Often times in clinic and even matches people tend to play down to their competition. I did it in tennis clinic myself at a young age and still fight the urge to do the same in my newly acquired racquetball carreer. Someone you know that is not as strong a player as you are walks on the court and immediately your level of play drops. You lose focus and the next thing you know, you are losing or playing well below your normal capabilities.
Whenever you step onto the court your goal should be to get better and improve your game. No matter who is on the other side of the court, your shots are still the same. There is a serve to be served and a return to be returned; so work on them.
Setting ‘mini goals’ within a match allows you to stay focused. As some of you know, in addition to being a tennis instructor I also play competitive racquetball. The Dowd YMCA has a pick up game system. In some cases I play someone equal or better than me, but in the next round I might play someone who is a couple of notches below my level of play. I tend to only have an hour or so to play, so I try to make the most of my practices. Whenever someone I know I can easily beat steps onto the court the usual tendency is to just toy around and get the ‘W’ and hopefully someone better will come along the next game. But what I have learned to to set ‘mini goals’ during the match to stay focused and improve my game. If a particular serve is troubling me, I will only hit that serve the entire game until it is perfect. Another example of a mini goal that I have is to never let someone below my level get more than 5 points on me during a game to 15. This is an excellent goal to have in our own games to 11 or 15 at CTA.
It may sound mean to an opponent you feel you are way better than, but having this mentality will help you focus and improve any weaknesses in your game. Tennis related ‘mini goals’ for you may be working on your slice out wide on the deuce side, or hitting every ball past the service line. I guarantee you will find yourself in this situation in clinic at some point in the future, so use these mini goals to make the most of your practice time.
- coach Dennis Myers (February, 2009)
