Don't Hate The Player....Hate The Game (Intro)

GAME is really important in tennis. By game I mean what you represent in your game. I feel that tennis is TRUTH. And in order to find your truth on the tennis court, you need to find the truth within yourself.

A little far fetched, I know. But hear me out. If you are trying to be someone else on the court, your performance will show it. You will not enjoy playing, you will get bored, you will find yourself wishing that points are over sooner than they are actually over. Tennis has a way of humbling anyone who plays into realizing what type of person they need to be before they can progress. And the only way to find this out is by experimentation.

It all feeds in. You can learn the strokes like a robot. But you have to know when to use what stroke. For that you have to construct a point. For that you need to have a goal for every point. For that you need to know what style you play. For that you need to know what your own personal preference is. And for that you need to know YOU.

If you are losing matches BADLY, you might want to look inside yourself and see if you are being true. Maybe you don?t hit the ball as well as you thought. Maybe you aren?t playing in a way that makes you happy. I can?t give you any help on that. But I CAN tell you the different styles of play and maybe you can work your way backward from there.

Every week I will post about a different style.

Part 1 Pusher

Part 2 Serve and Volley

Part 3 Power Hitter

Part 4 Heavy Hitter

Part 5 Counter Puncher

Part 6 All Court

The style of play is what you use to determine how you play the points. Think of your game as a book about your life. You want to live your life so that you are happy. Your book should be full of happy moments that you create for yourself. Nothing is for certain. Your style is how you write your book. At the end of the book which is when you shake hands at the end of the match, you should be able to say: "Win or lose...I did it MY WAY."