THE 3AM THEORY

THE WORLD CHAMPION ALL BLACK RUGBY TEAM ARE THE ULTIMATE FOX'S In his bestselling book “The Signal and the Noise”, author Nate Silver tells of two types of mindsets, the Hedgehog and the Fox. A Hedgehog mindset is the type of person who has formulated a theory, but when a situation arises that either can’t be explained by the theory or the theory doesn’t work for that particular situation, they call it a “one-off”, an anomaly and disregard the situation as being outside their control. The world champion All Black rugby team were Hedgehogs. Being the best team in the world for over 100 years meant they were favourites every four years when the Rugby World Cup would come around. But after winning the inaugural World Cup in 1987, the All Blacks were beaten in each of the following World Cups for various reasons. Often, losses could be attributed to situations that were almost impossible to prepare for ahead of time, such as injury to key players and errors of human jud...

The tennis term 'loading' refers to the action of a player interacting with the ground by bending their knees and thrusting out of that position to create greater racquet-head speed.   While that is exactly what should happen on all good ground-strokes, serves, returns, and overheads, teaching a player to only load the legs will not always guarantee success, and can sometimes be detrimental to the stroke. For the stroke to succeed a player needs to understand the real purpose of Loading. A player who only follows the instruction to Load their legs will usually go through a process of bending their knees.   This is what most coaches want to 'see', and will encourage the player to 'bend their knees' on every stroke.  With a small percentage of 'talented' players, this process of loading will automatically translate into better timing and increased racquet-head speed. They can naturally incorporate a knee bend with their stroke and it will go much b...

By Paul Dale | www.3amtenis.com Looking for ways to recover and regulate stress?  Have you ever watched a racehorse trying to catch its breath at the end of a race? Its nostrils flare as it takes in air, but its mouth remains closed. It can be exhausted from a race and desperate for oxygen, but it never opens its mouth. A dog will pant with its mouth open while running, but a dog also uses its mouth to sweat. The horse, like humans, sweats through the skin. This is a fundamental similarity between humans and the horse. Unfortunately, over time and due to a lack of understanding, humans have lost the art of nose-breathing. For a long time, athletes and recreational runners have been told to push themselves hard during exercise, to the point where they must open their mouths and gasp for oxygen. But is this gasping for oxygen the natural way we should breathe when exercising?  Does pushing ourselves to this extreme level and eventually needing to breathe thr...

A COMPLETE SYSTEM OF ON-COURT MOVEMENT  By Paul Dale | The 3AM Method MOVING WELL ON-COURT IS ESSENTIAL TO PLAYING TENNIS AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS Tennis today is played at a much faster pace than ever before. The demands on a player to move faster place tremendous importance on fitness, speed, and anticipation. I teach a system of movement that involves all three of those requirements and some more. There are 3 main parts I try to teach my students when working on court anticipation and movement: 1.   OBSERVATION  2. REACTION  3. RECOVERY Here are the 3 parts explained in more detail - OBSERVATION In today's fast-paced game, players must anticipate where the ball will go to some degree. Observation is the most critical aspect of anticipating well. Anticipation requires players to read their opponent's preferences and swing patterns and get a quick read on the ball's direction. It's time to move! I ask my players to observe the moment of contact a...

PROFESSIONAL TENNIS IS PLAYED AROUND THE WORLD AT MANY LEVELS There are thousands of players, both men and women, who are trying to make their way in the world of professional tennis. I thought it would be interesting to clarify the steps, in my opinion,  that a player must take to get all the way to the top.  No National Ranking & No ATP points Can’t always get into the qualifying draw for local futures and must rely on wild cards National Ranking but no ATP Points Possible to enter qualifying of Futures events because of his National ranking but not always accepted Enough ATP points to enter Futures qualifying Must compete in the qualifying events where physical & mental fatigue can be a major obstacle in progressing deeper in the tournament Qualifies into the main draw consistently But has trouble progressing much further because of the physical and mental demands of qualifying Enough Points to ent...

The First Tactic Is Guts: How the Mental Arm Wrestle Decides Tennis Matches By Paul Dale \ The 3AM Method People say tennis is 90% mental — then spend 90% of practice on technique. The mental arm wrestle says something has to change. The Moment the Match Really Ends At the beginning of a match, both players think they can win. What changes? Watch closely the next time you see a competitive tennis match — at any level. At some point, one of the players wins a battle that has nothing to do with groundstrokes. You can feel it shift. The footwork gets heavier. The responses come slower. Something behind the eyes goes quiet. The match isn't over yet. The scoreboard might still look competitive. There may be several games still to play. But anyone who knows what to look for already knows who's going to win. The mental arm wrestle has been decided. "Don't be fooled by appearances. Once the mental battle of wills is settled, the match is essentially over — ...

Visual blocking is a technique you can use to force your opponent to hit the ball where you want them to.   The benefits are apparent.   If you can dictate where your opponent will hit the ball, you can anticipate earlier and cover the court more easily. It can also be used to expose weaknesses. Several years ago, I was watching a player of mine in a match where his opponent was having trouble hitting forehands down the line. In the heat of the battle, my player couldn’t see this pattern, but sitting off-court in the shade, I could! The opponent would return most balls crosscourt, and when they did hit the ball down the line, it was done very cautiously and without any confidence. Two things could develop from this knowledge that would help my player gain a significant advantage in the match (1) we could anticipate that the vast majority of forehands would be returned crosscourt and be under no real pressure because we are essentially only guarding the crossco...