Rise of the trophy coach?

A trophy bride is defined as "a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older and wealthy. The term trophy husband refers to a male filling the role."

What was Djokovic thinking when he appointed Boris? Andy has Ivan Lendl, Roger has Stefan Edberg, So Novak appoints Becker. The point is that Murray had a problem to solve (winning a major) and he sought an utterly determined, chiselled, wise Lendl to help him build further levels of steel and resolve in his search for his first major. Murray was the fiery, overly emotional, enormously gifted young runner up. Lendl the emotionally controlled, utterly methodical older man, someone who Murray sought out and listened to. The results have spoken for themselves.

Federer also has a problem to solve - he's at the end of his career and his stamina in points is not as it was. So he turns to the greatest serve volleyer of all time, to help him improve at net and redefine this aspect of his game to see if he can find one last major. The fact Stefan was the one player he most admired growing up, is a bonus. He may help him solve a problem.

And Novak, his invincibility has been severely punctured by Rafa, and to some extent by Murray. And yet especially against Murray at Wimbledon 2013 and the 2012 US Open, Djokovic was nowhere near the invincible force he once was.  Maybe the death of his grandfather in 2012 and his first coach, Jelena Gencic in 2013, affected his own sense of mortality? Who Knows? Only those closest to Novak, and possibly Novak himself. Either way how can Boris help? Of all the past champions, from a distance its difficult to see. A wise pundit, clear thinking, but what was it that Novak is seeking from him?  

I enjoyed Novak's impersonation of Boris's serve after the Aussie Open third round, egged on by Jim Courier, but a part of me wondered if he was just enjoying himself too much to be really clear about what he was focused upon.

And all the while Rafa ploughs his furrow with Uncle Toni - for me the most impressive player out there - mentally - technically, and for as long as his body holds out - physically. Rafa needs no Trophy Coach.

Ageing Tennis Man Resurrected!

It's 18 months since my last post, I'm still 50, and tennis interests me as much as ever.

You don't win a major with a 50% 1st serve percentage

I'll be posting on the Performance1 Blog going forwards.....
http://www.performance-1.co.uk/blog/247....
Click on the link or the photo below to read my latest post about Murray's defeat in the Wimbledon final...

Ballboy Catch

This made me smile!

Djokovic Resplendent

I've just finished watching the Aussie Open final. This is the most amazing sporting display I've ever watched. I normally shy away from comparing sports, but now Djokovic has beaten Murray in nearly 5 hours on Friday, and then today, with 24 hours less recovery time than Nadal, he has just won another 5 setter in just under 6 hours, I'm blown away. I can't think of any other sport that requires the level of skill and fine motor control combined with supreme endurance. 

So what did Djokovic display that we can all aspire to and learn from. Three aspects jump out.


1. Positivity and Resilience. 
Resilience is different from toughness. Resilience is the ability to bounce back, toughness is the ability to withstand pressure and resist adversity. Djokovic displays an immense ability to bounce back. When he makes a mistake, the opponent plays too well, or something goes against him, he's never happy, but he accepts it and gets over it very quickly. He even smiles at times - a great way of letting go of tension - but then refocuses immediately, never losing his intensity. What follows is almost always a really positive execution of his game, demonstrating immense self belief.




2. Physical and mental toughness
I absolutely had my money on Nadal for this match and even more so going into the final set. Yet Djokovic never seemed to be fazed. Two high points: First his ability to keep making great decisions in terms of shot selection and execution. Second his ability to execute superbly under the most pressure, for example continuing to find a high percentage of pin point first serves when serving for the championship. All of this is underpinned by his incredible physical fitness and toughness.


Physical fitness is one of the underestimated areas of mental toughness - it's completely under your own control, and sends messages to yourself and your opponent that you're always ready to come back. In tennis it can be very intimidating when translated to running down everything in defence, and moving superbly to dominate in attack.




