Important: To make sure that this ezine is not deleted or filtered into a "junk" or "bulk" folder, please add the following domain to your list of trusted senders/your address book/contact list (in your email software) and to your ISP/mail service's whitelist...

tennismindgame.com

---------------------------------------------

This newsletter comes in two languages: English and Slovenian. You'll learn new tennis mental tips, find out solutions to common tennis challenges in the Q&A section and be the first to know what's new on the TennisMindGame.com website.

Ta newsletter bo izhajal v dveh jezikih: anglescini in slovenscini. V njem bodo povezave do novosti na TennisMindGame spletni strani, ker bo vecina v obeh jezikih.

Za slovensko verzijo se pomakni navzdol po emailu!

---------------------------------------------

Hi!

Just a quick note that we (in the Tennis Academy of Asia) are planning to start working on a DVD about tennis strategies and tactics in the near future.

I'll keep you posted...

--------------------------------
1. What's new?
--------------------------------

a) I would like to thank Randy Cummings from Vestal Junior Team Tennis Association for providing me with a great article about tennis strategies.

Strategy and tactics can become quite complicated if you don't know when to use which tactic.

Randy gives excellent ideas how to simplify your tactical approach:

Simple Tennis Strategies

b) Are you also getting tense and fear missing a shot in match more than in practice?

There is a new article on TennisMindGame.com regarding missing shots in the match.

But I have also received a question regarding this issue from one of the buyers of Mental and Strategy ebooks. Coincidence?

Maybe. :)

Here is the article:

How Could I Miss That

--------------------------------
2. Q&A
--------------------------------

Q: I purchased your books for my son. He plays on a Division I men's tennis team. He has used many of your techniques on the practice court and is now more focused on the court during practice and challenge matches.

He has beaten the top players and is gaining more self confidence in his play. I can not thank you enough for writing such wonderful books. They have helped my son tremendously.

The one question I have for you at this time is: During competition matches between other schools, he tells me he is afraid to hit his shots, so he feels he plays below his skill level. He says he gets tense and it doesn't flow like in practice.

I have told him he has done the hard work at practice and weight training and that competition is not to be feared, that he has earned the right to compete with the big boys and that should be his playground.

What tips/advice would you give him to help him succeed in competition matches?

Thank you for your time Diann

A: Hi Diann,

Thank you for the kind words.

Let's go straight to the point. You write that: "During competition matches between other schools, he tells me he is afraid to hit his shots, so he feels he plays below his skill level. He says he gets tense and it doesn't flow like in practice."

Until we make our fears conscious and check them from all the angles we will be under their influence.

Your son needs to find out first what is he afraid of. Missing a shot is not a terrible thing. UNLESS someone led you to believe that.

Let him write down all the negative consequences of missing a shot in a competition. Then he needs to read them and see if they are really that painful and if he can handle them.

One of the most painful things in team sports is the feeling that the team lost because of your mistake (or a lost match).

Every mistake that he makes in the match increases the probability that he will lose a match (at least that's his assumption for now...) and that will be vary painful. The team counts on him and he might let them down.

This is a typical train of thought that happens in miliseconds often below our consciousness, but the feelings coming from this are very conscious.

I am about to tell you the truth so hang in there:

He cannot avoid that.

There is no 100% way that he can avoid losing a match and making the team lose because of that.

Welcome to sport (and life). It's not that rosy as some hollywood movies try to show us.

Michael Jordan has let him team down 26 times when he missed the last deciding shot of the game. If he got the ball in they would win, but he missed and they lost.

He still wanted to shoot the last ball.

There will always be unreasonable and uneducated people who do not understand sport, human nature or life. They will influence you and your son and make you feel bad or guilty because he "should have" won that match.

This is an illusion.

I have been fighting those stories for the last 10 years and I will continue to do so. So many players get discouraged and feel guilty because they just trust the opinion of an authority whether that is a coach or a parent or someone else.

We need to stop and realisticly test our beliefs. In most cases they are false.

In summary - I cannot tell your son anything else than the truth. He will make mistakes sometimes and sometimes the team will lose because of that. If he can accept, that he can control only his effort in the match - that he will try his best - and that he cannot control the outcome, then he will not experience pain (emotional) when he loses.

If you actually understand that deeply, then even the people around you trying to make you feel bad will have no influence on you. You will know that they do not understand what is going on and that they have been misled too.

People look for someone to blame so that they can explain things when they go wrong. But things go wrong many times just because life is like that. There doesn't have to be any reason. That's how it is. Look to the nature for that. Did people and animals who died in the tsunami last year deserve that? Is there any reason for that? No, it's life.

It's same in tennis. You miss shots, because you are not perfect and you will never be. Focus on giving your best and find satisfaction in that.

