Here is how to do it (and why most don't)
Here is how to get the one point that you are seeking:
#1 - get down to 8-10% bodyfat or less. You can't afford to be carrying extra weight or you will hurt yourself in the stress of the hard training. This is the point where you look down and see the hollywood six pack of abs. All rising and current tennis pros have it, and maybe the falling ones don't anymore and that partly explains why they are falling. This will take you anywhere from 3-6 months depending on how out of shape you are now. This will come with 80% diet and 20% exercise. Once you have acheieved this, you will have an A+ bodybuilder diet and a great exercise regimine as your base to begin the next steps.
#2 - build a huge cardio base. Work up to the point where you are 40+ miles per week. You will be running 6 days per week and have a combination of a long run (15+miles), a tempo run (6-8 miles at 80% max HR) and speed work (10 800's @ 95% max HR). The other three days will be easy/recovery runs with one rest day. Depending on your shape, this will take 3+ months to get to this point. A good test to see if you are ready for the next step is when you can run a mile sub 5:50, 5K sub 20 minutes and a half marathon sub 1 hr 35 min. Once you pass this test, you are ready to move on.
#3 Hit the gym hard. You need a ton of fast twitch muscle in your lower and upper body. You will achieve this by doing supersets and cicuits alternating days with upper body and lower body. Lower body exercises will be power squats, lunges, calf raises hip flexors and abductors. Upper body will be mainly core and back, along with wrist/forearm with a little chest and arms. This will be about 3 months. Your body will look a bit like a boxer once you are done with this phase. Next you will be ready to begin the tennis specific training
#4 Find a great coach that you can work with a minimum of 3x per week for 1.5 hours per session. Plan you budget to be about $500 per month minimum for this service. Your coach will analyze your game and more than likely have you start over completely and teach you the basics, which will start with very fast and explosive footwork and and cat like reflexes. Even with all of the prep you did in steps 1-3, you will walk away from the training feeling like you body was run over by a truck, but since you put in your time with the diet, cardio and weights, you will recover quickly and make gains without getting injured. after about 6 months of training like this, you will begin to get muscle memory and be taking split steps on every shot without even thinking about it. You will instictively explode on the first and last step with every ball you hit. You will will take large steps and follow them up with tiny steps. You will wear out your shoes about a pair per month. You will get smart and purchase your shoes 6 pairs at a time. You will rarely even touch your heels on the tennis court. Plan on 6months to one year to get to this point, depending on your mental strength.
#5 Once you are ready, your coach will teach you the technical aspects of the 5 types of shots. forehand, backhand, volley, overhead and serve. Then you will hit over 10,000 balls before the muscle memory kicks in and you can do them instinctively. You will hit 100 forehands crosscourt and miss 5 or less and no pushing. They will all be deep with topspin. Then you will do backhands and volleys. Once you can sustain this, you will have decent rally shots. Then you will work volleys, overheads and serves. You will work your serve on your own time, 4x per week 100 1st serves to both sides with 60% in and 100 2nd serves to both sides with 98% in. Plan on 6 months to achieve this
#6 Next you will hit the tournaments. You will crush everyone so bad at a 4.5 tournament that it will not even be fun. You will find that you can hit winners without even bending your knees or even raising your heart rate. You will never touch a 4.5 tournament again. In the opens, you will win the matches and it will feel just like the training that you have been doing. You will realize that you play in the matches exactly the same way you have been hitting in training. No such thing as a good day and a bad day anymore. The variation in your game is minimal, and you act on instinct and not on emotion.
7# Next you hit the qualies of the futures. Here it is a whole new game because you are facing some big leage spin and pace and variety that not even your coach was giving you. Your instincts tell you what to do and you have to rely on your fitness to get you to the ball every time. You will realize that you belong here, but everyone will play hard and the competition will be fierce. The mental toughness is what will win in the end along with a little luck and the wise shot selection on the few key points.
from here the only way to elevate your game is to take your fitness to a new level and to increase mental toughness
Those are the steps to get a few ATP points, and only in that order with no shortcuts. The adaptability of the human body is absolutely incredible and the honest truth is that most people are actually capable of achieving it, but the reason that 99.9% do not is because who would actually committ put themselves through the process described above, which is torturous to say the least.
