Reddit reviews Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master

Aww man, the guy has had some great success as a coach and wrote my favorite book on tennis strategy. Honestly that's the tennis commentator I'd give the most benefit of the doubt to.

whatever gets you the million dollars

Better question: if moon balling sucks so bad, why can't Penko stop it

Hit against the wall until you hit forearm muscle failure. Concentrate on hitting as many as you can in a row without stopping. (It's easier to do this if you go closer to the wall and hit softly). If you get bored and want to hit with your brother, play mini tennis. Try to play within the service boxes only and just rally back and forth, trying to get the longest rallies possible. Proper footwork and watching the ball are important to keep in mind.

Watch some videos on how to hit topsin and proper backhand form too. It will be hard for your body to produce it consistently before getting used to using the muscles required for tennis, so keep things slow. At the very beginning I wouldn't worry too much about hitting things with too much spin. Just try to get a feel for how the ball bounces on the court, where you need to be standing to hit it, and which way your racquet is facing when you make contact. Make small adjustments to these things until you start to feel more comfortable moving around and at least being able to rally a little.

It might also be a good idea to try practicing serving. Watch some videos on proper form, but don't try to do anything fancy. Your body hasn't really gotten the muscle memory for tennis yet.

I don't mention playing matches with your brother because I know how miserable it can be when no ones serves are going in and no rallies are happening. You're pretty much just walking around the court calling out the score. If you want to do some kind of competition with him do who can hit the ball more times in a row or who can hit a certain spot the most times, stuff like that. You could also play points in mini tennis just feeding the ball as a serve and going back and forth like that, using normal scoring or playing to 21 something like that.

If you want some reading, I'd recommend The inner game of tennis (https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314). He talks a lot about intuitive tennis. He gives examples of how he applied it to his coaching. I think it is a good resource if you are wondering how to learn. Not a lot of technical instruction, but if you want that you can get it from videos or by taking some lessons.

Another good book is Winning Ugly (https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Ugly-Mental-Warfare-Tennis-Lessons/dp/067188400X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500784652&sr=1-1&keywords=winning+ugly). I'd say save this for when you start playing matches in tournament or league play though. It doesn't really have a lot to do with learning tennis, but it is an interesting insight on what to think about when you are playing a match to increase your chances of winning.

The best thing to do for your tennis though is to make tennis friends. Everything above are things you can do on your own or with your brother. Try to find a club with weekly tennis events or just talk to people you see around the court. Some places have group lessons that aren't too expensive. Once you can serve without double faulting too much and are able to have short rallies, you can also join a 2.5 league or sign up for a tournament. Some clubs even have ball machines you can rent for free or for a small fee once you are a member. Ball machines are great for trying to practice a specific stroke or shot because you will get consistent feeds and can see where your ball is going on the other side of the court.

A friend of mine says that, according to that book winning ugly, you should always choose to return first if you win the toss. Reason being, the first game of the match will be your easiest break, as your opponent is not yet fully warmed up/into the game. Granted, neither are you, but the server has more pressure.

note: i did not read the book, so if there's more to the explanation than that, blame my friend for not fully enlightening me.

In addition to structured practice to improve your form and serve, and plyometric/sprinting/footwork drills to improve your agility, you can immediately improve by adopting a mentality of "Winning Ugly". I strongly recommend you go through this book.

It sounds like you're somewhat lacking in the skills department compared to the other players - this means that you may need to play more conservatively than your teammates. Within a short time, even with sufficient practice, you're not necessarily going to be able to "out-skill" the others, so you may need to adopt a more conservative match-play strategy. Get in great shape and make sure your opponent has to earn EVERY point he wins - NO freebies (no attempts at a Federer run-around forehand if that shot isn't in your go-to arsenal).

On the flip-side, you want to assume that your opponent will never "give" any points away either. Always be ready to run down one more shot, be ready to play one more game, etc. Sometimes your opponent might string together a couple lucky shots and extend the match; it happens. Don't let it get you down; just move on.

