Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert (E

Description: Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert, Steve Jamison Brad Gilbert has become one of the world's greatest tennis players by "winning ugly"—analyzing and capitalizing on an opponent's weakness. Now Gilbert shows how to think better—and win more often—on the court. "Winning Ugly is great. These are pro tactics that will improve a recreational player's game fast".—Pete Sampras. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description He's been called the best in the world at the mental game of tennis. Brad Gilbert's strokes may not be pretty, but looks aren't everything. He has beaten the Tour's biggest names — all by playing his "ugly" game.Now, in "Winning Ugly" Gilbert teaches recreational players how to win more often without necessarily even changing their strokes. The key to success, he says, is to become a better thinking player — to recognize, analyze, and capitalize. That means outthinking opponents before, during, and after a match; forcing him or her to play "your" game. Gilbert's unconventional advice includes:How to identify the seven "Hidden Ad Points," and what to do when they come upSix reasons why you should never serve firstHow to beat a Lefty, a Retriever, a Serve-Volley player, and other troublesome opponentsHow to keep a lead, or stop a match from slipping awayHow to handle psyching and gamesmanship"Winning Ugly" is an invaluable combat manual for the court, and its tips include "some real gems," according to "Tennis" magazine. Ultimately, "Winning Ugly" will help you beat players who have been beating you. Author Biography Brad Gilbert is considered by most experts to be the worlds foremost tennis strategist and tactician. He became Andre Agassis coach in 1994, and twelve and a half months later Agassi had rocketed from number thirty-two to number one in the world and won two Grand Slam titles. Recently Gilbert was voted Americas number one tennis coach. He lives in San Rafael, California, with his wife and two children. Table of Contents Contents Preface: Winning Ugly? McEnroe: A Master Loses Ugly I THE EARLY EDGE: The Match Begins Before the Match Begins 1. Mental Preparation: The Pre-Match Advantage 2. Tools of the Trade: How Equipment Can Help You Win 3. Stretching for Success 4. The Microwave Warm-up: Defrost Your Strokes Quick 5. Four "Nervebusters": Overcoming Pre-Match Nervousness 6. Start Smart: Grabbing the Early Lead II PLAYING SMART: Finding a Way to Win 7. The Key to Victory 8. Destroying Your Opponents Game Plan 9. The Seven Hidden Ad Points 10. The Players Pit Stop: Stroke Repair 11. Learning From the Legends III MIND GAMES, PSYCHING, AND GAMESMANSHIP: Tales From the Tour 12. The Masters of Rage: Connors and McEnroe 13. Lendls Lethal Weapon 14. Agassi: Breaking the Speed Limit 15. How to Handle Hooking 16. A Million-Dollar Match: War With Wheaton 17. Tournament Tough All the Time 18. The Road to Number One 19. Andre Agassi on "Winning Ugly" Review Quote " Winning Ugly is great. These are pro tactics that will improve a recreational players game fast. Winning Ugly teaches how to play better tennis and is very entertaining." --Pete Sampras Excerpt from Book Chapter 1 Mental Preparation: The Pre-Match Advantage Turning Pro: Young and Innocent One of the first lessons I learned when I turned pro in 1982 was how much of an edge could be gained before the match even got started. It became obvious to me that for the best players in the world their match had begun a long time before the first serve. They came ready to play and wanted to grab me by the throat as soon as they could. As a member of the tennis teams at Foothill Junior College and Pepperdine, I liked to just show up and play. Id settle into the match mentally and physically during the first set. A lot of times I could get away with it because my opponent was doing it too. Do you approach your matches the same way? On tour this wasnt such a good idea. The slow start didnt work against McEnroe, Lendl, Connors, and some of the veterans. By the time I got settled into some of those matches, the match was already over. One time I started out by losing the first sixteen points of the match. It was over so fast I almost didnt need to take a shower afterwards. Brutal -- I was learning the hard way. The top players came expecting to have me for lunch, and theyd been thinking about taking that first bite since they found out I was on the menu. Four or five games to work up an appetite? They arrived ready to eat. The main course? Glazed Gilbert. Being down a couple of breaks early, with no rhythm, no plan, no continuity, put me at too great a disadvantage. I was clobbered regularly by the smart guys on tour. They knew something I didnt. Start Your Match Before It Begins What I discovered by looking, listening, and losing was simple. The guys making money out there started honing in on their target (me, for example) before the target was even in sight. The smart ones were consciously and subconsciously reviewing information about the opponent ahead of them as soon as they knew who that player was. The process began hours before the match. The smart players wanted to seek and seize advantage as early as possible. And they wanted to do it in as many ways as possible. For them, one of the big opportunies was good mental preparation. And that means early mental preparation. When Does Your Warm-up Begin? Let me tell you when the warm-up doesnt begin. It doesnt begin when you arrive on the court. It may for your opponent, but it shouldnt for you. A smart player starts to prepare for the match on the way to the match, or even before. The warm-up should continue on into the locker room and out onto the court. The warm-up begins with your brain. Your mind is usually the last part of you to get activated (if it gets activated at all). Players stretch incorrectly for a minute, hit a couple of forehands, and three serves, and its "Lets start." They barely warm up the body, but thats more attention than they give to their mental preparation. