Tennis Excuses
Tennis
Excuses. We all seem to have our favorites. Each time we deliver a less-than-perfect
performance, most of us seem to reach into the list below and get one
or two of our favorite excuses in an attempt to maintain our tennis ego.
This is normal. When excuses become an obsession for a player however,
little progress can be made toward improvement. An excuse is simply a
message to all that there is a shortcoming in our game. An excuse is also
the player's first clue on where to begin investing improvement efforts.
The better players have spent considerable time listening to their excuses
and addressing the cause. Most often, the dedicated player will eventually
turn those excuse-producing situations into their strengths.
Listed below are a few of the more common excuses used in tennis. If you can relate to one or more of them, then you have opportunity for fundamental improvement. Fortunately, each one of them can be corrected with simple changes in attitude and/or technique. Once the excuses are mastered, then the player is ready for "World Class" skills development, and a lifetime of enjoyable tennis.
It can't be me... (The "Let's Blame Something Else" Syndrome)
Let's blame the playing conditions...
- The lights are bad
- The sun got into my eyes
- It's too hot
- It's too windy
- Balls from the other court are too annoying
- Sweat keeps getting in my eyes
- My partner let me down
- My opponent isn't any good
- My opponent is too good
- My opponent got me mad by making too many bad calls
- My opponent got lucky
- There's too many distractions