PTR International Championships with Ken

by Ken DeHart
(San Jose, CA)

Kameron and Dennis Van der Meer

For about the 30th year I participated in the PTR International Championships on Hilton Head Is, South Carolina.

Back then the age division was a little different. This year it was my first year in the Men's 60 Division.

The matches never get much easier as often the same players age into the next group with you. Perhaps only the speed of movement is different but not from lack of intent.

This year after a bye and a next round victory I faced one of the "Monsters in My Mind", a player who hits every shot with severe underspin or exaggerated strange looking topspin. I was not very comfortable and had lots of disconnecting thoughts about the up-coming match.

During the Tournament we also have several continuing education classes, meetings to attend and I was also a speaker on "7 Ways to Prolong Your Career as a Tennis Professional - on court".

My 7 year old son and I had flown from San Jose to Hilton Head and we hit everyday for a couple of hours and he was the hit of the Symposium attendees. am the proud father and each day we hit as long as he wants to. He seldom gets to hit this much and his skills improve dramatically and everyone comes up to talk to us about his joy of hitting and how long he has been hitting. They even put his picture in the local paper.

All this kept me pretty busy but the up-coming match was still running through my mind. These thoughts were not particularly positive as I knew it would be difficult and not a pretty match to watch or play.

The day came and it was a little windy and chilly at 11 am as we headed to the Palmetto Dunes courts. We had a little shade from the fence to the service line on one end of the court. He won the toss and I chose the shady side to see if the sun might bother him in his first service game.

He held serve and I won the first point but he held the rest of the game and we switched ends. As we played the fear of the unknown, waiting for him to hit one of his unusual shots that might embarrass me began to subside and I focused more on how I was playing the points.

The points were long and I was forced to slice, especially off my backhand because of his severe sliced shots. His weird topspin forehand never showed up, he sliced it as well, short low and wide to my forehand in most cases.

We each had several opportunities during the next few games to win and lots of deuces and ads. On the green clay, neither of our serves were particularly offensive even though we changed to speed and spin often. I am more confident as the match goes on and I am focus on several tips I have practiced in my matches prior to the tournament.

Mostly standing very erect, breathing and having a positive image of what I want to do. We are able to break each others serve once and finally he gets to set point after several deuces and he serves underhanded to me and the ball hits to my backhand and breaks severely to my left for an ace on set point.

I am upset because I could not get to it and because I saw it coming and did not just call a let at that moment. I lose the first set 6-3.

I express my displeasure for his tactic but it is one I use myself and teach to my students. On the change over, he attempts to explain that he uses it often in matches and ...... Tell me later I exclaim as I walk past him to the baseline to get ready to start the next set.

Lots of thoughts now, what I could of done, what I would like to say, what I can do in retaliation and should I serve underhanded to him. All these are disconnecting and not useful but not easily dismissed. I bounce the ball and attempt to clear my mind to start the next set.

I serve a little more aggressively and hold serve easily. On the change over I am conscious of not making eye contact but getting my drink and going to my end of the court to receive.

On his serve the points become longer as they will through out the rest of the match. I am still having thoughts running through my mind which means I am not totally focused on the task at hand.

We drop shot each other often and I lob him often. I read his returns cross court when I drop shot him and am able to cut off several of his angles off my drop shots.

The match continues and I realize I have no reason to fear him and I can tell he is not totally confident against me as evidenced by his lack of topspin shots.

He yells at himself when he misses somewhat easy shots - mine are more inside voices when I attempt to change the direction of a shot out of fear of continuing the direction of the rally. My thoughts even go to what I would tell my students if they were in this situation but it is not easy to take ones on advice.

He goes on to win the second set and the match and I am upset for several reasons:

1. I did not focus on what I could control - my attention, my breathing and my game plan

2. I let him be inside my head - which means my mind was on him across the court instead on on my side. A mind is a terrible thing to lose!

3. I did not respond to his underhanded serve as I had planned and did not let it pass out of the mind - can't live in the past.

4. I did not have the courage to extend the rallies for fear he would pull out something unusual - fear of the future.

What I gained:

1. Believe in yourself and focus on what you want to do - let the opponent respond to you.

2. Get private time and mentally prepare for the match well in advance of the warm up.

3. I am a better player than him, move better, serve better and actually have more options although I did not use all of them today.

4. Keep asking the question, "How would I feel if I were winning" because it is a choice you can create in your mind. As the great automotive king Henry Ford said,"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right".

I knew these going into the match, in fact I lecture and teach these thing daily at my club. Sometimes it is difficult to do what you know, often because you cannot step outside yourself to coach yourself.

I seldom makes these mistakes when I am coaching a student, therefore I must learn how to see the big picture when I am in the small picture.

Ken DeHart
USPTA and PTR Master Pro
Director of Tennis San Jose Swim & Racquet Club