Stringer's Symposium

Earlier this month we had the opportunity to interact with some of the top professionals in the world of racquet stringing and customization. One particular session we found facinating was facilitated by Mr. John Elliott who flew in from France to share some of his observations and thoughts on world of poly-based strings. During his presentation we noted the following observations he has made through his years of working with polyester strings.

- Polyester strings are sensitive to the cold.

- Basic polys offer less than 2 hours of string life.

- Luxilon ALU strings are a very high quality offering. Similar to formula one performance racing tires in that they perform well for a short period of time and then need to be replaced. (Optimal performance time is very limited, usually less than a match)

- Tension determines the length of the ball. 2 pounds of tension equates to 1 foot of ball length. Increase 2 pounds to reduce length by one foot, decrease 2 pounds to increase one foot.

- Stringmeter tool is more accurate than most people give credit for. The reason the readings vary from string to string is due to either the stringing machine or the stringer. A number of variables can lead to inconsistency. Ideally the tension of all mains (except out ones) strings should measure the same with this tool.

- The best playing racquet set-up for recreational and league players is a hybrid with a poly-based main and synthetic gut cross string (not a multi).

- Racquet tuning is not the same as racquet stringing. Racquet tuning is working toward an end result…the desired stringbed stiffness.

- To tune racquet, find desired stringbed stiffness. Ask customer to let you know when racquet is performing optimally. Using stringmeter, measure string tension. Increase +4 pounds for polys and +10 pounds for nylon at next stringing. Also use Dynamic Tension readings to confirm.

- Stringing is most consistent and best when stringer uses a FLUID and REPEATABLE motion.

- With friction tension in crosses ends up measuring approx. 1/3 less in crosses than mains when strung at same reference tension.

The Zing in the Pros' String - TENNIS.com

We hit the same yellow fuzzy balls and we run in the same shoes as the U.S. Open players. Maybe we even juice up our racquets with lead tape and change the balance points like they do.

But the biggest worlds-apart difference in their gear and ours is the zing in their string and how often it's reapplied to the racquet face. For most recreational players, we restring when it breaks; for them it can be something as minor as a small break in the weather.

Indeed, most U.S. Open players will drop the tension a pound or two on cooler Flushing Meadows nights to put more zip on the ball and lessen the harshness on their hands and arms, while tensions go up on warm days as the balls get heavier collecting moisture from the humidity. Sometimes they'll split their usual eight racquets they bring to a match evenly between lower and higher tensions.

But no matter what the weather, Roger Federer picks up a freshly strung racquet each time new balls are put into play because he's looking to control their fresh-from-the-can liveliness. Ivan Navarro, the Spanish serve and volleyer, uses one racquet for serving (strung at a looser tension for power) and another for returning (strung higher for control).

In fact, all U.S. Open players are as fussy about their strings as first-chair violinists in a symphony orchestra. They are the maestros of multifilament and monofilament and can detect the smallest deviation from the rigid set of specifications they provide to the stringing crew that could send their games more out of tune than a Roseanne Barr/William Hung duet.

"There's no room for error here," says Wilson's Ron Rocchi, who is running the U.S. Open stringing room in Arthur Ashe Stadium these two weeks, where a crew of 14 craftspeople are busier than Santa's elves on December 23. The handpicked crew from around the globe each string as many as 35 racquets in an 18-hour shift. By the men's final on Sunday, they will have collectively strung some 3,500 racquets.

And no two will be strung the same, starting with the biggest variable, string tensions. Some players string tight for better control. The all-gut strings in the Williams sisters' Wilson K Blade Team sticks are stretched to 68-70 pounds, exceeding the top of the manufacturer's recommended tension of 53-63 pounds, which is the equivalent to blowing up a balloon to see how big it can get before it pops. This is why Venus usually sets the mark for most broken strings at Grand Slams. She will probably go through more than 40 sets before her doubles matches end this week.

