005 – Staying in “The Zone” With Five-Time Tennis Professional of the Year David Brouwer

Realtennis Network With Chris Michalowski, USPTA

Well today, I have another “HEAVY HITTER” on board, USPTA/PTR Tennis Professional, David Brouwer. In this episode, the 5-time state state pro of the year and director of THREE tennis facilities discusses how to stay in the mysterious “Zone” not only as a tennis player, but as an athlete and as a person. There are also a couple of great questions as well from a couple of our listeners.

I am personally interested in our conversation with David, because applying mental toughness strategies to my own game is what really turned me around as a player.

If you are not familiar with the term “The Zone,” it is the mental state that you are in when you are playing some of your best tennis otherwise known as “Treeing” in tennis slang terms.

While in the zone, we tend to stay relaxed, confident and are aware of the things that are going on around us with little effort, so it seems. Things seem to be happening in slow motion

So what can we learn from our conversation on the podcast?

1. We need to try to play and even train in “THAT SPACE” where we are thinking on our own without a lot of interruption (this will help us learn to think on our own)

2. Perceived competence is key and we can do that by rallying

3. The Outcome is not within your control in life and in tennis and once you can let go of the outcome and not make winning paramount, and experience the match instead, then you re on your way. You need to observe and not judge. This will build confidence.

4. I love the analogy he used about if we judged everything we did all day from waking up to brushing our teeth, we would be paralyzed, but we do this in tennis.

5. We need to relax, experience it and let the cards fall where they may. This will keep us loose, relaxed and confident, knowing that we are not in control of the outcome necessarily

Think about the pros. How does Federer look when he is down set point or even match point? He goes through the same rituals, and the look he has on his face is the same as it was at the start of the match. He doesn’t hold back, he plays the game he knows that he owns and that has done so well with over the last 10 years. Sure he is going to miss, but he does not let that stop him.

You can do this with you game as well. No matter your level. Do what you know you can do and throw everything else away and you will be fine.

Listener Questions

The first question comes from Luke who sounds like he does not like it when players come to the net.

Luke asks what drills can I do that will help me against those aggressive net players

Now remember, when we play tennis we want to think about setting ourselves up for the next shot and not trying to “WIN THE POINT” with each and every shot like we discussed in episode 002 of the podcast.

Well, the first thing, with my father in-laws rational thinking cap on is to………. Keep them away from the net ( what they like) as much as you can for starters so you don’t have to worry about them being there in the first place. This means:

1. HIT BALLS DEEPER and there are two main ways to keep the ball deeper

1. Hit the harder (not a good idea)
2. Hit them higher (a great idea)

Not only will a high ball land deeper, but it will bounce up more. A harder ball will stay in your opponents strike zone.

Now I want to throw this in, just because I get this answer a lot from players when I ask them “How do we keep the ball deeper” and I get “Hit with topspin” quite often.

Remember that topspin makes the ball dive down quicker, this makes it land shorter, but by hitting your topspin higher, that will make it land deeper and get out of there faster with “KICK” and that is a great thing.

A good drill that I use for this is to pull caution tape three feet above the actual net as I am working with a student, so they will focus on hitting it at least that high, which will help it stay deeper and my student more focused on the task at hand

2. Hit to their weak side more often

1. 1. Players tend to be less aggressive when you hit to their weaker side and will most likely retreat and not attack AS MUCH ANYWAY, and if they do, you should have an easier time with your next move, THE PASSING SHOT. This means hitting to the weak side on your second serve as well.

A good drill for this is to rally with a partner and stipulate that he/she can hit anywhere, but you have to hit to whatever side you decide. Try to go for 20 in a row and then play out points doing this

3. Get to the net first

1. 1. By getting to the net first, not only will you keep them where they may be a bit more uncomfortable, you will force them to have to step up to the plate and hit an accurate passing shot.

A good drill for this is to try to take balls early, especially off the return (and the second serve of course) also when rallying with a partner, make it a rule that you have to come into the net by the third ball that you hit. You may start getting less picky, but it will get you up there.

OK, that didn’t work and they are already up there (or on their way anyway), what can you do now?……………..

1. Lob them. Try not to hit a winning lob either, just get them behind the service line and you should be OK (most of the time)

1. Might want to lob over their backhand side
2. Topspin on your lobs makes it more difficult for them to hit an overhead because the ball is dipping a lot quicker
3. And remember WE ARE NOT TRYING TO HIT A LOB WINNER, we just want to set ourselves up for a better “NEXT SHOT”

A good drill for this is the “CAGE DRILL” (Explanation in podcast)

1. Hit your first passing shot crosscourt, and preferably low, but either way, this will:
2. Force them to hit “down the line” to the open court which will be easier for you to chase down
3. Force them, if going down the line, to hit over a higher part of the net, which will make them have to “hit up” on the ball and give you more time
4. Pull them away from the direction of the net and hopefully force them to hit a weaker volley

A good drill is to get out a ball machine and have it feed random balls to you. Set up two targets around the service line and whatever it feeds you, hit it crosscourt to that target and low

.

