03/20/2026
The difference between playing tennis...and being a tennis player!
Thoughts.......for goal-oriented tennis players
* Winning is confusing.
* In tennis, one seldom wins.
* In tennis, one loses.
* There is little tennis played in tennis.
* Shot tolerance is low.
* Unforced errors rule the day.
* Sampras, "Kids should start with a wooden racquet."
* O'Shannessey's first four shot concept does not apply to juniors in their formative years.
* Serve plus one is an overused phrase in tennis.
* What ever happen to the phrase, one must learn to construct points.
* Slap-city tennis should NOT be promoted.
* American kids who seldom play on clay, should have practice sessions like they are on clay.
* McEnroe was lucky to learn on clay.
* First-strike tennis is another phrase that is overused.
* Wilander's technique is an excellent example for kids.
* Wilander's learning curve should be understood. He won the French in '82 as a baseliner and by '88 as an all-court player won the Australian, French and US Open.
* Learn to rally, not slap.
* The goal in the rally is to wait for your opponent to miss, hit short or change the direction of the ball.
* The approach shot is the money shot, the volley is the cash in shot.
* For most kids, the approach shot is the anxiety shot.
* One can go to a weekend junior tournament and not see one overhead attempted.
* Juniors can go through three or more years of tournament-play and not attempt one serve and volley point.
* Junior tennis players are like junior soccer players, they don't even know where to stand.
* In little kid soccer, only the goalies know where to be.
* American kids should practice a little soccer everyday, they would be come more athletic and be able to play with their foreign teammates in college.
* Footwork comes before racquet work.
* American kids who aspire to play college tennis need to realize that their competition is not local, it's international.
* Ideally one should miss in a point-ending situation.
* Too high a percentage of junior players have incomplete games, they never play in the forecourt.
* Too high a percentage of junior players run around their backhand from too far back in the court.
* Game-based tennis instruction is first based on money.
* Form-based tennis instruction is becoming obsolete.
* Game-based and form-based should be combined.
* Principle-based tennis instruction should be the norm.
* If a tennis instructor today has a player slow-down and/or self-evaluate check-points for stroke-production, they may lose their job.
* Parents should have a BS-detector for pretentious instructors.
* Parents should beware of the "merchants of flesh" in junior tennis, the coaches recruiting at the grass-root level.
* I understand coaches recruiting in college, I don't understand coaches handing-out business cards at weekend junior tournaments.
* Teaching is information-transfer.
* Players should be taught to teach; after all coaching is not allowed in tournament play.
* When one misses they should know why they missed.
* A set has about 50 points on the average.
* Typically tennis kids have one of two game-styles, push or blast.
* How many times in a junior match do you see someone take a second serve return and end the point with a two-shot combination?
* There typically is no bench in junior tennis.
* Junior tennis players do not have a connection between the brain and the bench.
* Junior players, as a result, keep making the same mistakes. Over and over, they repeat the same blunders.
* Yet parents continue to write another check for another tournament with their fingers crossed hoping that their kid will play differently.
* S #1 Self-Management. There is math for reps and routines.
* S #2 Stroke-production. There is math for grips, swings and body positions.
* S #3 Strategy. There is math for court-positions.
* S #4 Statistics. There is math for aggressive-percentage play.
* S #5 Score. This is generally the only tennis math understood.
* Although, only the final score is understood. Who wins?
* Tilden, "Tennis players are born out of defeat."
* If one were to lose, lose the right way.
* Most college players leave college tennis with the same game that they had upon arrival.
* It was better when freshmen, first yea colleger players could not play varsity. Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe won the US Open and Wimbledon and, as freshmen, they waited in the wings.
* Ask Stan Smith about George Foley? He will tell you he learned how to volley as a freshmen, Foley was his coach at USC.
* Ego kills.
* The two-inch trophy is over-rated.
* Attitude and effort are the only two things one can control.
* It's easy to be the hardest worker. One has to just keep going, put your head down and do more intelligent reps that the person next to you.
* Remember if one hangs out with turkeys, they will never soar like an eagle.
* From Rocky, "Don't be a pretender, be a contender."
* in tennis, players cannot not pretend that they can play. Although, teachers can pretend that they can teach.
* Braden, "Sooner or later, the umpire says, 'Ready Play.' "
* Don't let anyone tell you that you can win without a serve, return, forehand, backhand, volley and overhead.
* Don't let anyone tell you that ball-striking is not important.
* The concept of learn to play and play to learn both have educational merit. Somewhere along the line, learn how to play was dropped within the tennis industry.
* Tennis players don't get what they expect. They get what they deserve.
* One will get out what they put in.
* In junior tennis there is an hour glass and sand is constantly falling. In other words, the clock is always ticking.
* Juniors should monitor their screen-time. Get off the phone.
* Juniors should monitor their heart-rate.
* Dern,"You cannot BS a stop-watch."
* The toughest step is the first one out the door.
* If you don't like to run, take up golf.
* To tennis players, golf is a four letter word.
* Tennis players can take-up golf when they are on the tour and have a million dollars in the bank.
* Take notes. Re-write notes.
* Do just the opposite of what you want to do.
* Obey the one-time rule. Do it the first time you are told.
* Be different.
* Normal has nothing to do with success.
* The most repeated expression from our school of thought is.......... Hungry Dog, Hunts Best.
* If you are thinking that this list was too long, you are thinking like the majority.
* Winning and winning big is for a small, small minority.
* Drive to be in the top 3%.
* Drive to be the best you can be.
* Billie Jean King, "If it is to be, it's up to me."
Thanks for sharing.
Steve Smith | Founder
GreatBase Tennis
EDUCATION
