How to succeed in competitive tennis.....
I was extremely fortunate last weekend to attend a coach conference at Gleneagles where Jose Higueras was the main speaker. For anyone unfamiliar with Jose he achieved a world ranking of no 6 as a player and then went on to coach Michael Chang (winning French Open (at 17years of age) plus Jim Courier , Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and many others. So, a reasonable pedigree as both a player and coach! 

 So, what does Jose put down as the secrets to success in tennis? His 4 non negotiables were as follows:
 
1/ Respect
2/ Engagement
3/ Effort
4/ Punctuality
 
I have just finished reading a book about Pep Guardiola and his methods of management in football. It's interesting how similar an approach that both Guardiola and Higueras have towards creating a culture of success. "Barcelona my way" is certainly worth reading.
 
My experience of Spanish players and coaches in both tennis and other sports is quite similar in that they show great humility and work extremely hard. The idea is always to develop the person first and then the player will follow. Obviously the greatest example of this is Rafa Nadal who in my view is the greatest competitor I have ever seen. And just listen to him speak to appreciate how much he believes in respect and humility.

 
How does this relate to club level players?
 
Respect
I would argue that you can follow these guidelines even at club level and you will have greater success. Most people who compete in tennis at any level will experience difficult moments especially when they lose to someone they perceive to be of a lower level! If you truly respect your opponent and at no time during the match are worrying about losing to an "inferior" player I will guarantee that there will be fewer losses to this person. You may well lose but try not to let it be for a lack of respect.
 
Respect and humility are the key areas for competitive club players as the other 3 attributes are generally easier to commit to (engagement, effort, punctuality). After all, it's your choice to play tennis! Full time players of any age sometimes struggle to find the motivation every day to be engaged, working hard and to be on time! The element of fun instilled by coaches, parents, and others combined with the other key factors listed above is what will give a young player the best chance of success.

 
My favourite lines from Jose Higueras
 
"Federer and Rafa are great people. I love the way they treat others"
"Use your strengths on big points" (Good to have a plan)
"Quality is always better than quantity" (Smart training)
"Roger is how to play the game" (His opinion)
"McEnroe, Borg and Connors played every point" (Great focus)
"I don't need a palace to help players" (No excuses)
"At a recreational level inspire them and have fun" (What we try to do on TTH)​

​Air Pollution at the Australian Open
The humour of Nicolas Mahut may well be lost with the organising committee of the Oz Open!

The rain falling in Melbourne at the moment will hopefully help to ease the terrible the air pollution that the city is experiencing as a result of the never-ending bush fires.

Unfortunately, the forecast for the next coupe of weeks doesn't include much rain at the moment which may mean that the tournament might suffer some serious disruption.

They do have 3 indoor courts with retractable roofs and a further 8 permanent indoor courts in the National Training Centre which is on site. These courts have been seen as a potential escape route in the event of air pollution continuing. But, when GB's Jay Clarke tried to warm up for his match in the NTC, he found the courts unusable after smoke founds it's way in through the ventilation system.

Even if 11 indoor courts were available, only 3 of them would have the necessary seating capacity required. And more importantly the health and safety of all the players must surely be a priority.

Reducing the number of events and/or making the men's singles event the best of 3 sets instead of 5 could be among the more radical options. Otherwise, I am struggling to see how this Slam will be able to go ahead.

The only hope might be that with Melbourne's weather being so unpredictable it will hopefully rain quite often and overnight only!

Is Federer a serious contender for the French Open?
Uncle Toni certainly thinks so as he named Djokovic, Thiem & Federer as Nadal’s biggest threats for the title.

• Federer will be playing his first clay event since 2016 when he steps onto the court in Madrid.
• Federer has been making his readjustment to the clay with his coaches Severin Luthi, Ivan Ljubicic & long-time fitness trainer Pierre Paganini.
• Federer’s decision not to play on the clay in the past was in part due to an effort to protect his knee and back in his advancing years.

But the 37-year-old is now ready to return to the French Open, for the first time since 2015, on the 10th anniversary of his sole Roland Garros title.
Paganini is tasked with getting Federer in optimum physical condition for clay and the fitness guru says Federer should have no injury worries on the surface.
He told Swiss publication Blick “He was rarely injured in the course of his career and in principle no more often on a certain surface. It is important when changing surface to quickly adjust to something new in your head, so you have the right reflexes in the implementation"

Luckily, that's one of Roger's most underrated qualities.
If Paganini is right how good would it be to see a Nadal/Federer final??

You will probably have noticed Rafa replacing his string dampener when he changes racquets? And then you will see Roger playing without one so who is right?
It's all about the feel that a dampener provides which determines if a player will use one or not. The feel with a dampener is a bit softer as the dampener helps to absorb the vibrations of the string. It doesn't help you hit the ball any harder or reduce vibrations in the arm or cure tennis elbow unfortunately! It's all about feel and personal preference so no right or wrong.
We had a custom made dampener produced for TTH which is slightly wider than the average one just so it doesn't fall out!
If unsure try one and see what it feels like and if you are a real cheapskate just put in a rubber band like Agassi used to do!

This is the 2nd year of the Laver Cup and here are the teams - 
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Team Europe - Captain Borg
Federer
Novak
Zverev
Dimitrov
Edmund
Goffin

Team World - Captain McEnroe
Anderson
Isner
Schwartzman
Kyrgios
Tiafoe
Sock
It's Europe v The World in a kind of Ryder Cup format with a very strong European team against a decent world team. Any team with Federer, Djokovic and Zverev in it is going to be hard to beat! It's a mixture of singles and doubles each day with the number of points up for grabs increasing daily over the 3 days and it's the first team to reach 13 points who wins.
Last year Europe won it with the highlight for me being when Fed teamed up with Nadal to win an important doubles v Sock & Querrey. It was this pre match build up where we gained an interesting insight into the mental toughness of both Roger & Rafa. Nadal was the driving force mentally and Roger was there when it mattered most. A pity Nadal can't make this one!
It could be an opportunity for us all to get to know the nicer side of Kyrgios as he does like to help orchestrate some elaborate celebrations with his team mates! Jack Sock too will no doubt get in on the act.
All in all it should be loads of fun and just what tennis needs - seeing our idols enjoying themselves in a fun, competitive environment. After the "Serena" incident it will be nice to see some fun on the court. Maybe the women could arrange a similar event and have Navratilova and Chris Evert as captains? It could be "The Graf Cup" and maybe even Steffi would grace us with an appearance?? Or maybe one event too many with the new Davis Cup and other "new" events coming up soon!
The venue in Chicago looks amazing and for me it's extremely interesting as we see players in an entirely different arena which allows us to witness other sides of their personalities. Adding to the glamour and drama is the same choice of captains from last year with McEnroe in charge of the world team and Borg captain of Europe. Ice cool Borg was my hero and one of the main reasons that I fell in love with tennis so I'm always happy if he beats the big mouth McEnroe. (yes now likeable I agree).
Looking forward to it even if Europe look far too strong on paper? But.... as we know you don't win tennis matches on paper so let's hope for tennis that it's a tight Borg/Europe win. Having a Brit in the team not called Murray is incredible and great for him (Kyle).​​

The King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, returns to his favorite surface this week at Monte Carlo.
This is the first clay court event in Rafa's build up to the French Open which he has also won 10 times!!
Here are 10 amazing clay stats to know about the world's best ever clay court player.
He’s won 28 of his last 29 matches on clay. It's a stretch dating back to the 2016 French Open; his only loss in that time came against Dominic Thiem in last year's Rome quarterfinals. He’s also won his last 26 sets on clay, and 65 of his last 69.          

He has a 391-35 career win-loss record on clay. Nadal’s combined win-loss record on all other surfaces is an excellent 488-151, but on clay he’s an incredible 391-35 .

He’s won Monte Carlo, Barcelona and the French Open 10 times each. Nadal is the only man in the Open Era to win any event 10 times—and he’s done it at three different clay court events.

He’s the only man in tennis history to win the same Grand Slam title 10 times. Nadal’s 10 French Opens—2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017—put him alongside Margaret Court as the only players, male or female, to win the same Grand Slam title 10 times (she won 11 Australian Opens).

He’s won one of every five French Opens in the Open Era. Last year’s French Open was the 50th French Open since the Open Era began back in 1968.

He’s won more ATP clay-court titles than anyone else in the Open Era. Nadal’s 53 career clay court titles is an Open Era record; the previous record-holder was Guillermo Vilas, with 49.               
He’s 82-17 in his career against Top 10 players on clay. On all other surfaces combined, Nadal has a 71-66 career record against Top 10 players, but on clay he’s a much scarier 82-17.

He’s 32-4 against the rest of the current Top 10 on clay. Nadal won’t be intimidated by the current Top 10 on clay—he’s a combined 32-4 against them on the surface. Thiem and Roger Federer (who again isn’t even playing the clay season this year) have two wins each.

He’s 79-2 at the French Open. Nadal has lost just two matches in his career at Roland Garros: in the fourth round in 2009, to Robin Soderling; and in the quarterfinals in 2015, to Novak Djokovic.

He’s 63-4 at next week’s event in Monte Carlo. Nadal’s only four losses at the first Masters 1000 event of the year on clay came in the third round in 2003, to Guillermo Coria; the final in 2013, to Djokovic; the quarterfinals in 2014, to David Ferrer; and the semifinals in 2015, to Djokovic.

                  
What club players can learn from Rafa about how to play better on clay.....1 - Nadal's fitness is incredible both in terms of his speed and ability to keep going even during the longest of rallies/matches.
Club player - Improve your general levels of fitness which will allow you to stay in the point longer and recover quickly for the next one. When Agassi lost to Wilander in the French Open final many years ago he vowed never to lose a match again for a lack of conditioning! An easy (and more fun way) of improving tennis fitness is just to feed in the ball without the serve and play out the point preferably singles as much more exercise! Or you can sprint up hills like Agassi used to do! Some gym work wouldn't do any harm either!
2 - Nadal's ability to slide and defend the court plus reach short balls at the end of a slide helps him to stay in points which for many players would be lost.

Club player - Learning to slide on a clay court is fundamental for any aspiring player and this can be learned! The first step would be to practise sliding on a clay court without necessarily hitting the ball and then progress to small slides trying to time it so that you stop just before you hit the ball.
It's important to have a strong core in order to slide effectively so an element of off court training is essential.
It's also much easier to slide on a warm clay court than on a wet damp one like the ones we generally have in the UK! (so why not come with us to Italy?).

3 - Nadal's use of heavy topspin on his forehand combined with excellent dropshots make it very difficult for his opponents to ever get settled in a rally.

Club Player - we may not all be able to generate the same amount of spin and racket head speed as Rafa, but learning to hit even a small amount of topspin can be extremely useful on clay with the higher bounces. If you can get the ball high to a club player's backhand (or forehand if they have an eastern grip) you will have more chance of a short ball or error.
Dropshots must also be developed as they are more effective on clay courts due to the responsive nature of the courts i.e. hit with some backspin the ball will bounce up or even backwards!

4 - Nadal uses his 1st serve on clay to gain an advantage in the rally more than trying to win the point with a flat serve. His use of slice or topspin on the 1st serve is more effective on clay, due to the slow, high bouncing nature of the court which allows opponents more time to return even a fast serve. 

Club Player - Getting the 1st serve in with topspin or slice is much more important since a flat, faster serve comes through at a nice height for the returner. This goes for both singles and doubles.

5 - Nadal's greatest quality is his mental resilience in my opinion. This is a huge factor on any surface, but in particular on clay as it's much more difficult to win a point quickly. Rafa very rarely loses if the match goes to a 3rd set and is even less likely to lose in the 5th set largely due to his mental abilities.

Club Player - Assuming you have enough legs (fitness) then you have more chance of being mentally resilient as the match goes on. You need to be willing to suffer and work hard both mentally and physically.

With the competitive season almost upon us for most UK clubs, here are my top tips to help you be ready, and increasing your chances of success!

