Bernard Tomic, the up-and-coming Australian Tennis Professional, made the following comment following the thumping he received from Rafa Nadal in the Australian Open:
"To win one point against him (Rafa) I had to hit 3 shots, any one of which would have won a point against anyone else I have ever played!"
My question is: What should Bernard (and we) learn from this statement?
(Think about this before proceeding)
To me, the interesting thing about this statement is that the solution to this and the lesson for Mr. Tomic is exactly the opposite of what seems obvious.
On the surface it would seem that Mr. Tomic should work on his put-aways, but should he? Is that the lesson? I think not.
We all know that Rafa can play defense and is willing to do so. But, what is also being said here is that, despite all the emphasis on the importance of offense, why couldn't the WORLD NUMBER 1 and perhaps the greatest player of all time, just hit a winner on the 2nd or 3rd ball and save himself a bunch of running and trouble?
The reason Rafa plays such good defense is that he has learned what so many coaches and recreational players haven't or don't want to hear--to hit an offensive shot requires the ability to wait for a relatively rare set of circumstances to present themselves.
To do that requires a willingness to be steady and play defense.
I would hope this wasn't lost on Mr. Tomic and he is on the court right now working on his defense and not out there trying to make his offense better. If he is he is learning from the best. If he isn't then don't count on hearing much of him in the future.
Next question--have you learned that lesson?
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Maile Ford
Maile is Malia's mother and Frank's (far) better half! This shot was taken during a volley lesson, a lesson that she learned well as you can tell by her terrific technique.
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Kyle Weldon
This is a great shoulder high backhand volley. Good Balance, level shoulders and just the right amount of orientation. Also of note is the perfect arm/wrist structure. This is a nice shot!!
Joel Friedman
After a short hiatis from tennis, Joel bring his beautiful two-handed on both sides game to our family. Here he is hitting a forehand.
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Donna, a strong 4.0 singles and doubles player, has just joined the Saturday Doubles Clinic. This is a nicely executed backhand volley.
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Petra, one of the top Graphic Artists and Web Site Designers anywhere, excutes a perfect backhand groundstroke.
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Jo, another top 4.0 and a long time friend and student, here shows us all how to hit a perfect serve.
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Janet is the other half of the dynamic duo from Lahaina and a top 4.0 doubles player. She is also a regular Sectionals and tournament participant.
Cindy Tervola
Cindy has been a well-known player in Maui tennis for a long time. She competes successfully at the 4.0-4.5 levels. She is now with us, from her home in Lahaina, to work a bit on her volley game (which was good already) to add to already deadly groundies and serves.
Debra Lordan
Deb is the Editor and General Manager of the cool Maui Weekly newspaper. Deb has only been playing a few years, but has already qualified regularly for Sectionals and Nationals. Here she is hitting a terrific mid-height forehand volley. Nice balance, shoulder position and arm structure.
Dave Nelson
Dave, a former college baseball player, recently joined us as a memeber of the Thursday evening men's clinic.
Persis Hataria
Persis is a member of the Tuesday night clinic. Here she is practicing her high close-in volley. Persis has been steady improving lately and has had a nice string of league wins.
Jeff Smith
Finally we got a shot of Jeff. This is a really nice backhand drive.
Kevin Puliatch
"Lefty Kevin" executing a difficult low volley .
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Maile Ford, Diane Grogan, Debra Lordan, Valerie Lewis, and Persis Hataria
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Ba Aye Rajan
Ba Aye, hitting a nice mid-court open stance pick-up in excellent balance and ball relationship.
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John is a long-time friend, here hitting a nice volley.
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Even though Bill is a well known character in Maui tennis, very few know that he is one of the foremost racquet and stringing experts in the world. He was the owner of Westwood Sporting Goods in Westwood, Ca., a famous tennis shop in serious tennis circles. His son now runs the shop.
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3 comments:
Yes, the hard way. I love to hit the ball hard but with that comes way too many errors. I've learned be more consistant. The other lesson I have learned is that as I play higher level players, winning shots are no longer winning shots. I've learned to be ready for the ball to come back on all my shots. What I am still learning is that a good shot of mine that may be a winner for a lower level player not only can come back to me defensively but can actually come back as a winner if I'm not ready.
Beautifully said. Continuing to learn and grow after success has come is one of the marks of a good player!
I think the biggest lesson is patience. That includes shot selection, trigger points, going to the net, growth in my personal game, and the learning curve. I'm sure there are a million more points that need patience, but I can only be patient for so long! (lol)
Without patience, there is no game.
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