Strings

 

Key Points

Control Your Eyes

It’s fairly easy to get distracted in a match and it will be your eyes who lead you astray. Looking around at the crowd or what’s happening on the court next to you can both lead to big problems in your match. Keep your eyes locked onto your strings as much as possible – it’s the ultimate position of focus for a tennis player.

Racquet Head Up

A very clear sign of your mental health in your match is how you are holding onto your racquet. If things are not going so well there is a good chance you may be dragging it around the court. Not good. Keep the racquet head up to show strength and focus to your opponent. It’s the best place to carry it. When a point ends switch the racquet to your non-dominant hand as well to relax your hitting arm.

Obsess About Your Strings

As I mentioned in the video, I did an experiment where all I did was look at my strings 100% of the time between points of a practice match. Every moment, every second was on the strings. It helped my concentration so much and I had such clarity with my game plan. It helped tremendously to see the court clearly and figure out my primary and secondary patterns.

Rafael Nadal’s Book – RAFA

Lesson from Uncle Toni.

Toni said tennis was a game in which you had to process a lot of information very fast;

you had to think better than your rival to succeed. 

And to think straight, you had to keep your cool.

Go Do This.

 Your strings are your best friend on court.

Watch the smart pro’s. It’s where they live between the points.

It’s a position of focus. Go there to think and problem solve.

It’s so simple yet so powerful. It’s a trigger to keep everything you do under control.