CARDINAL SINS IN DOUBLES

• Failing to recognize the weaker player and attacking that person. This
  may change within the match.
  • Failing to identify the weaker service return of each player. This, too,
  can change within the match.
  • Failing to put pressure on second serves by moving in and hitting an
  attacking return.
  • Failure to attempt a “quality” return. This could be a lob or a chip, but
  it has to have a plan. Don’t hit “wimpy” returns. Our team will accept
  errors of ability but not fear. Go for it.
  • Our server with the best win percentage serves first in every set. This
  is not necessarily the player with the best serve.
  • Not closing in on “floaters” at the net; if you fail at this, you sit in the
  stands during the next match.
  • Assuming one service break wins the pro set (8 games). I saw many
  pro sets lost with the winners being down 7–3.

Never have I suggested we shouldn’t have delved into internationals then or now. But it seems to me to be a half full/half empty issue. Not once have I ever said an international should be prohibited from participation. Or equal admittance. The elephant in the room is scholarships. Never have I suggested internationals should be exempt from a reasonable amount of money. I do believe that the NCAA has a legal right to provide aid to our citizens first. One link to follow allows that about 200 million American dollars go into international men and women tennis players.

But to scholarship an all African team, rather than an African American team is bothersome, to say the least. What we have now is foreign aid, not trade. Not once in the many times I asked any international , “Would your native country do what we do?” was the answer yes. And the money is coming from the coffers of the only reasonable financial return for all the expenses encountered: Scholarships. 

Between Portal/Nil issues and the recent Supreme Court ruling on college admission the NCAA doesn’t know whether to punt or bunt. Nor does anyone it seems. Very few venture solutions. 

“… if you don’t start out with a trust fund, you’re stuck, especially for a sport like tennis that requires years of youth investment. This is a major, fatal disadvantage for American tennis. In Europe, South America and lately in Asia, kids from all social classes have a shot at a tennis career. If they show sufficient talent and motivation, there are numerous community organizations, government programs and general social assistance systems to help build up their careers, in part because these other societies strongly support investment in their youth. ” Never have I suggested we shouldn’t have delved into internationals then or now. But it seems to me to be a half full/half empty issue. Not once have I ever said an international should be prohibited from participation. Or equal admittance. The elephant in the room is scholarships. Never have I suggested internationals should be exempt from a reasonable amount of money. I do believe that the NCAA has a legal right to provide aid to our citizens first. One link to follow allows that about 200 million American dollars go into international men and women tennis players.

THESE RANG TRUE (by Tom Parham )

Here are some quotes on strategy from people I respect. These “rang

true” for my many players in many matches.

Find out what your opponent can’t do, or doesn’t like to do, and make

them do that.” –Jack Kramer (Think Nadal over Federer in 2007 French

Open. Target? Federer’s backhand.)

Don’t change the “line of the ball” unless you are sure you can make the

shot. Otherwise, cross courts “ad nausea.” Two-handed backhand down the

line shots will “slide wide” too often, believe me –T. Parham.

When asked what he would do differently, Ken Rosewall replied, “I would

hit a lot more balls cross court.”

Cross courts get you out of trouble. Jim Verdieck demanded the cross

court ball from his team.

Get yourself in a position to “volley away from the source” –Jim Verdieck.

Any ball hit extremely deep in either corner allows a good attacking

possibility –Jim Verdieck (“two and in”).

The simple strategy of tennis singles: “Attack the short ball” –Dennis Van

Der Meer.

Good approach shots make easy volleys –Jim Leighton.

No shots in “no man’s land” is a myth –T. Parham.

Rule 1: Find a good doubles partner. Rule 2: Get along with your

doubles partner.

RULES !!!

College team tennis has its own unique rules. The “no service let” is even for men only.  One coaching colleague suggested “…the NCAA should have only ten rules, and if they add one they also have to eliminate one!”   Rules can be complicated .  Both coaches and players are better off knowing the rules.  American  college tennis is ruled by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).  High schools have their own.  USTA rules are the backbone of both, with differences for local and team differences. 

