Talking Shop with Coach Paul Annacone | ATP

Annacone started his tennis journey as a high-level player, where he had a very respectable pro career that saw him peak at No. 12 in the singles rankings. But he saw the game at an expert level, and was drawn to the coaching ranks where he excelled at a nearly unprecedented rate.
 
He started coaching Pete Sampras in 1995, and was with him for nine major titles. He coached Roger Federer from 2010-13, and the Swiss Maestro won a Wimbledon title and returned to the No. 1 ranking during that span.
 
Annacone was able to use transfer wisdom through teaching methods, and his core coaching philosophy is based on three pillars.  The individual is made up of three things:
  • Their head, which is how they process stuff, how they figure out and problem solve.
  • Their heart, how well they can unconditionally compete.
  • Their physical attributes.
After digesting every bit of those components in his mind, then it was time to transfer the knowledge: “My philosophy is, how simply after that can I say what I need to say, the way they need to hear it.”
 
Sampras and Federer are of the greatest players to ever pick up a racquet, but as Annacone explains, they couldn’t have been more different to coach.
 
Sampras fit into Annacone’s “magician” category, in the sense that he could process information very quickly and didn’t necessarily need a lot of repetition to master certain elements of his game.
 
Federer, on the other hand, wanted to be coached and instructed thoroughly, with the caveat that he would challenge the methods and force Annacone to defend the reasons for his tactics. “I’ve never seen a guy happier on a tennis court,” Annacone said in regards working with Federer during countless practice sessions.
 
“The most important thing [with each player] is they knew themselves really well. Pete knew exactly how he wanted to be to achieve his goals, and Roger knew exactly how he needed to be to achieve his goals. Very different, but it worked for them.”
 

AUSTRALIAN Summer Tournament Schedule | TA

3-17 December 2022: December Showdown

Venue: Melbourne Park (Western Courts 5-17)
Category: Australian Junior National Championships

Week one
29 December 2022 – 8 January 2023: United Cup

Group Stages (29 December to 4 January): Pat Rafter Arena, Brisbane, Qld; RAC Arena, Perth, WA; Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, NSW
United Cup Final Four (6-8 January): Ken Rosewall Arena, Sydney, NSW
Category: ATP / WTA mixed team competition
Draw size: Six groups of three countries, 18 countries in total, up to eight players per country

1-8 January 2023: Adelaide International 1

Venue: The Drive, Adelaide, SA
Category: WTA 500 / ATP 250
Draw size: ATP and WTA – 32 singles, 24 doubles

31 December 2022 – 7 January 2023: Canberra International

Venue: Canberra Tennis Centre, Canberra, ACT
Category: ATP Challenger Tour / ITF W60
Draw size: ATP – 32 singles, 16 doubles; ITF – 32 singles, 16 doubles

Week two
9-14 January 2023: Adelaide International 2

Venue: The Drive, Adelaide, SA
Category: WTA 500 / ATP 250
Draw size: WTA – 32 singles, 16 doubles; ATP – 28 singles, 24 doubles

9-14 January 2023: Hobart International

Venue: Domain Tennis Centre, Hobart, TAS
Category: WTA 250
Draw size: 32 singles, 16 doubles

9-12 January 2023: Australian Open qualifying

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Vic
Category: Grand Slam
Draw size: 128 men and women

10-14 January 2023: Victorian Wheelchair Open

Venue: Hume Tennis Centre, Melbourne, Vic
Category: ITF 1 Series
Draw size: 32 men’s singles, 24 women’s singles, 16 quad singles, 16 boys’ singles

13-18 January 2023: Traralgon Junior International

Venue: Traralgon Tennis Centre, Traralgon, Vic
Category: J1
Draw size: 64 singles, 32 doubles

Week three and four
16-29 January 2023: Australian Open

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Vic
Category: Grand Slam
Draw size: 128 singles, 64 doubles

16-20 January 2023: Melbourne Wheelchair Open

Venue: Hume Tennis Centre, Melbourne
Category: ITF Super Series
Draw size: 32 men’s singles, 24 women’s singles, 24 quad singles, 16 boys’ singles

21-28 January 2023: AO Junior Championships

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne
Category: Junior Grand Slam
Draw size: 64 singles, 32 doubles

24-28 January 2023: AO Wheelchair Championships

Venue: Melbourne Park, Melbourne
Category: Grand Slam
Draw size: 16 men’s singles, 16 women’s singles, 8 quad singles

Week five
30 January–13 February 2023: Burnie International 1 & 2

Venue: Burnie Tennis Club, Burnie, Tasmania
Category: Week 1 – ATP Challenger / ITF W60, week 2 – ITF 25
Draw size: ATP – 32 singles, 16 doubles; ITF – 32 singles, 16 doubles

New Recreation Centre at North Manly

Warringah Recreation Centre is set to be rebuilt providing a welcoming, inclusive, fit-for-purpose space that gives women and girls equal opportunity to participate in squash and tennis following a steep increase in these sports.