Then there's Taylor Dent, who lives on the other side of the string-tension fence. His racquets are strung the loosest at only of 40 pounds, 10 pounds under the lower end of the recommended tension on his Wilson n Six-One 95. That provides him with some additional comfort he needs after coming off a pair of back surgeries, and gives him more bombs-away pop on his groundstrokes and serves which is part of the reason he hit a tournament-high 147 mph serve last week. The loose-string tradeoff is control, which is why you saw a lot of his volleys fly off the court in his loss to Andy Murray (who strings his Head YouTek Radical Pro at the top of the recommended range of 62 pounds for control).

While Dent and Murray may string at opposite ends of the tension scale, they both swing racquets laced with Luxilon string, along with about 60 percent of the rest of the U.S. Open field, who use this blend of rugged polyester mixed with a number of other carbon or metallic fibers.

"Luxilon gives them tremendous bite when they hit, and allows them to create spins they just can't do with other strings," says Rocchi.

But the downside is Luxilon is as harsh on the arm as Lex Luthor was on Superman, which is why recreational players with sore arms or elbows should stay away no matter how much it might improve their slice-and-dice game.

Player Recommendations to Parents

Top 9 Recommendations Players made to Junior Tennis Parents:

1. Make Sure Other Things Going On in Life; Parents Shouldn’t Let Tennis Become Child’s Life

2. Listen to the Player and Don’t Just Come Up with Your Own Ideas

3. Give the Right Direction, But Don’t Push Over the Edge

4. Focus on Developing the Person Rather than the Athlete and Getting Results

5. Don’t Have Your Child Specialize Too Early (doing other sports facilitates athletic ability and teaches how to compete)

6. Be Patient

7. Don’t Live Through Your Child’s Tennis Experiences (“We won, he lost.”)

8. Allow Your Child to Dream, Don’t Limit It, and Give Every Opportunity to Achieve the Dream

9. Be Emotionally Stable and Even-Keeled

Simple Guidelines for Tennis Parents

Tennis should be fun for kids. Treat tennis as a game—It’s not a business for kids. Parents can get too wrapped up in their child’s ranking, the next tournament or the possibility of a college scholarship. With all the money in professional sports today, it is hard for parents to understand that it should be just good fun for most tennis players.

Your own agenda is not your child’s. Young tennis athletes compete for many reasons. They enjoy the competition, like the social aspect, engage with being part of a team, and enjoy the challenge of setting goals. You might have a different agenda than your child and you need to recognize that tennis is your child’s sport, not yours. Young tennis athletes need to compete for their own reasons, not to satisfy a parent.

Emphasize the process of playing one point at a time instead of results, scores, or trophies. We live in a society that focuses on results and winning, but winning comes from working the process and enjoying the ride. Teach your child to focus on the process of of playing one shot at a time instead of the number of wins or trophies.

You are a role model for your child athlete. As such, you should model composure and poise courtside. When you’re watching matches, your child mimics your behavior. You become a role model in how you react to a close match or the questionable behavior of a competitor. Stay calm, composed, and in control during matches so your tennis player can copy those positive behaviors.

Refrain from match-time coaching. During tournaments, it’s time to just let your kids play. Most junior tennis tournament organizers do not allow parents to coach their young athletes anyway. All the practice should be set aside during matches because this is the time that athletes need to trust in the training and react on the court. “Just do it” as the saying goes. Too much coaching (or over-coaching) can cause kids to make mistakes and play cautiously. Save the coaching for practice and use encouragement at matches instead.

Help your tennis players separate self-esteem from achievement. Too many athletes base their self-worth on their performance or the outcome of the match. Help your children understand that they are people FIRST who happen to be athletes. Success or number of wins should not determine a person’s self-esteem. Help your child find other activities or roles that are different from sport, such as music, theater or being a student or sibling.

Ask your child athlete the right questions. Asking the right questions after matches will tell your child what you think is important in tennis. If you ask, “Did you win?” your child will think winning is important. If you ask, “Did you have fun?” he or she will assume having fun is important.

