Brain Game Tennis Blog
Learn tennis strategy, read analysis of pro matches, and more from the Brain Game Tennis blog. All posts are written by ATP tennis strategy coach & analyst, Craig O'Shannessy.
“Getting Tight” Fixes Getting Angry
Thursday, 07 May 2020
Getting Tight Promo Video G’day, Tennis is a sport of errors. Professional matches average around 70% errors and that number increases at the recreational level for both adults and juniors. Those errors are not well received by players. Not well received at all… The negativity first gains a foothold as frustration, and straight-up
- Published in Getting Tight, Strategy Courses
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Getting Tight Review: Coaching Mental + Tactical Together
Wednesday, 29 April 2020
G’day, Three bedrooms vs. one living room. In one room of the house lives all the emotions that you feel in a tennis match. There are good feelings, but there are also nerves, frustration, anger, and disappointment. Putting all of these elements in isolation – alone in one room – is not a good
- Published in Getting Tight, Strategy Courses
Bigger 2nd Serve: Coco Gauff or Novak Djokovic?
Monday, 27 April 2020
2019 Wimbledon Rewind: Coco Gauff Coco Gauff defeated Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon last year. Talk about causing a buzz on Centre Court! I reviewed the match on the Wimbledon Channel, including Coco’s serve and forehand technique, and a little background on the first time I saw Coco play at
- Published in Wimbledon
Getting Tight: Brookes Gives It Two Thumbs Up
Friday, 24 April 2020
Getting Tight has been out now for about a week and a half and the early adopters are consuming the course. Brookes Byrd, from Sacramento, sent me this review yesterday and was nice enough to agree to share it with everyone. So let’s go through Brookes’ review and see what she thinks about Getting Tight.
- Published in Strategy Courses
Getting Tight: Leora’s Course Review
Friday, 17 April 2020
Improve your perspective. Getting Tight has had a very successful launch week, so a big “thank you” to all the early adopters! Around 60% of sales have been in the U.S, with the other 40% from 14 countries around the globe. Leora, from San Francisco, purchased the course on Monday and sent Jeff and I
- Published in Getting Tight, Strategy Courses
Getting Tight Sneak Peek: Are You At 75% Of Your Potential?
Sunday, 12 April 2020
G’day, Do you really know who you are as a tennis player? In other words, do you have a crystal clear mission of your ideal game style, and do you stick to it in the heat of competition? Most players have a general idea of what they want to do, but the blueprint
- Published in Strategy Courses
Getting Tight Sneak Peek: Can’t Close Out A Lead
Saturday, 11 April 2020
G’day, Very excited about the launch of Getting Tight in just two days! You will be able to purchase it Monday morning at 8:00 am US Central time. This video is focused on players that start well, get ahead, and then for whatever reason can’t close out a lead. It’s almost like they start playing
- Published in Strategy Courses
Getting Tight Sneak Peek: The Spaniard Factor
Friday, 10 April 2020
G’day, Very excited about the launch of Getting Tight in just three days! You will be able to purchase it Monday morning at 8:00 am US Central time. A key theme that runs right through the 27 video chapters and 325 “Mini-Lessons” is a real-life case study of Jeff’s semi-final match of the US National
- Published in Strategy Courses
Getting Tight Preview: Opponent Awareness
Thursday, 09 April 2020
G’day, Today’s two-minute sneak peek under the hood of Getting Tight, which launches in four days, is all about joining the dots between the mental, emotional and strategic aspects of competition. Jeff Greenwald, a former No. 1 player in the world in men’s 35’s, had just taken the first set against Francisco Clavet, who is
- Published in Strategy Courses
Getting Tight Preview: Anger & Frustration
Wednesday, 08 April 2020
G’day, Hands up if you find yourself getting too emotional in matches? In particular, hands up if the emotions that you feel are frustration and anger? All over the world, at all levels of our sport, this is a universal predicament. It is quite possibly the most common way we express our emotions negatively on
- Published in Strategy Courses
GamePlan: Sneak Peek At Double Faults
Tuesday, 07 April 2020
G’day, On Wednesday, September 6, 2017, I performed a feat I will unlikely repeat in my lifetime… I sat at my New York Times media desk under Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open and watched 730 women’s double faults on the match replay feed. Seven. Hundred. And. Thirty. 😳 I had more coffee
- Published in Strategy Courses
The Right Time To Play Behind Your Opponent
Thursday, 02 April 2020
G’day, The open court is an illusion… 👀 The ball is going to take approximately 1.5 seconds to arrive at the baseline in the big, vacant “open court” on the other side of the net. Your opponent has already turned their hips and is moving in that direction, and in 1.5 seconds will be making
- Published in Wimbledon
Where To Hit Your 1st Volley.
