Mental Toughness - Starting Strong
The keys to getting a good start happen prior to taking the court. You need to be well rested, eat healthy meals, and have activity the day before to make for a good nights rest. Feel good about yourself by wearing clothes you feel confident and comfortable in. The process on picking out clothes should be done the night before.
Make sure to wake up with plenty of time to get dressed, eat a smart meal that is light but will last through that match. The meal must be enjoyed. Make sure that you have enough time to get to a match 20-30 minutes before it starts. Your drive must be relaxing with the focus and excitement based on the fun you will have on the court. All of these elements will improve your match results prior to your arrival.
Once you arrive the key is to warm yourself up. There is a chance a court may not be available so make sure to carry a few items to help. Carry a jump rope to warm up your entire body before the match, be careful to not overdue your pre-match warm-up.
Second have a sock racket in which you can use to warm up your shoulder and arm for serving. Last have surgical tubing to stretch your rotator cuff and arms. If you forget these items take a slow jog with side shuffle and grapevines, swing your racket in a relaxed serving motion, and pick a line to jump forward and back and side to side over.
Once you reach the court introduce yourself to your opponent(s) spin the racquet for serve, return, and sides. This will get the match started as soon as the warm-up concludes. Start the warm-up with short court first to get control of your shots. Use topspin and underspin on your shots up from the service line for 2 minutes. This will prevent the on court warm-up from being a ball chasing fest.
Once you are controlling your shots have one player back up to the baseline with the other starting at the net. The player on the baseline should hit controlled ground strokes as the net player is hitting controlled volley's back. After 2 minutes ask for some overheads and this will give the baseliner a chance to warm-up the lob. Take as many overheads as you need as this is good for your serve warm-up also. Once finished switch baseline and net positions and repeat. You should have 2 minutes left for serves.
Players should serve at slow speeds to warm-up and if you are making the practice serves continue to increase your speed until you start to miss and then slow it down. Practice placement over power with these serves. Each player should hit, catch the serve, and hit back this is not time to practice returns unless you are first to return and you feel confident in your serve placement. You and your opponent are now ready to start the match. If you followed all of the above you are well rested, your body is well nourished, and you are properly warmed-up to start.
