It’s fun and productive to spend time hitting with a partner with or without points. Some of my most memorable times on the court have not been competitive based. One example is the opportunity I had to hit with Eduard Shevardnadze, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Soviet Union, prior to his address to the United Nations. As it turned out Shevardnadze, who later became President of Georgia, was crazy about tennis at the time and was animated and fun on the court. Here are ten reasons to get on the court to hit.

1. Hitting is a great way to improve your consistency. Counting the number of your consecutive shots in play (regardless of what your partner is doing) is a good way to maintain your focus and provide a gauge on how you’re doing keeping the ball in play. To keep things more interesting, establish different parameters. Ideas include hitting only cross court, hitting to a specific target area, hitting with all forehands (backhands), etc.
2. The goal of a rally, much like Aikido, is to blend your shots with the shots of your partner (adjusting the tempo and flow as necessary) to ensure you and your partner have success getting the ball back in play, maintaining the length of the rally and avoiding the need to pick up balls. Developing the ability to manage your controllable variables (pace, spin, depth, trajectory, direction and net clearance) to establish and maintain a rally with players of different skill sets, playing level, mobility, etc. is arguably one of the best skills you can establish as a player. It ultimately defines your ability to dictate and control the pace and flow of the rally in a point situation.
3. Hitting helps to improve your rhythm and timing. Rhythm and timing involves the three main components of tennis – eyes and mind (ball recognition), feet (footwork and balance) and hands (stroke production).
4. Hitting provides an ideal opportunity to work on your technique for all your shots.
5. Hitting provides the repetition necessary to develop and hone skills.
6. Hitting provides an opportunity to experiment and try different shots. In cooperation with your partner, use your hitting time to hit outside of your normal comfort zone. Experiment by hitting with more or less spin, pace, depth, net clearance and trajectory. In his complete four-hour hitting session, Roger Federer works on every possible hitting pattern and shot in his repertoire (including specialty shots).
7. Hitting can offer a productive and beneficial conditioning workout providing an opportunity to hit more balls than possible in a match.
8. Hitting provides an opportunity to interact with a friend in a shared interest. The non-competitive format allows for more dialogue and interchange. What better way to get to know someone better.
9. The cadence and rhythmic construction of a rally can share similar characteristics to music and much like music can serve to rejuvenate the mind and spirit. A rally and the process of a rally can be a very engaging activity requiring intensity and focus. It’s also possible to hit in a more relaxed state of mind without major deliberation and concentrated focus with the goal of establishing a performance zone of effortless hitting (in other words, hitting without thinking).
10. Hitting is fun. It’s fun to hit the ball the ball back and forth regardless of the quality and length of the rally.

Steve Gallagher

1. Beat the dragon to the net. Seize the initiative and come to the net whenever you can behind your serve, serve return and well-placed approach shots.
2. Use the lob effectively and often (even if the dragon can fly or soar pretty high). If possible, lob to the backhand wing of the dragon to force the dragon to hit high backhand volleys or better yet, to overextend his/her coverage and force the dragon to hit off-balanced (inside/out) overheads.
3. Mix up the location and direction of your passing shots to disrupt the rhythm of the dragon. Utilize cross court angles, down-the-line drives and shots hit at the body.
4. Mix up the spin of your passing shots to disrupt timing of the dragon. Hit topspin (preferably topspin that dips at the feet of the dragon). Chip or slice your passing shots forcing the dragon to reach and hit volleys from an off-balanced position. Occasionally tee off and hit your passing shots with pace right at the dragon and to his/her left and right wings.
5. Mix up the pace of your passing shots. Vary the pace of your shots to disrupt timing, rhythm and flow.
6. Pin the dragon to the baseline with an arsenal of deep and heavy groundstrokes.
7. Play the numbers game and make the dragon hit shots. Don’t fall into the trap of always trying to hit the perfect lob or passing shot.
8. Focus on holding your serve. Control the point and dictate play on your service games with a game plan that includes serves hit with varying spin, pace, location and spin.
9. Don’t succumb to the fearsome display of the dragon and play too defensively. Attack when you have an opportunity to attack.
10. Don’t play the dragon in his den (a “fast, hard court”).

Steve Gallagher

1. Stand back, stand very far back (out of firing range) to return serve.
2. Stand in and take the serve early to neutralize the dragon’s evil spin and pace.
3. Set the hands in front of your body with little or no backswing to return the dragon’s serve.
4. Stay lively with your feet to get a jump on the ball or dodge the ball (fiery projectile) if necessary. Ensure to split step (unweight the feet) at service contact.
5. Focus on holding your own serve, knowing it will be difficult to break the dragon. Hopefully, you can generate your own heat.
6. In doubles, have your partner stay back (stay very far back) to take pressure off your return and to ensure no one gets hurt.
7. In doubles, lob the return over the partner of the dragon.
8. Look for body cues to get a better read on the serve. Does the toss giveaway the location and spin of the serve?
9. Look for pattern tendencies to get a better read on the serve. Does the dragon prefer to hit out wide on the deuce side of the court?
10. Don’t play the dragon in his den (a “fast, hard court”).