One of the rowers I've worked with once used to be a junior academy tennis player. At 6'8" he was incredibly imposing in tennis terms, but only quite tall in rowing! He said to me, "If only I'd known then what I now know as a rower", I asked him to distill the most important learning as a rower, and he said "That pain is just a state of mind". Mental toughness in action.

3. Complete trust in his technique
This combines technical skill with self confidence in equal measure. Working both on your technique and your positivity is vital, and builds a virtuous circle. In contrast, many athletes progress technically and mentally far more slowly. One stumbling block can be a destructive perfectionism, that undermines the vital but small gains that they are making. Realistic positivity is a a key mental skill that goes a long way to developing trust in your technique.

Murray Comes of Age

A premature headline? Another plucky Brit loser? I don't think so. 


Let's be clinical and think about outcome and process. The outcome was incredibly close: Djokovic winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5.


Process Goals
In my previous blog I highlighted 4 process goals that Murray needs to focus on, as he starts to work with Ivan Lendl. Lets assume these were also Murray's process goals, and review how well he stuck to and executed them:


1. Commit to being an all-court, aggressive baseliner, rather than a counterpuncher.
Look back at Murray v Roddick, Wimbledon semi 2009. It's 1-1 set all, tie break set point to Murray, who is committed to a counter-attacking game-plan, and then misses short ball opportunities that allow Roddick to seize the initiative.




Now look at Murray this time, physically stronger, and with far more agression and intent.        The highlights clip from the Aussie open only partially do him justice, but the match stats do.

Lets start with winners: 47 Murray to 49 for Djokovic - showing a real commitment to attack. All through the tournament Murray stood further up the court, closer to the baseline in rallies and well inside it at times, taking opponents' second serves much much earlier, and demonstrating his outstanding aggressive ability. 


Secondly lets look at unforced errors. Paradoxically I think Murray's high error count of 86 is a long term positive. Time and again in this match, when Murray lost the point, he was making 'good mistakes' - going long when forcing the play, flattening out his shots to give Djokovic less time. Higher risk, but potentially much higher reward for Murray as he gets better and better at becoming a dominating baseliner.  


The days of being a 'safe' counterpunching Grand Slam winner are over. The physicality, racket technology, strings, technique and aggressive mentality of the top men and women mean that the aggressor has too big an advantage. Even Nadal is having to flatten out some of his shots and speed up his serve to put Djokovic on the back foot, and have a chance of winning.

2. Increase his 1st serve %, especially in key points.
Murray has taken a leaf out of Federer's book in varying the pace of his first serve and making a significant increase to his ability to hold serve. His top speed delivery at 215 kph was 12 kph more than Djokovic and Murray used it to great effect several times in saving break points. 

3. Increase the speed and penetration of his 2nd serve.

This is still a big development area for Murray. At all levels of tennis it can be said, "you're only as good as your second serve". And at only a 30% winning % on his second serve, with 10 double faults, there is clearly work to be done. It will be interesting to see how new coach Ivan Lendl approaches this over the coming weeks and months.

4.Commit to staying mentally positive.

We have no idea about the conversations between Lendl and Murray in this area, but this was the area in which his behaviour in terms of body language, self talk and communication with his box has improved most powerfully. Gone were the rants at his box, which in the past have almost said "help me, I'm out of my depth". If up to 70% of communication is non verbal, then the positive demeanour that is so much the hallmark of Federer, Djokovic and Nadal, shouts loud and clear "I'm in control, I'm ready, I'm up for this", even "I've got your number." 

The Future
The fascinating thing about the Lendl influence is how much Murray seems now to be committing himself to process goals, which he articulated after his win in Brisbane, stating his aim now was "working hard and focusing on the process and not worrying about results".


It will be fascinating to see how well he does this over the long run. I've a feeling that with Lendl in his corner, Murray will continue to prosper, pick off the process goals, and indeed the Slams will come.