There is also one article I put up just today that might help you to understand that.

How Could I Miss That

Don't hesitate to ask me more,

------------------------

Talk to you in two weeks,

Best regards,

Tomaz

------------------------

If you have trouble playing pushers, net rushers, aggressive baseliners or any other type of players, then all the answers are in the Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia.

If on the other hand you feel that you know how to play the game but you just can't put it all together in a match, then The Mental Manual for Tennis Winners will help you get through tough situations in a tennis match and make your mind your best ally.

--------------------------------------------

Zivjo!

----------------------------
1. Kaj je novega?
----------------------------

a) Ste se kdaj med igranjem tenisa vprasali: "Kako sem lahko to zgresil?"

V tem vprasanju je nekaj nelogicnega, toda le redko se ustavimo in preverimo, kaj sploh razmisljamo.

Preberite si moje mnenje o tem vprasanju na angleskem delu TennisMindGame.com z naslovom:

How Could I Miss That

b) Teniska taktika lahko postane precej komplicirana, ce ne veste kdaj uporabiti katero taktiko.

Randy Cummings je prispeval clanek na to temo z naslovom:

Enostavne teniske strategije

----------------------------
2. Vprasanja in Odgovori
----------------------------

Vprasanje:
Pozdravljeni! Sem 15 letna teniska igralka. Na zacetku moje kariere sem bila dokaj uspesna, zadnji 2 leti pa gredo moji rezultati samo se k tlom.

Npr. zmagujem set 5:2, in nato izgubim. Ne vem zakaj. Zanima me, ce se lahko postanem uspesna teniska igralka saj si to izjemno zelim.

Hvala za odgovor in LP!

Odgovor:

Zivjo!

Da bi ti lahko odgovoril, zakaj ti ne gre vec, bi te moral videti igrati, videti kako reagiras na napake, in se precej drugih detajlov.

No, lahko ti dam kaksno idejo glede vodstva 5:2 in potem poraza.

Najveckrat je problem v tem, da te je strah izgubiti to vodstvo. Potem zacnes igrati bolj na "ziher" medtem pa se tvoja nasprotnica (ce je kolikor toliko dobra) bori kot nora.

Rezultat tega je seveda to, da ona dobi gem, dva in tri. Potem si razocarana, ker si izgubila vodstvo ("ze spet" - kar si lahko reces sama ali pa ti nekdo drug rece) in igras se bolj slabo in tvoja nasprotnica zmaga.

Kako ven iz tega?

Kot prvo moras postati bolj realisticna. Ce ne bi rada NIKOLI izgubila vodstva iz 5:2 potem zahtevas od sebe NEMOGOCE. Tega se ne da garantirati. Vsak igralec je ze izgubil iz 5:2 in bo se velikokrat. TUDI CE IGRAS SVOJ NAJBOLJSI TENIS.

To je narava sporta.

Ne da se ga predvideti. Ravno zato ga ljudje gledajo. Tudi ce igra Roger Federer s 50. igralcem na svetu, obstaja majhna moznost, da bo izgubil ali vsaj zasel v tezave. Zato je zanimivo.

Ko bos sprejela, da ni nic narobe, ce kdaj izgubis iz 5:2, potem bos igrala bolj sprosceno in bos manjkrat izgubila iz 5:2. AMPAK SE VEDNO BOS.

Dobrodosla v tenis. (in zivljenje)

Porazi so sestavni del tekmovanja. Tudi najboljsi velikokrat izgubijo.

Za domaco nalogo pojdi na WTA spletno stran in so poglej statistiko od Katarine Srebotnik - koliko tekem je zmagala in koliko izgubila.

Potem poglej se na primer statistiko od 200. igralke na svetu. Najbrz ti bo bolj jasno, da si lahko 200. na svetu in stalno izgubljas.

Prihodnjic: Kaj je uspeh v tenisu?

-----------------------------

Vabim vas, da si preberete tudi vprasanje in moj odgovor v angleskem delu emesecnika. (zgoraj)

Mnogi igralci se srecujejo s strahom pred napako v tekmah in zgoraj si lahko preberete moje mnenje o tem.

Toliko zaenkrat, lep pozdrav iz Tajske!

Uzivajte v tenisu!

Tomaz Mencinger

------------------------------------------

Ce se zelite odjaviti od TennisMindGame e-mesecnika, potem kliknite prvo povezavo spodaj. (ali jo prekopirajte v svoj internetni brskalnik)

Ce pa zelite spremeniti email naslov, na katerega zelite prejemati TennisMindGame e-mesecnik, potem kliknite drugo povezavo spodaj - najnizjo. (ali jo prekopirajte v svoj internetni brskalnik)

------------------------------------------