I enjoyed your comments. I'll submit a clarification. Humbleness doesn't fit me. Bragging doesn't either. Straightforward does. I can be gracious (sometimes). I never celebrate after hitting a winning highlight shot. I merely did what I'm supposed to do. I never play gamesmanship. But I've yelled in anger at my opponent and the chair umpire with a clean, short, deserved, one-sentence admonishment.
And I've sternly admonished students and scolded: "I tell you to quit slapping with your backhand, the forehand the same, and then after a few more balls, you go back to uncontrolled slapping, accomplishing nothing but wildly swinging at the wind. If that's the way you want to hit, then I'm through with you. You can find another instructor who will be pleasant with your slaps. That's not me. It's your choice. On improving, if improving is what you want, you'll experience some of what I and many talented players have been through in the developing. I know the physical and the mental involved in tennis. And the mental controls the physical. I've posed to you questions without a question mark. It's up to you to answer to yourself."
In the instructing, I never ask a player what the player wants to work on, neither before a beginning lesson or before later lessons. I mean to improve a student's overall play. I cut out the bad to allow healing. To be certain, I'm not a band-aid instructor. A single teaching session provides nothing permanent for the student. And the students choose me by reputation - word gets around. So they ought to know what they're in for.
For example, in a first lesson, on a outside court island far away from outside distraction, I hit several balls to a student's forehand. I saw major problems but said nothing. I hit several balls to the backhand. I saw major problems and said nothing. But on the backhand, the student remarked, "That's my weakness. That's what I want to work on." I didn't acknowledge, then tell the pupil to position at the baseline center. I then hit a slow, looping ball to the forehand side requiring the student to take a step and the next ball (not in rapid fire) to the backhand requiring a step or so past the center mark and on went the continuous process, which didn't last very long.
The waist-bending, tentative, lunging student was noticeable fatigued after five alternations with only three returns, sluggish returns, landing near death inside the service line. The other seven attempts fell dead on her side of the court. I'd seen enough and the two of us went to the sideline with the fatigue-struggling student sitting down on a bench and me standing. I reminded, "Tennis requires movement to a hitting positioning. Without proper positioning, a player won't have much success returning a ball. Furthermore, let's imagine a waiting, eager player near or beyond the baseline who takes off in full horizontal flight to catch a wide shot. The conditioned player gets in a perfect hitting position yet still striding, and with his body and racket extended, strikes a line-drive crosscourter or perhaps a linear shot landing safely at the near corner for a winner. The player's running positioning provided a choice.
"What I'm saying, positioning is critical, a tennis fundamental, to play your best. Conditioning is critical, a tennis fundamental, to attain best positioning. So many fundamentals, all critical, more than just watching the ball. However, 'watching the ball' isn't really a fundamental. But moving into position and locking your eyes and mind hard on the coming ball, fundamental. A big difference between 'watching the ball' and 'zeroed in,' wouldn't you say. And The Greatest Athlete on the planet won't excel and last in any sport without mastering the sport's fundamentals, physical and mental."
Before returning to the court, I added, "You've got a lot of matters to work on besides backhand, don't you. Remember I'm the authority and you've got a lot to learn and apply."
The student, a slim 40-year-old woman, laughed and agreed and screamed, "I'm pumped!"
The love of the sport.
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