Lendl and Murray

I'm intrigued by Murray's appointment of Ivan Lendl as his new coach. Lendl's pedigree as a player is outstanding, but as a coach he's unproven, simply because it would appear he's never coached on the tour. The transition from player to coach is often a very difficult one, as Martin Johnson has recently experienced. Coaches who achieve rapid success are few and far between - Jurgen Klinsman is a notable exception, coaching the German football team to 3rd place in the 2006 World Cup.

But this isn't a shotgun wedding, with the appointment coming nine months after initial contact, a gestation period which allowed Murray time to talk with several other possible coaches. Tony Roche, Lendl's vastly experienced former coach has no qualms about Lend's ability to bring great gains to Murray, through his attention to detail, his professionalism, and his oft misrepresented personality. Whilst the press loved to typecast him as a terminator style robot, and indeed North Korea once feted him as an icon through a postage stamp, people on the inside know him as a very witty, engaging man. 

What are the key areas that will determine the success of Lendl and Murray together? In this posting I explore four key questions, and show how a powerful model may shed some light on the subject.


The Big Picture
Murray is now 24 and ranked 4 in the world, and is a maturing player. He has strong opinions, and a clear sense of how he wants to play. From the outside he can appear highly self critical and critical of others in his team. It is vital that he respects his coach, both for what he has achieved, and how he proposes to help him.

Q1. How joined up is their vision?
Early indications are positive ""Ivan's impact on the game is unquestionable and he brings experience and knowledge that few others have, particularly in major tournaments. I spoke to him about a lot of the top players and how I am going to beat those players, and how to see their weakness … how I can exploit them. So I am sure he will help me very tactically as well."


Lendl was famed for being an aggressive player, so may well be able to help Murray in this area, where he needs to become more consistently aggressive. However, it's not yet clear how fundamentally Murray is prepared to embrace this more aggressive philosophy, given his immense strengths and seemingly innate preference as a counterpuncher. 


Q2. What is the level of Lendl's psychological skill?
All great coaches are psychologists in one way or another - Brian Clough, Martin O'Neill and  and Alex Ferguson all have demonstrated the ability to help players increase their self confidence and direct their focus. How skilled is Ivan in this area? Helping Murray to channel his energy and frustration in a consistently more effective way; to understand that he doesn't need to rant at himself and his team, and that it's counterproductive. Helping him to make the mental tweaks that will raise the 1st serve % and his second serve speed in the big matches.

Q3. How will the new Team Murray work?

Who reports to who? In an Olympic sport, the Head Coach co-ordinates the support team of physio, S&C coach etc. The lines of role and responsibility are clearly drawn to work well under pressure. What are Lendl's skills in this area - managing and working with other professionals. It may well be this is a pretty flat structure with little hierarchy, but the way they work together will still need to bed down and be ironed out.


Q.4 How will Lendl manage with such little coaching experience?

In recent press, Lendl cites his experience of being coached by Tony Roche, who helped him win his first slam final at the fifth time of asking.  "To me this is like Groundhog Day – I have been in this movie," Lendl told the Times. "I was that player once, who needed something to help make it work, it was the same as I was before I hired Rochey. What happened then changed my career around." The one difference between Lendl and Roche lies in their coaching experience - to check this I called Tony Roche on Skype this morning and asked him about his early coaching career - he told me he cut his teeth for a few years before he coached Ivan, setting up the Newcombe Roche tennis academy, and then being Davis cup coach for New Zealand and coaching Chris Lewis to the 1983 Wimbledon final. All of this may have contributed to his success coaching Lendl, although according to Tony, not as much as the learning he gained as a player from the legendary Harry Hopman, who also coached Laver and Newcombe to greatness.

Chris Lewis also coached Lendl for three years and describes him as  "Intelligent, ambitious and always purposeful. He could be the most goal-oriented person I've ever met". At 50 and the father of five daughters, Lendl will likely bring an attitude and immense experience of life that a 35 year old recently retired pro simply could not have amassed.  

What do the psychological models have to say?

