Okay, how you're doing everyone? Today we're going to talk about how to optimize your
performance during a match. That means how to play your best and give yourself
a chance to win more matches. So the first thing that you have to do is you
have to use the warm-up wisely. That is, you have to be ready. You have to
do everything in your power to be ready to play, and very important, the warmup
starts before you get on the court. That means by the time you get on the court
you should be ready to sprint to the first drop shot. You should be totally
warmup, so you need to start slowly. You need to
stretch a little bit, jog a little bit, and then slowly increase the intensity
until you're sprinting at the end in all directions, ready to go as if you had
already played one set. Not only that but you should try to warm up mentally as
well. That means that you want to make sure that you're ready to play, that
you're confident, that you know exactly how you want to play. The best way to do
this is to visualize a little bit. Do a little bit of shadowing when you're
warming up forehands backhands. Visualize what's happening, how do you
want to play. See yourself exactly doing the things that you would like to do
during a match. It's very very important this pre court warmup is key, so once you
are totally warm up ready to go mentally, you step on the court. And on the court
you have a few minutes so you need to use them wisely. What you want to do is
you want to make sure you set a good base, that means that you're watching the
ball off the bounce into your racket every single time, you're staying relaxed,
you're breathing and then you're looking at your opponent. If you don't know him
you need to start to figure out what does he like to do. Is he running around
his backhand a little bit? what is happening over there?
Oh, he didn't like that highball I gave him. Oh that overhead looks a little bit
shaky. So try to analyze what the opponent can and cannot do, but really
start getting comfortable on the court, really setting up a base of staying
relaxed and watching the ball. Then number 2, you have to make sure that
when you're playing the opponent is actually beating you, that you are not
really beating yourself. So at the beginning of the match we're all a
little bit nervous, and so, if you start making mistakes it becomes a vicious
cycle. You get more nervous, you make more mistakes and you start missing more. And
a lot of times we play a match and the opponent really didn't have to do
anything. We missed every single ball and gave the match to the opponent. So make
sure that you establish a solid base at the beginning. What does that mean? Hit a
lot of balls through the middle. Give yourself margin high over the net. Make
sure that you're hitting at a medium pace, that you're controlling. Don't go
for too many shots. Get a first serve in. Get your returns in towards the middle
of the court. Give yourself big targets. That is key. Set up a base, no mistakes at
the beginning. Once you start feeling a little bit more comfortable, little
looser, then you try something else. Maybe the opponent is just missing everything,
so just let him miss. Let him give you the match. Once you establish a solid
base throughout the match, you basically want to make sure that you're not
missing in the net. Tennis is a game of hitting ball cross court, because that
puts you in the best position to cover the court always. Also, you have a lot
more court to hit into, and you're hitting over the lowest part of the net. So it
has a lot of advantages to use those cross-court shots during the match.
Make sure that you're hitting a lot of cross-court shot and that you're not
missing in the net. You have to aim about three feet over the net. That is key. Do
not beat yourself, make sure that if you're losing it's because the opponent
is playing better than you. Now, number 3, use your strengths. That is
very, very important. When you're playing tennis, the first base, is you feel
comfortable on the court. You play the way that you would like to play. Do not
try to change your game totally because the opponent just pushes or because the
opponent has a huge serve. Establish your game first. Make sure that you use your
best shots. if you love to hit you forehand hit it as much as possible ,run
around that backhand. There is no rule in tennis that if the ball goes towards the
backhand side you have to hit a backhand. Make sure that you use your best shots
as much as possible. If the opponent gives a soft serve return it with your
best shot don't just wait and hit the shot that
you don't like as much just because the ball is going towards that side. Also use
your best patterns. That means, if you love to serve and volley, serve and
volley aggressively. Make sure that you set that as a base .Of course you're
going to adjust a little bit based on who you playing against, but you have to
make sure that you're using your best patterns. If you love that angle forehand
look for a lot of situations where you can angle that forehand. So take
advantage of your best shots, and your best patterns as much as possible. And
fourth, exploit your opponent's game. What does that mean. That means that you
exploit weaknesses. So you look at what the opponent can do well and what he
cannot do that well and try to really focus on making him beat you with the
weakness. Make him win points with the shots that he doesn't like. In the same
way that you're gonna try to hit as many balls where you feel comfortable, you
want to make the opponent uncomfortable. Make him hit as many balls as possible
in a way that he doesn't like or she doesn't like: high balls or low ball.
Just be really focused on making sure that
the opponent just hits that shot that they don't like over and over and over.
Be relentless and exploit patterns. This is very important. After the first few games
you have to make sure you know, okay, what does the opponent like to do best?
What is the favorite serve? What does he do when he gets nervous?
Where does he like to hit that passing shot? Oh, he really likes to get on top of
that net. Those little things are going to really count when it comes to
important points. A lot of players come out of the court: "Oh, he kept serving wide
and I wasn't ready". Okay, he serves wide once. Oh surprise he can do that! Serves out wide
twice Wow! But there is no way he should be able to keep surprising you
with the same shots. So make sure that you understand those patterns of the
opponent and cover those patterns on important points. For example, the
opponent loves to get really close to the net when he comes in. Well, maybe wait
till it's a break point and then lob. And that one lob could make a difference in
the game. So understanding the opponent patterns is huge in order to take
advantage of that when it counts. So basically make sure that you get on
the court really warmed up, that you start your warmup and establish a good base. No
mistakes! That you are using and playing the way you like it and that you're
exploiting your opponent's weakness. every time that you are on the court playing
a match, if you do those things you're gonna give yourself the best chance of
winning those matches. Thank you very much! I hope you enjoy it, and get out on
the court and make sure that you do these four things