This is a guest post from Arturo Hernandez sharing his experience playing on clay courts. Thanks Arturo!

The Balancing Act – Playing Smart Tennis On Clay Courts

For the last two months I have been struggling in tennis.  This was a combination of factors.  My strokes needed some more tuning up.

I played on clay all summer after 9 months on hard courts.  And I was in Germany playing a bunch of clay courters who had at least one less major issue to deal with: adjusting to a clay court game.

Over the past two summers I have struggled on and off with when and how to attack on clay.  It has served as a real eye opener with keys even for the hardcourt player.

Last week, I played a very defensive player who drives others nuts because he gets everything back. 

Two things helped:

1) I set in my mind that I would attack whenever he spun a high ball back.  I was also trying hard to upset his rhythm.

I was patient and did not try too hard to attack but just waited for the best opportunity.  When it was there I took it.  This might mean racing to the net in the middle of a point to hit a volley.  It might mean coming to the net off of a short ball.

But sometimes I just needed to sit back and be patient.  I was just very observant and ready to attack when it made sense.  When it was time to attack I attacked.  When it was neutral, it was neutral.

When it was defense, it was defense.  But as Tomaz told me a year ago, I was ready to attack as soon as I saw a weak ball.

2)  I had it in my mind that he was very dangerous and that my chances of winning were not great.

He was a very dangerous opponent who was had beaten a lot of very good players at the club.  I think in some ways the pressure was off.  All I was looking for was a strong result.

I had also just came back from vacation during which I played no tennis and did no exercise (except for a lot of walking) for almost two weeks.  You would think that I would play worse but I didn’t.

Sometimes I think the stress of everyday life makes tennis that much harder.  My vacation was relaxing and it showed on the tennis court.

I lost 7-6 but it was the best tennis I have played in a long time.  It is funny that I find it so much harder to play others who lose to him routinely.

I actually think that the reason I play worse is this background mind game going on in which I feel that I should not lose to X player for Y reason.  The other games are things like I need to be in X physical shape to win or his huge forehand is going to kill me.

For example, the player I played today does not have a very dangerous looking game.  His serve is okay.  His groundstrokes are not fabulous.  He moves well, he has very good touch, and he makes very few mistakes.  This style allows him to beat people that look better and hit harder than him all the time.

Rather than play THAT game, I chose to play another game.  The game is to play the ball.  Tomaz has advised me to let the point develop.  Be ready to attack whenever the opportunity presents itself.   Neutralize their attack whenever necessary.   Play the game in a very fluid manner.

At one point, I also felt fear.  Rather than say “Don’t be afraid”  I thought of fear as my friend.  It means that things are going well because if I am afraid it means I am in the hunt.  I accepted my fear and at that point it was gone.

3)  I have come to the conclusion that tennis is not about power, strength or speed. Rather it is about stability which allows all those qualities to come out.

I have been working on this with regard to technique.  Really working on being stable when I hit the ball.  My backhand was suffering tons and my serve was choppy.  Everything now is about stability in my movement and things are better mechanically.

But I actually think that a stable body also requires a stable mind.  Keep calm.  Feel the fear but don’t let it paralyze you.  I was here a year ago.  Hopefully, it will stick longer this time.

Part of me still finds it hard to believe that stability of mind really leads to better performance.  Every sports image shows the opposite.  Plastered in every metro station in Madrid is a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo flexing his muscles.

Is the inner game in which the game flows out in a relaxed state really a myth?  Or are ads just deceiving?

Related posts:


• Overhead And Backhand Tennis Tips
• Taking The Initiative In Clay Court Tennis
• Dinara Safina Wins Slovenia Open 2009
• Rafael Nadal Out Of The French Open 2009
• Tennis Retrievers: “Pushing” it Over the Limit

This entry was posted on Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 8:22 am and is filed under Tennis Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.