Important Uncomfortable Truths that Competitive Tennis Players Hate to Hear:

I came across this article on a friends Facebook page, excuses don't cut it!!

Enjoy the read.

Important Uncomfortable Truths that Competitive Tennis Players Hate to Hear:

•   Drills do not suck, you suck at the drill, and if that is the case it is exactly the dril you should be doing – as often as possible.

•   If you think you cannot benefit from a specific practice session because your practice partner is not very good, most likely you are not much better.  If you were really better you could find a way to make it work.

•   If you cannot handle making mistakes, fishing may be a better sport for you. Mistakes are part of the game.  To win a match, you do not have to be perfect, you just have to make less mistakes than the opponent.  Mistake management is essential for success.

•   Play against those you hate to play against, as often as possible.  They are the ones that know how to exploit your weaknesses. Play with them until you start to figure out how to beat them, then, find other players whose games you loath and start the process all over again.

•   Do not complain about playing higher on the line up if you are not winning at your position. The team does not care about your ego. If you are not winning, playing higher will not help anyone.

•   Neither the opponent, the referee nor the spectators can make you mad – the truth is no one has that power.  If you are getting angry it is a choice you are making.  If  your anger is affecting your game it is no one’s fault but yours. Learn to control your  thought and emotions if you want to succeed in the game.

•   Beating somebody once does not necessarily make you better than him/her.  To be  truly better you have to beat him/her most of the time.

•   A true win has to happen in a tournament.  Beating someone in practice is nice but it does not really carry too much weight.

•   If you do not like to play matches you are in the wrong sport.  Tennis is all about learning to compete. Playing matches has to be an integral part of practice. As a matter of fact drilling should really be a supplement to match play and not the other way around.

Excusing your loss to the fact that the opponent was a “pusher” is ridiculous. After all, the so called "pusher" is really a players that understands something very important about the game that you seemed to have forgotten. “The number one rule in tennis is to hit the ball in the court.” Style and speed, only count if you obey rule number one.