Brad Gilbert is Wrong

Greg Moran

In 1993 tennis commentator and former touring pro, Brad Gilbert released his fabulous book "Winning Ugly:  Mental Warfare in Tennis. It's truly one of the finest books ever written on the sport and I strongly urge all of you to pick up a copy and keep it in your racquet bag.

In the book, Gilbert, who coached Andre Agassi and the two Andy's, Murray and Roddick, wrote that "Most weekend players, most club players, and most recreational players are brain-dead on the tennis court. They go out and run around with no plan, no thought, no nothing. They give it as much study and consideration as jumping rope.  And that's why they can be had."

"Brain dead on the tennis court?" When I read that, my initial reaction was "C'mon Brad. That's pretty harsh. However, over the next week at my club, I watched parts of over twenty matches and realized that, to a certain extent, Brad's statement was right on the money.

Many players do zone out during their matches: their minds wander, their feet stop moving, and they become almost robotic. Sure, they'll move to the proper position after each point and swing their racquet when the ball comes to them but they really don't pay attention, or give much thought, to what's happening during their points or throughout their matches.

Be that as it may, and with all due respect to Brad, I have faith in the recreational tennis player and therefore reject the term "brain dead." Brain dead means done, finished, it's over, pull the plug. Instead, I prefer to say these players are in a "tennis coma" because, when you're in a coma, there's still some brain function and hope for recovery.

I took an informal poll among several of my tennis teaching colleagues and we came up with a list of the four, most common, tennis comas we see every day. The first two are technical, the second two, tactical. These are simple things we all forget to do that can cost us matches. The good news is that, with a little thought, they're all easy to recover from.

Vision Coma

From a stroke production standpoint, "watch the ball" is probably the first tip most of us ever received. It's also the most important tip we'll ever be given yet it's perhaps the most common symptom of a tennis coma.  

In today's short attention span society, the ability to focus on any one thing for an extended period of time is a challenge for us all. We know we need to watch the ball but, before we know it, we get distracted. Then the ball comes towards us and we have to re-focus, move into position and execute a well timed, fluid stroke–often in less than a second's time. 

To awaken from this coma, develop, what I call, "ball vision." This means that once the point begins, you look at nothing other than the ball. Don't worry about watching your opponents or their racquets. If you're focusing on the ball, both will eventually come into the picture.

Watch it from the moment the server holds it in his hand. As he tosses the ball, keep your head still and follow it with your eyes. As he makes contact, see which direction the ball leaves his strings and immediately say to yourself "forehand" or "backhand."

Notice the height of the ball as it crosses the net. Watch the seams of the ball as it bounces and travels that last 2-3 feet into your strings. Follow it as it flies back over to your opponent's side of the court.

The next time you take to the practice court, try these ball-watching exercises:

1. Stand at the baseline and have a friend randomly feed you balls from the baseline on the opposite side of the court. Focusing your gaze on his racquet, as soon as you can, yell out "forehand" or "backhand." Try to identify the shot before the ball crosses the net.  After 40-50 balls switch sides and become the feeder as your partner tries to pick-up your shots.

2. Take some old tennis balls and a red magic marker. Write numbers on each ball and have a friend feed the balls to you. As the ball approaches, don't try to hit it but rather call out the number on the ball as soon as you can.   

3. Click photo: Practice the Two Ball Drill from the service line and the baseline.

   You and a partner start off on each the service line and begin softly rallying back and forth within the service lines.  After a few shots, put a second ball in play and try to keep both going.  This will force your eyes to be alert and constantly adjust.  After a while, move back to the baseline and continue the drill. 

Note:  From a purely strategic standpoint, there are certain instances when watching a particular player will give you a better clue as to what's happening than watching the ball i.e. when your partner is returning serve. Many players fall into the trap of turning and looking back at their partner as they're about to strike their shot. Their feeling is that they want to see their partner strike the ball so that they can "see where they've hit."

The problem is, when you turn your head to look at your partner you lose sight of what the serving team is doing. If the opposing net player decides to poach, by the time you get your head turned back around, the next thing you may see are stars after receiving a "fuzz sandwich" compliments of the poacher's volley.

Focus your attention on the player serving. Then, as soon as he strikes the ball, shift your gaze to his partner. Look in his eyes and read his body language and you'll have all the information you'll need.

Footwork Coma

From time to time, we all suffer from a footwork coma where our feet simply stop moving. This is particularly true in doubles where players don't hit the ball each time it crosses the net and, in fact, could go an entire game without touching the ball.

A common scenario in recreational doubles occurs when players positioned at the net fall into the trap of watching their partner and baseline opponent exchanging ground strokes. They slip into a trance and are then are suddenly shocked back to reality when their opponent drills a ball right at them.

You can recover from this tennis coma by maintaining an active ready position and taking strong split-steps. As every point begins, your hands and racquet should be out in front of your body with your knees shoulder-width apart and slightly bent.  Your feet should be constantly moving, either side to side or bouncing up and down.  

