February 1, 2010
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"What's New" Product Video - from Tennis Warehouse - Wilson Six-One 95 BLX Racquet
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Lesson from Serena & Justine: Let the Children Play Joel Drucker Once upon a time an eleven-year-old girl showed up at a tennis facility. Imagine that she was barely five feet tall and so waif-like and shy it was easy to mistake her for a little boy. Her brown eyes, though, displayed laser-like intensity, as she threw herself into her self-taught, whippy one-handed backhand, hung on the local coach’s every word, and played one practice set after another.
At the same time, thousands of miles away, a girl from a neighborhood hardly associated with tennis was force-fed by an insistent father. She and her sister had been handed racquets at such a young age she would never remember it not being a part of her life. But she’d also been given something else extraordinary: the idea that she was destined to be a champion – and that to reach that pinnacle, junior tennis was scarcely relevant and that she should aim as high as possible. I’m talking, of course, about Australian Open finalists Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Over the span of two compelling weeks here in Melbourne, these two emphatically showed what makes them stand out from so many of their peers – and in so doing, displayed an approach to player development with profound implications for players, parents, and instructors. The genius in Serena’s ascent has been attitudinal. I don’t think it’s wise to skip junior tournaments. And I’m constantly underwhelmed by the entire Williams’ family’s non-engagement with much of the craft and nuance of our sport (her mother Oracene admits she’s felt like sleeping during her girls’ matches). But anyone from a beginner to an aspiring pro to current Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players can learn volumes from her extraordinary confidence. Perhaps in some ways Serena’s self-belief is like something out of the “The Wizard of Oz,” wherein the scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion all summon up, respectively, intelligence, heart, and courage once they are told they possess them. More crudely, Serena had so much smoke blown up her butt at a young age that self-belief for her is no mere software product – it’s embedded in her operating system.
Contrast this with the downward spiral taken in Melbourne by many players. This was most notable when Victoria Azarenka led Serena by a set and 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Once Serena began making her charge, Azarenka vanished. Ditto for a whole slew of Russians who emotionally disintegrated when the stakes got high – Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva. Alas, it’s a shame that these hardworking players from a nation of rich literature mostly have mastered only composition. In other words, so often they are mere ball-strikers rather than tennis players. Which leads me to the case of Henin. Far more than Serena, her genius has come from seeing the game inside the lines. But I strongly doubt a Justine Henin would ever emerge from Russia or the United States. Players in these nations are often sold down the river by coaches who instruct narrowly and parents who value the game more for its extrinsic rewards (money, scholarships) than its intrinsic values (self-reliance, hard work, exercise). Consider if someone with Henin’s size and approach to the game showed up at a clinic or group workout. Would anyone have truly exposed her to a wide range of spins, or volley, or all-court movement? Doubtful. I wonder, for example, if third-ranked American Melanie Oudin, for example, was ever taught how to serve-and-volley or chip-and-charge as an occasional tactic. I once heard a story about how Dinara Safina’s mother watched Fabrice Santoro play and called his style, “anti-tennis.”
Alas, a pint-sized Justine would likely be more encouraged to hit a two-handed backhand and become a consistent baseliner -- the playing style the vast majority of American girls (and a goodly number of boys) have more or less been issued since the Chris Evert era. It’s a style that rapidly generates steadiness and soon enough can earn a few wins. But is it a style that builds the broadest set of tools and keeps a player mentally engaged with the game? This is where Justine’s ascent in Belgium is the best thing that could have happened to her. From talking with her longstanding coach, Carlos Rodriguez, I’ve learned that she had the freedom to experiment and build a playing style that worked for her – and, yes, in time yielded superb results. But I’m less concerned with Henin’s results than her process: her willingness to explore so many of the game’s riches. I dare our society of narrow-minded instructors and results-driven parents to spend less time on short-term wins and more on long-term, sustainable, positive engagement with the sport. That to me is the big lesson from seeing this distinctive Belgian return to tennis in Australia. As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
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