We launched our new eTennisTeam service last week, and the response has been terrific. eTennisTeam uses the power of the web to help captains/coaches manage and communicate with their teams. eTennisTeam is designed to be a central repository for all essential team information and communication. So captain/coaches, throw away your roster and match spreadsheets, eliminate all the email and phone tag about matches and practices. Players can simply access their Team Home page and update their availability for the whole season in a few seconds. The captain/coach sees everyone's availability in a glance (rather than sorting through the past month's emails from 15 different players). The captain/coach can then generate match line-ups and send out comprehensive emails (including cell phone numbers for last minute coordination) using eTennisTeam's automated web tools.  Before you start your next season, check out how eTennisTeam can simplify your life and improve your team experience.

In competition I think most people would agree that the ultimate objective is to win. This is a natural instinct and one that is in the very deepest layer of our make up as human beings. Everyone seems to want to win. Some people want to win more than others and some people seem to know how to win more than others. Then there are those people like Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, and so on that not only won at their sport of expertise but also won in the business world after their sports careers were over by applying the same principles they learned. Each of these individuals was not only a successful sportsman, but currently running successful multimillion dollar corporations. So what is it about these people? What is it that they have figured out? Is there some secret to their winning both on and off the field of play?

What is it about people like Wayne Gretzky (left), Michael Jordan, and Arnold Palmer that make them winners both on and off the playing field.

Well, the secret to winning both on and off the field is actually no secret at all. It has nothing to do with one's thoughts of winning at the time of the actual competition. All one has to do is to listen, learn, and then apply the same principles that the most successful people in history before them have applied. I truly believe that applying the fundamental commonalities not only to learning technique, but also to tactics, the mental game, and even to life in general will lead all of us to more success both on and off the court.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel, as they say, because the answers are right in front of us. We simply have to take heed and then take action. So let's observe what some of the most successful greats in history have had to say to us and see if we were listening:

Alexander Graham Bell said over 150 years ago, “Concentrate all of your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”

Sir Winston Churchill - “It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

Alexander Graham Bell figured it out over 150 years ago, “Concentrate all of your thoughts upon the work at hand."

Now lets look at the thoughts that two of the greatest sportsman and coaches of all time have shared with us:

Michael Jordan - "I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot... when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.

I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Vince Lombardi - "The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

There are two major principles that these greats are sharing with us.

1. Focus on the now and keep your thoughts in real-time on the task at hand. In tennis this translates into what I like to call “micro thinking,” which means approach each match you play one point at a time. If you want to take the micro focus a bit further then the focal point would be even one ball at a time.
   
   Observe Nadal and Sharpapova if you have the chance. They are the best in the world at this at the moment and from them you can get the idea as they reset after each and every point and get pumped up to give it their all.

2. All one can do is give their absolute best effort and where the cards fall they fall. One should not be concerned or even think about the outcome during competition but rather they should only be thinking about the task at hand.

The bottom line is, one cannot control winning and losing, but one can, however, control effort, attitude, and concentration. The most successful people do not worry about the outcome, but rather they choose to focus upon the execution of the things they can control such as trying to execute their game plan.

Sharpapova may be the best in the world when it comes to micro-focusing.

The last thing I tell my Pro Tour players each and every time before they walk onto the court before a match is a simple but a very direct and meaningful tag line that sums it up quite nicely, “Do It Right and Fight.” This is all we can attempt to do. As long as we are trying to execute our own game plan and fighting with everything we have, whether we win lose, we walk off the battlefield with our heads high, knowing in our hearts we gave it our all both mentally and physically.

So I encourage you to ponder upon the two principles mentioned above and then, more importantly, apply them to your own game both on and off the court. I guarantee you will become a better player and a person for it.

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.

If you wish to be removed from our newsletter list, please send an email to newsletter-unsubscribe@tennisonenews.com and leave the subject line blank. A confirmation email will be sent to you, and you will be removed from our newsletter list once you reply to that confirmation.

Copyright Notice: The contents of the TennisONE web site and contents forwarded to you by TennisONE are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. Republishing of TennisONE content in any way, including framing or posting of these materials on other Web sites, is strictly prohibited. See our full copyright statement

TennisOne Classics

Playing Tennis in the Zone - Scott Ford

ProStrokes: Taylor Dent Sequence

BigScreen TV: Maria Sharapova Sequence

To view ProStrokes and BigScreen TV you need QuickTime player. Click here to download free player.

Current Issue

The Cutting Edge Series - The Ending - Heath Waters

Situation Training - The Baseline Tactics Package - Wayne Elderton

Training the Competitive Mind-set - Happy Bhalla

ProStrokes Gallery: Tommy Haas - Serves

Newsletter Archive