In league play I play two sets, one set of singles and one set of doubles. Since it’s important to work harder in practice than in a match, I played four sets today and did sprints afterward. Derek Jeter takes batting practice 5 times a day. Jerry Rice does a 5 mile uphill run ending with 40 meter uphill sprints at the top and does a weight workout totaling 610 reps. On the same day. I’m not suggesting I could even survive a 5 mile vertical run and it probably takes me two months to do 610 reps of anything, but my game won’t improve if my conditioning doesn’t.

I do a lot of mental rehearsal of my tennis strokes. Today I realized that I had never rehearsed, or you could say visualized, winning a match. What would I do to celebrate? What would it feel like? Strangely enough, I had great difficulty with this exercise. I just kind of walked off the court. No wave to my adoring crowd or throwing my shirt into the stands (thankfully). This tells me that I don’t feel like a winner, that I don’t act like a winner during a match and therefore I am not likely to win a lot. I would say that it’s an important first step. I’ll work on it.

Practice and Competition Report: played four sets with T, he gives me 3 games a set because he’s that much better than I am: 3-6, 4-6, 4-6, 5-7
Solutions Analysis:
1. Looking for a solution to my backhand popping up in the air. I am probably breaking my wrist when I hit it.
2. Looking for a solution to hitting my cross court winner consistently wide.
Success Analysis: T hits a lot of high topspin shots. Sometimes they land near the baseline then go over my head into the fence at which point it’s a bit late to hit the ball. I did a better job figuring out when to back off and hit a high bouncing shot or when to come in and take these shots on the fly.

I remember reading about the first Fischer-Spassky chess match and scoffing at the idea that you had to be a well-conditioned athlete to play a chess tournament. Then I played in a chess tournament. I have never been so exhausted in my life as I was after playing five matches in two days. Mental exhaustion far outweighs any physical exhaustion I’ve ever experienced.

I say this because I think a large part of tennis is mental. It could be the match I played on Saturday, the birthday party after the match, the street fair after the party, then rolling around on the floor till all hours of the night with my girlfriend, but I’m tired. I think I’m losing my stroke in the middle of the match because I’m not in good enough condition to keep mentally sharp throughout a match so I reinstituted sprints after practice and matches.

Consider Matt Emmons in the rifle competition at the Olympics yesterday. He only had to shoot an 8 out of a possible 10 on the last target. He shot an 8.1 but he made a huge mental mistake and shot at the wrong target. No medal.

Practice and Competition Report: practiced and played just over two sets: 6-3, 2-6, 2-3
Solutions Analysis:
1. Looking for solution to losing my serve in the middle of a match. I have to return to paying attention technique when I serve instead of thinking about where I want the ball to go. The stroke is not automatic yet.
2. There is always a temptation to try and rocket those passing shots past your opponent. A softer well placed shot is likely much more successful more of the time.
3. Here we go again, an approach shot is a stationary shot. The idea is to come to a stop somewhere near the ball, hit the shot and only then run into the net.
4. On a high bouncing shot, it’s a good idea to keep your eye on the ball as if it was an overhead.