Council has been successful in receiving over $3 million in funding from the State Government to rebuild the Warringah Recreation Centre. Council is also committing funds to the project which will see almost $5 million invested into the project.

Fit-for-purpose infrastructure is vital to increase the number of people participating in sport and investment into the new facility will help cater for the growing interest in both squash and tennis across NSW.

The upgraded Warringah Recreation Centre will provide opportunities for people of all ages, genders, abilities, physical capabilities, cultural and socio-economic background to take part in sport.

In 2020, the Recreation Centre had over 54,000 visits for tennis or 9,037 per court which is well above the Sydney average of 2,977 and 4,653 visits per court per annum average on the Northern Beaches.

According to Squash NSW, women and girls’ usage of this facility is expected to grow 40% while Tennis NSW data suggests that female participation in the sport is already at 40% and rising.

The concept plan for the new facility envisages five dedicated tennis courts and a minimum of three indoor squash courts both with spectator seating, accessible public amenities, changerooms, community storage, as well as floodlights, footpaths, bike racks and landscaping.

The project will provide a best practice example in NSW of a modern facility that attracts new users, increases participation and delivers physical and mental health benefits.

Construction is expected to commence by July 2023 with construction completed by 31 December 2025.

The project is made possible thanks to the NSW Government’s Multi-Sport Community Facility Fund.

Christmas Chorals

Christmas Choral Concert
Thu 1 Dec, 6.30 – 8.30pm
Manly Oval

A family fun sing-a-long and a visit from the big man himself.
Learn more

Christmas by the Beach
Fri 9 Dec, 4 – 7.30pm
James Meehan Reserve, Dee Why

Carols, a children’s show, face painting, and photos with Santa. 
Learn more

BADGE LEAGUE 2023 FACTSHEETS (Thursday & Saturday)

Attached are the Factsheets for Thursday Ladies & Saturday Men’s/Women’s Badge League to commence in 2023.
Please note that the dates, times & rounds are final and there will be no further changes to the layout of the competition.
Team registration will open on Monday December 12th 2022 & close on Monday February 27th 2023.
Sydney Badge League
Metro Sydney
Tennis NSW

MLTC Newsletter – 30 Nov 2022

Manly Lawn Tennis Club Newsletter – 30 N0V 2022

Christmas Party this Saturday from 6.30pm. Lots of people have booked in for this event at the Clubhouse on Saturday, so it’s looking to be a fun night. Reminder if you are bringing a guest sign them in on arrival.

Tennis ball and equipment recycling update
Thanks to everyone who is putting their tennis balls and equipment in the box in the clubhouse to be recycled. Club Member, Andre sends these to ‘Game On Recycling’ who repurpose or recycle them. They’ve now collected 91,000 tennis balls and 18,000kg of sports equipment from 320 sites across Australia. Anything that can be reused is distributed through their charity partners and end-of-life balls and granulated at a recycling facility in Melbourne. If you’d like more details on this program, please speak to Andre or visit https://gameonrecycling.com.au/

Best wishes,

Virginia

MLTC Secretary

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

58 men and 39 women earned at least $1 million in singles and doubles combined in 2022

Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek topped the prize money lists in 2022, with a combined total of 97 players earning more than $1 million.
Djokovic finished top of the men’s list with $9,934,582, helped by his seventh Wimbledon title, which yielded £2 million (around $2.4 million) and in particular, by his record-equalling sixth ATP Finals title, which brought him a tennis record prize of $4,740,300.
DjokerNole’s $4,740,300 prize money cheque for winning the ATP Finals is the biggest pay-out in tennis history. ?
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz is second in the list with $7,655,130, thanks in large part to his US Open triumph, while Rafael Nadal, who won the Australian Open and French Open titles, is third with $7,442,076.
ATP Tour top prize money earners in 2022:
Novak Djokovic: $9,934,582
Carlos Alcaraz: $7,655,130
Rafael Nadal: $7,442,076
Casper Ruud: $6,942,316
Stefanos Tsitsipas: $5,648,416
Djokovic’s total for 2022 took his overall career prize money total to $164,691,308, more than $30 million more than the next best, Rafael Nadal, and the recently-retired Roger Federer.
SWIATEK EARNS ALMOST DOUBLE THE NEXT BEST ON WTA TOUR
Winning two Grand Slam titles will always yield a nice return so it’s no surprise that Iga Swiatek should be top of the list on the WTA Tour in 2022.  But the Pole’s six other titles also meant that her total of $9,875,525 was also more than double that of the second-placed woman, Ons Jabeur, who earned $4,997,069, thanks in large part to reaching two Grand Slam finals.  Caroline Garcia is third on the list with $3,729,317 on the back of her win at the WTA Finals. Kai Kanepi was No 39 on the list.
WTA top prize money earners in 2022:
Iga Swiatek: $9,875,525
Ons Jabeur: $4,997,069
Caroline Garcia: $3,729,317
Elena Rybakina: $3,613,440
Jessica Pegula: $3,611,716
FOUR DOUBLES PAIRS MADE $1 MILLION IN DOUBLES ALONE
Four doubles pairs made $1 million from doubles alone.  Rajeev Ram and Joe Salsibury, who won the season-ending ATP Finals, topped the list, ahead of Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, and Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic. Mektic was No 58 on the men’s list.
Only one women’s pair made more than $1 million in doubles alone – Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova – but Krejcikova had the unique distinction of earning more than $1 million in singles as well.

Tennis By The Numbers | AskThePro

When I was a young aspiring player, I often lost tennis matches by being too adventurous, which is my attempt to avoid admitting I was very impatient. I enjoyed playing the front court as much or more than staying near the baseline, and I never saw a short ball I did not want to attack.

Even by the age of twelve I would try and dominate my opponents with strong shots, or I would even serve and volley. Naturally, a game style with this risk profile produces plenty or errors. (In addition to an occasional spectacular play). After lost matches coaches would always tell me the number of unforced errors I had made. I never knew what to do with this information. (It’s not like it was my intention.)

“You made 41 unforced errors today!” a coach would say.

“What does that even mean,” I would respond rebelliously. “You’re just going for too much.”

I struggled with this feedback. How can I learn from this? In hindsight, I wish the coach would have helped me with situational play. When did the errors occur? How long were the rallies before I missed? When may I give myself permission to attack and when is patience more prudent. Certainly, an unforced error at the score of 40-0 is different from one produced at 30-40, don’t you agree?

Last week I was having a conversation with one of my adult clients about her most recent match. She mentioned that she had made too many unforced errors, and then she added a few more stats that she probably got from watching tennis on television. I told her that I was getting the gist of what she was saying, but I still could not get a good feel for the match as stats do not always paint the entire picture. I said that some stats are completely useless, and others can be counter intuitive.

“What ya talking ‘bout Willis?” (she did not actually say this) I continued by asking my Harvard- educated student the following question:

“After the match, what would yourather have the stat sheet say regarding break points, 2/3 or 4/17?”

She looked at me slightly confused (she suspected it was a set up): “I want to say 2/3, but it’s probably wrong, isn’t it?”

“Yes”, I continued. “Think about it, a 66.67 percent success rate (2/3) is indeed much better than a 23.5 percent (4/17), but in this case it is still better to break your opponent’s serve four times, instead of only two”.

She agreed to it being counter intuitive. I only mentioned that my client was Harvard-educated to show that intelligence was not in question here. I wasn’t teaching Penny, the waitress from the Cheesecake factory (no offense if you are a waitress, or don’t like The Big Bang Theory).

For some reason we look at all those break point opportunities and consider it a failure. What can we learn from this? The more opportunities we give ourselves, the better it is. A mindset of neutrality will be helpful here, an unattached approach to the outcome: if the break happens, great. If not, great.

Another stat in this realm is net points won/lost. When you look at a ratio of 4/9, you might judge it as a bad ratio. The player won four points at net, and she lost five points. What if I were to tell you that those four points won were all at break point! Then we might conclude that the nine attempts at net were not enough. If she had attacked the net twelve times for instance, she might not have needed those seventeen breakpoints! Your personal call to courage and to be brave at the right moments is a key strength for a competitor.

In any case, tennis stats are helpful, but have their limitations. Match play will still come down to being patient at the right times, being courageous at the right moments, and staying disciplined all match. Use the stats to dig into those areas more specifically. Answer the questions ‘when’ and ‘why”!

