Monthly Archives: September 2004

John McEnroe disease

Lanny Bassham often says that the biggest mistake competitors make is to try too hard. What the hell does that mean? In his monthly newsletter, he talked about the golfer Rich Beem winning the 2002 PGA Championship. Beem had earned $800,000 winning the tournament before the Championship so he was just enjoying himself without putting pressure on himself to win. Consider also the football team at LaSalle High School of Concord, CA. Until Saturday, they had won 151 games in a row. When the coach was asked how they did it, he said, “by not thinking about winning.”

Just words on a page till you try it out so today I tried it out. I went through my usual mental program for each shot and I paid particular attention to thoughts like, “I’m down 5-6 and I have to win this game”, or, “I’m up 5-3, I should be able to win this set,” or, “my opponent is really happy because she’s ahead, I want to beat her even more now.” Instead, I just enjoyed hitting the ball well. Until the last game. I was down 5-6 and I was nervous and upset during that game. At the end of the game, which I lost, I was virtually in tears and I swung my racket at a wooden beam at the foot of the chainlink fence making a loud bang. How silly is that? Even John McEnroe doesn’t do that kind of thing any more.

What’s the solution? Damned if I know but I’ve probably been a bad loser most of my life so it might take me more than a few tries to get it right.

Practice and Competition Report: played two sets with M., 6-4, 5-7, did sprints, practiced my serve for two bags of practice balls – a total of four hours in the heat wave that is currently Los Angeles
Solutions Analysis: looking for solution to getting upset when I am behind or I am in danger of losing the match.
Success Analysis:
1. My timing on returns of serve is good, I am hitting the ball hard.
2. I played agressively throughout the match, I took a number of balls on the fly.

palmball, technique or results?

Peter was practicing his serve on the court next to me. I sprained a ligament in my thumb trying to return his serve a few weeks ago. He made up for it today – he looked at my serve and suggested I toss the ball with the palm of my hand instead of my fingertips. This way the ball doesn’t spin. I suppose it’s like a juggler, they pop the ball up in the air with their palms.

Before each stroke in a match, I rehearse my next shot – I am practicing technique. Once the point starts I think about where I want the ball to land. After the point starts, it’s too late to think about technique, there’s no way the one-step-at-a-time conscious mind can keep up with all the steps needed in even one rally. But what happens if I lose technique during a match? My serve starts going into the net for instance. It’s likely that I’m taking my eye off the ball but to correct that, I would have to be thinking about technique during the point. I don’t know the answer and the back and forth yo-yoing between the two is driving me a bit crazy. I can sometimes choose to think about one technique thing only during a point, say keeping my eye on the ball while serving, but it takes me out of the rhythm of my shots. Any suggestions?
practiced for an hour; played two sets with M.: 6-4, 7-5; practiced my serve for one bag of practice balls
Success Analysis:
1. I hit some hard serves for service winners.
2. I played agressively and won a lot of points at the net.
3. I moved back a bit and gave myself room to step into the ball and hit it more solidy.
Injury Report: I went to see my physical therapist, Andy Choi, because I was feeling twinges in my elbow again. Two things seem to be bothering my elbow: I am still dropping my racket as I hit the ball which weakens my wrist and puts pressure on my elbow, I twist my racket to hit across the ball when I make contact on my serve but I don’t really have enough flexibility in my forearm to do this.