Here are some simple core rules:

PLAYERS ——Play by the CODE*

COACHES—-Don’t “stack” your lineup!**

REFEREES—- Line calls.  Stop the cheaters.  ***

• A. The Code USTA Rules & Regulations are in effect in college tennis except where explicitly superseded by ITA, NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA, CCCAA or Conference Rules. The Code is not part of the ITA Rules of Tennis. Players shall follow The Code unless there is a specific ITA Rule on point or except to the extent to which an Official assumes some of their responsibilities

Opponent gets benefit of the doubt. Whenever a player is in doubt, the player shall make the call in favor of the opponent. Balls should be called “out” only when there is a space visible between the ball and the line. A player shall never seek aid from a Chair Umpire, Roving Umpire, spectator, teammate or coach in making a line call.

**3. Players must play in order of ability. The line-up shall always be based on order of ability. In singles, players must compete in order of ability with the best player on the team playing at the No. 1 position, the second best at No. 2, and so on through all positions. This rule shall also apply to doubles play with the strongest doubles team at No. 1, etc. 

***Overrule must be immediate. It is the responsibility of the player to make an initial line call. An official in direct observation of a court shall immediately overrule a player’s erroneous “out” call. 

The  USTA (United States Tennis Association),  The ITA,  NFHSAA (National Federation of High School Athletics Associations) all have their rules in their online handbooks.   Most states have theirs online also.  ( North Carolina’s  are under THE NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS COACHES ASSOCIATION).

Parting advice—  Rules change.  Year to year.  Tough to keep current.  

There are levels of learning .  These three books are ones I recommend at a higher level :

THE CAPTAIN’S CLASS by Sam Walker

THE TALENT CODE by Daniel Coyle

THE SPORT GENE by David Epstein

I have just finished THE TALENT CODE.and will excerpt some highlights later on.   No finer examples of the “CODE”  exist than  Tim   (the backboard ) and Charlie Owens.  I interviewed Charlie and suggested people thought his skill was an act of  genius!  Below is his response :

The more I wrote the more I thought, I wonder what Charlie would say about

this?

Here are some thoughts the “master” shared:

1. The most adamant statement contradicted that this was pure talent. That those great hands weren’t simply heaven sent. No way. He cited several older men from his local club who spent their time beating him with lobs, drop shots, and guile. As a small youngster, one older “wizard “beat me 100 times before I beat him at his own game. He never beat me again”. No, those “tools” were hard earned, no short cuts, but a lifetime of fun and victory.

Want to be a great coach?  Reading this book will help.  (Random direct quotes )

FROM The Talent Code:

Pg. 7 “This book is divided into three parts—-deep practice, ignition, and master coaching—which correspond to the three basic elements of the talent code. First, the participants look at the task as a whole—as one big chunk, the megacircuit. Second, they divide it into its  smallest possible chunks. Third, they play with time, slowing the action down, then speeding it up, to learn its inner architecture.

We’re all familiar with the adage that practice is the best teacher. Myelin casts the truth of this old saying in a new light. There is, biologically speaking, no substitute for attentive repetition. Nothing you can do—talking, thinking, reading, imagining—is more effective in building skill than executing the action, firing the impulse down the nerve fiber, fixing errors, honing the circuit.

This jibes with what tennis coach Robert Lansdorp has witnessed. Lansdorp, who’s in his sixties, is to tennis is to investing, having worked with Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova. He is amused by the need of today’s tennis coaching what Warren Buffett is to investing, having worked with  Tracy Austin, Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, and Maria Sharapova. He is amused by the need of today’s tennis stars  to hit thousands of groundstrokes every day.

“You ever watch Connors practice? You ever watch McEnroe or Federer?” Lansdorp asks. “They didn’t hit a thousand; most of them barely practice for an hour. Once you get timing, it doesn’t go away.”`

Deep practice is not simply about struggling; it’s about seeking out a particular struggle, which involves a cycle of distinct actions.

1. Pick a target
2. Reach for it.
3. Evaluate the gap between the target and the reach.
4. Return to step one.

The differences were staggering. With the same amount of practice, the long-term-commitment group outperformed the short-term-commitment group by 400 percent.The long-term-commitment group, with a mere twenty minutes of weekly practice progressed faster than the short-termer who practiced for an hour and a half. When long-term commitment combined with high levels of practice, skills skyrocketed.

