Some Motivation for frustrated Tennisplayers!

Don‘t Quit !

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Author unknown

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Where are you going Roger?

By  HARTMUT HESSE

What a turn around for Roger (and Rafa) in the past 4 months after winning the Australian Open in great fashion and looking at a possible Grand Slam for the 2010 season.

Now Rogers card house is shattered and he is only no. 3 in the world and 4000 points behind Rafa in the ATP Rankings and chanceless to regain the top spot by the end of the season. But it might be even more devastating for him, that he will realize now that all his great successs in 2009, with regaining his no. 1 ranking, winning the French and Wimbledon after a neck breaking loss to Rafa in the Australian Open Final, was only possible because Rafa did not play or was injured. After the loss at the Australian Open in 2009 Federer was down in tears and everybody was feeling with him and admired that he was not afraid to show his emotions. But I thought that it was a big mistake to show how fragile he really is, when he is playing “Mr. Cool” during his matches all the time. Now not only Nadal saw the weakness in Roger and that it is possible to break him down. Federer’s tears showed every other player how big this loss was and how afraid he was that he might not get Grand Slam victory no. 15 and break Pete’s record, even though he was still young enough. But at this time there was a player he just couldn’t beat anymore, Rafa Nadal. And Rafa was getting better and better and looked like he will wait in each and every big final for Roger. Then Federer got big,big help from the Gods of tennis, and Rafa was stoped with knee injuries and personal problems from his parents divorce. Without this help from destiny, I don’t think that Roger would have been able to beat Nadal in Madrid, take the titles at the French and Wimbledon from Rafa and his No. 1 ranking back.

But he did and everyone was saying how great a champion he is to come back like this. But he did it only because another, maybe even bigger champion… , was not there or able to fight back.

But now Rafa did all that with a healthy Roger in front of him. That is REALLY big!

So, I would like to know how Roger sees all this?!

He was talking of some health problems after Halle, but this makes it even worse, because he is not the only ATP player playing through the pain. Rafa had no time to celebrate his victories at home yet, because he is getting treatment for his knees right now. He had knee problems all year long and still got these great victories! How sweet these titles must feel for him now!?

But what about Roger? What will he make out of all this? If he is honest to himself he will have to realize that he will not win many more Grand Slams unless Nadal and Del Potro are injured. But his wife wants him to play for many more years, so his daughters can see him play. And he himself also said that he loves the game so much, that he wants to play much, much longer. But does he still love the game when he is losing against players he did not lose to before and takes the plane home after the first week of a grand slam?

Well, the US-Open and maybe the ATP Finals are another chance to fight back, but I doubt that he will win one of the events. Maybe he can take some motivation from trying to prove people wrong, when more journalists and experts see him going down. And with his talent he can still win Grand Slams in his 30’s, just like Pete Sampras. But if Nadal stays healthy he has a very big mountain to climb…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

Nadal on Top of the World

by HARTMUT HESSE

Nadal wins his 8^th Grand Slam final and captures his second Wimbledon title to secure a big lead in the ATP world rankings.

He is now almost 4000 points ahead of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who is only ranked at No. 3 for the first time since 2003. And Federer is almost chanceless to take back the top spot from Rafa by the end of this season, which was one of his big goals for 2010 (having the No. 1 spot at the end of the year and breaking Sampras record of 286 weeks at the top of the ATP-Rankings).

What a great turnaround for Rafa Nadal who had to watch how Federer was taking everything away from him last year, while he was in pain about his knee injury and his parents divorce. When Nadal lost to Soderling last year at Roland Garrros due to his bad knees, Roger took this opportunity and captured his first French Open title. And when Nadal had to withdraw from Wimbledon as well and was not able to defend his title from 2008, Federer also took this title from him. But Rafa not only lost these two titles to Roger, he also lost his No. 1 world ranking to Federer without being able to fight for it. What a hard time for Rafa this must have been, especially if you consider that his knee problems could be career threatening.

So, he had to watch how Federer took everything away from him he had worked so hard for. Much harder than Federer ever worked, even though he is always telling everybody how hard he does. But I have seen both practice and I can assure you that Roger does not even come close to Rafas work ethic… He is all about talent.

But all this makes Nadals victories even sweeter and he will enjoy his place on top of the tennis world for the rest of the year. Even if Roger wins all 3 ATP 1000 events, the US-Open and the World Tour Finlas he will probably not be No.1 at the end of the year, because Nadal will play a much better hard court season than before and will also gain more points. And I don’t see him losing to Roger Federer by the end of this year and maby not so soon again at all, unless his knees hold him off again.

Maybe Roger will never be No. 1 again at all and it is time for a new generation of players like Berdych, Soderling and hopefully a soon recovered Del Potro. But if Nadals body is not breaking down, he might sit on top of the world for a long time. Maybe even longer than Pete Sampras…

HARDY HESSE

HESSE TENNIS TRAINING

High Performance Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

WWW.HESSETENNISTRAINING.COM

How To Pace Yourself Like Federer!

