One of the main reasons why you lose games and eventually matches is because you don’t give 100% of effort all the time.

You may feel down, frustrated or disappointed (you’re in a low activation state) or you may feel angry, upset or nervous (you’re in a high activation state). In either case, you’re not giving 100% of effort at that moment.

You may also feel somewhat tired and your body’s natural response is to save energy. If you’re not mentally strong enough to overcome those impulses, you’re again not giving 100% of effort. (more…)

Hi Tomaz,

Got your Mental Manual yesterday, I’m reading through it and it looks great! I thought I’d take the opportunity to ask you a question.

First, a little background: I’m coaching a 10 year old boy who needs help in the mental side of tennis.

When playing a match, he’ll be all smiles when winning but if he starts losing he intentionally starts “bashing” the ball and becomes extremely erratic.

His technique breaks down and everything goes downhill quickly.The boy has good technique on his shots and serve, but is naturally a bit erratic. When he plays a solid junior, the above negative situation arises.

I coach the boy for 1 hour once a week, and he shares the lesson with his sister.

My question is:  What is your advice on how I go about incorporating some of the info from the manual into the context of the weekly lesson?

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Hi Tomaz,

My name’s David and like a lot of people i have found your tennis website very helpful. I am 20 years old and played tennis since I was 8 competing at a high level (satelites, futures events) but for one reason or another i never quite cracked it to the top.

My passion for tennis continues and i still hit regularly and do 3 days of coaching a week. I help out a well respected coach that has coached at a national level and I have learned a lot.

When i read your ‘about me‘ section i noticed you have had a similar life to me. I would like to ask you for any advice you could give me for the best ways I could be successful in tennis from a business point of view.

I hit with an up and coming junior girl and I have often thought I could use my knowledge of fitness and tennis to be a coach/hitting partner for an up an commer on the circuit, though I realize this would be hard to get in to.

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Hello, I have been playing tennis on and off for a few years, but now I want to start playing with more decision.

My goal is to win a “class 4″ category in Italy this summer. I have already written down all the dates and I have been practicing every day.

I still have not found a coach with whom I really get along with. Don’t you think that a coach should help his student to “think big” rather than just “being realistic”?

Yesterday I asked my coach what I have to do to win a class 4 tournament. He told me that to win a class 4 tournament you have to be a 4.1 or 4.2 ranked.

I am not even ranked because I have never played any tournaments. In everything I do I think big.

I would appreciate your thoughts.

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My son is fourteen years old, and he plays a lot of tournaments. He does o.k.

He does great at practice, but at tournaments he gets angry, or just tries to hit too hard and win all the time.

I have tried to talk to him many times, telling him to play smarter – he does all the hard work at practice and training and cannot play the best he can at tournaments.

Do you have any ideas for me? Thanks

Here’s where we adults get stuck with teenagers:

a) We want to change them – we want them to behave differently.

b) We don’t want them to suffer.

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I often talk with tennis parents about their children and how they want to find the best coach for them.

But so many times the parents have no clue what makes a good tennis coach.

Most of the times they rely either on:

• word of mouth
• past successes of the coach (his name)
• how she looks and behaves (nicely dressed, working hard on court)
• where the coach works (if she works in a tennis academy or this prestigious club THEN she must be good)

All these factors are too superficial and can be very deceiving in your judgment and choice of a good tennis coach.

Here are 5 factors you need to check with your potential tennis coach to determine whether he is the right choice for your child: (more…)