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Going after your opponent’s second serve creates a lot more pressure on their first serve.

By not missing any second serves, your opponent will not be getting any free points on their serve. Over the course of the game and match the opponent will ‘go for more’ which means playing lower percentages – and therefore eventual errors.

If you are punishing their second serve, they might back off the first serve to try and get it in. This will give you the opportunity to punish their first serve. 

Now we can relate to an incident with the Roger Federer versus Andy Murray match in the 2010 Australian Open Final.  Federer started to change things up midway and late in that first set when he started to chip the second serve a little bit more. It brought Murray slightly out of his comfort zone but Federer was starting to dictate points with that shot.

From when I played, I’m thinking about Patrick Rafter.  Anytime he got a second serve, he would chip that ball and he would come in.  It didn’t matter if his opponent knew that he was going to come in or not – that built the pressure.  They knew he was coming regardless.  So that made them change things up a little bit more, and hit either a slower first serve, which gave Rafter a little bit more read on the ball; or again, if that first serve is missed the pressure is right on that second serve.  So it’s something to really think about – put pressure on your opponent’s second serve so that you can start breaking down their first serve.

Pete Tramacchi

I’m going to discuss an issue I think is very important – reading your opponent. Ideally, you should look for signs of weakness and see what’s going on, not just with their attitude and their body language, but also mentally – what you think they could be going through.

Here’s a very interesting point I noticed at this year’s Australian Open with Federer and Murray: Murray was a little bit jaded towards the end of that second set. He started to pull up a little bit with a right quad injury and from that point on, every time the points were over, Roger Federer was looking up at the big screen to see what reactions Andy Murray had on his face; be it a cringe of pain or an expression along the lines of “Oh no, I can’t believe I have to chase these balls down,” and so on.  That’s where Roger Federer is very coy in managing what goes on with his opponent, reading what’s going on in the scenario of the match

It’s very important for everyone to practice good training habits – avoid showing negative emotion and poor body language (even in training) because you want to train the way you play!

Pete Tramacchi

This article is all about your preparation of equipment.  Many players go out onto the court and they’re always underdone – whether it’s racquets, an unfilled water bottle or no  change of shirt. I think it’s really important you have enough racquets in your racquet bag – three, four, five if you can manage – but also all well strung. It’s very, very important to have three or four freshly strung racquets.  You also need freshly gripped racquets; you’ve got to make sure they’re all ready to go.  The other thing you need is water, or another hydrating drink, so you don’t have to stop at a change of ends asking someone to fill your drink bottle. It’s just not necessary these days!

 All your hats and caps need to have NO writing on them, or the ITF and ATP regulations will not allow you to wear that hat on the court.  You need a change of shirt, (at least one if not two), a spare pair of underwear, some socks, and even a spare pair of shoes.  Spare shoes can be required if someone is playing on a hard court, which can wear shoes out in a long three-set match. Or you may even take out a spare pair of shoelaces.  It’s also very important to prepare all of your tennis items the night before if you can;  That way, it’s not such a rush in the morning and you have less chance of leaving something out.

Pete Tramacchi

What you do in an injury time-out can have a huge effect on the outcome of the game. In this time momentum can change – therefore it is important to know exactly what to do and be confident with this use of time.
I just want to lead your attention to another little area that I think is very important in helping some players come to terms with difficult situations.  Take note of when your opponent takes an injury time-out.  It happens a lot on the ATP and WTA tours, and we’ll see it throughout Grand Slams.  The regulations state that if you take an injury time-out, the umpire basically calls for the trainer, so play is now stopped. It could take anywhere from one minute to five minutes for that trainer to turn up on the court.  Once the trainer is on the court, they make an assessment of the player – they basically work out what injury or what scenario they need to take to get the player back on the court.  And once that assessment has taken place, they are allowed the three minutes from there on.

 So the trainer basically tells the umpire, “Okay, I’m starting to do my work on the player,” so that’s when the umpire calls “Okay, three-minute injury time out.”  So the three minutes now all of a sudden has turned into five, six, or eight minutes.  What’s that player on the other side of the net to do?  Well, I suggest they come in, sit down, think about what’s going on, rethink the situation. If it’s a legitimate injury, okay – generally nothing can be done. If they’re simply taking injury time-out to change the momentum of the game – now you’re dealing with something different.

 Be ready to get out there at the end of the three minutes and be jumping around.  Be on your toes, be really excited and have good energy going about yourself.  That can have the opponent thinking, “Hang on, they’re still riding on that wave of emotion.  The momentum’s still going their way.”  What you don’t want to do is just sit in your chair and  slump, causing you to lose concentration. If it’s cold, maybe you’ll start shivering, so get your jumper on and make sure you stay nice and warm. Probably at the minute and a half, two minute break start getting out there and jogging on the spot. You can go out there and start doing some swinging serves, not taking balls – you’re not allowed to take the balls that you’re going to use in the match.  You could get some practice balls, you can ask the umpire for that.  But it’s mainly about getting your body going again, ensuring everything is in motion so when that first point is out there, you’re ready to go!

 Keep in mind, your opponent now has had three to five to even eight minutes of down time, and if it’s a legitimate injury, yeah – there may be some worrying signs with that player.  So you want to be jumping at the gate, ready with determination to get on top of that person and not let them back into the match.  I hope that’s a good tip for all of you out there and thanks for your feedback and comments.

Pete Tramacchi