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| Welcome to the July 2017 update from Tennis Server, http://www.tennisserver.com/
Greetings,
In our July edition of Tennis Server, Ron Waite discusses how to achieve balance in your tennis game. See: Equilibrium In the Game of Tennis.
And John Mills describes why proper wrist motion is important for delivering a more effective serve. See: Your Serve.
And in his column in this newsletter below, Tennis Warrior Tom Veneziano discusses in "No Fear of Losing" that while champions may hate to lose, they are not afraid to lose.
In the wake of Wimbledon, Tennis action comes to North America from July to September with the City Open, Rogers Cup, Western & Southern Open, and US Open. Check out the links to the right for tickets in the Tennis Server Ticket Exchange.
Have fun on the court!
Cliff Kurtzman
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Tennis Server
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The Tennis Warrior - Exclusive to Tennis Server INTERACTIVE
Tom Veneziano |
The Tennis Warrior is brought to you by Tom Veneziano (tom@tennisserver.com). 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.
July 2017 -- No Fear of Losing
I have taught players from all competitive levels not to dwell on past failures, but to keep moving forward, to always look ahead and never look back. I teach them that bad cycles will occur, so they should stay relaxed, wait for the cycle to change and the tide will turn... if they keep the right mental attitude. I give them phrases like, "The next shot is more important than the last mistake." Or, "In order to be good I have to make mistakes." I prepare them for the inevitable frustrations that will happen while they are learning and playing tennis.
Does this work? Yes, most of the time, but sometimes the overwhelming negatives are just too much for the players' emotions. As a result, they begin to analyze their foibles incorrectly. They whine, "All my practice and look at what I have done! I couldn't even make an easy shot. I'm such a horrible player." Their focus goes off course; they drown in a flood of negatives. Usually all this drama begins because they are losing, not necessarily because they are playing poorly.
Let me tell you what tennis coach Robert Lansdorp saw in Maria Sharapova when she was only 14 years old. Even while she was suffering a devastating loss, throughout the entire match she continued to go for her shots again and again and again. Coach Lansdorp recognized this as the number one quality for a great player. You, too, should remember that if everything falls apart in your game you can grab onto this one principle and ride out the storm!
According to Alix Ramsay of Tennis Life Magazine, "By the time [Sharapova] was 14 and losing in her first professional tournament ... Lansdorp knew he was onto something good. Mopping up the tearful teenager after she had been roughed up by an older, more experienced girl on the slow clay court, Lansdorp tried to convince Sharapova and Yuri [her father] that everything would work out all right in the end. Sharapova was going to make it."
Lansdorp said, "I saw right there, the way she played: she played without fear. She wasn't good enough that day because she would miss a ball, her shots weren't accurate enough, but she had no fear of hitting it. She would never hold back or be afraid to lose. Every great champion, they have that when they walk on the court: they have no fear. They hate to lose but they are not afraid to lose."
Did you catch the irony? Sharapova just got destroyed in a match and Coach Lansdorp thinks she is fantastic and predicts she is going to make it! What is this all about?
Before I go on, let me tell you something about Robert Lansdorp. He coached and was instrumental in the careers of Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin and Lindsay Davenport. I believe he might be someone we want to pay attention to! Sharapova was brought to him at the age of 11 because she had potential. Someone got that right!
Did you notice that after Sharapova lost the match, Lansdorp did not say, "She is missing too much, that's the big problem here. I have to straighten all of that out." To Lansdorp, missing was irrelevant. Instead he keyed in on the fact that she had no fear of hitting the ball and no fear of losing! He totally ignored the loss.
Let me put this into simple terms for you. The most important principle to master is, "No fear of losing."
Of course Lansdorp will go back to the drawing board and improve Sharapova's consistency and accuracy, but that was not his main focus after the devastating loss. His focus was her MENTAL ATTITUDE.
In Lansdorp's mind she was a winner not because she won or lost a match, but because she lost with the correct mental attitude. This is the stuff of champions.
Champions do not win all the time -- they just never give up trying. Maria Sharapova never quit in that match; she just kept swinging and swinging. In fact, she swung her way to a Wimbledon title a few years later. To this day she is still swinging.
Now wipe the frown off of your face, get back on the courts and keep fighting... I don't care how many times you lose! THAT is the stuff of champions.
Your Tennis Pro,
Tom Veneziano
Previous columns from Tom Veneziano are archived online in the Tennis Server's Tennis Warrior Archive six months after publication in this newsletter.
   
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. Also available at a discount as an E-Book.
Audio CDs by Tom Veneziano:
Recent Tennis Server Columns
Drills and Tips: Turbo Tennis by Ron Waite
Ron Waite |
In his July column, Ron discusses how to achieve balance and equilibrium to improve your tennis game. See:
Player Tip: "Tennis Anyone?" by USPTA Pro John Mills
John Mills |
In his July column, John discusses the importance of wrist snap for delivering an effective serve. See:
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See you on the courts,
--Cliff Kurtzman for Tennis Server INTERACTIVE
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