Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

The Korean guy in the front row was losing control.  It was 1991 and Beijing was the venue for the Asian Games.  We were playing for at least a Mixed Doubles bronze medal and Thailand hadn’t won an Asian Games medal in tennis for almost 40 years! Personally, this was the biggest match of my tenure as Thai National Tennis Coach.   The Thai team of Wittaya Samret and Orawan Thampensri were in a match with a typically tough Korean team.  You can always count on Koreans to make it a battle.  They are always in great shape physically, mentally very strong, and always 100% committed.   I had encountered the Korean attitude in many events prior to this. Players from Korea could sometimes overstep the boundary of what was considered good sportsmanship.  This didn’t make them any friends on the tennis circuit and I had even witnessed Korean coaches physically abusing players several times. I’m not sure whether or not the guy in t...

A player involved in a match and trying to play smart tennis is constantly assessing a variety of factors when trying to maintain their good momentum or make significant changes in the match because they are behind on the scoreboard. If a player feels they are losing the battle either technically, tactically, physically or mentally, there needs to be a process each player can go through to make those necessary changes. As a Davis Cup and Federation Cup captain I often had to go through this mental process myself in order to turn a match around by adjusting the way my player was competing. Those adjustments came about after a process that involved accurately reading the situation and deciding what needed to change (or in some cases to not change at all) and putting those changes to the test during the match. Here is that process in detail: 1.      EXPLORE (Analyse) This is the stage where, if a change of strategy is needed, the player explores the...

Everyone talks about fundamentals and how important they are.   Anyone playing well is said to have “great fundamentals”, while anyone playing poorly is  accused  of having “poor fundamentals”. But have you ever tried to find a list of these fundamentals? If such a list existed, surely this would immensely help players and coaches. The truth is that you will never find a definitive list of the “Tennis Fundamentals”. Although players are continually admired or criticised for their fundamentals and training programs worldwide attempt to install “fundamentals” in their players, no definitive list is available. So, let’s start defining what exactly a fundamental is or should be. I believe a fundamental cannot be taken out; in other words, you cannot play without it. Think about that for a moment. What elements cannot be taken out of our game? Is the backswing fundamental? No, because some volleys, service returns and half volleys don’t require a backswing. ...

At any given time, you are in one of three conditions: Defence, Neutral or Offence. You need to clearly define which condition you are in to compete successfully. If you attack the point at the wrong time or have an opportunity to attack but fail to take that opportunity, it doesn’t matter how well you stroke the ball your overall game will lack cohesion and meaning. So, how do we define when we are in a Defensive, Neutral, or Offensive situation?  What exactly are the factors which put you in a defensive mode? When can you attack the point with a high degree of confidence that you will be successful? How do you know you are in a Neutral situation? Whether you are in Defence, Neutral, or Offence depends on two criteria, and you must constantly be aware of these criteria as you play.  Those criteria are: THE POSITION OF YOUR FEET WHEN YOU HIT THE BALL If your feet are behind the baseline when you contact the ball, you are on Defence. If your feet are inside the...

Many players reach a very high ranking with huge deficiencies in their games.  It seems that it comes down to whether you opt for doing "A few things really well" or "Many things OK". But it doesn't have to be that way. Women's tennis is full of players who have solid, dependable  groundstrokes, no serve, no net game, but have still reached the top 100 on the WTA ranking list. In the men's game its less obvious but there are still players with a limited range of strokes and who depend on a very conservative game plan to win matches. This limited range of strokes and conservative approach to points often comes from a players time in the juniors, especially if the player was successful. often players, coaches and parents are not willing to expand the game and take on new initiatives. Pete Sampras is famous for deciding to change from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand as a junior, only to lose early in tournaments for the next t...

My 3 Top Winning Strategies – That Any Player Can Use In trying to  identify my top three winning strategies, I sought ideas that players of  all levels  could adopt immediately —strategies that, if committed to, could completely shift the momentum of a match . These aren’t flashy or complicated. They’re practical, repeatable, and proven to dominate. 1. Win the Crosscourt Battle If hitting a down-the-line winner gets you on the highlight reel, winning the crosscourt battle is how you actually win matches. There’s an old saying in tennis: “Win the crosscourt battle and you win the match.” When you consistently dominate cross-court exchanges, your opponent starts to feel the pressure. They’re the ones forced to change the direction down the line first—often making a mistake or leaving an opening. This is your bread and butter pattern. Stick with it. Trust it. When your opponent breaks first, you’re already halfway to breaking them. 2. Serve Lights O...

The best players use rituals to help them perform Everyone responds to events in different ways. Dropping a glass of water can make us angry, shocked, and frustrated or could even become a catalyst for laughter. It all depends on the person and how dropping that glass of water makes them feel.   Like thousands of other events throughout your day, dropping that glass of water is a CUE that creates an action.  In his bestselling book “The Power of Habit” author Charles Duhigg calls the action that follows a Cue  a Routine . He states that while the Cue is the same for everyone, it’s in the routine that you see the differences in people. Watch a game of tennis and you will see all the same cues. You will observe a player who is fatigued, some matches are more important than others, poor line calls occur, a player will go down a break of serve and another will go up a break of serve. These are all cues that evoke a routine. Many of these routines are destructive...

RE-DIRECTING THE BALL DOWN THE LINE IS DIFFICULT BUT CAN HAVE HUGE REWARDS  DESCRIPTION One of the scariest things you do in tennis is to change the direction of the ball and hit down the line off a ball coming from cross-court. You are attempting to re-direct the ball to another angle which requires considerable skill. It’s much easier going back cross-court because you are hitting through the same line. If you can execute the down the line shot well during the rally it’s a big plus to your game because it stops your opponent getting too comfortable with your shot selection, they will now have to worry about the unexpected change of direction – something few players can do that well. Here are the key things to focus on when going down the line (backhand and forehand). 1.       The position of your feet: o   The best way to change direction, either down the line or cross-court, is to change your contact point. Many...

DICTATE WHERE THE FIRST 3 STROKES SHOULD BE PLAYED AND HELP THE PLAYER GROOVE THEIR RESPONSES DESCRIPTION: The most important two shots in tennis are the serve and the return of serve. While many “modern players” today are extremely competent hitting ground-strokes, the very best players have also developed their serve and return games to a high level. Unfortunately it’s normal that little more than 10-15% of practice sessions involve these two shots. Serving practice involving a basket of balls is helpful to develop technique but it lacks those elements that would make it realistic. What you really need to help your serve and your return and make practice more realistic is to include the mental pressure, variable outcomes and spontaneous decision making of a real point.     We also need the serve and the return to be repeated many times so that they both become instinctive. The Combination Drill does all these things. The Combination Drill will ...