Wednesday, 01 April 2020
G’day, The 25 Golden Rules of Singles Strategy is the ideal “entry-level ” strategy course to improve the patterns of play in your game. Rule #24 is called First Volley Behind, and it’s all about having the right strategy for your first volley when you come to the net. First volleys are going to be
- Published in Strategy Courses
YOU miss too many returns.
Monday, 30 March 2020
G’day, Think of the irony of this situation… The shot you miss the most is the shot you practice the least. Yes, it’s the return of serve. Look at these numbers from The Championships last year. 2019 Wimbledon: Unreturned Serves MEN Unreturned 1st Serves = 39% (6983/18020) Unreturned 2nd Serves = 20% (1897/9502) Combined = 32%
- Published in Strategy Courses, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Channel
Roger Federer’s Forehand Return vs Forehand Groundie
Sunday, 29 March 2020
G’day! Think about all the lessons taken by players all over the world every day. What’s the primary focus? Forehands and backhands ad nauseam… What is the LEAST practiced shot? It’s, without doubt, the return of serve… Now. Answer this question. What’s the most common rally length (the mode) in our sport? It’s a ONE
- Published in Uncategorized
Official Partner: OTR Elite Tennis Academy – Hong Kong
Saturday, 28 March 2020
G’day! Partnering with innovative tennis academies all over the world is a primary focus for Brain Game Tennis, as it offers the opportunity to immerse a close-knit group of coaches and players with cutting-edge tennis strategy and analytics. OTR Elite Tennis Academy in Hong Kong was the first academy I partnered with, and I greatly
- Published in ATP Tour
Match Preparation: Novak Djokovic 2018 US Open
Friday, 27 March 2020
2018 US Open Interview with Luca Baldissera. This was a really fun 12-minute interview I did with Luca onsite at the US Open the day of Novak Djokovic’s quarter-final battle with Aussie, John Millman. The topics we talked about are broken down into specific segments further down the page below the video, and as you will
- Published in ATP Tour
Hi Brayden Schnur! The Entourage Tennis Interview
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
G’day, Just over a year ago I was in Long Island, NY, coaching at a Tennis Congress event. Devin Nerenberg and Gustavo Sanchez, from Entourage Tennis, were also coaching there as well. The Tennis Congress was organized in conjunction with the New York Open, and the players were able to be on court all day
- Published in Uncategorized
Interview with No. 1 Doubles Player Barbora Strycova
Sunday, 22 March 2020
G’day! 33-year-old Czech, Barbora Strycova, is hitting her prime. Last year at Wimbledon, she reached the semi-finals. Her career-high singles ranking of No. 16 came in 2017, and she just finished 2019 on the No. 1 doubles team in the world along with Su-Wei Hsieh. Round of applause, please! 👏👏 I interviewed Barbora on The
- Published in Wimbledon
Baseline = Statistical Nightmare. Here’s Your Best Pattern.
Saturday, 21 March 2020
G’day! You love the baseline. You love to go back there and hit forehands and backhands until your brain explodes with endorphins. You think the baseline is your happy place. You spend all your time there in practice, and unfortunately, you overdose on this part of the court in matches as well. Here’s the reality
- Published in Wimbledon