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Improvement Roller Coaster: How to Tame the Ups and Downs!

David W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne

No matter what level player you are, every one of us has experienced the thrill of playing tennis above our normal level and the frustration of playing incomprehensibly bad tennis soon after – perhaps the very next match! Unfortunately, for most people, the days of playing poorly often outnumber the days of playing exceptionally well.

Often, when players begin to really focus on improvement and apply a level of diligence, dedication, and desire, along with a move to learn more about the game (through the multiple media channels available that now more precisely reveal the technical secrets of the game), they experience what I refer to as the Roller Coaster Improvement and Playing Cycle (RIPC). While the cycle is observable among all levels of players, it generally is more apparent among those taking lessons and really trying to employ more advanced skills and techniques within their games.

The "Roller Coaster Improvement and Playing Cycle?

Like the analogy of a roller coaster that goes up and down while going forward (in most cases! I know I’ve ridden a few coasters backwards!), tennis players can experience highs and lows in terms of both playing tennis well and in execution of proper and effective strokes. (Remember, we can play well and execute more advanced and more effective strokes and still lose! Opponent levels can dictate the outcome of any given match as well as how well they, themselves may be playing!)

However, unlike a roller coaster which produces most of the thrilling parts when going down and the chance to catch our breath in the sections where we are going up, tennis players enjoy the thrill of going up (in terms of skill and execution), and despise the going down periods (Being unable to reproduce desired strokes, miss hitting shots, aiming wrong, not feeling the ball, not balanced, and a host of other imperfections that we try to avoid would be the “down periods” in this analogy.).

Difference between “Players” and “Progressive Improvers”

“Players” are what I term people who simply play all the time. They seldom have the desire to dedicate themselves to learning new stroke patterns, grips, footwork or the like. Many either believe they simply can’t get better or they know that they are not willing to go through the typical frustration periods (or the RIPC!) When such a player actually takes a lesson, while they may act like they want to learn to play better tennis, most simply hand the Pro their money and say, “Don’t change a thing.” Most of these people are fairly competitive to a certain level of play (usually the 3.0, 3.5 or sometimes the 4.0 levels depending on the level of athleticism and initial patterns they learned the game with). Because they play so much, and don’t concern themselves with working on new material, they tend to play consistently within the patterns they are at…and they seldom move out of that level for their entire playing life.

“Progressive Improvers” are those who are not satisfied with their games, know they have the potential to play at more skilled levels, or have a desire to reach a specific level. Such “students” usually read a lot about the game, watch tennis not for just enjoyment but to analyze what they are watching to improve their own games, and take lessons to improve. While not everyone has the capacity to move beyond certain levels, in my experience, it is rare that a person does not have the potential to reach the 4.0, 4.5 or even 5.0 level. (Potential is defined by athleticism, desire, opportunity, and understanding of the game.)

Recognizing the RIPC

When players start to play better using more advanced stroking techniques than they are used to (a perceptual realization as we will continue to execute those better strokes with more effectiveness through spin, speed, placement, and consistency), they will start to expect more from themselves. While this is a very logical and normal pattern of events, the fact that we do this triggers the roller coaster Cycle. Why?

Well, how many of you have played a fantastic match only to come back the next day or week and play some of the worst tennis of your life? This is very common. Likewise, when we play very badly one day, we can often see ourselves playing great soon after. Perception and expectations play a big role in the psychological processes of every human tennis player.

We can perceive ourselves playing great tennis, a perception that can be objective or subjective: Relative to the current level we are at, playing or executing shots that are better than that current level can be perceived as a big improvement. However, compared to players who are indeed far better than ourselves, such improvements may still get us killed against other opponents. Expectations can be even more responsible for the changes associated with the RIPC. When we do play well one day, it is only natural to believe we can do that again and again.

A funny lesson relative to this concept was taught to me by my college coach Rich Rameriz in Southern California. He told our team, “If you are ever playing someone who is playing absolutely great tennis, simply complement the opponent on their great game. Tell them how well they are hitting their forehand or backhand or serve.”

This little psychological ploy is a pretty well known phenomenon. What happens is the player who has been hitting specific shots really well will start to be more conscious of the shot in subsequent opportunities. Conscious thought is often the downfall of any player who is playing well. (We often call players who are playing in the zone as playing “unconscious.” Read my article Unconscious Competence for more information on this issue.)

Learning to Stay "Up"

There have been dozens of books and countless articles on learning to play “in the zone.” Timothy Gallwey’s “Inner Game of Tennis” and Brad Gilbert’s “Winning Ugly” are two of the more interesting books that have tried to address the mental game. More recently, Scott Ford’s “In the Zone” series of articles and DVD–and more specifically his approach to “Parallel Mode Processing” has taken the concept of mental focus and how to train for it to a new level and certainly one more up-to-date. Jeff Greenwald’s program, “Fearless Tennis” is another example of learning to train to yourself to play more with an opportunistic level of mental preparedness. Scott Ford has shared his work in a series of articles you can read here at TennisOne. I highly recommend reading his work and learning from him.

But, in a nutshell, the concept of playing your best tennis is a balance of several factors that include the following issues:

  • Knowing you are using the best technique possible. Training within the right progressions and patterns, working on conditioning and footwork, establishing solid strategies and point-manufacturing methods, all will contribute to you knowing you are prepared with the technical parts of the game.
  • Going into each match with a mind-set that you are not playing to win or lose but playing to play well. Mentally, so many people are beaten before they step on the court. I can’t tell you how many opponent’s my teams and students have beaten not because they necessarily hit the ball better than their opponents, but because their opponents believed they needed to play better than they were to beat my teams and students!

