Coaches Q and A: Why Do I Play Better When I'm Behind?

Andy Brandi of the Harold Solomon Tennis Institute in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has decades of experience in coaching. He provides the answer to today's question.

I seem to play better when I'm behind. How can I change my psychology to play more consistently no matter what the game or match score is?

How often do we games play with our own mind when we compete? How often do we talk ourselves out of winning a match? How often are we way up in a match and proceed to fumble it away? How often do we play our best when we are behind?

As competitors, we need to approach a match with a plan and not with concern about the outcome. When we have the outcome in mind, we do not play to our potential because we are tight, playing not to lose. Expectations make us tight.

Our plan should be to focus on the things that will give us a chance to win the match. It is the process that counts. Think about how loose you are when you play and you are behind. You go for your shots and you have a purpose in how you play each point. You are focused, aggressive and have a plan as to how to dictate and win each point. You take it to your opponent. You make them pay, you strike first.

Because we make winning or losing large than life, we do not allow ourselves to perform. When we are in this state of mind, we allow our opponent to control the points and the match. We react to what they are doing. Our goal should be to dictate and control what happens in the match. We need to love the battle.

To play your best:

1-Embrace pressure
2-Have a strategy and plan
3-During tense moments try to regulate your breathing to relax
4-Realize that your opponent is nervous as well
5-Use positive self talk after each point and reassure yourself
that you can succeed and you deserve to succeed.
6-Concentrate on the process and not the outcome.
7-Enjoy the battle.
8-Remind yourself that pressure begins in your head. As Charles Barkley said, pressure is the air in the tires!

Lastly, in practice try to simulate match situations, pressure situations. See how you react to them. This will allow you to get used to them and deal better with them in tournaments.

Best of luck!

Do you have a question for Andy or Harold? If so, please send it to clewis[at]zootennis[dot]com with the phrase Coaches Q and A in the subject line.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Andy Brandi, Harold Solomon Tennis Institute, Coaches Q and A, Colette Lewis

Curtis Retiring from USTA Florida; Finals Set at Illinois ITF; Four with Momentum; Kearney Sentenced

There was a surprise in the email box this morning, when USTA Florida announced that Bobby Curtis, longtime junior tennis coordinator in the state, is retiring. Although a specific date isn't given, it sounds as if the section's annual meeting in early December will serve as the retirement party.

Bobby has been a friend of mine for quite a few years, and I've written about him several times, including a Tennis Recruiting Network article when he was honored by the Greater Miami Tennis Foundation at the Sony Ericsson Championships in 2007. It's difficult to imagine Florida junior tennis without him, and his successor is going to face a daunting task, similar to that faced by the UCLA basketball coach who followed legend John Wooden. It's great to hear that Curtis will still be consulting and volunteering, and I look forward to congratulating him on a inspiring career during our annual Florida swing in December.

The ITF Grade 4 in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. is wrapping up on Saturday. The boys final will feature top seed Dane Webb against No. 4 seed Dan McCall, and deciding the girls singles championship will be No. 9 seed Caitlyn Williams and No. 8 seed Blair Shankle. McCall and his partner Eric Johnson, the No. 3 seeds, won the boys doubles title, defeating Webb and Mitchell Krueger, the top seeds, 6-1, 6-4. Williams is also still alive in doubles; she and partner Julia Elbaba, whom Williams defeated 7-5 in the third in the singles semifinal today, play Alexus Coats of the U.S. and Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand in the girls doubles final. Both teams are unseeded. For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.

Bonnie Ford of espn.com has a great followup on four of the big U.S. stories at the U.S. Open; this piece looks at the next few months of competition for Melanie Oudin, John Isner, Taylor Dent and Jesse Witten.

Former University of North Carolina tennis player Chris Kearney was sentenced to 10 to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to driving while impaired and numerous other charges related to the automobile accident that injured two female students in August 2008. The Durham Herald-Sun filed this story on the sentencing.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Bobby Curtis, Tennis Recruiting Network, Illinois ITF, Melanie Oudin, John Isner, Jesse Witten, Taylor Dent, Chris Kearney, Colette Lewis

Capra Profile; Nike Junior Tour Champions; Harrington Replaces Vinsant on US Jr. Davis Cup Team; Shane Commits to Virginia

My article this week for the Tennis Recruiting Network is a profile of Beatrice Capra, whom I spoke with several times at the U.S. Open. It was the most formal setting we've talked in; at the Open and all junior slams, interviews are formally requested via a written form with the ITF staff, and announced to the entire media center when scheduled. Over the past three or four years, I've spoken with Capra after big wins and big losses, but I can't recall a previous discussion about how she started playing, or her professional ambitions.

Last weekend the Nike Junior Tour National event was held in California to select the four boys and girls who would represent the U.S. in the international competition in the Dominican Republic next month. In the 14s, unseeded Elliott Sprecher and Alexandria Stiteler were the champions. Sprecher is from Wisconsin, and according to this USTA Northern article about his win, he is the first from that section to represent the U.S. in the competition. Stiteler, who lives in Bradenton, Fla., was a finalist in the Junior Orange Bowl 12s last December. The 12s winners are two well-known prodigies: No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov of Florida, an Eddie Herr 12s finalist last year, and top seed Carolyn Xie of Southern California, who was a finalist at the USTA 12s hard courts this year. For complete results, see the TennisLink site.

