A Tennis Lesson from the Indian Wells tennis championships!

In the end after big names like, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, all fell in the desert heat and a court that plays like no other on the ATP tour circuit, Andy Roddick looked as if favored to win.

Nevertheless Croatian Ivan Ljubicic had other ideas and one of them was to grab his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title. The other was to slay another top ten seeded to complete a Indian Wells tournament hat-trick, World No. 2 Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-3, World No. 4 Rafael Nadal 3-6 6-4 7-6(1) and on Sunday World No. 8 Andy Roddick 7-6(3), 7-6(5) .

'Looking at my career in general, I did feel like I was missing it,” said Ljubicic. “It's really fantastic feeling to finally have it. It gives something special to your career. It's just another thing that after Davis Cup, Olympic medal and two Top 10 finishes, one Top 5 finish and now in Masters 1000, it makes everything look better actually.'

It may sound like 'La Palice', but in essence the lesson we all learn from Ljubcic words is simple:

•  Never ever give up!
•  If tennis players hang on for long enough and dearly persevere in the end they may get that one extra and most cherished win!
•  Nothing will ever be given to a tennis player on a silver platter, you will have to fight for every inch of fame you may wish to have.

'I played well. I hit the ball real well, even today,” said Roddick, who had held six break point opportunities. 'I felt like I was winning my fair share of the rallies once we got into them. I just ran into a guy who served great on the big points. Unfortunately that's probably the one thing that I don't have control over out there. Credit to him. He came up with massive, massive serves when he had to.'

Roddick as usual gets me all riled-up! Talk like a loser and you will lose like one!

It is nice to be a good sport, but what does it serve you for, if you do not learn from your defeats?

Second Roddick said, 'I just ran into a guy who served great on the big points'. I say, yep and knowing that, why in heavens an experienced player like you would allow it to come to the tennis serve on the big points?

Why did you not use your huge power to get the tennis service breaks previous to the big points and the pressure cooker?

The lesson here is if you are the better player and in this case Roddick is, you do not allow the other player to get the upper hand on you. Instead you force the issues early on to take the confidence away from your opponent, break his tennis serve early on and do not get into tie breakers against guys like, Karlovic, Ljubcic, Isner and so on!

Ljubicic, said about his play in the tie-breaks: 'I think it was more mental. Both tie-breaks I felt more relaxed, especially in the second tie-break. In fact, there was some strange things happening by the end of that match, but that just shows you how relaxed I was.'

Why do you think Ljubcic felt more relaxed on the tie-breakers? Simple:

•  He could match or surpass the quality of Roddicks tennis serve.
•  He could equal or better return Roddicks tennis service.
•  He could run and move as well as Roddick and get to Roddicks shots.
•  He could volley and serve and volley better then Roddick.

In conclusion on a fast playing court like the one in the Indian Wells tennis tournament, Roddick a relatively slow and clumsy type was in obvious disadvantage.

Roddick has had enough tennis lessons to know better, this is professional championship tennis and Andy has missed far too many opportunities due to his lack of mental flexibility to learn and use it the next time in a frame of total tennis.

What is in this tennis match for you?

• Learn from your defeats.
• Use your advantages early on in a match to break your opponent down.
• Avoid letting your opponent best weapon rule on decisive moments in a tennis match.
• As Ljubcic did, if your opponent allows, 'I felt more relaxed', use your positive level of relaxation to play even better!

Hope you enjoyed! Keep improving your tennis!

Sergio Cruz

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