    Often, I saw my kids were not playing all that well, and if their opponents simply got a few more balls in play, they would have put a lot of pressure on them. Play every point independent of the opponent, the score and the potential outcome of the match or the ramifications of that match. (In other words just play – without thinking about who you might play next if you win or how you are going have to explain to your friends or team mates why you lost – just play.)
  • Focus on the ball or the contact point of each shot rather than the potential outcome of the hit. So many tools have been used to help people with this. I’ll discuss these in a moment.

Improving Your Chances of Playing Well

I believe that most of the self-help articles, books, and DVD’s on mental tennis are based on one main element: Training the mind to “let go” and allow yourself to play the tennis you are capable of. Of the tools I’ve found to help the best include the following:

  • Hit and Hold: This is the idea that after every shot, the player holds the follow-through for a moment. The pros do this a lot and you should too! Why this works is two-fold:
    1. It forces a player to “play within himself.” That is, knowing you will hold the finish (which includes maintaining a balanced position where possible with the holding of the stroke finish), forces you to hit with a speed you can control.
    2. It allows the player to “relish” the stroke, focusing on the feel of the shot rather than the outcome. When a player holds the finish, he also creates a true “end” of the stroke allowing the player to also evaluate the aim if he indeed missed, or create better “muscle memory” if he made the shot.
  • Warm up slow and deliberately: Many players are nervous going into a match and feel like they have to “prove themselves” to their opponents. During warm up, there are no ramifications if a player hits harder and misses; he doesn’t lose a point. Often, players warm up really well (because of this lack of pressure) but it sets up a ‘no-win’ situation once the match begins: If you warm up well, it puts pressure on you to keep up that level of play within the match. You tend to press harder to hit as well as you did in the warm up and you sometimes end up missing more and more shots in the process!
  • Focus on the Hit: In the “Inner Game of Tennis” Timothy Gallwey talked about saying “Bounce” – when the player saw an incoming ball bounce on the court, and “Hit” when he actually hit the ball. This simple, but effective exercise works because it takes the mind off the potential outcome and focuses on the important part of the stroke, the contact!

    Click photo: Scott Ford talks about his concept of defending you're window and controlling the contact.



    I mentioned Scott Ford’s “Parallel Mode Processing,” which is a similar concept to Gallwey’s model. Scott talks about establishing an imaginary wall or ‘plane’ at the contact point relative to your body and relative to the particular shot you are hitting. (The plane will be different for a volley than it will be for a western grip forehand, for example.) Instead of the ‘bounce-hit’ drill, Scott has the player simply say “yes” if they hit the ball in the window of the established wall or plane that the player has identified for the shot. Again, this concept takes the player’s mind and puts it on the stroke or the ball instead of the outcome of that stroke. (There is a great deal more you can learn about Scott’s work and I again recommend you reading his articles here.)
  • Play as if you know everyone is watching you: This is an ego-based exercise that assumes that we all want to “look good” when people are watching us play. It is the same idea as when we watch a professional match on television and immediately go out and play. We tend to play very well. Why? Because we are playing to emulate the pros we just watched. (Consciously or unconsciously!) When we are trying to “look good,” we are not as concerned with the outcome of the shot but that we stroked with balance, fluid movement, and good stroke form.

Drop Outs

There is another variation that causes players to move up then down within this cycle. Often, a player discovers some stroke or element that triggers an “ah ha!” moment…a sudden revelation in doing something that the player recognizes, feels, and sees as the “right” move.

I remember one of these moments in my sophomore year in high school. I hit a backhand where I stayed very sideways and hit up around the outside of the ball creating topspin and sidespin where the ball curved from outside the doubles sideline back into the singles court for a passing shot. With my one-handed backhand, the feel and the outcome of that shot, with the ball curving was an epiphany of sorts for me. I extrapolated that shot into learning to hit a severe sharp-angle topspin crosscourt using the same technique. It opened the door for me to hit a better backhand with confidence and effect.

However, the replication of that shot the next time I went out was almost like I had never learned the shot. I couldn’t seem to find that ‘magic bullet,’ that same stroke component. And the harder I tried, the more it eluded me! It wasn’t until I stepped away from playing for a few days before I found it again…almost without trying.

When players learn a new technique, they often do one of two things thereafter:  They either focus so much on the new pattern that the rest of their game is neglected. Or, like me, they try so hard to replicate the response that they ‘over control’ their body and this often leads to drop-outs. Focusing too intensely on any given element of a stroke (swing path, contact, takeback, etc.) can often disrupt the natural kinetic chain of the stroke itself. So, when we focus on a single element we think is the secret to a particular stroke, in my case, hitting that curved backhand, we often neglect some of the elements that come before or after. If I don’t get into proper position to hit that stroke or my set-up or takeback is somehow different or flawed, I can’t hit the shot well no matter how hard I press. We call these neglected parts of the stroke, drop-outs.

So, the ‘forcing’ of the action is often detrimental to its replication. However, I believe that this is normal and in time, the player will relax enough to let what they had done before repeat itself almost naturally. It doesn’t always work out this way, but it is common for these situations to occur.

Obviously, there are many factors that can contribute to playing well. If we understand the elements of this Roller Coaster Improvement and Playing Cycle, and we can work within these few recommended exercises, we can learn to limit the down portions of the cycle and create a sense of confidence that comes with practice of these mind and hitting tools.

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

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Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about this article by emailing us here at TennisONE.

David W. Smith is the Director of Tennis for the St. George Tennis Academy in St. George Utah. He has been a featured writer in USPTA's magazine ADDvantage in addition to having over 50 published articles in various publications.

David has taught over 3000 players including many top national and world ranked players. He can be reached at acrpres1@email.msn.com.