If practicing with a partner, just go FH to FH only or BH to BH only with them standing at the service line and you at the baseline and try to rally, but keeping all of your shots to him/her below the level of the net

3. Keep your passing shots low.

1. 1. This will force them to have to hit up
   2. This forces them to hit more of a neutral or even a defensive volley

And remember, you can keep the ball low by:

1. Hitting with topspin (underspin tends to float more, but may work if you have a lot of touch)
2. Hitting it slower. This makes the ball drop quicker too, but be careful of the net, you will usually have to hit the ball a bit lower so they don’t “tee off” on your passing shot

A good drill would be the same two that I just discussed, but do it on the whole court, with the both of you mixing it up

Here is something to go try. Stand just in front of the service line and have someone “Blast” a couple of balls at your feet. You may find out that it isn’t really a tough ball to volley, because they are supplying you with PACE which makes it easier for you to get it back

Now try having them hit a LOW, SLOW ball to your feet and see what happens…………

A lot tougher isn’t it? Yes, because YOU have to supply power to the ball and that takes away from touch and control.

“ LOW and SLOW” is the key phrase here and remember that SPIN takes pace OFF the ball, so now you really have a great chance to get to the next shot.

AND REMEMBER, if your goal is to set yourself up for your next shot and you successfully hit it low at their feet when they are at the net, what should your next move be “BEFORE THEY EVEN HIT THE BALL?”

Move in! – Correct!

Why – They will tend to hit short or pop it up and this will make you look like the fastest gun in the west! And set your self up for an offensive shot, or at least not be struggling to reach their shot.

Well Luke, I hope that gives you some things to things about the next time you face somebody who like to volley.

Our next question comes from Kristy and she asks how she can gain control of a ball toss that seems to be out of control?

Ball tosses can be tough, but there are a few analogies that you can think about and this even inspired me to do two videos on this topic. these tips in the video really seem to help out a lot of students, but I will give you more than two. I will attach them to the show notes this week.

First of all, a friend of mine said that he liked to use the word “Place” instead of toss. Works for him and it mentally may work for you.

1. Start with how you hold the ball, with a soft grip for sure and in your fingertips, but you can either hold it with palms up or hold it like an ice cream cone with your palm facing toward the right (for a person tossing with their left hand). This does not allow your wrist to flick back so much.2.Practice tossing up a wall (with you standing sideways to the wall about 6” away with your tossing arm) and draw or find a vertical line on the wall when you do this, try to keep the toss the same distance from the wall. This will represent the toss not moving too far in front or behind you. You should also keep it on the vertical line. This will represent left to right. If you can keep the ball in the same plane, this should help

3. Imagine you are a waiter lifting a tray of drinks (story in podcast)

4. Toss the ball lower, but still hitting it at the peak of your reach. By doing this, it will not be able to get away on you as much because the distance is less. There are some other big advantages of doing this as you will see in the video.

5. Get an aerobics step (or any step) out and stand on it as you serve. Sounds silly, but I learned this in a video featuring Roger Federer and this seems to do wonders with anyone’s toss (also in the video). By standing on the step, it will force you to keep the toss in the general area of where you are, otherwise you will have to step, OR FALL off the step.

6. Abbreviate your tossing motion (almost like a music conductor moves his arms) to keep it much simpler and more efficient

Well Kristy, I hope one of those tips can reel that toss in for you. And remember, if you, have a question that you would like answered, go to that BIG RED BUTTON on our website and send one my way and I will be happy to answer it for you personally either by email or we can highlight it on one of our podcast episodes.

I would love to hear from you, our listener, and get your input and feedback. You can do so by emailing me at [e-mail], or call or hotline at 231-735-8518 or YES, click the red button

To get a one-page template of today’s show, scroll to the bottom of the show notes and download it for your convenience

Special thanks to Thanks to David Brouwer and his thought on “STAYING IN THE ZONE” I hope we get another chance to talk with him in hope of taking our games to the next level. Also to Luke and Kristy for their great questions. Good luck with with those net players and your toss

And to you our listener. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to this podcast and I look forward to the next episode of the real tennis network where I hope we can help take you tennis…….to the next level

Chris Michalowski, USPTA/USTA HP
Coach Mick

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