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Essential Tennis, Podcast 83: Today I share my top three things to do and not do (Part 2)

Podcast 83: Today I share my top three things to do and not do (Part 2)

Second of my top 3 things that get in the way of players making adjustments, Number 2 is just not paying attention in general. [laughter] And this is different from focusing on your own technique. Let's say you've put away all those swing thoughts that you had. You're no longer thinking about your technique specifically–but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are paying attention to your opponent. I can't tell you guys how many times I've had a lesson with a students and at some point in some lesson we have, w e go out and we play some points. Maybe some volley points. I work with a lot of people who play doubles. Maybe we play a bass line game up to 7 or 10. I can't tell you how many times I've worked with a student and gone through several lessons before they realize that I ‘m left-handed. And I'm not joking! [laughter]

I could play multiple games with them and–I get a sense for this , and we'll come up and ask them: ‘Listen, which side is my forehand on anyway?' They haven't even realized yet which hand I'm using to hit a forehand! Now that's kind of an extreme example , and that's not everybody, but that happens. I see this ! I see this very often in competitive doubles, where–after a doubles match –myself or another pro will ask: ‘So, did you notice that this player was left-handed?' After they were complaining that their serve was all goofy.

Anyway, you guys need to pay attention to what's going on around you. We're going to talk more about this later . But you have to be aware; you need to be focused ; and you need to look at what's going on on the other side of the courts. You can't just be in your own little world , and–focusing on the ball is all well and good. And clearly, we need to pay attention to what's going on on our own half of the court. We got to get to the ball ! But you need to pay attention to what's going on on the other side of the court. That's Number 2. Number 3: Having only one style of play, gets in the way of players making good adjustments. You have to practice more than one way of playing a point. If all you can do is just hit the ball hard– and this is something I see pretty commonly. If you're good at hitting the ball aggressively, but that's all you have, you're going to be very one-dimensional. And when it comes time –even if you are paying attention, and you're looking at what's going on on the side of the courts–even if you're not focusing on your technique, and you're really putting your mental muscle in the right place, and you're paying attention to what you should be paying attention to . If you only have one style of play, and you don't have secondary or third or fourth game plans that you can go too, then it doesn't even really matter how well you're paying attention, because you're going to be stuck ! I'm going to get to that more in the next section as well. So those are the top 3 things that are going to get in your way of making adjustments in a competitive match. Focusing too much on your own technique; not paying attention to what ‘s going on on the other side of the court; and thirdly, having only one style of play, and not having a B, C, D or E game-plan that you can fall back on. So those are the top things that get in the way of players making adjustments.

Let's now talk about what you should be doing in order to adjust like a pro. Or be able to adjust like a good player. And these are things that you guys should be doing. First of all, you need to be closely aware of your opponent's strategies and tendencies, and their technique as well. There's a lot of things going on on the other side of the courts . This was one of things that players don't look at. Now I'm going to talk to you guys about what you should be looking for. Look to see what their strategy is. It could be that they're not terribly smart either. Maybe they're just kind of swinging at the ball and not really any rhyme or reason to what they're doing. Other players are going to have very clear patterns. And if you pay attention, you'll be able to see what they're trying to do with the ball. Maybe they're trying to hit to your backhand side most of the time. Maybe they like to come to the net, and they prefer typically to approach down the line. These are strategical things that you should be noticing a nd looking for so that you can base your own strategy on that. If you're not paying attention and you're not noticing this, then , you know, you're kind of lost. You don't really have a starting point as far as how to play this opponent. Also, there are tendencies. And this may or not be different from strategies, but it is different from strategy. Strategy is how how they're trying to implement their techniques, and usually there will be some kind of pattern to that. A tendency is different. Let's say that you're attacking and coming forwards to the net. A tendency would be for them to maybe try to pass you on the very first shot, but then very quickly after that, they're quick to throw up a lob. So that's a tendency that they might have. As opposed to a strategy that's something they're trying to do to you; and that's a pattern. But really both strategies and tendencies are patterns that you need to look for. Things that they tend to prefer . Things that–like I said, there's a pattern. [laughter] I probably don't need to explain that any further– you guys get the idea. [empty]

Look for their techniques and you guys, after playing for a certain number of years or even months, you start to get a good sense of what good technique is and what bad technique is. And you should be able to start to pick out what a good stroke, looks like or what a poor stroke looks like.

Watch your opponent. If they have a poor backhand or a poor forehand or a poor volleys or a poor overhead– this is good information. These are things you guys need to be looking for and you can base whole strategies just based on what the worst technique is that they have.