Relationship Q (RQ) is a powerful and practical coaching model that describes the key phases of coach athlete relationships, and the participants' ability to negotiate these.

The Murray Lendl relationship will be at stage 1, the honeymoon phase which typically includes an initial dose of the mutual trust and energy that brought them together in the first place. As they progress on the tour through the year's majors , emotional intensity and investment will rise. There will be successes, which will build trust and energy, and there will be frustrations and disappointments. How they both handle these 'difficulties' will be critical. Murray syas that he has hired Lendl because he doesn't just want a coach who is overly positive and spends too much time on the right side of this model. He says Lendl is "very honest and very open".


These difficulties are at the heart of coaching - identifying the gap that needs to be bridged, and together finding ways over that bridge. It will be fascinating to watch how this journey unfolds. 

Trust

I had a really enjoyable lesson on Friday with Chris Maher, building on the last one 5 weeks ago (video from that enclosed) which was all about making more use of the ground for all shots.

Serving Checklist v1.

• Trust my throwing action its very strong
• Turn back with RQ arm high (tends to get v close to my body and then inefficient)
• Then complete coiling with knee bend
• Drive upwards with my legs identically to launching a throw
• Trust my throwing action its very strong
• Hit up and beyond the ball - whether topspin or flatter serve
• Trust my throwing action its very strong

What I learnt to day was I spend a lot of time hitting the ball so that it goes in, rather than getting into a great position and trusting myself to really release. This applies both to serve and to ground-shots.

The video is for some serves when Chris challenged me to release and throw upwards, driving from my legs to the sky, trusting that the ball would come down anyway. It was striking how much more RQ head speed I generated and how accurate the result was.

In the grip of tension

Ladder match against Ahmad Z. For the uninitiated Amhmad tortures people on the tennis court. If you hit anything through the back of the court it comes back with far less pace, floating, hanging, taunting, almost inviting you to hit the next one harder in a forlorn attempt to prove one's potency and credentials on the court.

So called 'serious' players have been known to refer to Ahmad as a hacker, implying he's not worth their attention...... wrong! In one match I played when coach at Bush Hill Park, a teenager and his brother came off the court in a blind fury having played against Ahmad and self destructed. It can be a world of pain.

The best way of approaching every match is with the mindset of ' how am I going to play my game as well as possible?' and 'how do I solve the problems this player throws at me?'

With Ahmad I solved the problem because I am strong at the net. However I was less successful in playing the game I'm trying to develop- in particular the ability to generate pace off a slow ball. Related to this I'm only 30% there in improving my use of the ground to develop this power. I want to coil on the forehand and then start uncoiling by using my legs to unload the energy chain through the shot. Easier when there's pace, harder and a great test when the ball has no pace.

I could feel my muscles tensing as part of me wanted to put my new technique into practice, and part of me wanted to play safe and hit the ball in. Result a ball with little weight and a lot of arm. To really unload I have to stay loose. To stay loose I have to do this much more in practice.

This is where planning comes in. In tennis practice must be planned,with like minded players of a similar standard, practicing with intent, rather than just having a hit.

Dip part 2: Overcoming Excuses - quality focus

I've been so busy with work that its been ten days since I've hit a ball. No exercise.

I'm pleased that I've just completed short 2.5mile run in the streets around hotel. I noticed my focus varying as I ran; at some points wanting to fast forward time as if replaying a recorded tv programme, zipping through the adverts.

I resisted that, staying mindful of my sensations as I and how I interpreted them. When my chest got tight and aching I noticed the thought "maybe I should back off"  - but stayed with the sensations and found they were easily manageable. At other times I felt the urge to slouch;  thinking "just get round, it doesn't matter how". I was  intrigued by this thought, but resisted and instead focused on my running technique and staying tall. Immediately my pace picked up and I got more from the run. The benefits of mindfulness and commitment to quality.

When I got back to the hotel room, I entered the winter postal tournament to give myself a focus and goals for the coming months. 