The USTA formally announced the Junior Davis Cup team, and Hunter Harrington of South Carolina is replacing Shane Vinsant, who has a stomach injury. Harrington joins Marcos Giron and Bjorn Fratangelo in an attempt to defend the world title won by Denis Kudla, Evan King and Raymond Sarmiento last year. For the complete release, click here.


A second boys blue chip has given a verbal commitment for the fall of 2010, according to the Tennis Recruiting Network. Justin Shane, who reached the round of 16 this year at Kalamazoo, has chosen Virginia.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Beatrice Capra, Tennis Recruiting Network, Nike Junior Tour, Junior Davis Cup, Justin Shane, Colette Lewis

Pro Circuit Notes; Q & A with Michael Shabaz; Nina Pantic Reports on UCLA

The Pro Circuit events this week include the $10,000 Men's tournament in Costa Mesa, Calif. and the $75,000 women's tournament in Albuquerque, NM. There is also a $50,000 women's event in Canada that has drawn quite a few notable juniors. US Open girls champion Heather Watson qualified and in her first round match yesterday took No. 2 seed Valerie Tetreault of Canada to three sets before falling 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-5. Christina McHale returned to action there for the first time since her U.S. Open loss to Maria Sharapova, and today she beat No. 8 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. THe 18-year-old Marino, who had committed to Georgia Tech before deciding to turn pro instead last year, is now ranked 169. For more on the today's matches, see the Tennis Canada website.

In Albuquerque, former Clemson star Ani Mijacika, who I heard has turned pro, qualified and has reached the second round with a straight set win over wild card Brittany Augustine. Top 10 junior Ajla Tomljanovic also qualified, defeating NCAA champion Mallory Cecil in the final qualifying round, then posted a first round win, taking out No. 4 seed Anna Tatishvili, another Evert Academy student. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand used her junior exemption into the field and advanced to the second round with a win over Argentina's Agustina Lepore.

There were/are several juniors in the Costa Mesa draw, No. 4 seed Yong-Kyu Lim of Korea, Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, Mousheg Hovhannisyan and Americans Ryan Harrison and Jordon Cox. Cox received a special exemption into the main draw when he reached the quarterfinals last week in Claremont. Among the current and recent former college players are qualifiers Olivier Sajous, Holden Seguso, Robbye Poole, Erling Tveit and Tyler Hochwalt, as well as Michael Venus and Blake Strode. Lester Cook, now 259 in the ATP rankings, must have been a late entry, as he went through qualifying, although he is the top seed.

For complete draws, see the Pro Circuit results page.

The women move on to Las Vegas next week, and an email from Ryan Wolfington of USTA Nevada about the event mentioned that junior players Krista Hardebeck and Nicole Melichar won wild card tournaments for spots in the qualifying and former ASU No.1 Sabrina Capannolo was given the third qualifying wild card. Asia Muhammad has received a main draw wild card.

In college news, the University of Virginia's website has an interesting Q & A with Cavalier junior Michael Shabaz in advance of this weekend's UVA Ranked Plus One tournament, which will feature more than 30 nationally ranked players. Shabaz, who won the NCAA doubles title with Dom Inglot in May, is expected to play primarily with freshman Jarmere Jenkins this year.

And UCLA's Nina Pantic provides a look at the preparations the Bruins are making for the fall season, as well as how several of them experienced this year's U.S. Open from the inside.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Christina McHale, Pro Circuit, Michael Shabaz, Nina Pantic, Colette Lewis

College Tennis in Europe Gets a Boost; USTA Announces Indianapolis Regional Training Center; USC Men Holding Ring Ceremony Sat.

One of the byproducts of the huge global surge in tennis interest in the past 20 years, primarily attributed to the sport regaining Olympic status, is an increasing number of international players competing on teams in U.S. colleges and universities. The college sports infrastructure in this country provides a unique opportunity for student athletes to continue to compete at a high level, while advancing their education. There are those in Europe who are trying to change that however, by creating similar opportunities for students in their own countries.

Neil Harman of the Times explains in his weekly Net Post column the vision of Euan McGinn and Jamie Pilkington, who have established the European Collegiate Tennis Association. Speaking of the British doubles team of Ken Skupski and Colin Fleming, Harman writes:

There is more than a single way to skin a tennis-playing cat; not everyone leaps from the junior to senior ranks in a single bound, there are so many potential pitfalls along the way, for every Andy Murray and Roger Federer there are a hundred Flemings and Skupskis. Which is why a new venture, designed to enhance competition at university level in Europe deserves a wider degree of support and interest than it has yet received.