Book Review: The Talent Code

Another aspect of the book’s goodness is it’s unique take on the subject of expertise. The underlying thread that ties the book together is microscopic physically but has a heft that belies its size. Coyle introduces us to brain science and the discovery of myelin and the role it plays in how the brain processes signals. In a nutshell, myelin is an insulator that allows neurons to fire more efficiently with better timing, allowing signals to be sent either faster or slower, depending on what’s needed. And myelin is grown through focused effort. You know that feeling when you’re totally focused on something and trying to figure it out? You might feel confused and even frustrated, but you persist, you break the task down into its component parts and do those until you get it, then you put the parts together. You’re building myelin around the neurons needed to perform that task.

Turns out that myelin, part of what scientists call white matter in the brain is much more important to brain function than anyone thought. Einstein’s brain had a significantly larger proportion of myelin to neurons than other brains. The number of neurons were the same, but Einstein’s brain had a lot more myelin (Diamond, et al, 1988). Myelin is one of the common denominators of high ability in any field, and it’s the struggle to understand or to do that creates it.

Coyle breaks the book into 3 parts. Part I: Deep Practice gives an overview of what kind of practice seems to build myelin and gives examples from sources as diverse as skateboarders, the Bronte sisters, and Renaissance artists. Coyle’s term Deep Practice is in most ways similar to Ericsson’s Deliberate Practice and my own notion of Intentional Practice. He culls three rules of Deep Practice:

1. Chunk it up: Basically this consists of breaking things into pieces that are more easily done or thought about. It also includes listening to and/or absorbing the whole before breaking the skill down and includes changing the material to make it easier, for example, slowing down a difficult musical passage.

2. Repeat it. This is pretty self-explanatory, but also not as simple as it sounds.

3. Learn to Feel it. This includes sensing (and remembering!) how something feels when it is done right, but also developing awareness of how it feels to struggle.

Part II: Ignition handles some of the general information about motivation and inspiration. Coyle calls this ignition and points to circumstances that help to motivate people to strive for greatness. He gives many examples from sport. He also cites some important research that indicates attitude prior to starting a task (in this case, music) has a significant impact on how good you get. Also a factor in his observations was that the more gritty and spare the surroundings, the more it can inspire one towards greatness. Places soft and warm and inviting don’t inspire the “hungriness” that a rougher setting might.

Part III: Master Coaching is all about how teachers, coaches, and mentors approach the task of nurturing and helping their tutors to grow “talent” (aka myelin, in Coyle’s belief). He is quick to point out (and correct) that coaching/teaching/mentoring is a skill in itself that takes a long time to build and he presents some fantastic examples of coaches, music teachers, and school teachers who have put in many thousands of hours of deep practice as teachers

http://intentionalpractice.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/book-review-the-talent-code/

College Park Junior Model

But Ponkka, Salazar and the other coaches at the Junior Tennis Champions Center believe what has been lacking is a model for the patient, thorough and systematic development of native talent from an early age. Drawing on training methods used in the former Soviet bloc, their own experience as players and coaches, and trial and error, they believe they've developed that model in College Park, and that their results prove it works.

In the past five years, 11 boys and girls training at the tennis center have either won national championship tournaments or been ranked No. 1 in the nation in their age groups. The Junior Tennis Champions Center has had 51 graduates: 41 have attended Division 1 universities -- 38 of them on scholarships. Seven have attended Division III and Ivy league schools, and three have turned pro.

With rare exceptions, these are not gems discovered elsewhere, then imported for polishing, as is the rule at places such as Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis academy in Florida. Instead, the tennis center has identified local kids with above-average potential, then transformed them from "above average" into some of the nation's and the world's most elite junior athletes.

In the end, what's been happening in College Park may be less interesting because of what it says about the hopes for American tennis than because of what it suggests about how people become exceptional. Even as the program at the tennis center was starting to obtain its remarkable results, a raft of new research seemed to offer an explanation. Recent books such as "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle and "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin have summarized discoveries in neuroscience that have shown how sophisticated abilities arise through the development of neural pathways built and refined over time through constant repetition. In other words, practice makes perfect.

