An engineer overthinks tennis in a daily journal.
The final installment in the “obvious three” series is Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis–Lessons from a Master, by Brad Gilbert. Winning Ugly is the essential companion to Inner Tennis. I wish I could claim that observation, but it is actually asserted in the forward of Winning Ugly. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hitch their plow to the tennis book juggernaut that is Inner Tennis.
The Inner Game of Tennis is the only book I will make the following statement about. You can say that you are serious about improving your game, but if you have not bothered to read this book, you’re kidding yourself.
Books about tennis do not sell very well. It is kind of a surprising fact when you think about it. Tennis is generally thought of as a smart person sport. Smart people read books. Yet somehow tennis players, who are incredibly passionate about playing the sport, don’t read books about it.
This is the last installment of a six week structured improvement program inspired by one of Dennis Ralston’s books, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis. During this time, I have been focusing my training on improving my on court mobility and coverage.
I am in the middle of a six week structured improvement program inspired by one of Dennis Ralston’s books, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis. During this time, I am publishing a status update on the effort every Sunday. This week as I reviewed the inventory of all the training activities that I had devised for myself as a part of this project, I came to the realization that I had not touched on the creation and practice of match routines that would directly lead into better footwork patterns.
Weight, body image, and perceptions of fitness are touchy subjects in general and particularly for female athletes. It is no longer socially acceptable to comment on a player’s physique. On the other hand weight can be a loose approximation of overall fitness.
I can’t decide if I am more disappointed or relieved that no one called me out for the “Damn You Autocorrect” item in my training plan indicating that I would watch matches by Chris “Every” in addition to Steffi Graf to study their technique. Probably everyone knew who I meant anyway.
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This project has brought me to the realization that my tennis training has been suffering under the tyranny of the calendar. Due to my age and geographic good fortune, I have a lot of opportunities to play both league and tournament tennis. I habitually fill my calendar with those opportunities. Consequently I am perpetually heading into some sort of match that matters.
My Week 1 progress report of my implementation of Dennis Ralston’s “Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis.” I describe the general process I use to identify and track training activities. Details are also provided on Ralston’s “Davis Cup Workout” along with how it lead me to discover a new muscle in my body that up to this point has apparently just been along for the ride.
Today I am shifting gears and announcing a little side project that I am embarking upon. Put another way, this little “Fiend at Court” side project now has a side project.