My performance obituary

I ran a provocative session with some athletes and their coaches this weekend. One of the exercises involved a performance obituary. It comes from an excellent book on Mindfulness for performance enhancement by Gardner & Moore.

The instruction is simple:
"What and how would you like your performance career and you as an athlete, teammate, etc to be remembered?"

It works because it reminds us that we only have one shot at our lives, and that it will be too late when we are in our bath chairs and zimmer frames to develop a 100 mph serve.

Every day counts. Every session counts.

Whatever you write as your performance obituary can become a powerful standard by which you assess your achievements each day. Its a very personal exercise. This is mine:

As a tennis player:
Brave and prepared to go for my shots
Stylish
Fit and physically committed
Surprisingly powerful
Great touch and variation
Tactically astute

As an exec coach and performance psych
Thoughtful and perceptive
Engaging
Thought provoking
Helps people to do things they thought they couldn't do.
Helps people to manage themselves and accept themselves.

DeFusing

The single most important thing I've learnt in the past 10 years is to separate myself from my thoughts, and to regard them with both healthy confidence and healthy caution.

Confidence because there are many situations where I back myself and my judgement. Parent, Coach, Brother, Son, Business partner, Husband. Caution because I've come to learn that many thoughts and feelings in the same areas can be so far off the mark. Scared, Proud,.........overconfident etc.

Over the 15+ years as a coach, therapist and performance psychologist, this teaching has not been new. We're trained to notice projections and transference, our 'blue touchpaper' situations and people. What's different is I'm now more able to separate from these thoughts, rather than see my opinions as some truth.

It matters as a tennis player because the same training that now helps me to be more self aware and have real clarity about my thoughts and feelings, also helps me to stay in 'the here and now' when training and competing.

The technique that has helped me profoundly in the last year is Mindfulness. This training involves focusing on my breathing in every moment of the exercise and simply accepting the departures into thought, noticing, and returning to the breathing. Doing this helps to reduce the power of all thoughts and helps me stay committed to how I want to behave and lead my life. As a tennis player this can mean pushing through the pain when I'm telling myself "I'm hurting, I need to back off".

I use the aptly named Jon Kabat Zinn's CDs as a great starting point. He founded the use of meditation in stress reduction clinics in the US, and clearly worked with the US rowing team back in Lake Casitas in the 84 Los Angeles games. Check out a bit of this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM_vJc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Or CDs on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Wisdom-Illness/dp/0739358588/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1315320594&sr=8-11


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Home - lunch break

The Dip

We're now in a pretty busy work phase and combined with holidays this leaves little time to practice. A nice problem business wise has lead to more doubt about what I'm working on in tennis and where the next improvement will come from. I can be so motivated by my improvement, which can turn negative and in on myself when I don't practice enough.

Solution: Get out and practice! Even if it's just once a week like right now. Choose not to listen to the voice that says "If you cant practice three times a week its not worth it".  Today was a speculative trip to the club and initially just a gentle hit. Then some great serving practice on my own...... I'm working on really stretching up and through, and practising this by the old drill of overarm throws, then serving and practicing the feeling of stretching up and through, whilst trying to stay loose. Result more snap, and I think more ability to hit up and get my body through.

I think for the past while I've been protecting my shoulder, but it's time to let it go, and explore this envelope.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Alexandra Park Rd,Tottenham,United Kingdom

Why play tennis?

Why play tennis? Parts 1 & 2 

A ladder match safely negotiated against Chris Dixon, a bouncy, fast moving player, of my age with an all court game. However, my play was boring and unsatisfying. While I was determined to win and not lose, I strangled my own attempts to be aggressive. An example being a short ball that could be spanked away, I wrestled over the net with far too much top spin, and no penetration in fear that I would ‘make a mistake’. Aaaaaah.

So after the match Chris agreed to my request that we play a couple more games. I resolved to hit through every forehand and backhand I got. My God !! The ball kept going in with an exhilarating amount of power and feel. This why I play tennis...to feel powerful! - Why do you play?