The thrust of the new research is this: Geniuses aren't born; they are created. This is true not only for tennis but also for any complex activity, such as playing an instrument or learning languages. Regardless of the activity, this theory goes, if you take children who can focus obsessively and follow direction, add expert instruction and thousands of hours of drills -- then, abracadabra: You've got talent.

This is precisely the program that the tennis center seems to have anticipated by a decade, a program that has proved so successful that the U.S. Tennis Association has used it as a model for its plan to create eight regional tennis centers around the country. It has also become a proving ground for a revolutionary idea: Almost anyone with some basic ability who is willing to put in the effort and the hours can become exceptional.

*****

Through the changes, Brody's founding idea of making the program more about human development than stroke development persists. "You can take a kid from basically nothing and maximize them tennis-wise and have such an impact in their life psychologically," Salazar says. "What tennis teaches you, it teaches you so much about discipline. It teaches you how to deal with adversity... When you play tennis, you're not always going to win every time. You may step on the court and play great; you may step on the court and play not so great. The only thing that really you have control over when you step on the court is your mind, how you deal with the pressure, how you deal with the moment -- you have control over that."

That outlines an idea echoed frequently at the tennis center: The skills that enable a kid to play high-level tennis might just also create a high-level human being. When the coaches are asked if a lopsided regimen of so much tennis training couldn't create a miserable child instead, they say that's highly unlikely. A child who didn't love the game, even love the process of training, would never be able to make it far enough to get into the champions program. In the 10-year history, they say, they've had very few dropouts.

Basic Player Styles

Offensive or aggressive baseliner

An offensive or aggressive baseliner tries to win the point by hitting winners from the back of the court, attacking with fast balls that the opponent cannot reach or return properly. Being an offensive baseliner player requires a deadly array of shots and shot-types. The tennis player may not try to win the point outright with one shot, but instead may hit the ball from side to side until he/she spots an opening. Offensive baseliners normally have at least one great groundstroke, forehand or backhand. The best offensive baseliners have a huge serve to go with a great groundstroke or can hit huge groundstrokes off both wings. Usually offensive baseliners have the ability to read the game very well and also their opponents' styles and tendencies so that they can spot a weakness and use one of their aggressive shots to act upon it.

An offensive baseliner can overpower and overwhelm most opposition. However, when going for winners, he/she can also produce many errors since an offensive baseliner has to repeatedly and correctly execute the most difficult strokes and shots in tennis. Errors can be due to physical and/or mental reasons such as fatigue and/or hesitation. Two great old-time players, R. Norris Williams and Ellsworth Vines, were famous for being unbeatable when their strokes were "on"; they played with such little margin for error in making their strokes, however, that when they were not 100 percent "on" they could be beaten by inferior players. Another advantage in being an offensive baseliner is since the shots they do are usually very ambitious or "high risk" and difficult to achieve, the offensive baseliner executing these sometimes truly amazing shots can shock and stun the opposition which increases confidence to the offensive baseliner and lowers the opponent's confidence.

Hard courts are generally considered to be the best surface for an offensive baseliner who often employ a high risk strategy. However, offensive baseliners can often excel on both grass and clay courts as well. On grass, they can execute their "winners" and due to the quick and small bounce, makes it harder for opponents to retrieve; whereas on clay courts, some offensive baseliners might like the slow and high bounce because it gives them a longer time to change their grip and foot-positions in order to set up for a "winner". Offensive baseliners with height especially have an advantage on clay courts because the high bounces land in their hitting zones, allowing them to strike the ball cleanly and more powerfully. Some all-time great offensive baseliners are Jim Courier, Andre Agassi and Monica Seles. Most players today are offensive baseliners; a few notable ones are Fernando Gonzalez, Juan Martín del Potro, Fernando Verdasco, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanović, Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport, and Dinara Safina.