Develop a very short-term memory - when you miss a shot/lose a point, file away the reason you missed (poor footwork, turned head up too soon, etc.) but immediately trash the memory and focus only on the next point (and no further ahead).

I'll close with some lines from Brad Gilbert, Andre Agassi's former coach, in Agassi's book "Open" (speaking to Agassi):

"Stop swinging for the fences. All you have to be is solid. Singles, doubles, move the chains forward.

Stop thinking about yourself, and your own game, and remember that the guy on the other side of the net has weaknesses. Attack his weaknesses. You don’t have to be the best in the world every time you go out there. You just have to be better than one guy. Instead of you succeeding, make him fail. Better yet, let him fail."

"It’s all about odds and percentages. you’re from Vegas, you should have an appreciation of odds and percentages. The house always wins, right? Why? Because the odds are stacked in the house’s favor. So? Be the house! Get the odds in your favor. Right now, by trying for a perfect shot with every ball, you’re stacking the odds against yourself.

You’re assuming too much risk. You don’t need to assume so much risk. Fuck that. Just keep the ball moving. Back and forth. Nice and easy. Solid. Be like gravity, man, just like motherfucking gravity."

kus obviously read "winning ugly". ;)

(which i suggest everyone should read so you can get immune to the mental part of the game)

Maybe more like learning tennis by reading Brad Gilbert's Winning Ugly (no pun intended)

>In Winning Ugly Gilbert teaches players how to win more often without necessarily even changing their strokes. The key to success is to become a better thinking player -- to recognize, analyze, and capitalize. That means outthinking opponents before, during, and after a match; forcing him or her to play your game.

Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis is the best book on thoughtful approach to sports competition that I know.

There's also a book on coaching ultimate by some pretty big names

This ought to help. Gilbert talks about his own limitations frankly and even gives his college coaches assessment (something like, "no serve, mediocre forehand, crummy backhand. Wins!") It's a fun read if nothing else.

Not sure if this will help short term... Being mentally strong is a skill, and you can gradually learn it, just like you can learn to hit a serve.

Subscribe to the Essential Tennis podcast and listen to their old podcasts on the mental side of the game. They are not available on the website, but if you use a podcast app, you will find them. The casts are really good and will give you a very clear idea what you are battling with.

Also, there is a vast number of blogs, articles, books on the mental side of tennis. Here are three of them:

https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526928034&sr=8-1&keywords=mental+tennis

https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Bradens-Mental-Tennis-Yourself/dp/0316105171/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526928034&sr=8-2&keywords=mental+tennis

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Ugly-Mental-Warfare-Tennis-Lessons/dp/067188400X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1526928034&sr=8-3&keywords=mental+tennis

For me, I get better by just playing tennis with someone that is as good or better than me. Doing that mainly gives me practice hitting shots from all areas of the court. If I play with folks that aren't as good as I am, I experiment with tactics and hitting with different spins.

Something that I want to share is that if you are struggling to acquire a good service motion, play badminton (found this out from joining the badminton club). As with tennis, badminton is dominated by strong forehands, and in badminton, the forehand is hit with a motion that is identical to the serve in tennis, except with a LOT more pronation. You'll want to start with clears (when you hit high and deep), and then move your way to smashes (when you want to hit at a downwards angle). Doing this will help your body memorize the best height and position of your body relative to the ball that you want when hitting serves, in addition to reinforcing the service motion.

As far as spending money to get better, I wouldn't do it, since I feel that my strokes are solid enough that getting a pro to look at them would be a waste of their time and my money. I also don't like to buy lessons because I'm in no rush to get better. I'll get better when I get better.

If I want to fix my strokes, I like to video myself playing and compare my strokes to those of pros. It is really helpful to see how you play and see how different or similar your form is compared to how you visualize yourself playing.

Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned mental strength or strategy here yet. One of my buddies recommends reading Winning Ugly. Something he told me was that you don't have to be better than everybody; you only have to be better than the guy on the other side of the net. I haven't read the book yet, but hell, that is good advice.

Read Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert.