By Luke Jensen, French Open Doubles Champion
Tennis fans, this is your time! The holiday season means new gear for everyone in your tennis life, including you! I am a complete gear geek and all the new technology from frames, strings, and shoes are so much fun to buy. I have found modern tennis shoes are not only functional but also stylish! I saw one company that stresses a wide toe box. I saw one engineered for stronger ankle support, and one for the toe-dragging players.
Similarly, today’s racquet technology will increase your velocity on shots or your control. I am an enthusiastic demo guy; you would be amazed how a frame instantly can make your game better. Always remember: When you string that frame, use tighter tension for control and a little looser tension for more “pop” in your shots.
This time of year is when all pros take a little break from touring to test new technologies in racquets, strings, and definitely shoes that grip the court. Manufacturers want all the new gear on those top talents. For players, this is the best time to see if the new gear suits their needs and their game. All the players are setting up to win the Australian Open, so they want to find out quickly what may make a difference in 2027.
Just like the pros, make sure that new racquet helps your weapons — from how you win your points to where you go when you are under pressure. Even new shoes may make for your foot move/feel differently, so make sure you try them on and walk a bit before walking out the pro shop door.
On the game improvement front, how have you been playing? How are you playing when the match is on the line? I have found a calming exercise I use with tour players who get nervous in match play. It seems simple but it has been effective. Focus on a simple rally count. Quiet the noise in your head by counting the number of balls you are keeping in play. I start in practice with a competitive play to clear the mind of all the messages my brain is processing.
Allow the shot selection to go on “automatic” and aim for the open court or the side of the court where you make more errors. Stay with me on this: Just count every ball you put in play. If your opponent hits a winner and you didn’t make an error, just keep the count going. If you do make an error, make a mental note what that number was and restart the count. In practice, I have my players use their tennis playbooks to write down the length of rallies to build data to see where in the count these errors are happening. You also can track your progress as you notice when those points end. Remember, the average rally length on the pro tour is four, so anything above that you are going to win a ton of points!
Tennis parents: When you watch your child compete, take the opportunity to chart those rally lengths. There also are great apps to help chart all the winners, errors, and rally lengths. The kids today really learn visually, but also through analytics. After a loss, wait a day or two to share those stats. I see parents downloading the stats on kids right after an emotional loss and that isn’t the proper time unless they ask for them. Let’s make sure the emotion is gone from the loss before breaking down where there are lessons that can be learned.
Enjoy your awesome holiday and keep hitting aces!