“What we do here is like lighting a switch,” Ali said. “It’s extremely deliberate. It’s not random; there’s no chance involved. You have to stand behind what you do, to make sure every single detail is pushing the same way. Then it clicks.. The kids get it, and when it starts, the rest of them get it, too. It’s contagious.

He said he had tried piano but didn’t have the knack. “Didn’t have the patience, you mean”, Miss Mary  replied kindly but firmly.

“Thank you for teaching,” and Miss Mary bows and solemnly replies, “Thank you for learning.”

Yet while myelin may be counted in wraps and hours, Wooden and Miss Mary also show us that master coaching something more evanescent: more art than science. It exists in the space between two people, the warm, messy game of language, gesture, and expression. To better understand how this process works, let’s pull back and take a broader look at the shared characteristics of master coaches.

One does not become a master coach by accident.Many of the coaches I met shared a similar biographical arc:they had once been promising talents in their respective fields but failed and tried to figure out why”.

 * Skill is a cellular insulation that wraps neural circuits and and grows in response to certain signals.

*  HSE (The Holy Sh*t Effect )  or when it clicks.

*You will become clever through your mistakes.”

* What is the best way to get to Carnegie Hall?

Answer:  Go straight down Myelin Street.

• To put it another way, myelin doesn’t care who you are—it cares what you do.

• Deep practice X 10,000 hours = world class skill.

*Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is a triumph of some enthusiasm.  Ralph Waldo Emerson.

*Where deep practice is all about staggering- baby steps,    ignition is about the set of signals and subconscious forces that create our identity; the moments that lead us to say THAT IS WHO I WANT TO BE.

• Education is not about filling a pail, but the lighting of a fire.  W.B. Yeats  

ON MASTER COACHING

To describe John Wooden as a good basketball coach is like describing Abraham Lincoln as a solid congressman. 

*A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.   Henry Brooks Adams.

*Wooden  would say, “…I am not going to treat you players 

the same…..you are all different.”

• “ The second they get to a new spot, even if they are still groping a bit, I push them to the next level.”

*Why does slowing down work so well?The myelin model offers two reasons. First, going slow allows you at attend more closely to errors, creating a higher degree of precision with each firing—and when it comes to growing myelin, precision is everything. As football coach Tom Martinez likes to say, “It’s not how fast you can do it. It’s how slow you can to it correctly”. Second, going slow helps the practicer to develop something even more important: a working perception of the skill’s internal blueprints—the shape and rhythm of the interlocking skill circuits.

4. Volley low balls deep. Angle high volleys.

This a quote from my book, THE LITTLE GREEN BOOK of TENNIS.

Recently my Son questioned the reasoning behind this “principle “! (It is more difficult to “angle” low volleys. Wait for a ball you can volley down for the winner. )

His response made a lot of sense . ” If you volley it deep the players today can get to it and hit the closer ball by you at the net. Additionally, net players now CAN angle many low volleys, some soft and with almost the same effect as a dropshot. Thus creating a much larger distance to cover to make the passing shot.

Tommy Paul’s angled low forehand volley is a good model.

The blog on “The Circle stinger” received more hits than any tennis advice I have written.  I certainly didn’t design the strategy itself (see Mr. Nadal )!

As stated in the article, it’s real effect has been to change the first choice of getting to the net  from serving and volleying, or attacking the short ball down the line. 

It also provided the tactic to make the “swinging volley” a better first choice. 

The complete play that has evolved so effectively follows:

1. Identify the ball to come in on.  Nadal’s lefty stinger crosscourt to the “weaker” backhand pass is so far the best approach.
2. Any weak, short or floating return is now a common place for talented, new pros to attack with a full bore swinging volley. Directed away from the opponent.

***3.  I caution teachers and coaches to remember there are levels of ability throughout the whole process.  Beginners of average ability, most high school players, average club and recreational level players should first perfect the standard volley fundamentals, adding the swinger when level and talent make it an advanced, effective tool.

Even at the highest level of pro doubles,  classic volleys are most often best.