And just really pummel their weakness as myself and David Grumby like to say, the mental expert that I like to have here on the show. So pay attention to their techniques as well.

So that's all under the heading of just paying attention and being aware. Be aware of their strategies , be aware of their tendencies, be aware of their technique. These are all things that you guys need to know about and need to pay attention too so you can put together a good solid strategy that will win you points. That's all under #1 on how to adjust. #2 practice hitting many shots in many different directions and practice doing it consistently . And this is what you guys need to do off the competition courts. When you guys are on the practice courts, and you are practicing your stroke, practice a wide range of shots.

And listen, if there needs to be a good solid foundation of just hitting forehands cross-court and being able to do that consistently. Practice hitting down the line as well. Practice hitting short balls. Practice hitting deep balls. Practice hitting deep volleys and drop volleys– short volleys. Practice hitting half-volleys. You need to be able to practice all of these different types of shots and practice hitting them to different locations.

Do this on purpose and do it with a certain goal in mind. This is all so you can make adjustments with your strategy and you have the technique to back it up. If you guys pay close attention to your opponents tendencies, their strategy, their technique , but you don't have the technique or the strokes, to be able to actually put together a strategy on your side of the courts, then you're kind of stuck. And it kind of goes back to having only one style of play.

If you don't have other ways of hitting the ball or if you don't have the ability to hit the ball in different directions so that you can direct the ball to your opponents weaker spot , then you're going to be a little bit out of luck. And you might have to go with maybe a stroke or a direction that you're not really comfortable with and a lot of times that will result in unforced errors. So make sure that you practice on purpose a lot of different types of shots and directions — don't be one dimensional. And last thing here on this topic– how to adjust– or what you need to be good at in order to adjust . When you are competing, make sure that you keep changing your strategy until you find a winning plan and you need to be able to have many different ways to play a point , whether it'd be coming to the net or staying back or attacking the deuce side or attacking the ad side , or serving and volleying or whatever. You need to have those different skills that we just talked about.

Once you have those skills and you get into a competitive situation, keep changing it up until you find something that works. Don't stick with a losing game-plan. Secondly and probably equally as important– don't get off a winning game plan . So first of all, make sure that you keep changing a losing game plan. If you're getting beat, you need to keep making adjustments and keep trying different things until you find something that makes your opponent uncomfortable. Once you do find that, stick with it and I don't care how boring it is. I don't care if your opponent knows your strategy. I don't care if they tell you on a change-over, ‘wow you're just hitting everything to my backhand aren't you?' Don't change it up as long as it's working. A lot of times I see players or teams come up with … They play a great point and they put together a good sequence of shots … It worked and they uncovered something that was effective. Then on the very next point, they tried something completely different because they feel like if they don't keep changing it up, their opponent's will get comfortable and start to win. And that might be possible, but make them do that. Make them adjust. Don't keep adjusting yourself if you find something that works. You need to make sure that you stick with a winning game-plan and just abuse it.

Once you find something that works, just completely abuse your opponent with it and continue to do it over and over and over until the point that maybe they make an adjustment themselves. If they never make an adjustment, you continue to pound whatever you are doing and do it again and again and again until the match is over. If they do make an adjustment, and they make a good enough adjustment that they actually kind of turn the tables on you, and now they are maybe using that strategy against you and they are being effective at it. Well then that's the time to change again and adjust your strategy.

Podcast 83: Today I share my top three things to do and not do (Part 2) Podcast 83: Heute teile ich meine drei wichtigsten Dinge, die man tun und lassen sollte (Teil 2) Podcast 83: Hoy comparto mis tres cosas más importantes para hacer y no hacer (Parte 2) Podcast 83 : Aujourd'hui, je partage mes trois principales choses à faire et à ne pas faire (Partie 2) Podcast 83: Oggi condivido le mie tre cose principali da fare e da non fare (Parte 2) ポッドキャスト83:今日は、すべきこととすべきでないことの上位3つを共有します(パート2) 팟캐스트 83: 오늘은 해야 할 일과 하지 말아야 할 일 3가지를 공유합니다(2부). Podcast 83: Šiandien dalinuosi trimis svarbiausiais dalykais, kuriuos reikia daryti ir kurių nereikia daryti (2 dalis) Podcast 83: Vandaag deel ik mijn top drie van dingen die je wel en niet moet doen (deel 2) Podcast 83: Dziś dzielę się trzema najważniejszymi rzeczami, które należy robić i których nie należy robić (część 2) Podcast 83: Hoje partilho as minhas três principais coisas a fazer e a não fazer (Parte 2) Подкаст 83: Сегодня я делюсь своими тремя главными действиями, которые нужно делать и не делать (часть 2) Podcast 83: Bugün yapılması ve yapılmaması gereken ilk üç şeyi paylaşıyorum (Bölüm 2) Подкаст 83: Сьогодні я ділюся своїми трьома найкращими речами, які потрібно і не потрібно робити (частина 2) 播客 83:今天我分享我最该做和最不该做的三件事(第 2 部分) 播客 83:今天我分享我最應該做和不應該做的三件事(第 2 部分)

Second of my top 3 things that get in the way of players making adjustments, Number 2 is just not paying attention in general. La segunda de mis 3 cosas principales que se interponen en el camino de los jugadores para hacer ajustes, la número 2 es simplemente no prestar atención en general. プレイヤーが調整を行うのを邪魔する私のトップ3の2番目に、2番目は一般的に注意を払っていません。 Вторая из моих трех основных вещей, которые мешают игрокам вносить коррективы, номер 2 — это просто невнимательность в целом. [laughter] And this is different from focusing on your own technique. [笑い]そして、これはあなた自身のテクニックに焦点を合わせるのとは異なります。 [смех] И это отличается от концентрации на собственной технике. Let's say you've put away all those swing thoughts that you had. Digamos que has guardado todos esos pensamientos de swing que tenías. あなたが持っていたそれらのスイングの考えをすべて片付けたとしましょう。 You're no longer thinking about your technique specifically–but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are paying attention to your opponent. あなたはもはや自分のテクニックについて具体的に考えていませんが、それは必ずしもあなたが対戦相手に注意を払っているという意味ではありません。 Вы больше не думаете конкретно о своей технике, но это не обязательно означает, что вы обращаете внимание на своего противника. I can't tell you guys how many times I've had a lesson with a students and at some point in some lesson we have, w e go out and we play some points. No puedo decirles cuántas veces he tenido una lección con estudiantes y en algún momento de alguna lección que tenemos, salimos y jugamos algunos puntos. 生徒と一緒にレッスンをした回数はわかりませんが、あるレッスンのある時点で、外に出てポイントをプレーします。 Maybe some volley points. 多分いくつかのボレーポイント。 I work with a lot of people who play doubles. 私はダブルスをプレイする多くの人々と仕事をしています。 Я работаю со многими людьми, которые играют в парном разряде. Maybe we play a bass line game up to 7 or 10. たぶん私たちは7または10までのベースラインゲームをプレイします。 I can't tell you how many times I've worked with a student and gone through several lessons before they realize that I ‘m left-handed. 私が左利きであることに気付く前に、私が学生と一緒に働いて、いくつかのレッスンを何回経験したかをあなたに言うことはできません。 And I'm not joking! そして、私は冗談ではありません! [laughter]

I could play multiple games with them and–I get a sense for this , and we'll come up and ask them: ‘Listen, which side is my forehand on anyway?' Podría jugar varios juegos con ellos y-me hago una idea de esto , y nos acercamos y les preguntamos: 'Escucha, ¿de qué lado está mi derecha de todos modos?' 私は彼らと複数のゲームをプレイすることができました、そして–私はこれを理解しました、そして私たちは彼らに尋ねます:「聞いてください、とにかく私のフォアハンドはどちら側ですか?」 Я мог бы сыграть с ними несколько партий и… я чувствую это, и мы подходим и спрашиваем их: «Слушай, а на какой стороне мой форхенд?» They haven't even realized yet which hand I'm using to hit a forehand! 彼らは私がフォアハンドを打つためにどの手を使っているのかまだ気づいていません! Now that's kind of an extreme example , and that's not everybody, but that happens. これは一種の極端な例であり、それはすべての人ではありませんが、それは起こります。 I see this ! 私はこれを見る ! I see this very often in competitive doubles, where–after a doubles match –myself or another pro will ask: ‘So, did you notice that this player was left-handed?' Lo veo muy a menudo en las competiciones de dobles, donde, después de un partido de dobles, yo mismo u otro profesional pregunta: "¿Te has dado cuenta de que este jugador era zurdo? After they were complaining that their serve was all goofy. Después de que se quejaran de que su servicio era tonto.

Anyway, you guys need to pay attention to what's going on around you. De todos modos, deben prestar atención a lo que sucede a su alrededor. We're going to talk more about this later . But you have to be aware; you need to be focused ; and you need to look at what's going on on the other side of the courts. You can't just be in your own little world , and–focusing on the ball is all well and good. And clearly, we need to pay attention to what's going on on our own half of the court. We got to get to the ball ! ¡Tenemos que llegar al balón! But you need to pay attention to what's going on on the other side of the court. That's Number 2. Number 3: Having only one style of play, gets in the way of players making good adjustments. Número 3: Tener un solo estilo de juego impide que los jugadores se adapten bien. You have to practice more than one way of playing a point. If all you can do is just hit the ball hard– and this is something I see pretty commonly. Si todo lo que puedes hacer es golpear la pelota con fuerza, y esto es algo que veo con bastante frecuencia. If you're good at hitting the ball aggressively, but that's all you have, you're going to be very one-dimensional. And when it comes time –even if you are paying attention, and you're looking at what's going on on the side of the courts–even if you're not focusing on your technique, and you're really putting your mental muscle in the right place, and you're paying attention to what you should be paying attention to . If you only have one style of play, and you don't have secondary or third or fourth game plans that you can go too, then it doesn't even really matter how well you're paying attention, because you're going to be stuck ! I'm going to get to that more in the next section as well. Voy a llegar a eso más en la siguiente sección también. So those are the top 3 things that are going to get in your way of making adjustments in a competitive match. Focusing too much on your own technique; not paying attention to what ‘s going on on the other side of the court; and thirdly, having only one style of play, and not having a B, C, D or E game-plan that you can fall back on. So those are the top things that get in the way of players making adjustments.

Let's now talk about what you should be doing in order to adjust like a pro. Or be able to adjust like a good player. And these are things that you guys should be doing. First of all, you need to be closely aware of your opponent's strategies and tendencies, and their technique as well. There's a lot of things going on on the other side of the courts . This was one of things that players don't look at. Now I'm going to talk to you guys about what you should be looking for. Look to see what their strategy is. It could be that they're not terribly smart either. Es könnte sein, dass sie auch nicht sonderlich schlau sind. Maybe they're just kind of swinging at the ball and not really any rhyme or reason to what they're doing. Other players are going to have very clear patterns. And if you pay attention, you'll be able to see what they're trying to do with the ball. Maybe they're trying to hit to your backhand side most of the time. Maybe they like to come to the net, and they prefer typically to approach down the line. These are strategical things that you should be noticing a nd looking for so that you can base your own strategy on that. If you're not paying attention and you're not noticing this, then , you know, you're kind of lost. You don't really have a starting point as far as how to play this opponent. この対戦相手をどのようにプレイするかについては、出発点がありません。 Also, there are tendencies. And this may or not be different from strategies, but it is different from strategy. Strategy is how how they're trying to implement their techniques, and usually there will be some kind of pattern to that. A tendency is different. Let's say that you're attacking and coming forwards to the net. A tendency would be for them to maybe try to pass you on the very first shot, but then very quickly after that, they're quick to throw up a lob. Una tendencia sería que tal vez intenten pasarte en el primer tiro, pero luego, muy rápidamente después de eso, son rápidos para lanzar un globo. So that's a tendency that they might have. As opposed to a strategy that's something they're trying to do to you; and that's a pattern. A diferencia de una estrategia que es algo que están tratando de hacerte; y eso es un patrón. But really both strategies and tendencies are patterns that you need to look for. Things that they tend to prefer . Things that–like I said, there's a pattern. [laughter] I probably don't need to explain that any further– you guys get the idea. [empty]

Look for their techniques and you guys, after playing for a certain number of years or even months, you start to get a good sense of what good technique is and what bad technique is. And you should be able to start to pick out what a good stroke, looks like or what a poor stroke looks like. Y debería poder comenzar a elegir cómo se ve un buen trazo o cómo se ve un mal trazo.

Watch your opponent. Mira a tu oponente. If they have a poor backhand or a poor forehand or a poor volleys or a poor overhead– this is good information. These are things you guys need to be looking for and you can base whole strategies just based on what the worst technique is that they have. Estas son cosas que ustedes deben buscar y pueden basar estrategias completas solo en función de cuál es la peor técnica que tienen.

And just really pummel their weakness as myself and David Grumby like to say, the mental expert that I like to have here on the show. So pay attention to their techniques as well.

