By: Dominic Mahboubi, Director of Tennis at Crandon Park Tennis Center As any elite player, coach, or trainer will tell you, the path to professional tennis begins at a young age. The journey to become a tennis player is an exciting one. There are so many pathways to enjoy process to becoming the best player you can be. Many of us have different dreams if it’s playing for a high school team, college or becoming a professional tennis player. The best advise I can give all juniors is to enjoy the process and have fun. Not to focus on the outcome or results.
There are four key areas in the development of an Advanced player.
1. Technical
2. Tactical
3. Mental
4. Physical
It so important to cover all these areas of your game to become the best tennis player you can be. Starting with the technical side. At a young age it is fundamentally important to understand the biomechanics of each stroke. This comes from learning and developing this skills in a private setting or a group setting. This will allows us to hit the best shot possible while playing with your friends or in a competitive environment.
The tactical side is to understand and expose your opponents weaknesses and play to your strengths. For an example Rafa Nadal has always had the edge of Roger Federer as he plays to his strength which is his lefty forehand to Roger Federer’s weakness which is his backhand.
The mental side is probably the most important one of all. You have to ask yourself on how to overcome adversity when you are not playing your best. Or how to ‘suffer’ while playing those long grueling rallies. It is so important to have rituals while playing tennis. Such as looking at your strings between points to get refocused. Focus in your breath to calm your nervous. Everyone gets nervous even the greats you see watching TV.
The physical side is also very important as we must have the stamina to play long rallies. Especially in the Florida heat and humidity. You have to ask yourself how much fitness do I do a week? The pros do two hours a day fitness plus four hours a day of tennis. Now i am not staying to you to skip school to do this but in your free time. Make a plan with your coach to work on your fitness.
As the ATP slows court surfaces at all venues in order to accommodate spectators’ preferences for longer, more entertaining points, the landscape of tennis will only continue to advance in favor of those with savvy and stamina. The elite grounds for player development relocated to Barcelona, Spain, where I spent the better part of two decades coaching and learning with and from the very best. Barcelona brought back the small player groups and competitive environment that once characterized the American tennis scene, and set the stage on slow clay. More so, coaches in Barcelona utilized an advanced methodology that places a greater focus on the advanced footwork patterns and point structuring required to excel in today’s slower, clay court game.
Myriad world class players have spawned from these fertile programs, and I am grateful to have been deeply involved in their development. It is my hope being here in the United States to help all junior tennis players to enjoy and have fun playing tennis while working hard on every part of their game.
Thanks,
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