Why Play Tennis 2: Finding my true purpose on the court.

I decided to build on Part 1 in my next practice session, this time with Chazz. I resolved to hit through the ball as my default, instead of attempting aggressive top-spin every ball. From the word go Chazz had less time, and I felt more powerful, hitting through to a much better depth. My technique is good enough to automatically generate enough top most of the time. This was the most dynamic practice session I can remember, the purpose for both of us to hit through without fear. For me:

1.       Lower trajectory

2.       Relax and really let go as I hit through – especially on short balls

Daniel Coyle refers to starting to get something right as the beginning of a practice session. So this is the beginning.  

Rosewall or Ashe

In 1974, 21 year old Jimmy Connors took on the most elegant of players, 8 times grand slam winner Ken Rosewall (then aged 40), and dominated him in the Wimbledon final. Two years later Connors took on Arthur Ashe, then a mere 10 years his senior at 34, and this time the elder man triumphed in a tranquil display of flowing but determined tennis, never once letting Jimmy really get into his stride.

This was my challenge as I played 21 year old David England this evening. Against a very hard hitting 21 year old, could I find my own inner Arthur Ashe? My aim was to deny him rhythm and pace, but to stay positive, hit deep, vary the spin. With the expectation that I would have to work very hard. This worked well until 2-2 in the first set; he was out of sorts, making mistakes, and I felt absolutely in it. Then.......he hit his stride, and hit the ball 15% harder whilst cutting out most of his mistakes. I just couldn't live with his relentless hitting, lost my own depth and rhythm, and didn't win another game. He was just too good.

Reflections and learning?

• Youth will have its day. Especially when disciplined and skilled. 
• More practice against big hitters.
• Aim to regain some of the serving aggression and accuracy I had in the autumn. At the moment its accurate and relaxed, now to rebuild the zip.

The Envelope

Every match I'm exploring my envelope around aggression. What's yours about in your field? For me it's:

• What proportion of flat instead of spun first serves?
• When to attack full on, or shorten the backswing returning serve, and when to chip it back to keep it in play.
• How flat/top spin to hit when trading?
• Tactically how frequently to the net, chipping and charging on second serve? 

Two factors come to mind. 1. Playing to my strengths 2. Handling the opponent's challenge and making demands of them.

Playing to my strengths means a high level of consistency, lots of topspin on serve and ground shots, getting to the net fairly frequently. The challenge comes when an opponent simply has a bigger, safer game that they can execute with little risk to themselves. In the past I've found I sometimes over-react to this challenge and push the envelope too far, too aggressively and make far too many unforced errors. Playing Chazz in the Postal final is a case in point. On the other side I've been too cautious, for example playing Alan in last year's semi.

My club champs 2nd round match yesterday was at the edge of my envelope in terms of physical demands, and containing an aggressive opponent. One spectator said afterwards, "every time I looked at your game he was hitting massive winners, and then you came off the court winning in straight sets". Thankfully his massive winners only counted for one point at a time. And I could get into his backhand, get to the net sometimes, and stay in the rallies with him, forcing and waiting for errors. A big plus for me was putting down some flat 1st serves to win some important points. This is a growing capability....learning that to push this envelope and actually make the serve that is 15 mph faster than normal, I need to hit it pretty easy.

I'm pleased I've had such a tough match (7-6,6-4) in my first round, (105 mins in the heat of the day). I'm going to need to play as well to overcome the succession of young big hitters that the draw has provided me with this year.    

Trust and being in the moment

Great interview with Bob Rotella, who's worked with Darren Clarke. I really like his comment that we need to accept that we will miss putts. Good reminder for all of us that It's OK to make a mistake sometimes, and importantly thus help stay in the moment..........to know where I want to hit it and in Rotella's words 'let my subconscious take over'.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/golf/14182679.stm

The Talent Code - What's the quality of your practice?

