By Ema Burgic Bucko, Tennis Coach |
Ema is a tennis coach based out of Wellington, Florida. You can follow her on Instagram by click here for more on-court drills and other tennis content!
Tennis is a very fun sport but can be intimidating for beginners. But if you follow the right path, do not go in blind and just learn it step by step, then you will enjoy it and even have the chance to really make good progress with it. Here is some advice that will stick with you throughout your entire tennis career.
Try And Stick To A Routine
Having a set routine and sticking to it helps in whatever you set out to do, and tennis is no different. No matter how busy you are, you can get some time to yourself and you can spend it doing whatever you like.If you choose tennis to be something you will do, you have to know that this game requires patience and time to be put into learning. So, if you really want to get something good out of this wonderful hobby/sport, you will need a routine that you can follow. The routine is the only way you will end up learning the game. Try to follow it at least 3 days a week and slowly increase it if you find more time, but you will see actual results by sticking to it.
Exhale while you are hitting, learn to breathe when in play
A lot of people don’t focus on breathing while they are playing. You need to stay relaxed and inhale as the ball is coming and exhale as you hit the ball. You see/hear a lot of professional players grunt when they play, you can choose to do that or just breathe out but never hold your breath.
Compliment Your Tennis Workout With Some Gym, Cardio or Tennis Specific Footwork
Only playing tennis can be a good thing but dedicating just one day a week to some good cardio can make your life a lot easier. Whether it’s going to gym to run on the treadmill, going to a dance class with your significant other or just a good 2-3 mile run in your neighborhood, it will increase your efficiency on the court.
Tennis is a game with quick side to side movements, and while we may think that we are running a lot, that is not the case for most amateurs and even intermediates. You will play matches that will stretch to multiple hours and you can only survive those if your heart and body are up to the mark. All the pro players have dedicated cardio days where they do not play tennis and only focus on movements that increase their overall stamina.
Footwork Is Very Important
One of the biggest misconceptions that every recreational player seems to have is that they can play good tennis without moving their feet. Learning the correct footwork will automatically help fix a lot of mistakes. Seeing a pro player move on the court is simply mesmerizing. Their ability to move this well is simply due to the hours spent on court, doing different drills catered towards good footwork. Even doing some simple footwork drills are enough for most people, as not all of us are pro players. You can check out all of GAMMA training equipment to help with these drills.
Never get inside of your minds: don't judge your mistakes
Trust yourself and let go of emotions. The only effective way to control emotions is to give up on trying to control them. They are normal responses to the inevitable events that occur in a match. If we make a series of mistakes, it’s normal to feel frustration. If we get a bad line call, or get distracted by someone shouting in the crowd, it’s normal to feel anger. If we’re serving for the match, it’s normal to feel nervous.
Anger, frustration, sadness, anxiety and nerves are all common experiences, and we should expect to feel them to a lesser or greater extent in every match we play. Tennis is an unusually mentally challenging sport, largely as a result of its unique scoring system, which constantly puts us under pressure, with players poised to take all or lose all at regular intervals. Of course, we can also expect to feel joy, excitement, satisfaction and other positive emotions in tennis. A tennis match is usually a rollercoaster experience of different feelings and thoughts, some positive, some negative. Accepting this fact is the first step to an effective approach to our mental experience on court.
One of the keys to developing mental toughness in tennis is learning how to play well when we’re not feeling good. This is one of the least understood skills of all the great players – the ability to play well and win, even when you’re not feeling good. So, we can’t control emotions. And thinking about them on court doesn’t help us either.
Ema is a tennis coach based out of Wellington, Florida. You can follow her on Instagram by click here for more on-court drills and other tennis content!