[Our Tennis Whisperer teaches the GHOST LINE strategy to answer the ‘when’ and ‘why’ questions — emphasis added]

Tonny van de Pieterman is a tennis professional at Point Set Indoor Racquet Club in Oceanside, NY. He has previously been named USTA Tennis Professional of the Year for the USTA/Eastern-Long Island Region.

https://longislandtennismagazine.com/tennis-numbers Tennis By The Numbers | Long Island Tennis Magazine

MLTC Newsletter – 25 Nov 22

MLTC Newsletter

The Men’s A Grade Doubles final was completed in very windy conditions last Sunday. Tom Donald and Gavin McVean were successful 7-5 7-6  v Shishir Das and Stefan Fontes. A very close match so congrats to both pairs.

Eight pairs competed on Thursday for The Owen Kennedy Trophy. Owen was on hand himself to organise the tournament and present the trophy. Bill and Bruce won their pool easily as did Sally and Suellen in their pool. The younger and more glamorous pairing in Sally and Suellen won the final playoff 5-0 when time was called. Thanks to everyone who competed and enjoyed a few drinks afterwards. This is an annual event for midweek players and Owen assures us he will be around for many more years to organise his tournament.

Please see photos of the finalists from Sunday and Thursday below.

 

Christmas Party

We are looking forward to a fun night with 60 members and guests joining us for the Christmas Party next weekend – Sat 3rd Dec. Starts 6.30pm – one free drink on arrival for everyone who has bought a ticket. See you there!

Best wishes,
Denis Crowley
MLTC Club Captain

www.manlylawn.com.au

 

Netflix is About to Transform The Tennis World

Tennis is coming to Netflix. An unnamed, yet much-anticipated documentary will provide an all-access look into the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tours and is certain to expand tennis viewership.
By following certain big-name players throughout the 2022 ATP season and providing an unfiltered behind-the-scenes look into their livelihoods, training, struggles, successes and travel, the documentary, rumored to start airing episodes before the 2023 Australian Open, is likely to influence fans to want to become personally invested in their favorite stars, which would draw year-long interest in the sport. From people looking to binge-watch a new show to those wanting to dive into a new sport, the documentary will captivate a diverse new audience of tennis fans.
The four Grand Slam tournaments are the mecca of tennis, and fan viewership in recent years has been steadily growing, largely because of increased coverage from major sports channels like ESPN. However, smaller ATP and WTA events throughout the year, which have been covered by local stations and the Tennis Channel, fail to garner much public interest, and tennis viewership as a whole pales in comparison to viewership of other major sports in the U.S., like football or basketball.
Netflix plans on featuring former world No. 1 champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal; Nick Kyrgios, a finalist at the 2022 Wimbledon tournament; and newly crowned U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz.
On the WTA tour, current world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, as well as reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, will showcase their lives on tour. In a statement about the series, Netflix promises to broadcast equal coverage to ATP and WTA players, differentiating itself from other sports documentaries and providing greater appeal for fans of all genders.
“The series will also be the first sports program of its kind to provide an equal platform to the men’s and women’s competitors of the sport, in keeping with the equal stage they share throughout the year,” the statement reads.
Having insight into the life of tennis players on tour may help audiences, and younger kids, develop an appreciation for the sport. Tennis has lacked an American icon since the age of Andre Agassi and John McEnroe and struggles to make a mark in American popular culture. Netflix might be the driving force of change.

Technique Is NOT The Answer | AskThePro

Technique improvements are great, but if you’re in a pattern of losing to lower level players it’s NOT the answer.
A quick story from Olivier in France illustrates that perfectly.
He was able to play at a “9 out of 10” during practice but only a “2 out of 10” during matches, especially against players who were weaker than him.
During one particular match he actually completely lost confidence and feel for his backhand while his opponent floated him weak shot after weak shot.
Here’s how he tried to solve the problem at first:
  • “I had mostly looked at the technical aspects. I had looked at the internet already because I remember doing some drills and stuff like that because I was really thinking that I needed to find the technical stuff that makes me be more consistent in my tennis. But then I realized, no, what is happening that I lose all this confidence in just a moment, in just a second? So either I fix that and I progress so that I can see that it’s no longer a disaster or I quit and do something else.”

Olivier eventually came to understand a vital truth: if technique execution is good during practice but significantly worse during matches you do NOT have a technique problem.
You have a mental demon problem.
Mental demons cause a wide range of problems for players. Low performance during matches is just one of them but it’s definitely one of the most common.
Here’s how another one of our students describes it:
  • “I have a regular weekly match with someone I have been playing for many years. Our matches were always competitive but then I started overthinking my shots and forcing changes and he started beating me (badly).

Technique is a fundamental element to tennis success, but becoming fixated on it can cause big drops in match performance!

Source: Jorge Capestany, USPTA