Tips for tourney

[Dunlopkid]

I have a tourney tomorrow. Turns out I'm playing one of my best friends in the first round. We play all the time, and often play doubles. The last time we played in a tourney I won 7-6, 6-2. However, we have played probably 6 sets recently. He has won all 6 of them-five of them were 7-6, and the other one was 7-5. In other words, it seems like if 5 sets went to a tiebreak, I should have won one.

I need tips on beating him tomorrow. First off, mental tips, should we get in another tiebreak.:-(

He's got an all-court game. Big serve, but can be inconsistent of the ground. Comes to the net effectively. Any tips. One thing in my favor: we usually play at my indoor club. The courts haven't been resurfaced in FOREVER, and this benefits his big serve and flat groundstrokes. The courts that we will be playing on tomorrow have just been recently resurfaced. I got to tell myself that if I'm playing him 7-6 on "his" surface, I have a good chance of beating him on a slower counterpuncher surface (comparatively.) Tips, encouragements? I want to win!

[Byakuya]

Relax. Don't defeat yourself before the game even starts. He's your rival so it's time for you to show your stuff.

Don't be scared of big serves. The bigger the serve, the bigger the counterpunch.

Hit the ball down the lines.
Hit the balls deep. Hit them shorter. Front and back to make him move.
Don't be afraid to clear his head with lobs.
Fight for every single point.

and SMILE :)

[Swissv2]

whats your strength against him?

use that as best as you can. ;)

[Trinity TC]

You'll be fine. You can't do anymore homework on this guy so just go out there and work on establishing your game. This is old stuff but just in case you forgot...play the deuce points hard. Win those and your opponent feels the pressure because he's playing from behind in the game. Even if you're down 0-6, 0-5 0-40...you can still come back...so be resourceful and grind it out if you have to.

Oh yeah, one more thing........Kill!...:D

[eunjam]

just relax.

don't think about it too much.

just stay focused and play your game and be consistent.

you obviously have enough game to beat him since you already have.

if you play well and he beats you as opposed to you giving him free points/games, then you've got to give it to him. but hopefully that won't happen.

relax and good luck.

[Rafa's best friend]

How do you prevent yourself from reverting to your old habbits and continue to play aggressively??

[Dunlopkid]

Yeah, I think I need to work on relaxing right now. The weird thing is that we both have the same coach, and he's going to be there. Play consistent tennis. Thanks for the responses guys.

[Dunlopkid]

How do you prevent yourself from reverting to your old habbits and continue to play aggressively??

RBF,

Please stop filling the forum with your meaningless spam posts designed to up your post count. What the heck are you even referring to here?

[TriCitiesTennis]

One of the things that you can do if you yourself have a good all around game is to go to a strategy that is different from that of how you generally just play "sets".

If you play baseline, try some serve and volley early to throw him off.

[Bagumbawalla]

First, I suggest going into the match with the attitude of "relaxed concentration". You know how, sometimes when a serve is out, and you hit it back-- it is a perfect shot because there was no pressure. When the serve is in, sometmes you tighten up and flub it into the net. So, play loose, but with intensity. Play the ball and the court and forget there are two egos out there.

Next, play standard percentage tennis. Keep the ball (and your opponent)deep behind the baseline. Play the long cross court angles, corner to corner. Change up occasionally. Change the pace, spin, throw in a drop shot ect, just so he doesn't groove on your normal stroke.

Take advantage of all short balls and returns where you drive the opponent wide. Hit them for winners into the open court (if you can) and follow the ball to the net for a possible return.

Try to pressure him with your serve to achieve weak returns.

Occasionally slice low to his backhand so he has to dig it up.

As you play be aware of what works and what doesn't and adjust.

Good luck,

B