Defensive Baseliner

A defensive baseliner, or counter-puncher or retriever, returns every ball and relies on the opponent making mistakes. He/She has consistent shots, makes few errors of his own while making it difficult for opponents to hit winners. The game of the defensive counter-puncher has more to do with physical endurance and determination to retrieve un-retrievable balls as well as mental stamina. They tend to make relatively few errors because they don't attempt the complicated and ambitious shots of the aggressive baseliner. But that doesn't mean they don't ever attempt aggressive shots. A counter-puncher must have speed and agility to cover the court. He/She is a fighter, and has to have willingness to chase down every ball to frustrate opponents. Especially offensive baseliners who naturally have a fiery attitude and flair, returning every aggressive shot which they do will just encourage their aggressiveness and thus encouraging errors and mistakes. Usually, the defensive counter-puncher frustrates their opponent so much that their opponent might actually try to change their game by either coming to the net in which case they can just execute "Passing Shots" down the lines, or by attempting to also be a defensive counter-puncher.

Counter-punchers often excel on slow courts, such as clay courts. The court gives them extra time to chase down shots and it is harder for opponents to create winners. Counter-punchers are often particularly strong players at low-level play, where opponents cannot make winners with regularity.

On rare occasions players have been known to use a style that has not yet been named. It is mainly used by players that do not have strong backhands so they switch hands the racket is in to make their non-dominate hand their forehand. This allows for a longer reach on balls that would normaly be unattainable from a normal backhand and it frustrates their opponent due to the change up of styles.

Great counter-punchers of all time include Mats Wilander, Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, Michael Chang, Miloslav Mecir, Chris Evert, and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Active players who employ this strategy are Lleyton Hewitt, Guillermo Coria, Rafael Nadal, Gilles Simon, Andy Murray, Jelena Janković, Gaël Monfils, Zheng Jie, and Anastasia Myskina.

Serve-and-Volleyer

A serve-and-volleyer has a great net game, is quick around the net, and has fine touch for volleys. Serve-and-volleyers come up to the net at every opportunity when serving. They are almost always attackers and can hit many winners with varieties of volleys and drop volleys. When not serving, they often employ the "chip-and-charge", chipping back the serve without attempting to hit a winner and rushing the net. The serve-and-volleyers' strategy is to pressure the opponent to try to hit difficult passing shots.

Serve-and-volleyers benefit from playing on fast courts, such as grass or fast concrete. The quick bounce and faster pace of play give them an advantage because opponents have less time to set up for a passing shot. The number of serve-and-volley players is decreasing in today's professional tennis, however, because this strategy requires more experience to master and to defeat other playing styles (As well as changes in racquet technology that have improved players' passing shots). In addition to this, there has been a trend toward the slowing down of tennis surfaces over the past few years. Tim Henman and Lleyton Hewitt have each lamented that the surfaces of their respective home Grand Slams (Wimbledon and the Australian Open) play very slowly. The serve-and-volley technique works better on faster surfaces because the volleyer is able to put more balls away without the baseliner being able to chase them down.

Some of the great ones in history are Jack Kramer, Frank Sedgman, Pancho Gonzales, Roy Emerson, Lew Hoad, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Tim Henman, Jana Novotná and Martina Navratilova. Players who apply this technique include Michael Llodra, Radek Stepanek, Ivo Karlovic, Feliciano Lopez, Samantha Stosur and Amelie Mauresmo.

Bill Tilden, the dominant player of the 1920s, preferred to play from the backcourt and liked nothing better than to face an opponent who rushed the net — one way or another Tilden would find a way to hit the ball past him. Some of the best matches of all time have pitted great baseliners such as Björn Borg or Andre Agassi against great serve-and-volleyers such as John McEnroe or Pete Sampras.

