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TennisOne Lessons 
Warm-Up Pact Marcus Paul Cootsona It’s a beautiful day, and you’re excited about playing. Unlike me, you have a life outside of tennis and you don’t have much time on the court. So naturally, you want to get to it. Your opponent arrives, you pop open a couple cans of new balls, hit seventeen groundstrokes and your opponent says, “ready?” You nod agreeably, spin the stick, say “first good” and you’re off. Way off. Already. Like a band going full bore during the sound check, you started playing too soon. A clever student calls this the microwave warm-up. You cook through the pre-match duties the fastest way possible so you can get to the meat of the matter — playing games and scoring points. But if you really want to win points and win games and win matches, is the fastest way the best way? Or should you slow cook your warm up? There Outta Be a Law But there isn’t. There’s no rule that says you have to warm up. Of course, there’s no rule that says you should be excellent either. Or wear shoes. But players who want to succeed do all three. But you don’t have to. Even the five minutes allotted at tournaments is a convention. There and everywhere else, you could refuse. You could choose not hit the ball to your opponent. You could sit on the bench and play “Words With Friends” or check your Facebook stock, but you should warm up. Why? Because if you don’t, you won’t be ready. Even the pros do it, though you’d hardly know it, since no one really discusses it. On TV, the warm-up gets no love at all. It’s when the announcers blab, and set up the match, and predict and run lists of player positives and negatives, but rarely do they talk about what the players are doing before the point scoring starts. Because, like much of the TV audience, they don’t care. We all want to see tennis when it counts. Points, games, sets and matches. Drama, emotion and most of all, stakes. Tennis that matters. The warm-up is like re-written pages, re-recorded albums, or souffles rising on the tenth try. Necessary to perfect your craft, but cunningly concealed in the popular media narrative of innate excellence and instant proficiency. But thoughtful practice and methodical pre-match preparations form the unglamorous, but vital underbelly of our high-skill sport. And every other sport. And sushi. Why Warm Up? Why not? Does any player at any level out there really believe that they will play as well without preparing as if they do? Is there any player who wouldn’t want to take every legal advantage in order to play better? Of course not. But there’s more. And more to it. There are two good reasons to warm up. One is to prepare yourself physically and mentally to play your best. Two is to take advatage of this singular pre-match opportunity and use it as a tactical weapon. First, the obvious stuff. The Obvious Stuff Physically, the warm-up really makes a difference. And it starts at home or wherever you are before you go to the court. It’s in what you eat, when you eat, what you’re thinking about and even what the speed of your movements is. Rushing before a match can make you rush during a match. Rush not, lose through un-forced errors not. At the court, it is a time to engage your dormant tennis muscles and remind them of what you’re about to ask them to do. A time to prevent injury and promote efficient movement. A time to break a sweat, and literally warm up your body. A time to make the physical transition from whatever you were doing before to playing tennis now. A time to show off that new shirt. It is also time to get out all the random strokes that will be stroke errors in a match before the point counting starts. And a time to check in with your strokes. Every day on the court can be a new day. Find out what your game has in store for you before you have to use it for real. The warm-up also provides time to make the mental transition from “regular” life to the tennis court and its specific needs, rules and etiquette and ontology. Time to adjust your eyes to seeing a spherical object flying toward you. Time to engage your brain and focus. Time to concentrate on your constructive distractions. Time to look up “ontology.” The Subtle Stuff But maybe you’re already committed to all of that. And regularly using the word, ontology. Good. Then you’re ready to use the time on the court with your opponent to gain a tactical advantage. Our sport is unique in putting us in contact with our opponent with a chance to influence the outcome before the competition starts. How great is that? So use this time to check out your opponent’s game. Feed them various strokes and various heights, spins and speeds. See how they respond. Find a weakness or two. Catalog some areas to attack once the match begins. And this is also a luscious opportunity to start controlling the match. How? By instigating decisions and taking charge of who takes the balls from the tournament desk, which side you start the warm-up on and who spins the racquet for serve and side. These are just a few examples. It is time to set the tempo of the action on your terms. This pays off later in a match and gives you a subtle, psychological advantage throughout. And maybe better line calls. In short, the warm-up is a time to take time before you start. How To Warm Up Get to the court early. There is a difference between a tournament match and a casual match. You should always take time to fully prepare your game before and tournament match. You should do the same before a casual match too, but there isn’t always time. But if you do have time before a match — Coerce a hitting partner to meet you. Then drive, bike, walk or have your driver take you to the court and direct your thoughts to tennis and your tennis game on the way. Get there early enough to jog lightly for five minutes and then stretch your major muscle groups — shoulders, quads, hamstrings, hips. Say hi to your hitting partner. Thank him or her for coming to help you. Accept compliments on your shirt. Then starting slowly, hit short groundstrokes, then full-court groundstrokes, then volleys, then overheads, serves and returns. In practice or with an instructor, count how many serves you need to hit to be consistent. For most players, it is at least forty to fifty serves. For some, fifty-one or two. And hit that many serves. Or more. And then lock in on some returns too. How long should this take? It varies by player. I needed 45 minutes to really rev my game up. Some players can do it in fifteen minutes, and for them, spending more time just uses more match energy. Experiment with this. Find out what you need. But by all means, do it. Then when the ceremonial five-minute match warm-up comes around, you are literally using it as body warming and time to assess and dragoon the opponent’s game. If you don’t have any time before a match – Perhaps because it is a casual match and time is short or you are at a tournament with limited practice courts. On these occassions, choose a few things that are critical to your game and make sure you work on them. On a tight schedule day, your drive to the court is crucial to getting you ready. On the way, think about your game. Envision shots you want to hit, hit the way you want to hit them. Then once you’re there, make sure your body is as ready as possible to start. If you can’t jog and stretch, then just do a light jog in the parking lot or around the court. Do some practice serve motions and then some toss practice. Hit as many balls as you can before you start. Shame your playing partners into hitting longer and taking more practice serves than they usually do. Say you read it somewhere. The Warm-Up is NotThe warm-up is not a time to work on strokes or try to change technique. Dance with the girl you brung. It is not a time to outhit, outplace or make it difficult for your opponent either. You are engaged in a ritual unique to our sport – helping your opponent get ready for the contest. But if you cannot bring yourself to warm up in good faith and not excuse your lack of control or manners by virtue of your “competitiveness”, it may be time to try a different sport. Maybe dodgeball. Play tennis. Play in the spirit of this mannered and mannerly game. But you knew that. And by all means, make the most of all the hours and dollars you have spent practicing and taking lessons and improving your game. Spend some time before you play bringing your game up to speed, so that when the match starts, you are able to make the most of what you’ve practiced and learned. The pros, most of whom play more in a year than any of us will ever play in thirteen or fourteen months, would not start or even re-start a match without making sure they were ready to go. And these are trained, conditioned athletes with one purpose in their work lives. To absolutely maximize their income from ages 20 – 29. That, and to hit the ball the most effective way they can. Two tightly-related ideas. Doesn’t it make sense to take every step to playing as well as possible? Here are some ideas on what steps to take. Some Warm-Up Techniques
And as always — Practice Often. Play Well. Have Fun. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Marcus Paul Cootsona's article by emailing us here at TennisOne .
Marcus Paul Cootsona is a teaching professional and author of Occam’s Racquet – 12 Simple Steps To Smarter Tennis. Contact him at: marcuscootsona.com. |
Marcus Paul Cootsona