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and tennis players waste it all the time. Get into the habit of evaluating your opponent and thinking about the match before you arrive at the court. If you drive to the match your car is the place where your warm-up begins. If you walk to the courts, then the sidewalk is where it happens. No matter what, your warm-up starts on the way to the match. For me it can begin even earlier than that. The night before a match Ill be in my hotel room thinking about the next days competition. Ill actually play points out in my mind. I can see myself making shots and winning points. I visualize points weve played in the past. Ill see myself making specific shots against that player. Its almost like watching a videotape of segments of a match. In the morning Ill continue the process. That little five-minute warm-up you see before a match begins for the players on tour is probably misleading. It looks like we just trot out to the court with that big bag over our shoulder, hit for a couple of minutes, and start the match. For most of us the process has been going on throughout the day -- hitting, stretching, loosening up, a massage, and most of all, that mental review. The Pre-Match Mental Checklist Whether I won or lost to a player in our last match, I want to think about the reasons. How did I beat him? What does he do with his shot selection and pattern? Does he attack? Is he a retriever? Does he serve big? Whats his return of serve like? Did I make mistakes against him last time? What kind and why? What shots are his best? His worst? Was he forcing me to do something that bothered me? Does he start strong and get too cautious on pressure points? Was it a close match? Were the points long? I review everything that pertains to my opponents game (as far as strokes and shot tendencies are concerned). It is also important to consider the "personality" of the game your opponent produces. What does he do to affect the atmosphere, mood, or tempo of the match? Is she very slow between points? Does he get emotional? Does she protest a lot of calls? Is he great when he gets a lead, but not so great when hes losing? Do your opponents give you a lot of small talk on changeovers, taking your mind off the match like McEnroe tried to do to me? Do they always show up ten minutes late? Do they rush through the warm-up and want to start the match as soon as possible? Prepare yourself mentally for the "stuff" certain players bring with them into the match. I want to be mentally and emotionally set for the fast play of Andre Agassi or the deliberate methodical match tempo of Ivan Lendl. I want to be ready for the temperamental outbursts of Connors and McEnroe or the stonefaces of Michael Chang or Jim Courier. It makes a big difference to me because Im better able to control my own game plan, tempo, and composure if I know whats likely to be happening on the other side of the net. Believe me, it can make a huge difference, as youll see later. The Game Plan This process of review will lead me right into the equally important process of planning my strategy: 1. What do I want to make happen? 2. What do I want to prevent from happening? By evaluating my opponent I start solidifying my own approach to the match. As I review their game style and strokes Im preparing my basic game plan. If they broke down my backhand last time Ill be thinking about how to prevent the same thing from happening this time. If their serve is weak Im alerting myself and going over how to take advantage of that. Im planning a specific approach for that specific player. All of this before I even see them at the court. Set Your Compass Your body will try to do what your mind tells it to do. In this pre-match review youre programming your mind to give the body correct information once the match begins and things start happening quickly under fire. Youre setting the course you want to take to arrive at your destination. That destination is victory. In its most basic form your plan evolves as you answer these questions: 1. What is my opponents best weapon? 2. Where is my opponent weak? 3. What is my best shot and how can I direct it at my opponents weakness? 4. What can I do to keep my opponent away from my own weakness? Your pre-match effort creates a mental compass. You know where you want to go and how youre going to get there. There may be detours along the way, your opponent may present some surprises, you may get lost, but the basic route is laid out in your head in advance and your mental compass keeps you on course. (Coming up Ill show you how following this procedure helped me beat both Boris Becker and Jimmy Connors, in totally different ways.) Even if you tend to play the same people over and over (your tennis buddies) it is still important to zero in on the specific player for a particular day. Get your mind on that one player. If youre playing each other regularly it can be even more advantageous to review and refine your tactics because youve got a backlog of information. Thats when it really starts to get interesting. Watch the tour players. The great ones are very intent on getting off to a good start because they know that it can often set the tone for the entire match. Getting the other player under your thumb right out of the chute puts them in a "catch up" position. Sometimes theyll recover. A lot of times they wont. And thats what you want to do to your opponent. As early as possible you want to force them to be considering the idea that "maybe its just not gonna be my day today." It can happen very early, believe me. Your pre-match preparation and visualization can make you the one somebody else is trying to catch up to. Youre thinking, "Hey, Brad. Gimme a break! Ive got a life. I cant be thinking about tennis all the time." Thats right. But what Im talking about takes less than ten minutes of attention on the way to your match and then the effort of following a plan once you get there. Maybe you can squeeze that in for opponents you really want to beat. By giving yourself a good chance to start right youre giving yourself a good chance to finish right. Thats worth the extra attention. Let me take you through my own mental preparation exactly as Ive used it before important matches. Preparation on Tour: Becker and Connors (Different Strokes for Different Folks) When I started seriously Details ISBN067188400X Author Steve Jamison Publisher Fireside Books Language English ISBN-10 067188400X ISBN-13 9780671884000 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY 796.342 Year 1994 Publication Date 1994-01-31 Short Title WINNING UGLY Pages 227 Imprint Touchstone DOI 10.1604/9780671884000 Audience General/Trade UK Release Date 1994-05-01 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:8297723;

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