Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

The three most important words to a player are preparation, preparation, and preparation. Thorough preparation begins and ends on the practice court and means that you will be ready for whatever your opponent throws at you in the match. It means that you will enter each match knowing that you have prepared. But what form should your preparation take? How should you structure your practice in the days, weeks, and months before your matches? Preparation for matches begins on the practice court. The ancient Chinese warlord Sun Tzu was highly sought after by many Chinese emperors because of his incredible knowledge of warfare. Back then, having a superior army meant the difference between an entire state living or dying, and Sun Tzu was the best. Based on his theories and observations, the book "The Art of War" is still a best seller worldwide even today, and his philosophies are still being followed.  Sun Tzu said this about the topic of Offense and Defense:  " INVINCIBILIT...

There’s no doubt that we are experiencing a GENERATION WAR IN TENNIS AT THE MOMENT . The old guard of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are under threat from the new guard consisting of Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas, and Shapovalov.  Recent results in the lead up to the French Open have seen the new guard matching and even beating the old guard in each tournament Most surprising during this time has been the declining form of Rafael Nadal. The former 'King of Clay' has not been able to win any of the tournaments during this early part of the European clay-court season. His chances of winning the French Open this year look bleak. Federer can be excused for not winning any of the lead up tournaments but he has shown us his game is good enough to beat anyone on the day and at this stage of his career he’s probably quietly saving his best effort for the grand slam. Djokovic is the pick of the old guard to go all the way at the French. He’s a proven winner on clay and h...

Tennis players need the ability to shift their awareness around as they play. Each shot requires a slightly different focus, a different awareness to take place. No stroke you play is the same. Here are the areas you need to send your awareness during a point. Some of the areas I mention may surprise you. Tennis is not just about awareness of the ball and your opponent… there’s much more to tennis than that! 1.   COURT AWARENESS Because you are playing the ball from different areas within the court you need to be aware of where you are standing. This is even more important when you are in the less familiar areas such as very deep off the baseline or very wide on either side of the court. When you are made to play from these 'special' positions on the court, shift your awareness to where you are standing so that you can factor in things like the height of the net, and the distance to the baseline.  Awareness of your position on the court will also tell you whether yo...

AS A TENNIS PLAYER your life is full of difficulties. Whether it's difficulties within your daily routines involving your practice, fitness or matches, things can occur daily that chip away at your confidence in your ability to reach your goals and expectations To different degrees, those challenges can affect your ability to continue practicing and playing at your optimal level. They can be demotivating.  You need high levels of RESOLVE to be a successful tennis player. You need the ability to keep striving towards your goals despite those difficulties.  So how do you develop or strengthen resolve? How do you continue going forward despite the difficulties and challenges?  T he 3 most important factors for developing RESOLVE are … 1. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM NEGATIVITY Remove yourself from any negative environment you might be in at the time. Nothing you try to do to build strong resolve will work within a negative envir...

WHAT MAKES THE GREAT PLAYERS DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF US?  HERE ARE 3 REASONS THE PROS ARE DIFFERENT! #1 STRUCTURE   They live highly structured lives both on and off the court. Many of the very best players I have traveled with have lived extremely structured lives that started from when they were quite young. Often, this structure was engrained in them by parents. Martina's mother, Melanie, had only one goal throughout Martina's  Career, to make her the best. The many stories of overbearing tennis parents abound, and for every successful parent-child tennis relationship there are many more horror stories that have ended very badly. However, over the years I have seen several highly successful players come out of unhealthy parent-child relationships. In some cases, the discipline ingrained in the child stayed with them throughout their life and lead to successful lives, both within the tennis world and beyond. Discipline and a strong work ethic can take y...

I wasn’t to realize it that in 1990, I first arrived in India, it was to be the start of a long love affair with the country and its people.  Years earlier as a junior player competing on the New Zealand Junior Tennis Circuit I stayed at a house in Wellington that had just installed a colour TV.   Now that doesn’t mean much to younger people today but back in 1975, some lucky homes in New Zealand were just starting to replace their black and white models with new colour TV’s!   It was just fascinating to watch all your favourite programmes in colour.  Oddly enough one of the best programs to view in colour at the time was Sesame Street.  “Big Bird” was yellow! During my stay in Wellington, New Zealand was also playing Davis Cup against India and the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand were doing their best to beat the New Zealand team of Onny Parun and Brian Fairlie on the grass courts at Stanley Street, Auckland.   It was really special for me...

WHAT IS CONFIDENCE? Although it is difficult to accurately explain exactly what confidence is, we certainly know when we have it… and we know when we have lost it! Confidence is not an object or a piece of equipment.   You cannot put Confidence inside a box or hold it in your hand.   Confidence is a state of mind. It’s a condition  we ourselves have created inside us. We can be confident about our strokes, our ability to beat certain players, or our chances of winning on a particular surface. When we play with home town advantage and feel that support for us is greater we tend to do better. That phenomenon is even backed up statistically. Similarly, we can lack confidence in our strokes, in our ability to beat certain players, our chances of winning on a particular surface, and when we play away from home where the support for us is less we can perform worse. Confidence is also something many players and coaches strive to develop during practice bec...