All-court player

All-court players have aspects of every tennis style, whether that be offensive baseliner, defensive counter-puncher or serve-and-volleyer. All-court players use the best bits from each style and mix it together to create a truly formidable tennis style to play against. In game situations, they have the ability to select an action usually executed by one tennis style. They usually have an attacking game, mixing some groundstrokes and volleys to keep the opponent guessing. Most all-court players won't rush the net immediately after a serve like a typical serve and volley player would. However, their game often revolves around "constructing" a point to where they will be able to approach the net and put away an easy volley or pulling their opponent into the net and hitting a passing shot. They are very versatile; when an all-court player's baseline game is not working, he may switch to a net game, and vice versa. All-court players have the ability to adjust to different opponents that play different styles easier than pure baseliners or serve and volleyers. All-court players stereotypically have the speed, determination and fitness of a defensive counter-puncher, the confidence, skill and flair of offensive baseliners and have the touch, the agility around the net and tactical thinking of the serve-and-volleyer. But just because the all-court player has a combination of skills used by all tennis styles doesn't necessarily mean that they could beat an offensive baseliner or a defensive counter-puncher or even a serve-and-volleyer. It just means it would be more difficult to read the game of an all-court player.

Among the best all-court players of all time are: Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Don Budge, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, and Steffi Graf. Great all-court players today include Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Tommy Haas, David Nalbandian, Marat Safin, Venus Williams, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Amélie Mauresmo and Francesca Schiavone.

from wikipedia

Effective Shot Combinations

In each rally, your objective should be to open up the court for an opportunity to put the ball away or force an error. It's a question of maneuvering your opponent into a position where he's vulnerable to attack. You will need to get familiar with shot combinations like these:

Hit a short angled shot, preferably with slice to keep the ball low, followed by a deep shot to the other side. You often don't need to go too wide with the second shot, but you do need to ensure it's deep enough to make your opponent move backwards as well as sideways. You can also use this tactic with a wide slice serve as the opening gambit. By the way, slice is particularly useful against players with western grips or two-handed backhands.

Hit a high, deep moonball to your opponent's backhand followed by a sneaky move into the court for a volley. If you load up the moonball with topspin to get the ball up to at least shoulder height, your opponent will probably not notice your advance to the net.

Hit a drop-shot followed by a pass or lob. This is a fairly low percentage option, because drop-shots and lobs require good touch and feel, but if you're feeling confident and your opponent is out of position behind the baseline, it's a combination that can be devastatingly successful!

Hit corner to corner, controlling the rally from the middle of the court. If, at any time, your opponent fails to recover to a good position, drive into the space. Watch out for a sign that your opponent has anticipated your next shot too early - if you spot this, hit back behind him.

from www.tennisontheline.org

Come play tennis

Come play tennis.
Because I like it when
you drive me there.

Come play tennis.
Don't think of chores
and come and play.

Come play tennis.
Teach me to put
spin on every shot.

Come play tennis.
Come and play
before I'm not here.

by junior tennis player (age 9)

Question: Is it best to attack or play safe?

As a coach, I often get the opportunity to speak to players when they've finished a match and I often ask them about their strategy. I do get some baffled looks, especially from juniors! Sometimes they admit they went on to court without any kind of plan whatsoever, even when the opponent was well known to them and even when an opponent's weaknesses were obvious! They failed to react to what went on during the match and just relied on their strokes to see them through. If they refer to the opponent at all, a few might assert that they "went after his/her backhand", but usually it's nothing more than a derogatory observation like "he's just a pusher and I can't play pushers!" or an exasperated acknowledgment of the defeat like "she was just too good!". If matches were journeys, these players were effectively nothing more than passengers.

Other players make confident assertions like "I just played my own game" or "I decided to go for it" or "I set out to play really consistent". They may have chosen their mode of transport, but these players are just passengers too.

Many players express strategy in very black and white terms. They either "go for it" and attempt to hit winners all the time or they just go out and play safe. The stats presented to viewers of televised matches reinforce this over-simplification by emphasizing the number of winners and the number of unforced errors. That implies that all the top pros adopt a policy of all-out attack, whereby they either hit their targets or they miss them. That's seldom the case. The most significant factor - the number of forced errors - is usually omitted from the stats altogether!

