Packing the tennis bag for the matchday
Of course, you should pack enough tennis rackets, tennis shoes, tennis shirts, tennis shorts, etc. in your tennis bag to be ready to play and prepared for all eventualities. A small checklist for the match day is perhaps not the worst of all ideas:
- Strings still in order?
- Is the grip tape in such good condition that you don't have to wind it frantically when changing sides? Do you have a spare at the start if necessary?
- Do you have enough drinks and food with you? You can't always buy everything you need quickly and easily everywhere.
Speaking of which: whenever your matchday isn't taking place at the club around the corner, it's also important not only to pack your bag in good time, but also to make your way to your own match on time. This not only makes things easier for the tournament organizers, but also makes you much more relaxed if you don't have to rush from the parking lot to the course at the last minute.
Packing your mental tennis bag
Not only your equipment, but also your mind and body should be well prepared for a tournament match. For your body, this means that, as before training, you need to warm up and ideally also hit the ball. Your head should also be prepared. You should reflect a little and think about how you want to react to external influences that you cannot influence yourself and that you find annoying. This could be the wind blowing across the pitch, the pitch conditions in general, a postponement of your match or an opponent who is throwing a lot of balls and is being supported by ten enthusiastic friends behind the fence. With a little self-awareness, you should realize how you react best to such environmental influences. This can vary from person to person. However, the aim should always be to achieve as little or no impairment of performance as possible.
Have a concept
Whether it's an LK tournament or the Wimbledon final, you shouldn't go onto the court without a tactical match plan. If you don't know your opponent and their style of play, you have to adapt your concept to your own strengths and weaknesses. There's no point in going out on the pitch with a completely offensive approach if you don't have the technical means to do so or if your approach in training matches is completely different. It makes just as little sense to send the defensive artist behind the baseline if you know for sure that your legs won't be able to cope with it, or only for half a set. However, if you are completely wrong and your opponent can cope with everything, the following applies: a plan is good, an additional alternative plan is better.
Accept errors
Yes, it's hugely satisfying and certainly a big part of the fun of tennis when you hit a winner and win a point. But the truth is: tennis is a game of mistakes. Forced and unforced mishits end the majority of rallies, right up to the professional level. Even if you naturally want to keep your own error statistics low, you have to accept this in order not to fall into frustration. You should not chase after the impossible endeavor to play error-free.
It is much more important to avoid stupid mistakes. Those where the same thing goes wrong repeatedly. Two consecutive serves into the root of the net have the same effect as one into the net and one out of bounds. However, the last variation should still cause you less of a headache because, despite the second mistake, it was associated with a learning effect because you changed your stroke execution in the right direction.
