Quantcast
nodot nodot
Tennis Warrior
February 2007 Article

Tennis Warrior Archive

Send a message to Tom

Get Tom Veneziano's book The Truth about Winning! at Amazon.com

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 Warrior Banner


 
Green Dot
 
Tennis Warehouse Logo
 
Green Dot

 
nodot
From indoors to outdoors!

Tom Veneziano Photo
Tom Veneziano

Do you have trouble switching from playing tennis indoors to playing tennis outdoors or changing form one environment to another? Would you like to know why you have this difficulty?

Playing tennis indoors and playing tennis outdoors are different. Most players have a tough time making the necessary adjustments. Recently I was coaching Nico, an extremely talented player who had been playing indoors for months. He then attempted to play outdoors and was a mess! Balls were flying everywhere. He had beautiful stroke mechanics indoors, but outdoors he looked clumsy and awkward...what happened? Nico still possessed the same stroke mechanics, yet he could not execute those fabulous strokes outdoors.

Even without windy conditions players seem to struggle when switching from indoors to outdoors. You still possess the same stroke skills, so what gives? Why can't you simply go out, hit a few balls to warm up, make a few adjustments and play?

For answers, let's go to the Tennis Warrior System where I teach that the senses define a player's stroke, not the mechanics. Sense of timing, sense of judgment, sense of balance and muscle sense. All four of these senses work together to develop a 'feel' for a stroke.

To the player who often plays indoors these senses are in harmony with the surrounding atmosphere, background, court surface, lighting and sounds. The subconscious has adjusted to and is set to these surroundings. Therefore the senses are automatically calculating, moment by moment, all the differences in your surroundings. All this without your even being aware of it! As you are about to hit a tennis ball, your senses determine the velocity, trajectory, depth and spin of the ball, then weigh this information against your surroundings. Amazing, isn't it! And you thought you were just out there mechanically hitting a ball. NOT EVEN CLOSE! I repeat. NOT EVEN CLOSE! In fact the mechanics are child's play compared to what is going on inside your body.

Can you see the problem that occurs when switching to a different environment? Whether switching from indoors to outdoors or just changing your location outdoors, you have a totally different set of surroundings. A new atmosphere, background, court surface, lighting and sounds that the senses must now respond to and adjust! The mechanics of the stroke have not gone awry. Instead your senses have been temporarily short-circuited. They are still operating, but are set for the old environment! As a result your 'feel' is gone and you feel clumsy and completely out of sync! Help! What should you do?

The first thing to do is come to your senses! :) DO NOT PANIC! Just relax and begin retraining the senses. But how? Here is what I told Nico. I assured him that his mechanics were just fine, but his senses were being challenged. He was supposed to just relax and let his subconscious slowly figure out how to reset his sense of timing, judgment, balance and muscle sense to the new environment. I told him to not expect the 'feel' to be the same outdoors as the 'feel' is indoors. He was to allow himself to develop a new 'feel' based on his new surroundings. Slowly, Nico worked himself into this new arena.

The secret is to NOT stand in the way of this process. Do not force the old senses developed from a different tennis environment onto the new tennis environment. It will not work! It will only serve to frustrate you. Do NOT expect the 'feel' to be the same! Be patient and your new 'feel' will emerge.

NOTE: The longer you play at a particular tennis location (whether indoors or outdoors) the longer it will take to adjust when you move to another tennis environment. Adjusting may even take days! Why do you think touring pros arrive at a tournament a week ahead of time to practice? They are retraining the senses. You must do the same!

Green DotGreen DotGreen Dot

Tennis Warrior Archive

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 Tom Veneziano, all rights reserved.

Tom is a tennis pro teaching at the Piney Point Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Tom has taught thousands of players to think like a pro with his Tennis Warrior System.

     

In Tom Veneziano's book "The Truth about Winning!", tennis players learn in a step-by-step fashion the thinking the pros have mastered to win! Tom takes you Step-by-step from basic mental toughness to advanced mental toughness. All skill levels can learn from this unique book from beginner to professional. No need to change your strokes just your thinking.

Audio CDs by Tom Veneziano:



 

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

Your Source for tickets to professional tennis & golf events.
 
Terra Wortmann Open - Halle, Germany Tickets
 
Wimbledon Tickets
 
Infosys Hall of Fame Open Tickets
 
Atlanta Open Tickets
 
Hamburg Open Tickets
 
Mubadala Citi Open Tennis Tournament Tickets
 
National Bank Open Women's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
National Bank Open Men's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
Cincinnati Open Tickets
 
Winston-Salem Open Tickets
 
Tennis In The Land Tickets
 
UTS - Tennis Like Never Before Tickets
 
US Open Tennis Championship Tickets
 
Laver Cup Berlin Tickets
 
Erste Bank Open - Vienna, Austria Tickets
 
Dallas Open Tickets
 
BNP Paribas Open Tickets
 
Miami Open Tickets
 
Laver Cup San Francisco 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