One thing that is a big step to success in tennis is to learn how to pace your self through a match. Even more important to be successful in the long run, is to have a smart tournament schedule.

Roger Federer is a true master at this and it is probably the biggest secret to his success.

When ever it matters Federer is on top of his game. Now many people might say, ‘but what happened in Inian Wells, Miami, and Rome!?’

Well, the answer is simple. These tournaments don’t matter for him anymore. He has other goals, and I am sure he will bring himself in the best possible position to reach these goals. His goal is to win Grand Slams, not ATP-1000 events. He only uses these events to get in shape and protect his ranking if he needs to. But right now nobody is threatening his No. 1 spot at all. And his biggest goal is to win a Grand Slam (all four grand slams in one year). He secondary goal is to be the No. 1 at the end of the year. And if he wins all 4 grand slam events he will get 8000 ATP points alone for that and will be No. 1 at the end of the year. On top of that he does not have many points to defend at the ATP world Championships. So, there is another possibility at the end of the year to finish as the No. 1. And even if Nadal proves to be too strong for him again at the French Open. He is very likely to reach at least the final at Roland Garros, which would bring him 1300 points. Probably still enough to be the No. 1 at the end of the year. Even if he falls to another clay court specialist in the semis (which is very unlikely, if we look at the grand slam stats of Roger over the past 5 years…), he will have enough time to get some points at ATP-1000 events on hard court.

The same way he plans his tournament schedule and paces himself to have maximum energy at the start of the slams, he plans and paces his matches. That’s why he does not win his matches 6:0, 6:1, like Nadal, plays so many tie-beaks and close sets. Federer always looks ahead in a set, a match and a tournament. His goals are always long run goals. He is not looking to win a single match in a perfect way. He either wants to win the whole tournament or tries to find his form for future tournaments. When he starts a tournament which he wants to win (let’s say a grand slam) he tries to win the first rounds by loosing as little energy as possible. He does not start a match or tournament with 100%. Even if he gets into trouble, he tries to stay calm and tries to keep playing with maybe 85% energy instead of 80%. Only if he really has to he goes to 100%, but only in the grand slams, not in the preparation tournaments. This saves him a lot of energy and prevents him from being injured. Of course all the pros are good at this and not every player can say that they just focus on the grand slam events. Because they are not No. 1 yet and have not won everything yet. So, for other players it is great to win a smaller tournament or an ATP-1000 event and they don’t care if it takes all the energy out of them for the next tournament (maybe a Grand Slam…). This is the reason Federer might lose to Berdych in a ATP-1000 event. But he will probably never lose to him in a Grand Slam. Federe is not on his maximum fitness level at a ATP-1000 event yet. He is still in a prparation phase at this tournament and he plays with probably 80% of energy to slowly build up his fitness and avoid getting injuries.

The same way he paces himself through the preparation phase of the tournaments before the Grand Slam, he paces himself throughout a match.

Federer does not want to reach his top level 4 weeks before a Grand Slam, because it might be hard to keep the level for 6 weeks. And on top of that he wants the feeling of getting better and better, which creates a positive attitude of improving. Rather than having the feeling of not getting anywhere, by just keeping his form.

It is the same feeling he wants in a match when it comes to 4:4 or 5:5 in the first set. He wants to have the feeling of being able to shift into another gear, rather than being in the top gear already. He tries to sneak himself through the first games, to be able to say to himself that he can play even better when it matters. And at 4:4 with both players holding serve all the time it really matters and the player who has another gear left, will win the set.

So, Federer is a master at planning his matches and tournaments. But what can junior players learn from him?

The first thing a junior player has to do is set his goals. And not only his goals for a tournament, but all his goals. His long term goals. Once you know your goals you can start planning how to reach them.

Of course a junior tennis player has much more ahead of him then a pro, because he still has to learn, improve and develop his game-style. And play at the same time… And win some…Not easy!

Much more complicated than the tournament and goal setting for Roger Federer!

A junior player has not each his potential yet. He still explores how hard he can hit the ball (and this changes from day to day as he still grows and get fitter) and how fats he can run and how much pain he can take throughout a match and a tournament and a whole year…

So, it is more a matter of trying out to find out and this makes it more difficult to pace himself at the same time.

Roger Federer knows exactly what he can do and what he can not do. He knows what happens when he plays a 4 hour match in the first round of a slam and how his chances decrease of winning the slam in the end. He knows when he is getting close to injure himself, be going to close to 100%. And he knows where his 100% are. A junior player still tries to find out where his 100% is…

You see that it is very difficult to make the right decisions without having any experience of your limits yet.

So, how do you do it?!?