So that's all under the heading of just paying attention and being aware. Be aware of their strategies , be aware of their tendencies, be aware of their technique. Sé consciente de sus estrategias, sé consciente de sus tendencias, sé consciente de su técnica. These are all things that you guys need to know about and need to pay attention too so you can put together a good solid strategy that will win you points. That's all under #1 on how to adjust. Eso es todo bajo el n. ° 1 sobre cómo ajustar. #2 practice hitting many shots in many different directions and practice doing it consistently . And this is what you guys need to do off the competition courts. When you guys are on the practice courts, and you are practicing your stroke, practice a wide range of shots. Cuando estén en las canchas de práctica y estén practicando su golpe, practiquen una amplia gama de golpes.

And listen, if there needs to be a good solid foundation of just hitting forehands cross-court and being able to do that consistently. Practice hitting down the line as well. Practice hitting short balls. Practice hitting deep balls. Practice hitting deep volleys and drop volleys– short volleys. Practice hitting half-volleys. You need to be able to practice all of these different types of shots and practice hitting them to different locations.

Do this on purpose and do it with a certain goal in mind. This is all so you can make adjustments with your strategy and you have the technique to back it up. If you guys pay close attention to your opponents tendencies, their strategy, their technique , but you don't have the technique or the strokes, to be able to actually put together a strategy on your side of the courts, then you're kind of stuck. And it kind of goes back to having only one style of play.

If you don't have other ways of hitting the ball or if you don't have the ability to hit the ball in different directions so that you can direct the ball to your opponents weaker spot , then you're going to be a little bit out of luck. And you might have to go with maybe a stroke or a direction that you're not really comfortable with and a lot of times that will result in unforced errors. So make sure that you practice on purpose a lot of different types of shots and directions — don't be one dimensional. And last thing here on this topic– how to adjust– or what you need to be good at in order to adjust . Y lo último aquí sobre este tema, cómo adaptarse, o en qué necesita ser bueno para adaptarse. When you are competing, make sure that you keep changing your strategy until you find a winning plan and you need to be able to have many different ways to play a point , whether it’d be coming to the net or staying back or attacking the deuce side or attacking the ad side , or serving and volleying or whatever. You need to have those different skills that we just talked about.

Once you have those skills and you get into a competitive situation, keep changing it up until you find something that works. Don't stick with a losing game-plan. Secondly and probably equally as important– don't get off a winning game plan . En segundo lugar, y probablemente igual de importante, no empiece un plan de juego ganador. So first of all, make sure that you keep changing a losing game plan. If you're getting beat, you need to keep making adjustments and keep trying different things until you find something that makes your opponent uncomfortable. If you're getting beat, you need to keep making adjustments and keep trying different things until you find something that makes your opponent uncomfortable. Si te están ganando, debes seguir haciendo ajustes y seguir probando cosas diferentes hasta que encuentres algo que incomode a tu oponente. Once you do find that, stick with it and I don't care how boring it is. I don't care if your opponent knows your strategy. I don't care if they tell you on a change-over, ‘wow you're just hitting everything to my backhand aren't you?' Don't change it up as long as it's working. A lot of times I see players or teams come up with … They play a great point and they put together a good sequence of shots … It worked and they uncovered something that was effective. Muchas veces veo a jugadores o equipos inventar... Juegan un gran punto y arman una buena secuencia de tiros... Funcionó y descubrieron algo que fue efectivo. Then on the very next point, they tried something completely different because they feel like if they don't keep changing it up, their opponent's will get comfortable and start to win. Luego, en el siguiente punto, intentaron algo completamente diferente porque sienten que si no siguen cambiando, sus oponentes se sentirán cómodos y comenzarán a ganar. And that might be possible, but make them do that. Make them adjust. Haz que se ajusten. Don't keep adjusting yourself if you find something that works. You need to make sure that you stick with a winning game-plan and just abuse it.

Once you find something that works, just completely abuse your opponent with it and continue to do it over and over and over until the point that maybe they make an adjustment themselves. If they never make an adjustment, you continue to pound whatever you are doing and do it again and again and again until the match is over. Si nunca hacen un ajuste, continúas golpeando lo que sea que estés haciendo y lo haces una y otra vez hasta que termina el partido. If they do make an adjustment, and they make a good enough adjustment that they actually kind of turn the tables on you, and now they are maybe using that strategy against you and they are being effective at it. Si hacen un ajuste, y hacen un ajuste lo suficientemente bueno como para darle la vuelta a la tortilla, y ahora tal vez estén usando esa estrategia en su contra y están siendo efectivos en ello. Well then that's the time to change again and adjust your strategy.