Steve Gallagher

1. Attack the forehand matching strength with strength (very often a dangerous proposition against a dragon).
2. Hit to the backhand (or off wing), not exclusively but most of the time. Hitting selectively to the forehand will open up more court to hit to the backhand.
3. Hit down the middle to take away angles (opportunities for the dragon to open up the court with cross court angles).
4. Move the ball (making the dragon hit the ball on the “fly”). Don’t let any dragon with a lethal forehand get set to hit the ball.
5. Come to the net behind well placed approach shots to rush the dragon into errant forays.
6. Bait the dragon to hit ill-advised shots (i.e. down-the-line shots from deep in the court) by over playing your positioning and coverage.
7. Raise the height of the ball (or the strike zone of the dragon) by hitting lobs and semi-lobs.
8. Take pace off the ball or mix up the pace of the ball to get the dragon off rhythm.
9. Vary spin to drive the dragon “crazy and out of control”, something (as lore has it) dragons are prone to do.
10. Don’t play the dragon in his den (a “fast hard court”).

Steve Gallagher

Mario, a seasoned player from the outskirts of Boston was in the battle of his tennis life in the semi-finals of his club championships. Unfortunately for Mario, things on the court were not going very well. He was losing quite decisively to an opponent he perceived to be inferior in playing talent and ability. Mario, not being a patient man by nature, was over-hitting and trying to force play on the court. He was anxious, pressing and rushing between points. He was additionally exasperated by the style of play of his opponent who in Mario’s estimation was doing nothing with the ball other than get it back in play. Things were getting a little bit ugly (negative self-talk, unsavory, not-so-subtle mutterings between points and during the changeovers, dropped racquets in disgust, etc.). It was not in any way Mario’s finest hour. But as events unfolded, it soon became his most memorable hour. At 2-6, 2-5 serving at 15 – 30, Mario mysteriously disappeared from the court. He was there very much present and then (poof) he was gone.

Mario had not wished to disappear. Truthfully, he was more wishful that his opponent would disappear, break a leg or befall some other match-ending calamity. Mario also had not anticipated disappearing. He had no prior experience of disappearing nor was there a family history of disappearance. So basically, Mario was totally unprepared for what was to follow.

As it turned out, Mario was thrust into an apparent time warp or parallel universe with the opportunity to play the seemingly same opponent in the seemingly same surroundings but at the start and not the conclusion of the match. Unfortunately, Mario did not see the opportunity in the opportunity and proceeded to fall into the same trap, frustration and result.

Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) for Mario the disappearance and reappearance did not end with the first occurrence. Mario was forced to replay the match over and over again until?

So did Mario finally figure it out (“get it right”) and end his loop in time and/or existence?

He did and here is how he did it.

1. He decided to tone down his desire to win. He would continue to care (but not as much). Instead, he refocused his energy and passion on the process and not the outcome.
2. He at first grudgingly and then more freely acknowledged the skills of his opponent. He truly appreciated the ability of his opponent and embraced the challenge of competition with such a worthy adversary.
3. He recognized the harmful impact of his negative behavior not only to his opponent and possible bystanders but also to his own personal psyche, confidence and ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
4. He decided to better control the pace of play and tempo of the match by being more deliberate between points. He established a ritual prior to each serve to regain his composure and focus.
5. He became more patient and more willing to extend the rally and stay in the point.
6. He realized the need to do more than just keep the ball in play and became much more astute and skillful with time at recognizing and taking advantage of opportunities to close and attack the short ball.
7. With time, he also began to recognize patterns of play and shot selection tendencies of his opponent and became much better at anticipating what shot to expect in each rally exchange.
8. He decided not to “beat himself up”. He learned how to have fun and enjoy the process of competition.
9. He became better at analyzing his weaknesses and made adjustments to his to technique.
10. He learned how to “pump himself up” with positive affirmations (“You can do it Mario”).

So the match concluded. Mario shook hands with his opponent and graciously acknowledged his efforts (“I love you Man”). He collected all his stuff and packed his bag. All things seemed normal in the universe. He then headed to the parking lot to find his car (a new purchase and his pride and joy). He identified the car parked in his normal spot (angled across two spots) and then before his eyes, it “poof” disappeared. It appeared someone or something was playing with Mario in their own game of…

Steve Gallagher

There are two basic responses when losing a tennis match. One is to continue your game plan and style of play hoping your execution will improve and momentum will change. The second basic response is to make changes in your game and game plan hoping these changes will disrupt the rhythm of your opponent and lead to a reversal of the score. Regardless, the important thing, win or lose, is to learn from your experience and to be better prepared as a result, the next time you get on the court to compete. Included below are ten thoughts on how to cope with losing, how to learn from the experience of a loss and how to possibly reverse the score and escape with a win.

