Quantcast
nodot nodot
Tennis Anyone
November 2002 Article

Contact John Mills

Latest Tennis Anyone Article

Tennis Anyone Archives:
2003 - Present
1994 - 2002

Tennis Server
HOME PAGE

Do You Want To Be A Better Tennis Player?

Then Sign Up For A Free Subscription to the Tennis Server INTERACTIVE
E-mail Newsletter!

Tom Veneziano You will join 13,000 other subscribers in receiving news of updates to the Tennis Server along with monthly tennis tips from tennis pro Tom Veneziano.
 
Best of all, it is free!

Tennis Features Icon TENNIS FEATURES:

TENNIS ANYONE? - USPTA Pro John Mills' quick player tip.
 
TENNIS WARRIOR - Tom Veneziano's Tennis Warrior archive.
 
TURBO TENNIS - Ron Waite turbocharges your tennis game with tennis tips, strategic considerations, training and practice regimens, and mental mindsets and exercises.
 
WILD CARDS - Each month a guest column by a new writer.
 
BETWEEN THE LINES - Ray Bowers takes an analytical and sometimes controversial look at the ATP/WTA professional tour.
 
PRO TENNIS SHOWCASE - Tennis match reports and photography from around the world.
 
TENNIS SET - Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D. looks at tennis science, engineering and technology.
 
MORTAL TENNIS - Greg Moran's tennis archive on how regular humans can play better tennis.
 
HARDSCRABBLE SCRAMBLE - USPTA pro Mike Whittington's player tip archive.
 
TENNIS EQUIPMENT TIPS.

Tennis Community Icon TENNIS COMMUNITY:


Tennis Book, DVD, and Video Index
 
Tennis Server Match Reports
 
Editor's Letter
 
Become a Tennis Server Sponsor

Explore The Tennis Net Icon EXPLORE THE TENNIS NET:

Tennis News and Live Tennis Scores
 
Tennis Links on the Web
 
nodot
Tennis Anyone


 

Green Dot
 
Tennis Warehouse Logo
 
Green Dot

 
nodot
Too Personal?

John Mills Photo
John Mills, USPTA

Are you choking or forcing yourself to play poorly? You might be making your matches too personal. Are you taking time and watching you opponent, making a lot of eye contact? This is an inefficient waste of your time. In order to maintain your focus, try this in your next tournament or pressure match:

When the ball is coming off your opponent's racket, watch it as long as you can. I hope that you will watch it long enough so that it is very close to actual contact. After you hit the ball, watch the racket of your opponent. This will give you a clue as to what type of shot that might be coming back (for example, a lob vs. a drop shot).

On the change over, try to distance yourself from your opponent. Many players will try to "psyche" you out by talking to you. You can better use this time to gather your thoughts and think about you next game. Take a quick mental check of what you are doing well, where are his/her weaknesses, making plan of attack. In general, unlike normal non-tennis situations where good eye contact is important, in a match it is not important and can be a distraction. Your job in any match is to concentrate and focus on the match. You will have plenty of time to be sociable afterwards.

This technique is very helpful when you are competing or playing challenges against a player that you might be friends with off the court, of if they are a player that you know will try gamesmanship in order to win. Watching the pros, you can see that they do not communicate during the switch and many are great friends that have to play each other all the time. Watching them play their matches and how they conduct themselves in pressure situations can be helpful for you to see how well they are able to center themselves and get their focus back. The sooner they are able to let go of a bad line call or an obnoxious player, the better they play.

I see this happen a lot in tournament situations and often times afterwards the player that should have won the match will lose it. I can see how a couple of distractions will change their winning game into a losing one because they are unable to regain their focus and after giving into the distractions. Then it can mushroom and get out of control so that they have gotten so far behind by the time they are able to get back in the match it has already slipped away. The loss is harder to take than most because the player realizes too late that they should have won. The player does not understand that they had given up control of the game to their opponent by letting the opponent get the best of them mentally.

See you on the courts!

Green DotGreen DotGreen Dot

Tennis Anyone Archives:
1994 - 2002 | 2003 - Present


If you have not already signed up to receive our free e-mail newsletter Tennis Server INTERACTIVE, you can sign up here. You will receive notification each month of changes at the Tennis Server and news of new columns posted on our site.

This column is copyrighted by John Mills, all rights reserved.

John Mills' experience includes four years as head pro at the Windemere Racquet & Swim Club, where he was responsible for organization of all tennis activities at the club. John also played college tennis at the University of Houston and has spent 20 years teaching tennis at the Memorial Park Tennis Center, the Pasadena Racquet Club, and as the head pro at the Bay Area Racquet Club.


 

nodot
nodot
Google
Web tennisserver.com
nodot nodot
The Tennis Server
Ticket Exchange

Your Source for tickets to professional tennis & golf events.
 
SAI Team Tennis Tournament Tickets
 
Dallas Open Tickets
 
Delray Beach Open Tickets
 
ATX Open Tickets
 
BNP Paribas Open Tickets
 
Miami Open Tickets
 
Credit One Charleston Open Tickets
 
US Men's Clay Court Championships Tickets
 
Wimbledon Tickets
 
Infosys Hall of Fame Open Tickets
 
Atlanta Open Tickets
 
Mubadala Citi Open Tennis Tournament Tickets
 
National Bank Open Women's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
National Bank Open Men's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
Western & Southern Open Tickets
 
Winston-Salem Open Tickets
 
US Open Tennis Championship Tickets
 

 

Popular Tennis books:
 
Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis-Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert, Steve Jamison
 
The Best Tennis of Your Life: 50 Mental Strategies for Fearless Performance by Jeff Greenwald
 
The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
 
Most Recent Articles:
 
October 2022 Tennis Anyone: Patterns in Doubles by John Mills.
 
September 2022 Tennis Anyone: Short Court by John Mills.
 

 

 

 

"Tennis Server" is a registered trademark and "Tennis Server INTERACTIVE" is a trademark of Tennis Server. All original material and graphics on the Tennis Server are copyrighted 1994 - by Tennis Server and its sponsors and contributors. Please do not reproduce without permission.

The Tennis Server receives a commission on all items sold through links to Amazon.com.

 

Tennis Server
Cliff Kurtzman
Editor-in-chief
791 Price Street #144
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Phone: (281) 480-6300
Online Contact Form
How to support Tennis Server as a Sponsor/Advertiser
Tennis Server Privacy Policy