Well, you need a person who is able to compare your abilities to other players abilities and has experience in how much a junior at this age and strength can take. And that is an experienced coach. He will have a good feeling for you energy level and will make sure that you pace yourself right to reach your long term goals.

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

ATP-1000 Rome Preview by Hartmut Hesse

Today I want to take a look at the draw for the 2^nd ATP 1000 clay-court tournament of the season.

The first Masters series event was won by Rafa Nadal, but 5 of the top 10 players were not in the draw because of different reasons. Federer felt that the tournament comes to early for him in his preparation for the French and some other big names were injured (Del Potro, Davydenko, Soderling) or did not feel like playing on clay at all (Roddick).

But now at least Federer is ready to make his start on clay for the 2010 season and if both win, he will meet Nadal in the semis’ already.

But besides this interesting semi-final match up, there are some other very exciting possibilities in the draw. First of all Federer might face Baghdatis (if Marcos beats Gulbis for a 5^th time in a row…) in his opener and he can take revenge for his loss in Indian Wells. In the Quarters Roger might face Cilic, who was not as convincing on clay yet, as at the Australian Open in the beginning of the year. But it will be a good indication for Cilic’s potential to reach the top 5 some day, and a tough test for Federer. But Cilic will also have to beat a tough clay-court player like Almagro to get to the quarters.

Nadals section of the draw is also very interesting, since his opener will be against Kohlschreiber, then maybe Montanes and in the quarters either red hot Berdych, who like to play against Nadal, especially in his current form. Or a rematch of last years’ French Open disaster, with Robin Soderling, who just proved that his clay-court abilities were no fluke, when he reached the final in Barcelona. So, a tough draw section for Nadal, and he will be happy that he made a wise decision and did not play in Barcelona. He will be rested for these matches and he needs to, if he wants to be still fresh, when he plays Federer in the semi-final.

The bottom half of the draw might see a quarterfinal between Novak Djokovic, who is seeded No. 2 and Barcelona winner Fernando Verdasco. But Verdasco played the final in Monte Carlo already and I don’t think his legs are still fresh enough to make another splash in Rome, even though he has a pretty good draw, with only Youzhny in his way. But so does Novak and I see him winning against Verdasco this time.

In the other section there will be a rematch between De Bakker and Tsonga in the second round and De Bakker has to prove if his great performance in Barcelona was not just a one-hit-wonder. Tsonga will be eager to take revenge and it will be an exciting match for sure. Murray runs into Ferrer again and has to prove that he is one of the contenders for the French Open. I doubt it and see Ferrer winning against him in the round of 16. Even though he also played 2 events already, I still see him with enough left in the tank to reach the semi-final, where he will face Djokovic.

So, here is my prediction:

It’s Nadal over Federer and Ferrer over Djokovic. So, another Spanish winner in the 3 big clay-court event of the year. Nadal will take the title, because the other Spanish players just have too much respect for Nadal to beat him in a final.

This win will give Nadal even more confidence and make him the clear favorite for the French Open, even if Federer should win in Madrid again like last year.

Let’s see if I am right… ;)

Hardy Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals

Barcelona Analysis

The first two clay court tournaments are finished and as I expected the winners carry a Spanish passport. First it was a dominant Nadal who lost only 14 games on his way to a 6^th straight title in Monte Carlo. And now it is Fernando Verdasco, the finalist in Monaco, who took the title in Barcelona.

Even though some of the big names (Federer, Del Potro, Davydenko, Roddick) did not play in these two tournaments, the first two clay court tournaments gave us a good indication, who will be among the contenders at the French Open this year. I see 4 names that are very likely to go deep into the draw at Roland Garros. First of al it is Nadal, who gained confidence over the last tournaments and has to be considered a clear favorite for the French Open. Then it is Fernando Verdasco, who reached two finals on clay and won one of them. He might be ready for a big win against a top 4 player at the French. And then it is David Ferrer, who always fights like a warrior on clay and deserves to reach a semi-final at the French. Nr. 4 is Robin Soderling, who does not have the typical clay-court game (and is the only one without a Spanish passport…), but proved last year already that he can dominate players with his hard an flat ground-strokes, even on the clay-courts at Roland Garros.

But there is another new name, who made a strong impression at Barcelona. Thiemo De Bakker, from the Netherlands might be the new kid on the block in this year’s clay-court season. He beat Tsonga in Barcelona and will improve his ranking a lot with his semi-final appearance in Barcelona. Let’s see if he can keep his momentum in Rome.

But it will be even more interesting to see if Federer can find his form in Rome. He will run into Nadal in the semi finals already and if he and Nadal really get there, we will see how good Nadals win in Monte Carlo really was. And if Roger is able to get back into shape by the push of a button.

Hartmut Hesse

Hesse Tennis Training

Professional Training and Coaching for Top Juniors and Professionals