Euan McGinn, Fleming's coach, is one of the masterminds behind the European Collegiate System, having been a graduate of the University of Arkansas himself. The aims of are very straightforward and uncluttered - to govern the game of tennis at the university level in Europe; to help provide the opportunity for university students to enjoy their favourite sport and to experience new cultures while in an educational environment.

McGinn and Pilkington were in Tulsa for the NCAAs back in 2008, and I spoke with both briefly about their dream of someday hosting a similar event in Europe. They were in Tulsa to speak with USTA and ITA officials, who have met with them regularly since, and if a sponsor is found, the Ryder Cup-like event mentioned in the story could become a reality. (This is not related to the Master U International University Challenge of Tennis that the United States competed in last December.)

Should the ECTA succeed in emulating the U.S. system, the obvious result would be more players staying nearer their homes to compete, where they wouldn't have the same daunting language and culture obstacles. The level of tennis played here would decline, as would the diversity, but looking at it from the global perspective, another avenue can only help the sport in the long run. And with the current dissatisfaction with the LTA's progress in Great Britain, brought to a head this past weekend with the relegation of the Davis Cup team to the third tier, other options are certainly going to get some attention.

The USTA today announced that the Indianapolis Tennis Center has been named a Regional Training Center, and will be the main site in the Midwest, with the three Chicago facilities named earlier also part of the Midwest network.

I also wanted to mention that although there hasn't been much information released about the specifics yet, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will serve as a National Training Center, similar to Boca Raton and Carson, with programs expected to begin later this fall.

As usual, I'm having difficulty keeping up with the college results during this hectic fall tournament season, and if you can find the results, which isn't easy, it's hard to tell who is playing in the top flights and which are the major tournaments of interest. I usually follow the Southern Intercollegiate tournament closely, because the results are easy to find and it attracts top programs, but this year the heavy rains in the area caused all sorts of problems, with walkovers outnumbering matches played. Georgia's Javier Garrapiz and Georgia Tech's Guillermo Gomez were declared co-champions, but if you want to see just how muddled the tournament was, go to georgiadogs.com.

Granger Huntress of the Texas College Tennis blog has his wrap-up on the events featuring players of interest from that state. I can only say that I wish every state had a similar blog.

The University of Southern California men's team will receive their National Championship rings in a ceremony on Saturday, according to this release on their website.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, European Collegiate Tennis Association, USTA Regional Training Centers, Texas College Tennis blog, USC Trojans, Colette Lewis

Woodbridge Added to Australian High Performance; Saba and Bolender Make Verbal Commitments

The news that Todd Woodbridge, who won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles, was joining Tennis Australia as Davis Cup coach and head of men's tennis, isn't exactly news. When it was announced, shortly after Wimbledon, I missed it and didn't see any reference to it in the Australian press until this story by Richard Hinds appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald a few days prior to the start of the U.S. Open.

Steve Wood and Craig Tiley established a complete break with the old system when they took the reins back in 2004, but their approach alienated many of the great Australian players of the past, who felt their experience and hard-won wisdom from years in the upper echelons of the game was being ignored. Woodbridge acknowledges this when he says:

"I know the challenge, and I know I can't create miracles,' Woodbridge says. "I think we've done a really good job over the past four years trying to reorganise the pathway of the sport - the development programs and things, but we didn't have a players' voice and that was becoming an issue.

"That is why someone from my peer group who had the performances to back it up needed to come in and say, 'No, you're wrong in this instance. This is what is going on from the inside of the sport.'"

Although Bernard Tomic was the only Australian boy in the Open junior event, Woodbridge could be found at all his matches, including those at the Sound Shore Club in Port Chester that rainy Saturday. I've heard that junior tennis has been de-emphasized in Australia, with players encouraged to play only ITF mens and womens events once they've reached the age of 16, and there are no separate junior rankings; all players from Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur on down are included in one ranking system. For a complete pdf of the current Australian ranking guidelines, click here. It's interesting, given the free-ranging or commingling aspect of the rankings that there's this restriction:

All athletes must play ‘in age’ at National Championships (12s, 14s, 16s) when these tournaments are played concurrently. Once an athlete wins a National Championship, they can apply to Tennis Australia to play out of age when age group nationals are placed concurrently. This application will be assessed by the National Selection Panel. If national championships are not played concurrently, athletes can play in older age group championships.

I'm not urging the USTA adopt that rule, but it is something to think about. It also is interesting to note that there are four national junior championships in the 12-and-under and 14-and-under age groups, two in the 16-and-under age group and only one in the 18-and-under age group.

Anyway, Woodbridge has done a lot in his first two months, according to the story, and if you are interested in hearing his plans, and the names of the boys he believes may help take the pressure off Bernard Tomic, watch this video from Tennis Australia, filmed right after he was named to the position.

The college commitment announcements for 2010 are beginning to trickle in, and two big ones surfaced today on The Tennis Recruiting Network. Brooke Bolender has verbally committed to Michigan, and Fred Saba has verbally committed to Duke. Saba is the first blue chip to announce on the boys side; for the other blue chip girls' verbals, click here.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Todd Woodbridge, Tennis Australia, Brooke Bolender, Fred Saba, Colette Lewis