Pre-Match Preparation - Part 1

The new few blog postings will be about tennis. I am reading Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison. I have been looking forward to reading this book for the last couple months. I am going to summarize chapter by chapter, for a reference for myself looking back as time goes on.

The first chapter is pre-match preparation. Most players do not spend any time on the tennis court thinking about their opponent and even fewer spend time before the match thinking about their upcoming match. I need to take advantage of this by recognizing my opportunity, analyzing my options and capitalizing on the opportunity by using the best option. I need to do this on my way to the match if not before I head to the match. When I am driving my car to the courts I need to be ready to play. I cannot hit a could double faults in my first service game because I was not ready to play.

I need to follow the following checklist before my match if I have played the player before.

• How did I beat him before?
• What does he do with his shot selection and pattern?
• Does he attack?
• Is he a retriever? 
• Does he serve big?
• What is his return of serve like?
• Did I make mistakes against him last time?
• What kind and why?
• What shots are his best?
• What shots are his worst?
• Was he forcing me to do something that bothered me? 
• Does he start strong and get too cautious on pressure points?
• Was it a close match?
• Were the points long?
• What does he do to affect the atmosphere, mood or tempo of the match?
• Is she very slow between points? 
• Does he get emotional?
• Does she protest a lot of calls?
• Is he great when he gets a lead but not so great when he is losing?
• Do your opponents give you a lot of small talk on changeovers?
• Do they always show up ten minutes late?
• Do they rush through the warm-up and want to start as soon as possible?

After I have played through the last match in my mind and finished going through the checklist, I need to come up with a game plan for the match. The two big questions that I need to answer are:

• What do I want to make happen?
• What do I want to prevent from happening?

To break those two questions down even further, I want to ask the following questions:

• What is my opponent's best weapon?
• Where is my opponent weak?
• What is my best shot and how can I direct it at my opponent's weakness?
• What can I do to keep my opponent away from my own weakness?

By answering all of these questions, I can take an advantage into a match that I otherwise might struggle to win. I need to be ready so that I don't have to think during the big moments of the match, that I can just recall my game plan and hopefully execute it.

Quotes are from the book: Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare of Tennis by Brad Gilbert and Steve Jamison