Nope! Nope! It’s a joke. Of course a donkey could never win the Australian Open in tennis, or the Kentucky Derby! I’m just trying to get your attention! (smile).
It is about the eternal question “Are champions born or made”? And the answer is “Champions are born, not made”! A champion will be a champion because of his genetic makeup and not because someone else did it.
Sure, some of you are saying, ney, ney, you don’t know what you’re talking about! Ok, I respect your opinion, but give me a chance and read on.
To make it easier to understand. Just consider the brain and ask yourself: can everyone who is born male or female be a nuclear scientist or an Einstein? Most of you will agree that the answer is no. The same applies to tennis and everything else. Another example is this rhetorical question, did anyone see a donkey win the Kentucky Derby?
This leads to your question, how about you brag that you coached Jim Courier and gave on-court instruction to players like: Pete Sampras, Cedric Pioline, Tim Mayotte, David Wheaton, Brad Gilbert, Mark Knowles, Doug Flach, Bonnie Gaduzek, David Nankin? , Julie Halard, Mary Pierce and many others? Yes, you’re right, it’s just an ego trip! In all humility, we trainers need knowledge and implementation, but without champions with a special set of genetic qualities, trainers are nothing!
Are you trying to say that all those retinues of experts, psychologists, massage therapists, coaches, guru coaches, strength and speed coaches, dad coaches, mom coaches, physical therapists, could stay home and the players would still play the same? Yes! Just ask Roger Federer, Ken Rosewall or Rod Laver and a host of other great players! Why do you think Paul Anacone was reading the newspaper while Pete Sampras was playing? (This is not a joke about TV match tapes.) Do you think Pete cared? Of course not, the work was done off the court, during the game it was Pete’s turn to perform and win.
Does it also mean that all those “Big Name Tennis Academies” in Florida and around the world can’t make champions? You got it, they can’t! They have a good function and that is to get very rich kids who can afford tens of thousands of dollars a year in school and tennis tuition, a chance to train for a varsity team and, if they’re good enough, get a college. trainer to recruit some of them.
The real champions who go to those academies and then become professional players, they are already champions when they arrive. If those academies could really make champions, there would be hundreds of thousands of tennis champions, considering that some of those academies are visited by over 400 youngsters a week during the summer months and hundreds, if not thousands, spread out over the year. Not to mention mention that at a low estimate there are around 60 million tennis players worldwide and out of such a large pool of tennis players there are only around 30 top notch men and women on the ATP/WTA professional circuits. , while the rest are only participating mothers. .
Here are the winners of the 2007 Men’s and Women’s Tournament. (Note that the number of winners would be reduced to a handful on any given tour if the top five ranked players played low-tier tournaments):
atp men
– Djokovic, Novak 5 – Ljubicic, Ivan 2 – Malisse, Xavier 2 – Ferrer, David 3 – Blake, James 2 – Federer, Roger 7 + Masters – Luis Horna 1 – Baghdatis, Marcos 1 – Andy Murray 2 – Simon, Gilles 2 – Cañas, Guillermo 1 – Haas, Tommy 1 – Youzhny, Mikhail 1 – Monaco, Juan 3 – Chela, Juan Ignacio 1 – Hewitt, Lleyton 1 – Nadal, Rafael 5 – Almagro, Nicolás 1 – Karlovic, Ivo 2 – Mathieu, Paul -Henri 2 – Kohlschreiber, Philipp 1 – Roddick, Andy 2 – Berdych, Tomas 1 – Santoro, Fabrice 2 – Darcis, Steve 1 – Stepanek, Radek 1 – Tursunov, Dmitry 2 – Moya, Carlos 1 – Robredo, Tommy 2 – Gonzalez , Fernando 1 – Gasquet, Richard 1 – Davydenko, Nikolay 1 – Nalbandian, David 2 – Grosjean, Sebastien 1
WTA Women
Dinara Safina 1 – Jelena Jankovic 4 – Kim Clijsters 1 – Anna Chakvetadze 4 – Serena Williams 2 – Martina Hingis 1 – Nadia Petrova 1 – Sybille Bammer 1 – Amelie Mauresmo 1 – Yaroslava Shvedova 1 – Justine Henin 10 – Venus Williams 3 – Roberta Vinci 1 – Emilie Loit 1 – Daniela Hantuchova 1 – Tatiana Golovin 2 – Gisela Dulko 2 – Greta Arn 1 – Ana Ivanovic 3 – Akiko Morigami 1 – Milagros Sequera 1 – Anabel Medina Garrigues 1 – Elena Dementieva 2 – Meghann Shaughnessy 1 – Agnes Szavay 2 – Francesca Schiavone 1 – Maria Sharapova 1 – Agnieszka Radwanska 1 – Svetlana Kuznetsova 1 – Lindsay Davenport 2 – Maria Kirilenko 1 – Virginie Razzano 2 – Pauline Parmentier 1 – Flavia Pennetta 1 – Daniela Hantuchova 1 –
Why then are champions born? I will answer this question in depth in my next article.
In the meantime, remember that speed and strength are very important in tennis, and how fast you are is genetically predetermined at birth by the fast-twitch muscle fibers your ancestors gave you and the balanced strength of your body in general. . So, to reap the benefits of “your” natural innate top speed, you must develop the following good habits:
– Go to an athletics and carefully observe all the routines of the 100 meter athletics runners, they do everything right. Copy your exercises, including stretches and cool downs.
– If you are lucky enough to attend a university or in an area where sprinters abound and you are good enough, ask the coach if you can participate in their speed training program. It is an enlightening experience, I can attest to that!
– Then develop excellent starting technique (similar to 50 meter sprinters)
– Explosiveness (age-appropriate exercises include use of weights, elastics, strength-resistance, etc.)
– Learn to release the tennis racket from the supporting hand and pump like any sprinter over long distances (up to 10 meters across the court – for drop shots, angles)
– Parallel acceleration when advancing your baseline always starts with a big, powerful FIRST step to the incoming wide ball, right foot forehand, left foot backhand – lefties, right foot backhand, left foot forehand , while pushing hard with the opposite foot in the same direction (the ball).
– Use these techniques on the practice court first, then in the points game and finally in the match game.
You should be comfortable with what your top 100 meter speed is, whether it’s 11”, 10.30”, 10 seconds, (or the 50, 20, 10 meters or start reaction time) whatever that is, once what you have achieved in power and technique will be “your” top speed for the rest of your life with very little fluctuation from day to day. The important thing is that you fought and worked hard to achieve that goal and you should be immensely proud of yourself and your tennis will benefit greatly from it. Never compare yourself with others or feel bad for not being as good as so-and-so, measure yourself against yourself and the clock and you will always be happy with your achievements.
Finally, keep in mind that maintaining a high level of excellence requires rigorous discipline and a consistent work ethic throughout life.
All the best to improve your tennis.
Feel free to visit www.tenniscruz.com to watch the video related to this article.
Sergio Cruz
