LEARN TENNIS FROM A CHESS GRANDMASTER

All advanced tournament-level players have reached a high degree of technical proficiency, which has played a significant role in getting them to where they are now. 

However, as an advanced tournament-level player, it's important for you to constantly look for other ways to refine and improve your game. There will be areas where slight enhancements or adjustments can lead to further improvements in performance.

One such area, and my favorite recommendation for most players, is the mental and strategic side of our game. It's there that you will make the most dramatic improvement in your tournament results.

Try to stay open-minded. While the Mental and strategic side of the game can seem daunting, confusing, and even scary to some players, this is where the real opportunities for growth exist. 

LOOK AT SIMILAR SPORTS

I often compare tennis to boxing. The two sports are very similar. Both involve offense and defense. Both are one on one (except in tennis Doubles) encounters that test you physically and mentally. But there is one more activity that has many more of the qualities needed to play tennis at the highest level. It's Chess.

There are lessons to be learned from the
chess grandmasters

Chess, like tennis, requires strategic thinking, planning, and the ability to anticipate and react to the moves of an opponent. Both sports demand focus, and the capacity to make decisions under pressure and involve a combination of analysis, decision-making, and adapting to changing circumstances.

As a tennis player, you must look past the books and magazine articles about technique and "Form". Social media is full of myths and tennis gurus repeating faulty information,

Here then, are the skills shared by a Chess Grandmaster and the top tennis players in the world today that will help move your game along:

• THINK AHEAD & ANTICIPATE 

A chess grandmaster never makes a move without thinking of the consequences of that move. A wrong move can lead to disaster or even defeat. If a grandmaster makes an error, they may be unable to re-right the problem. They have now placed themselves at a disadvantage possibly for the rest of the game.

They also spend a lot of time trying to anticipate their opponent's next move. By successfully anticipating their opponent they can successfully reply. 

The major difference however is that the chess grandmasters have the luxury of more time to contemplate both their own moves and those of their opponent. Tennis players have split seconds to calculate their next shot's consequences and react to their opponent.

Pay more attention to where you want the ball to go (targets) and how (spins, heights) you want the ball to go there. If you're an advanced player already the technique you use to control the ball will automatically operate instinctively. Trust it.

• BE COMFORTABLE PLAYING EITHER OFFENSE & DEFENSE

Many tennis players today have lopsided strengths that favor either their offense or defense. You must be equally proficient at both offense and defense.

In chess, you're constantly defending your opponent's moves, and waiting for opportunities to attack yourself.

Like chess, any closely fought tennis match will involve you spending time attacking your opponent and defending their attack. Tennis is never a one-way street. Get comfortable playing in both conditions.

Tennis involves being equally proficient at
attacking and defending

• CREATE STRONG PATTERNS

You can find many chess books written for players on the strategic patterns made famous in matches by previous grandmasters. These books provide enthusiasts with a move-by-move account of these encounters. Chess players of today study these moves and try to use them in their own matches.

Design patterns of play that work for you. There are many ways to win a point. What are the ways that suit your game style and temperament? Build your game around these patterns that you do well.

• HAVE A PLAN

At the highest level of chess, the grandmasters have teams that create strategies each day that look for the best options and weaknesses in their opponents.

Designing strategies that focus on your opponent's strengths and weaknesses will reap major benefits if you can adopt game plans for each match. 

How to analyze and create a strategy for each opponent you compete against is seldom taught and rarely included in a player's early development. Strategy is often introduced later in a player's career once they have achieved some success in a tournament. This is unfortunate because it would have been easier to teach opponent analysis and strategy along with technique and fitness during the early formative years.

Click on this link for information on how to introduce the topic of strategy into your practice sessions.

• BE PATIENT & STAY CALM

Chess is a very introverted game where neither player shows much emotion. It's akin to playing poker.

By contrast, tennis players wear their hearts on their sleeves and give away the negative emotions they're feeling during the match. But why would you want to advertise that you're under pressure, distracted, or lacking confidence?

During competition stress is normal and a big part of your improvement will come from being able to play to your fullest potential in stressful situations. Point to Nick Kygios as someone who can reach the top in tennis and I will point to Novak Djokovic's 23 Grand Slam titles! You will simply have better results if you can successfully manage your emotions when under pressure.

• REACT TO YOUR OPPONENT

As obvious as this seems most players try to dictate to their opponent on every point. But dominating your opponent comes easiest when you are actively reading your opponent's every move and adapting accordingly. 

It's not possible to dominate the rally on every
point. Spend time learning to read your opponent.

Social media is full of tennis content explaining how you can hit the perfect ball. But in most instances the example is being presented as a Closed Skill, meaning without the decision-making, unpredictability, and variety of a real match.

If you played chess blindly making your moves without considering your opponent's moves the game would finish very early. However many competitive tennis players focus on themselves almost exclusively and fail to get a "reading" on their opponent, their likes and dislikes, or their preferences in particular situations.

Try to not only read the ball but your opponent also.

• BE FOCUSED, DISCIPLINED, AND ADAPTABLE

These three attributes, if you can master them, will take you far.

Most players are focused until something difficult comes along to pull them out of their "zone". Your job is to build mental blinkers. Don't allow distractions to affect your technique or your strategy.

The form of discipline I prefer to see in a player is the type that puts the win first and eliminates the bullshit! There are so many reasons to lose a match but the most uncommon way to lose is for your opponent to beat you.

Most matches are won or lost in the "bullshit zone", which is the zone involving conditions (wind, sun, heat, etc) human error (line calls), and lack of realistic preparation (your game, fitness, and devotion). If it was only about your opponent's dominance you'd probably be winning a lot more matches!

Being adaptable is a core ingredient for all competitive players. The true nature of competitive tennis is two players trying to make life difficult for each other. Your success as a player has a direct relationship to your ability to make life difficult for your opponent.

Most matches are won or lost within the Bullshit
zone, a zone where excuses abound and players
retreat to when things get tough

Likewise, your ability to absorb the difficulty that your opponent gives you will dictate how far you go in tennis. Adaptability is the essence of being a great player.

There's very little difference between what we do as tennis players and how a Grand Master might approach his/her battles on the chessboard.