Early Rounds Australian Open 2010

In college, lineup issues were always a problem before matches, and our coach had a simple solution "Just Win". The top 3 were pretty much set, but the bottom 3 singles spots were up for grabs, and we had to play challenge matches all week to get into the starting lineup, even though we had a lot of talented players, we didn't have the many that were match tough. When things got sticky, there was no question of the fight in any of us, but it was the ability to control our own emotions, controlling those inner demons, and responding to the pressure of the match, and the pressure of pulling through for not just yourself but your team. I ended up pulling out all my challenge matches that week, even though I knew there 2 guys that were probably better than me, and I got that first start, and our first match was against the number 1 team in our conference. We played doubles first, and my partner and I got killed 8-3, then I played my first singles match at the division 1 level and got absolutely obliterated 6-0, 6-0. I couldn't hold my racquet and nothing was working. I was never very good at controlling those match nerves, that's because I practiced the wrong way. I hit too conservatively and depended too much on speed and consistency to grind out points, and at higher levels, that doesn't work, you need weapons, you need point changing strokes, or something that changes the dynamic of the point. I didn't have that, so I make it my mission as a coach to teach my students to be aggressive and hit the ball through the court. So few players are successful at high levels of tennis being counter punchers and retrievers, but at the same token great strokes don't mean anything if you don't know how to construct a point, so keep watching these early rounds at the Australian Open and you'll see in both the men's and women's game the difference between the seeded players and the unseeded players. The great players move and react much better and construct points effectively, playing high percentage tennis. Already a seed has been taken out, Maria Sharapova got taken out by a player who played much higher percentage of tennis, Sharapova's footwork was a little off and that's the difference between winning and losing. Her strokes are very flat and long, and if her footwork isn't great on that particular day, she'll start to spray balls all over the place, just like she did today. Keep watching, more thoughts to come.