10 Rules of a Tennis Season
- Never be outworked by always putting in 110% of your effort.
Run hard for every ball, even balls you think you might not get to. You will surprise yourself sometimes! Occasionally a particular stroke may feel off a particular day or week. Make sure you are staying after practice and putting in extra time to get it back to normal.
- Don’t focus on an “off” day.
If you have a bad day on the court, and your play has otherwise been consistent, don’t overthink it! It is important as a tennis player to have a short-term memory with very bad performances and practices.
3. Remember that being the biggest or strongest player on the court doesn’t make you a better tennis player.
The smarter, aggressive, prepared tennis player will be better – every time! Try to be that tennis player instead!
4. Have a purpose for every practice.
This will help you avoid “auto-pilot” during practices which will make practices useless for you. Use your practices to prepare you for competitions.
Make sure you even have a purpose for every drill within your practice. During your warm-up, you could be working on having a lighter grip to develop more feel. When you are warming up volleys, you could be working on your continental grip, or the timing of your footwork. Always have a focus!
- Stop comparing yourself to other people. Instead, compare yourself to yourself! Ask yourself: Am I better than I was yesterday?
Am I more aggressive than I was last season? Is my serve more powerful? Am I handling my emotions better when things don’t go my way in matches? This way you can track your progress in a healthy way. Comparing yourself is natural – but compare yourself in a positive way by comparing yourself to yourself!
6. Be thankful for the opportunity to play tennis.
Tennis is something you GET to do, not something you HAVE to do. It’s a big commitment but it’s worth it if you really appreciate the sport.
Expressing gratitude (even when you don’t feel it) is a great way to become a happier and more positive person. You will actually be happier with yourself if you regularly express gratitude for what you get to do.
- Be patient. Remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
So just remember big changes and important progress takes time – just hold on for the long haul!
The average time it takes to form a habit is 66 days. Especially when you are making a technical change in your game, commit to 8 weeks of lessons on that one technique. Don’t worry if you are not seeing any progress even in the entire first month. Be patient, and the results will come!
- Play tennis for yourself and not for your friends or family. You should play because you love it.
Sometimes we can get caught up in the rankings, or climbing a team ladder. When tennis becomes a job, or it isn’t fun anymore, go back to the reason you started to play in the first place, because it is FUN! Go out with a practice partner and do some of your favorite drills or tennis games that remind you why you play.
- Never quit or give up. Even if you don’t win, make it really hard for the other player to win. Always put up the best fight you can.
Even if you got smoked in the first set, remember that tennis matches are long. You always have a chance to come back. There is no clock in tennis, so your opponent still has to win match point. Remember that it is hard for your opponent to close a match! It is always possible to come back and win!
10. Keep things in perspective.
Keeping your priorities straight will ensure that the joy is never stripped from your life. If tennis is your ultimate, the inevitable losses and frustrations will be a real downer in your life. Faith, Family and Academics come before tennis. At the end of the day, academics might send you to college if sports can’t. Your family is going to support you no matter what. So, remember what’s important.