Podcast #181: Struggling Against Weaker Players (Part 2)
Number two, and this is the last part of the psychological part. The number two biggest psychological mistake players make is they play down to their level. And you could kind of argue that this is a physical or a technique type of mistake as well, but it really is psychological. Basically what this comes down to is if you are truly the stronger player in terms of having the ability to hit with more offense, having the ability to create more racket head speed, more spin, then you need to dictate play. Do not allow an inferior to get comfortable and get into a rhythm with you baseline to baseline just rallying back and forth. And you're like, oh I know they don't have a lot of offense so I'm just going to relax a bit here and play it safe and not really pressure them too much. I'm going to win eventually because I'm better than they are, right? Well, before you know it, you're trading shots back and forth that your opponent is totally comfortable with. And you're basically playing down to their level. And you're just playing a neutral rally ball back and forth. Then when the time does come to attack because it's just a really obvious opportunity, before you know it you're getting tight and tentative, and you're scared to pull the trigger and actually accelerate the racket because you just spent the last 10 or 15 shots slowing down your swing more than what you're used to or more than what you typically would against somebody who is at your level or maybe stronger than you. And you get sucked into this pattern of -- or maybe you pull the trigger and it's tight and oh man that just didn't feel good at all, and you make an unforced error. And then it spirals out of control, right? And then the next time you get that short weak shot, you're even more tight because you're thinking oh I missed the last one. I hope this one isn't worse. And you get tighter and tighter, and before you know it you're playing an hour and a half of shots that are totally played down to your opponent's level. And they are comfortable and run you back and forth, and all of a sudden they're in control. And you've just totally lost your rhythm and game and your ability to attack. This is incredibly frustrating. This might even be the number one psychological mistake. They're both mistakes, and I'm sure that most of you listening to me have had this happen to you at some point. I know it's happened to me. And it's just really frustrating. The bottom line is you have to play your game and not theirs. And if you allow them to get comfortable, then don't get surprised if you lose. And don't blame them. Listen, this circles back to the respect part of it, don't finish the match and say no wonder I played like crap. They didn't give me anything to work with and just gave me this junk over and over again. So, yeah, I played terrible. It's their fault. No, it's not their fault. It's your fault, and don't disrespect your opponent that way. If they found a way to beat you regardless of the tactics, then they were better than you that day.
Well next we're going to talk about the physical things that we need to change to be more successful against this type of player. Before we get to that, just a quick reminder about the official sponsor of the Essential Tennis podcast, and that is Tennis Express. One of the biggest and best online retailers for tennis gear and equipment out there on the internet. Really great customer service, and they offer free shipping for orders over $75. And to thank them for supporting myself and for supporting EssentialTennis.com please go check them out and do that by going to EssentialTennis.com/Express. And you'll be rerouted automatically over to Tennis Express. And that just puts a little tracking code into your browser so that if you do make any purchases, a small percentage comes back to help support the Essential Tennis podcast. So big thank you to Tennis Express for supporting me, and equally big thank you to all of you that have been checking them out and making purchases through that link. That really helps out in helping the bills around here. I really appreciate that.
Okay, now let's move onto the physical things to keep in mind in this frustrating scenario playing somebody who is weaker than you but still struggling. And I've got again two different main sections here. Number one, you must train yourself to learn how to create pace and spin from nothing. So even if you are fed a ball that literally checks up. It's got some backspin, and it just checks up and just sits and bounces straight up and sits there right in the center of the court. If you don't have the ability to create pace and create spin from that shot, then you're always going to have a hard time against the player who is half a level or a full level below you. And this is really just a hallmark of a high level player is somebody who is able to do this. Can you take a ball that's just sitting there with no pace of it's own and confidently make pace yourself? So how can we develop this? Well, the short answer, and we're going to talk about the technique in a minute, but the short answer is through practice and repetition. I wish there was a more exciting answer, but that's it. Without putting in the time and putting in the repetition, there's just no other way to ingrain the muscle memory necessary to walk out onto the court when it really counts, and you know it counts, so there's that the added element of anxiety, and still be able to do it. There's no other way to build confidence in yourself that you can do it if you don't really believe that you can make that shot even when you're totally generating the pace and spin completely by yourself -- if there's any level doubt back there in your mind that you could possibly miss this shot even though it's really easy, you will start getting physically tight and nervous. Now one more thing under the header of training yourself to create pace and spin. This is the difference in skill between losing and absolutely crushing this opponent. Just this one skill, being able to take a ball with no pace and no spin and create your own pace and spin is the difference between constantly struggling against a player who is a level below you and consistently crushing the same player who is a level below you. If you don't have the ability to do this, like I just described, it doesn't take much doubt to fall into being tentative and falling into that spiral , that negative spiraling down. On the other hand, if you do possess the physical ability and mental confidence to be able to do this, then that's really the ticket. I mean, that's your key to being able to take somebody who is a level below you and just put them away convincingly and dictate every point. I mean, without this skill, you will always have at least a little bit of a hard time against somebody who in your opinion isn't as good as you. Without offense, you can't stay on top of them tactically. You can't keep them down strategically if you can't consistently create some kind of offense to put pressure and ultimately beat them. That's the whole idea.