Then, just before your opponent's racquet makes contact with the ball, execute a split step (a small hop 2-3 inches off the ground), timed so that you are in the air as your opponent strikes the ball. While in the air, you'll see where your opponent's shot is going.

As you come down, and see which way the ball is traveling, land on your outside foot (the foot furthest away from the oncoming ball) and then, with an explosive push, turn your body towards the ball and begin moving. For example, if you're a right handed player and, during your split-step, you notice the ball coming to your forehand side, your left foot (outside) would touch down just before your right (inside) and then push you off towards the ball.

In addition to helping you react to shots quicker, the split step will help you stay mentally alert. I often find that when my feet get lazy, my mind wanders. When I remind myself to get up on my toes and take strong split-steps, my focus, and level of play, improves dramatically.

Net Coma

In high level doubles, the team that controls the net usually wins the point so I urge players to attack as soon as possible. Of course, to be successful you must develop solid volley, overhead and movement techniques. After that, I feel that the most important skill a player/team must develop, from a strategic standpoint, is the ability to figure out whether their opponents are going to lob or drive their shots. In most cases, it's easy to do yet this is where many players fall into a tennis coma.

Every day I see players charge the net with no plan other than to rush and (hopefully) crush. If their opponents are at all aware, they simply throw up a lob over their comatose opponents and the point's over. The attacking players then get upset, blame their pro ("that idiot Greg told me to come to the net and see what happens: they lob over my head.  That's it. I'm not coming in anymore and I'm going to look for a new pro.")

When you watch high level players advance to the net, you can almost see the wheels turning. As they're moving they're analyzing the situation and intelligently anticipating whether their opponent's are going to lob or drive their next shot.

The next time you take the net, immediately begin to ask yourselves "are my opponents going to lob or drive?" In fact, this anticipation process should begin as soon you hit the shot you've decided to approach behind. After you strike your shot, pay attention to how it feels (you know when you've hit a strong shot and when you've hit a weak one) and notice your opponent's reaction. Watch their body. If you're shot has them scrambling, either backwards or to the side, the lob alert should go off in your head.

Educated players know that, when in trouble, trying to drive a big shot is a high risk play. More often than not, these players will opt to stay in the point and hit the percentage shot, a lob. Plus, if you notice that their racquet face is open (strings pointing toward the sky) a lob is not far behind so quickly back up. I tell my players, when anticipating a lob, to move back to the service line. From there, they, and you, should be able to handle any lob.

If you've hit a short, weak shot yet have committed to coming to the net, have no fear, you're still in the point. As your opponent is moving forward, the odds are they're going to drive their shot. It takes an extremely skilled player to execute a lob as they're running forward and most players innately want to drive the ball. Moving forward encourages them to do so. 

Again, look at their racquet face. If it's flat or slightly closed (strings pointing down to the court), they've virtually committed to driving the ball so you should immediately take two quick steps forward and prepare to volley.

If your shot is so weak that you don't feel you'll be able to react quickly enough to your opponent (almost certain) big shot, it might be best to abandon ship.  Back up or move off to the side of the court and live to play another point.
If you pay attention to (and learn to read) your opponent's signals, you should be able to determine whether they're going to lob or drive their next shot well over 90% of the time. With that percentage you'll be tough to beat.

Insanity Coma

Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, if we subscribe to Einstein's definition, there are a lot of insane tennis players out there. 

The final "tennis coma" my colleagues and I agreed upon has to do with recreational players serving strategy or should I say, lack of serving strategy. Day after day, we see players hit the same serve to the same spot over and over again and then are shocked when they get beat…..over and over again.

I've always found it amazing that many players are eager to practice their groundstrokes and net game but rarely take the time to develop an effective serve. They may get away with it at the lower levels where players generally don't have the skills to take advantage a weak serve (and I call a serve that goes to the same spot every time a weak serve) once they take the court against a skilled player their lack of creativity will kill them.  

Your goal, each time you serve, is to put your opponent off balance. You do this by varying the placement, spin and pace of your serves. The next time you go to the court to practice your serve (and if you're serious about improving you must practice your serve) try this exercise: take three tennis ball cans and place one in each corner of the service box and the last one in the middle.  Give each can a number 1-6.  

Next, take a basket of balls and start aiming for the cans, one at a time. Pick a number, say the number to yourself and then aim for that particular can. Stay out there until you knock over all of the cans. You'll probably be out there for a while, but if you do this a few times a week, I guarantee you'll develop an accurate serve. Then, in your next match, do the same thing.  Before each serve, pick a number and aim for that area of the court. . 

As you become more comfortable moving the ball around you can then coordinate your service placements with your partner and set up poaching and faking plays.  For example, say to your partner "#1, fake" or "#3 poach".  This will give you a huge advantage in all of your service games.

I always tell my players that their goal is not to hit better shots than their opponents but rather to hit smarter shots than their opponents. Pay attention to what's happening on the court and avoid these common tennis comas and you'll win many more matches. I guarantee it!

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Greg Moran's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

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