1. Change the Tempo. Generally it is best to slow things down if you are losing. Judiciously take more time between points (up to 25 seconds between points) and during changeovers (up to 90 seconds). A towel break is a good way to buy time between points. Be conscientious of how you are managing the time and tempo of the match. If the points are ending too soon, get more balls in play and try to lengthen the time of each point. If the rallies are too extended and the points are taking too long to develop, try to take time away from your opponent and shorten the length of each point.
2. Disrupt Things. There are two options when you’re losing. One option is to stick with your game plan hoping your execution will improve and/or your opponent will drop in level. The other option is to make changes in your game and game plan with the goal of disrupting the rhythm of your opponent or opponents. In regard to option two, the goal is to essentially change momentum by getting your opponent out of his/her comfort zone. I like to vary spin to disrupt rhythm. Spin can be used to increase pace or take pace off the ball, raise and lower the bounce (and strike zone of your opponent), increase your margin of net clearance to extend the rally or lower your margin of net clearance to shorten the rally. Other related ways to disrupt rhythm include varying pace to change the tempo of the rally (timing between shots), depth (to draw your opponent up and back), down-the-line and cross court direction, trajectory and your court positioning and how and at what height you take the ball after the bounce.
3. Shot Tolerance. If nothing is working and it appears you’re headed for a loss, one reply is to go into full defense mode. Increase your shot tolerance and do everything you can to stay in the point. Make your opponent beat you. Not surprisingly, it’s not easy to close out a match against someone who always looks to make you hit one more shot.
4. Focus on the Process. When you’re losing and things are not going right, one of the most effective ways to regroup is to focus on the basics and the process of constructing and executing a point (one point at a time). Stay in the present. Don’t dwell on your past mistakes, missed opportunities or bad turn of events. Deal with the bad bounces, unlucky breaks, etc. by “moving forward and putting things behind you”.
5. Go Silent. There are a number of ways to shut out external stimuli, doubt and thoughts of losing. One thing that works for me is to go silent. Without being impolite, refrain from talking whenever possible. Use hand signals to call the ball in or out. At the same time, show no emotion, positive or negative. Not only can going silent help your focus and determination but it also can serve to fluster and rattle your opponent.
6. Don’t Panic. Never give up or believe things are too overwhelming or too difficult no matter the odds, deficit or how things seem to be stacked against you. Just like life, each tennis match is a journey with its ups and downs. It could be you’re experiencing the downs first and the ups will come or maybe not but in any case, enjoy the process and “hang in there” until the bitter end.
7. Pain Threshold. If you play enough, you will undoubtedly experience a loss due to an injury or some kind of physical setback. The best way to deal with pain or a major limitation with your ability to function on the court due to an injury, cramping, illness, fatigue, etc. is to address it head on. Do not wish it away or try to ignore it. This leads to passive play and resignation. Most importantly do not use it as an excuse to quit or not try. Acknowledge and even embrace the pain or problem. Use the situation as an opportunity to improve your pain threshold, coping skills and ability to “fight through it”. Incorporate any limitation resulting from the pain you’re experiencing into your internal make-up and then start making the necessary changes in your game to deal with your “new reality”.
8. Game of Vendetta. As a junior, when I would get beat up on the court by a better and older player or a player with a difficult style of play (and match up), I would use the opportunity (during and after the match) to identify things I could improve and change in my game and areas of weakness in my opponent’s game I could possibly exploit to reverse the outcome the next time I played this opponent. I then would collect and file the data and build a case study of the steps necessary I would need to take to defeat this player. Then for competitive fun, I made a game of it. I created a personal vendetta scenario. I told myself never to forget (which is good because when you tell yourself never to forget you generally never do forget). I visualized a bull’s eye or some transcendent target symbol on the back of my now new nemesis. I made it my life mission to beat this player and all the time not telling a soul. And then using the game as motivation, I would go to work. I took the necessary incremental steps identified in my personal case study and then looked for opportunities to get back on the court with this same player whenever I could to see how I was progressing and to achieve my ultimate goal of “revenge”. It can be a fun motivational tool.
9. 15-Minute Rule. It’s okay to feel somewhat despondent after losing a match but no matter the circumstance (e.g. double fault at match point in a third set tiebreaker), you want to “get over it” in 15 minutes (or less). Friends may empathize because they’re friends and indulge a more extended grievance period but friend or no friend, no one has sympathy for anyone who cannot “let it go” and get on with life, the next match or whatever is in store right around the corner.
10. Take Nothing Personally. Losing on the tennis court “stinks” but it doesn’t mean you’re a bad player or bad person. It doesn’t mean you let your partner or teammates down. It doesn’t mean you lack character or resolve or are not smart enough to figure things out. If you do lose, all you can do is get back on the court, put in the necessary days in training and hope to improve your performance next time.

Steve Gallagher