I recommend The Talent Code if you're serious about being the best player you can be. I've also just discovered the website http://thetalentcode.com/ which has useful summaries and pointers. Whether you're a coach or a player I'm sure there will be something that you will learn or reconfirm that will improve your game.
It's also fascinating.

For me it reinforced the importance of 'deep practice'.....what sort of practice am I doing? how regular? how purposeful? So many people in tennis "just hit", or only play matches. And they're guaranteed to carry on doing what they always have done. When I'm busy with work and family I need to keep finding the spare chinks of time to do a 60 minute session here, a 30 minute run there, as well as to do the 90 minute to 2 hr sessions.

Coyle's book covers three key areas:

1. The neurological processes of laying down skills - Myelin - Deep Practice
2. What Deep Practice really is, and isn't
3. The role of the coach in 1. Giving really specific skillful feedback, and designing the learning environment 2. Igniting the passion of the performer to learn.

  " Tony Huber says:

March 31, 2010 at 1:39 pm

This book gets rid of many of the myths about innate talent. I have coached many top professional tennis players, include my wife Liezel the current #1 doubles. Everything in the book is true and really makes you reframe your ideas on what it takes to be great."

Antonio - ladder match

A really close match this morning...but came out the wrong side 5-7, 4-6. Antonio is very similar to me, good retriever, solid on both sides, happy at the net, and not too aggressive. I think he's faster around the court than most opponents, and doesn't know when to give up! - Respect! Some long long rallies, which I won 50% of, but pretty energy sapping, and tested my mental resolve against someone 10 years younger. This may have influenced my decision to get to the net when I earned the short ball. Unfortunately on 2 or 3 key points I didn't put the ball away when I had the chance.

What I did well

• Hit through consistently on both sides, combined with depth and topspin, dealing well with his high deep topspin.
• Varied my serve and got some wide angles, earning some cheap points.
• Stayed positive to be in a position to win some critical points from the net.......
• Some good backhands down the line that wrong-footed him as he ran around his backhand

To improve.........

• Get sharper at the net, especially overhead, to put away mid court hanging balls first time. (* Needs dedicated practice and lesson input).
• Stay loose and rotate more as I get more tired, and on big points, and on short balls without pace

The tension of being the favourite.......

Just played a club league singles match against Richard R who is very steady and has the reach of an octopus. I know that when I play loosely and well, he will have a very tough time. But if I get tentative, as at times I did today, then life gets a lot harder.

My main learning from today's game was that when I get tight and nervous, I start trying harder..I hold the racket tighter and I start hitting the ball hard, instead of just letting myself flow. Or I get more careful and push the ball around without any conviction. Its a paradox....when I hit the ball hard I hit out more and actually with less pop and spin. When I let it flow, my body is much more efficient and the ball travels faster with more spin, especially on the serve.

Thankfully I found the right balance at points throughout the match, and most importantly when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. No effort, no technical focus, just clarity on where I wanted to aim resulting in 80% first serves in with two unreturned. Game over.

I know that when I play a more aggressive, 'stronger' opponent, I relax more and focus more on what I have to do....anything else will mean I'll let them dominate me. Against less strong opponents I can be tempted into the counterpuncher's trap of waiting for them to make a mistake (Andy Murray). At my level that can mean not using my attacking game, and getting caught in tense indecision. In the end this is about making sure that I play my game, and stay committed to being the player I want to become. Aggressive, with flair and variation as well as tactical nowse. This way, even if I loose some matches, I stay improving, and longer term I win more matches. Today, whilst I got tense, I stayed aggressive, and many of my mistakes were 'good' ones, just long, when hitting through.

Keeping it simple and keeping the effort level at the right setting, are central areas for me. To get more consistent at doing this under pressure, I need to make sure I practice enough, and have practice at increasing levels of intensity. No points but structured practice. Points with a hitting partner but nothing at stake. Practice sets. Proper matches. How do you keep the balance right?