It's seldom appropriate to attempt to hit a winner with every shot and it's seldom appropriate to do nothing except play safe. Far better to strive to play forcing tennis, using your strengths to expose an opponent's weaknesses. Far better to deploy the right tactics to force your opponent into error or create opportunities for you to hit a winning shot.

So how can a steady player who has no weapons play forcing tennis? By varying your shots and moving your opponent around the court to elicit a mistake. By maintaining good depth to frustrate an opponent who might be tempted to take an inappropriate risk. Now, you might say that's the same as just playing safe, but it's not! The mindset is different. You're using tactics to exploit a perceived weakness.

Most players can and should use a variety of strategies and tactics, based on their own style of play, based on the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent and based on the state of the match.

At every changeover in a match, you should ask yourself two simple questions: "what's hurting me?" and "what's hurting my opponent?". If necessary, you should then adjust your tactics to avoid your own pain and increase your opponent's. That's how you play forcing tennis. That's how you get out of the back seat and take the wheel for yourself during a match. That's how you can get on the road to success!

from www.tennisontheline.org

Question: How to play a moonballer?

Players sometimes get in such a stew when they're confronted with a defensive moonballer. I hear this type of opponent described in the most derogatory terms. According to most of the victims I meet, the moonballer should not have won, doesn't play "proper tennis" and won't get anywhere in the game.

Well, tell that to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario - amongst others!

The problem arises because dogged persistence is a relatively uncommon trait. You kind of get used to opponents who oblige you with a liberal helping of unforced errors when you offer them the opportunities. It can be very baffling to encounter a player who is resolutely intent on doing nothing more than get the ball back without making a mistake.

Let's face it, though, this opponent has no weapons and is relying on you inflicting wounds on yourself. The danger lies in your own reaction to the problem. If you become a headless chicken and select shots you never practice, adopt tactics you never rehearse and allow yourself to be totally manipulated by a situation that really isn't all that threatening, then you will find yourself in deep water.

So, DON'T PANIC! You don't have to suddenly conjure up drive volleys in the mid-court - especially if you can only just cope with the orthodox variety. There's no point rushing the net at every opportunity - especially if lunging and jumping are anathema to you. Risking a strategy of drop shots and lobs may prove disastrous - especially if your touch is suspect. In short, if the relevant weapons are not in your arsenal, then all the conventional wisdom about playing moonballers can be discounted.

Changing tactics is only an option if you can execute the required shots with competence and confidence. And if it's not an option, tackle the problem from a psychological perspective as opposed to a tactical one.

In this case, focus on the strong points of your own game - your most reliable shots (or sequences of shots). Accept you're going to have to be a whole lot more patient than usual and accept it will take longer to construct your openings. But keep believing in your own weapons!

Keep believing even when your best shots keep coming back. Keep believing even when they appear to have no visible effect on your opponent whatsoever. After all, this type of player loves having to react and loves having to defend. Your task is to keep a positive mindset! Your weapons will gradually have an effect, albeit a drip drip effect. Persist! Eventually, you'll get a shorter ball. Eventually, you'll create space on the court for a really incisive blow.

Play according to the score. When you're 40-0 or 40-15 up, for example, you can probably afford to risk a little more. Working your feet is important too. Just because you don't need to move fast, you can get lulled into sloppy shot preparation. So keep your feet busy!

Playing a moonballer can become hypnotic. Be a bad hypnotic subject by resisting the suggestion that you should get frustrated. The ability to resist depends on belief and expectations. Make sure you're equipped with both.

from www.tennisontheline.org

Navigating my way as a parent

When I played...

• Parents dropped you off and did not watch your matches
• You stayed at other people homes for neighbor island tournaments
• No one had private lessons
• The big event was States because you got a trip off island without your parents

Today...

• Parents are really involved and watch all your matches
• You stay in hotels or condos with your parents
• Everyone gets private lessons
• One of the big events is States, but your parents fly-in to watch you
• Another big event is Zonals, which cost your parents a lot of money and becomes your family vacation trip