Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

This video deals with the biggest problem for competitive players worldwide: combating mental issues during matches. Paul gives you four steps to better identify and manage your mental struggles during competition.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS IN TENNIS... Being successful in competitive tennis  depends largely on how  well, you can manage  problems and control your emotions.  If you have trouble with anger and frustration during matches and believe those emotions during the match are due to playing poorly, then you're mistaken. This notion suggests that errors trigger negative emotions. You make mistakes and then your negative emotions arrive as a consequence.  But after many years of working with competitive players I now believe that a player's predisposition towards negativity and frustration is actually waiting to be triggered by events during the match.  Your current negative mindset amplifies  your reaction to  mistakes; the emotion  doesn't  start from the errors themselves.  This inherent negativity  inside you   amplifies your reactions to errors during a match. The more negativity you carry around with you, the ...

THE DROP-SHOT IN MODERN TENNIS The drop shot has evolved from a rarely used tactic a few decades ago to now being an essential weapon in a player's arsenal. By employing it, players can exploit their opponents' being  either  of f balance or standing too deep in the court.  The primary objective of the drop shot is to take advantage of your opponent's court positioning. When executed well, it forces the opponent forward and, if timed correctly, leaves them scrambling to reach the ball and again out of position for the next shot.  To execute the drop shot well, you'll need a combination of the following; THE TIMING You have to execute the drop shot at the right time during the point. If the timing is wrong, your opponent will end up at the net with an easy put-away. The best time to execute the drop shot is when your opponent is deep off the baseline or off balance running the wrong way. You'll need to train your observation skills as you play points so that you make...

HIDDEN POTENTIAL In his best-selling book Hidden Potential, author Adam Grant describes a previously unknown chess team that surprised everyone by winning the US National Schools Chess Championships.  To do so, they overcame schools that had been playing chess much longer, and that had been much more successful.  It turns out that a teacher at the school decided to introduce chess to his students for the first time. Initially, his goal was to get the children enthusiastic about chess. He achieved this  by having them start matches from the game's final stages rather than from the beginning. He guessed that starting from the beginning with all the pieces on the board would be boring to them and perhaps turn them off chess before they fully understood the game. The children soon began to enjoy playing chess and as his young players got better, he would add more pieces at the beginning until finally, they were starting normally, with all the pieces on the boar...

, You may have been looking at competition all wrong. Maybe competition should not only be about throwing the "kitchen sink" at your opponent to try and beat them down. Even if your strategy leans towards all-out offence: relying on a big serve and a dominating forehand, introducing some subtlety to your game might produce surprising results. After all, why would you want to play an opponent at full strength? Wouldn't it be better to neutralise their strengths first before playing them?  While that may seem overly simplistic to most, reducing your opponent's effectiveness is possible and entirely necessary if you want to reach the top.  STRATEGICALLY SMART "The first job of any army is to  make  themselves  unbeatable first" You must have a plan before every match that addresses your opponent's strengths and weaknesses; otherwise, you're inviting trouble. Without a plan, every match could be a battle because you could be allowing for the best version...

While stroke mechanics and fitness are crucial, they pale compared to the advantages of being mentally resilient, strong, and adaptable.  This article will deal with a topic I have expounded on for years: the importance of mental training and highlighting how it can make or break  a player's performance.  TENNIS IS A MENTAL GAME People often describe tennis as a mental game; coaches are happy to make that statement but later continue emphasising technique and form in their practice sessions! Everything returns to the status quo.  Nothing is done on the practice court to reflect the importance  of having  a r esilient, strong and adaptable mindset during competition. ...in competition, the battle is fought against  an opponent and also within one's own mind.  Your ability to stay focused, composed, and  confident during crucial moments can be the  deciding factor between victory and defeat. RESILIENCE UNDER PRESSURE: At its ess...

The Serve is considered the most aggressive stroke in tennis and the only stroke in which the player has complete control over the placement and speed of the ball. It is the only Closed-skill stroke in an Open-skill sport like tennis. The serve is an opportunity to take control of the point by gaining an advantage over your opponent early in the point. Focusing on the Serve can help players become more dominant in key moments and improve their results quickly. I have been focusing recently on improving players' mindset during the serve. An aggressive attitude coupled with good technique will take you a long way. Along with being more positive and optimistic, you'll make better decisions, execute the stroke more confidently, and maintain an aggressive mindset throughout service games. Negativity hurts your service games a lot because it leads to conservative decisions regarding the targets and the overall execution of the stroke. If you merely  get the ball in to start a rally d...

MISTAKES IN TRAINING During matches, all players face repercussions for their errors from the first point. There's no "play it again" or "continue the rally" in real match-play so don't allow for it into your practice session. Players must face repercussions for any mistakes they make in  practice , otherwise, they'll get lazy. I detest when players want to continue playing if the ball goes a little out during practice drills or points. Their reasoning is that continuing the rally or the point makes for a better practice. That's the wrong way to look at it. An important goal of any practice session should also be to create a stronger mentality for upcoming matches. That means adding pressure, decision-making, and unpredictability to your sessions. Look for any way you can to achieve this, it's really important! Reproducing the mentality of real match-play during practice sessions is one of the most important ingredients of my training   I like...