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Ft Lauderdale, Florida where I was the Head pro for several years. I spent a lot of time on court with Elena, and it was obvious to me that it was no fluke that she had the stellar and consistent career she had. I marveled at the discipline she put into every shot. She hit every ball in practice as though it was the last ball she would ever hit. I respected the fact that she was willing to learn and improve and I loved how open she was to new suggestions and her willingness to better her serve. Lets take a look at three things that all club players can learn from Elena Dementieva.

Improve Your Weaknesses

Anyone who watched tennis regularly throughout the first decade of the millennium knew that Dementieva struggled with her serve. I remember the coaching staff and myself sitting in the office with Elena looking at the serve in slow motion on dartfish. We identified the problems and immediately got to work. We noticed that when she shifted her weight forwards, she would squat, meaning that all the momentum that could have gone up and forwards into the ball, was lost. We worked on her toss so she would more to consistently toss at 1 o'clock and make contact at 12. We also made sure that she was turning enough as she tossed the ball.

In my opinion, Dementieva had the best first shot after the serve in women's tennis. Often opponents would return either her first and/or second serve aggressively but Elena would anticipate their returns so well, she was able to immediately turn this defensive position into offense.

Rennae Stubbs actually told me once that Elena's serve was really quite tricky because all of the funky spin on it made it very difficult to handle. Surprisingly, many players struggled against her serve more than they probably should have because they liked faster serves where all they had to do was react. With Elena's serve, players had to make adjustments.

Elena worked on her serve a lot but not so much that she neglected to work on her strengths. She worked hard on all facets of her game and never lost confidence when it came time to work on her weaknesses.

I cannot tell you how many times I have seen players spend so much time on their weaknesses that they lose confidence in themselves and forget to work on bettering their strengths. Others seem to concentrate on their strengths and avoid their weaknesses altogether. The lesson to all club level players here is to get the balance right in your practice sessions with your strengths and weaknesses.

To all those club players out there, make sure that practices sessions are designed to address the areas of your game that require work. But do not devote all of your time to the one standout  weakness in your game.

Dementieva worked a lot on coming forwards and ending points at the net. Elena would do a lot of two on one drills, working on her specific guideline patterns, and when she got a short ball, she would come in and finish at net.

The following drills are great two on one drills we did with Elena four mornings a week. Club players who need to work on coming forwards and ending at net could  benefit enormously from the exact same drills.

On the side where we had two players, we would put a triangle 4 feet inside the baseline and singles sidelines. The two side would hit crosscourt and Elena would hit two balls crosscourt and then go down the line. At any time during this drill that Elena would hit inside the triangle, the players on the two side would attack her and play the point out. Anytime that Elena received a short ball, she had to come to net and play the point out.

In the same two on one format, and with the triangle on the two side, a person on the two side would feed a ball and Elena had to hit three penetrating shots in a row outside the triangle. We believed that with the penetrating groundstrokes she possessed, that if she hit a great first ball after a serve or return, and then another aggressive shot, she would get an opportunity to come forwards and end at net. Which, at the time, was another major part of her game besides her serve that needed work.

For the last 30 minutes of a practice session, we would work on her serve. We never complicated her with information and kept things very simple. A great drill that club players can do to work on their ball toss is to stand in the corner where the fences meet so that you are standing in a 1 o'clock position to the pole. Simply toss the ball in line with the pole. Do this 10 times and then go to the baseline and hit first serves.

To work on her second serve, we figured that if we worked hard on a kick serve we would either get her hitting kick or hitting a kick slice serve, based on the fact that she always hit slice for second serves. To work on hitting up on the ball for a second serve in a 7 to 1 o'clock swing pattern, we actually took her behind the fence behind the baseline and had her hit kick serves clearing the back fence. Elena stood about 8 feet behind the fence when doing this.

Discipline

Dementieva could be described in some ways as a female version of Ivan Lendl. Both she and Lendl were all about sheer rehearsal. Dementieva would hit thousands of balls everyday, each one hit as though it was the last ball she was ever going to hit and she had to hit it exactly right. There were no shortcuts for Elena. She worked hard on her weaknesses and was always fine tuning her powerful penetrating groundstrokes.

What stood out was that she wanted to do everything exactly right. She was a perfectionist, but she also understood that tennis is a sport of imperfections. In her quest to achieve perfection, she knew she would come up short, but the by product would be excellence. I have seen many players improve dramatically just by applying this simple philosophy.

Dementieva was always extremely focused. She outworked all the other professional and junior players who were at the Institute during her time there. This is not to say these other players didnt work hard. It's just that Elena was the hardest working player to ever set foot at the Institute. Much like Lendl lacked the natural raw gifts of a McEnroe or Borg, Elena was not as talented as Serena or Justine Henin, but she certainly outworked them.

For club players and junior players at all levels, I believe that hitting each ball to the best of your ability and with maximum discipline every single time, will help you reach your goals faster. For me, the coach always has to be tough enough on the player to make sure they are doing things right. The player must bring the discipline and want to hit each ball very well, almost as though it will be the last ball they ever hit.

Elena Dementieva really wanted to be the worlds best and she took coaching and constructive criticism very well. Players at all levels must do the same. Often times with Elena, she wouldnt be happy with a drill she just did and would ask us to do it again. She always demanded greatness from herself and never settled for anything less. Club players need to do the same if they want to really make progress.

Be Open to New Suggestions

Elena Dementieva wanted our opinions and coaching. She was prepared to hear the truth and was always looking to improve. We worked hard on her serve and forward movement so that she could take balls earlier and/or transition to the net.

She welcomed and absorbed all the information presented to her even as her ranking climbed to #3 in the world. That stood out to me. When she was there, and some of the other students became complacent and wouldnt put the work in, I would tell them if Elena has a lot to learn, then so do you. If it is good enough for her, it is good enough for everyone else.

Club players need to absorb as much information as they can, as long as the information is all a part of the plan they are on. Yes, I believe that every tennis player at any and every level should have a developmental plan, and the player should be a student of the game, much like Elena was.

Dementieva may not be the most famous Russian female player of all time but I do believe she got the absolute most out of her game. She may go down as one of the most underrated players of all time. She knew that her hard work paid off and so did our coaching staff.

As coaches, we were aware of what a privilege it is to work with students at all levels who are super hard workers and who are willing to learn and improve.

Elena spent a few weeks training at The Harold Solomon Tennis Institute before the summer of 2008 began. During this summer she won a gold medal in singles at the beijing Olympic Games and reached the semi finals of the US Open. After winning gold, Elena sent the coaches at the Institute a text that simply said "Got the gold." A gold medal that was well deserved.

To be the best you can be, learn from the best.

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Tom Downs

Tom has and extensive coaching background, and has been a member of the Institute team for several years. He has served as our Head Staff Professional, and is currently the Traveling Coach for Institute players. He has traveled with several of our Tour players including Laura Granville and Carly Gullickson, who won the US Open Mixed Doubles title in 2009.

Tom has worked with junior and other professional players, including Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, at all 4 Grand Slam events, as well as other major tournaments around the world. Tom graduated from the University of South Florida in 2005 with a degree in communications. As a successful junior player, Tom represented Australia, and was consistently ranked in the top 10 in all age groups in Australia. He played college tennis at South Carolina State University and was a member of their conference championship team in 2004.