1. Is your equipment in good working order? In particular get a stringer to check that your strings are the right ones for your level and that the tension isn't too low (or high!)String types/tensions can vary depending upon game style, age etc. Please see a previous BLOG for details.
2. Are you physically ready? Get a diagnostic test of your current physical condition from an experienced trainer and begin an exercise programme particular to your own requirements which will help avoid injury and improve performance.
3. Is your game ready for competition? Have an individual lesson with an experienced coach who will help you formulate a plan for improving your game. Avoid coaches who are overly technical in their approach. Find someone who will work more on tactics and the feel of your shots - especially when close to match season! Major technical issues need a lot of time and for adults not always a great idea in my opinion to be working on "how to" close to competition time!

                                  
4. Are you ready mentally for the stress of match play? This is perhaps the most important area to contend with and usually most overlooked. Many club players who are not used to competing on a regular basis may experience major difficulties early in the season when they are becoming used to the stress of competition! 
There are some things you could do to help improve your mental state before even the first match.

• Play practice matches against other teams in your own club - this can be quite stressful especially for the higher ranked players/teams who may be worried about losing to a lower ranked player/team! Easy to arrange as long as the higher teams agree to play!!
• Then you could arrange at least one practice match against another club who are perhaps not in your league, but are of a similar level. Make sure you play using the same format and if possible a similar time to match play conditions. This can help enormously getting some of the mental cobwebs removed.
• Get your own team together for a social event which always helps with team bonding and cohesion. Could be as simple as a meal out together or for the more adventurous go-karting or even a karaoke night! Your choice!
• If doubles only (usually the case in the UK) then sort out partnerships early on and be smart about who plays with who as people generally need to like their partner on and off the court.                                                                
• Try and get a club sponsor for t-shirts to be made for all teams. A feeling of identity and club loyalty can be developed and it looks great, plus scares opponents!

FINALLY if all else fails come on our Tuscan Tennis Holiday to Trapani in Sicily where I will explain all of the above in fine details! Only 8 spaces left!
      
Hosted Week with Ian & Laura
Trapani, Sicily 20th to 27th May - Adults only
​
For those of you who prefer not to drive then Trapani is a great option as we can arrange transfers to and from the tennis club with the possibility to walk out your door in the evening with a huge variety of wonderful eating places, bars and street nightlife! Experience a part of Sicily relatively untouched by mainstream tourism.

What's Included:

• 18 hours of tennis including coaching, doubles clinic, matchplay, tournament PLUS free court time
• Video analysis and two hours play on Monday morning (10am - 12 noon)
• An individual tennis goal sheet to work on during the week - discussed with you during the video analysis
• Social tennis for two hours on Monday afternoon
• Two hours group coaching per day (10am - 12 noon) Tuesday to Saturday with a maximum of 4 - 6 per group (usually 4)
• Extra free court time during the week 
• A doubles clinic on Tuesday afternoon - tactically based for all standards
• Quality Italian lunch daily Monday to Saturday
• Fun tournament with prizes at the end of the week - with local Sicilians!
• Use of the tennis club facilities which include 3 red clay courts, 2 hard courts. a fully equipped gym, a snack bar and restaurant plus a TV room with Sky channels
• One accompanied trip during the week to introduce you to Ian and Laura's Sicily - an afternoon trip to the local island of Favignana - including an easy cycling tour to all the best sports for sightseeing and swimming (lunch is included)
• Optional meals at our favourite restaurants with the group on Tuesday and Saturday (with awards) - cost of meal not included
• Complimentary Tuscan Tennis t-shirt
• The invaluable local knowledge of Ian and Laura who can introduce you to the best the area has to offer
• Our local info guide

For more information on accommodation/flights/car hire etc please email laura@tuscantennis.com
We also have Special Hosted Weeks in Florence, Lucca & Sardinia plus tailored holidays at all other times of the year...Trapani (Sicily) May 20th to 27th (Adults Only) 8 spaces left
Florence 21st to 28th July (Adults Only) 13 spaces left
​Florence 28th July to 4th August (All Welcome)
Lucca 18th to 25th August (All Welcome)
Lucca 25th August to 1st September (Adults Only) 1 space left
Sardinia 1st to 8th September (Adults Only) 4 spaces left

Click on the locations in blue above for more information.....
Detailed above are the dates for the Ian & Laura Special Hosted Weeks for 2018, but we can arrange holidays for any duration outwith these dates.......drop Laura an email and she will send you full details....
laura@tuscantennis.com