During my years of coaching, I have noticed a lack of knowledge with American tennis players at all levels as to how well they understand the game and how well they understand their own game. These players have been working on their technique for years and have been handfed balls as their training. Some…
The yips are one of the most devastating and embarrassing afflictions that an athlete can experience. Stories of athletes plagued with the yips occur in a variety of sports, including tennis, golf, gymnastics, football and baseball. Chuck Knoblauch, the Gold Glove Award winning second basemen for the New York Yankees, suddenly lost his ability…
Over the last two years, I have received countless e-mails about my first book, Tennis Inside the Zone: 32 Mental Training Workouts for Champions. I have enjoyed the feedback on how it has helped junior players stay focused, adapt and compete like a champion under the most difficult situation. Many parents and players have expressed…
There are very few careers which essentially allow you to go to work, tell your boss what to do and then get paid for it. Tennis coaching just happens to be one of the few industries that can be characterized by this unusual dynamic between employer and employee. One of the primary oddities of…
It is no secret that the competitive tennis environment demands a great deal of mental toughness, yet so many players fail to enlist a professional mental coach. Instead, they rely on personal experience and the advice of those around them, which although helpful, it is missing the valuable mental strategies that can be taught…
One of the many benefits of lecturing is that one always learns a great deal in the process. Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited by New York Tennis Magazine to participate in a panel discussion at the New York Tennis. The topic was “Taking Your Game to the Next Level,”…
We all know that Wimbledon requires the players to wear white and that the audience sips champagne, eats strawberries and cream, and rubs shoulders with royalty. But we also know that tennis gave us Jimmy Connors, Ilie Nastase and John “You Cannot Be Serious” McEnroe. Tennis, perhaps more than any other sport, struggles with…
The fear of losing a match is a very paralyzing state of mind—it will peek its head up after every lost point, it will cause hesitation in the decision-making process, and weaken one’s courage to take risks. In my experience working with competitive youth tennis players, most can rationally identify a fear of losing…
The final matches of the Orange Ball Box league during the spring of 2017 were critical. After five consecutive months of weekly matches hosted and organized by Center Court Tennis Academy in Chatham, NJ, the point spread between the top performers was marginal. My son, Rafael, was the youngest competitor on a roster of…
Every serious athlete is familiar with the gym and all its equipment. There are treadmills, stair masters, elliptical machines, medicine balls, punching bags, dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, balance machines, TRX rooms and much more. You work out every day, you get stronger, and naturally, you play better. This is obvious. So where on Earth is…