Stop Racing To Lose

A 0-6 first set can make you want to disappear, speed up, and get it over with. We’ve all been there, and that urge is exactly what keeps the other team rolling. Carolyn and Erin sit down with Kana to talk about how to recover mentally and tactically after getting rocked early, using a few simple resets that actually work under pressure. 

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Transcript

Carolyn 0:08

Hi, this is Carolyn and I'm here with Erin. And this is our second episode with Kana on advice as to what to do when you get rocked the first set. Lose 06, 1-6. We play from levels 2.5 to 4.5. And in this episode,

Getting Rocked In The First Set

Carolyn 0:24

Kana starts off giving us a piece of advice that is simple, but I do the opposite. So here it is.

Kana 0:30

And I think that another thing is slowing down. Yeah. I think when you start losing, you start playing really quickly and you're racing because your mind's kind of racing, freaking out. And I think you need to take a deep breath, slow down between each point.

Slow Down To Break Momentum

Kana 0:47

And even if you just need to take an extra 10 seconds and keep that, you know, because the other team's rolling. They want to get this done quickly. So I think you got to do everything you can to slow that down and stop them. That momentum. Yeah.

Erin 1:00

Someone just said this recently. I thought it was really brilliant. She said, you know, even if they ended up losing, she said, uh, one of the partners said to the other one, she said, let's not race to lose this match. Like, let's not be in a hurry to lose. Let's stay out for as long as we can. No matter win, lose, or draw, let's stay out here for as long as we can. Because right now we're just playing quickly to lose. You know, I thought that was really smart.

Kana 1:23

You know, also when you're racing to lose, you know, I think uh one of the pros was talking about overcook your feet. It's like basically, you know, use too much footwork because you almost can never, you know, exaggerate your footwork. That's good. Because, you

Don’t Mentally Quit At 0-6

Kana 1:39

know, most times, you know, you start getting nervous and tight and your feet are just stuck in the mud. Yeah. And, you know, he was saying over when you're not sure, overcook your footwork.

Erin 1:49

That's why you do that, Carolyn. She always overcooks her footwork. Really? That's good. I do, but I I love that because I've had times. Have you guys had it where you just want it over? Yes. Yes. Like I've been out there in singles, especially where I'm like, I just want this over. Like, finish it. I'm thinking to my mind to my opponent, can you just finish this? Four aces, serve four aces. Let's be done. Yes. Yes. Serve four aces. Yeah. Yeah. So if you are, if you do lose the first set zero six, do not listen to me. Please do not get in that mindset of like, I'm done. This is not my day. Get me off the court. Yeah. No, I think that if you lose 06, there is so many things that you could do to win that second set. And now you're in this tiebreaker, which is a like we said, always it's a flip of a coin, right? Now you've given yourself a chance. And I think there's just a lot of strategies you can use to get there. And like, you know, whatever. It doesn't work, it doesn't work. Yeah. But you got to try it. But if you've won that set, pretend like you didn't just win that set. Like that's 6-0, 6-1 is the kiss of death. Yes. You know, because Yeah, because I've won 6-0 before, and then the other team got up 1-0 in the second set. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna lose the match now. That's yeah, that's my mentality too. Well, I think also, you know, um that

Win The First Point Next Set

Kana 3:12

first point that you play in that next set is critical. Like especially if you're serving, you have to win your first point. Like being up in a game 15 love versus now you're in a hole is I think because now you're like, I've lost the first set, or I've won the first set. No, I'm already down. Like mentally, that's how I do it too. I'm like, I've lost the first point already. Like I my mentally, I'm just like, I'm already losing, even though it's only one point. Yeah. Yeah, that's really interesting. I've never thought about it that way. I do a lot to like really focus on the first point. And be, you know, we were just so when we won this match the other day, that you know, we were up five two in the second set, and I was serving, which is always you know, dicey proposition to serve this match out. But I remember thinking, you have to win this first point. Like I have to We practiced the other day and you did that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember you saying that. We we won that first point. And I know. And so I was like, we have to, you know, I just kind of took a lot off my serve just to get it in play. Right. Because I have I was like, I have to get this first serve in. And, you know, being at 15 love, I just gave myself a little bit of breathing room because I know I'm prone to double fault or things like that. So I just knew, like, okay, well, in a worst case, if I double fault, we're at 15 all. But we won this, then we won the second point. And I thought, oh, okay, well, then I was able to crack a serve at 30 love. Which gave you more confidence. Which gave me more confidence because I knew that now I have more breathing room. Right. And, you know, and we were able to close that class. I think you double faulted on that point though. I'm just kidding. Maybe I was completely in the realm. I was her opponent of that day. Oh no, this is our match. No, I know. Oh, okay. This is our match. When we practiced though, I do feel like you got that first point and then you got a second point, and then you did crack a serve. Yeah. And then you've double faulted. And I think I laughed about it. Yeah. Um, this was one other piece of advice that a pro gave me a long time ago. And I need to remember it, but I do once in a while. And actually, when I lose this point, and I'll tell you what the strategy is, I always think, oh, I remember him telling me that. But um, this pro really believed in

Deuce And First Serve Discipline

Kana 5:18

if you get to deuce, you gotta get your first serve in. Like he was like, even if you take a little bit off, like get your first serving on deuce, because if you win that point, now you're at ad. If you lose that point because you've done something dumb with your serve, now you're fighting to get back in, and then you gotta re-reset all over again. If you can win that point, then you're back at deuce. But when you're at deuce, try to get that first serve in, even if you have to do something a little bit different, not crack it, you know, as hard as you can. Yeah. Agreed. Oh, that's a great point. Right. I know. And every time I don't do it, I get so mad at myself. I was like, oh, I suppose it's my first servant. What am I doing? What am I doing? I'm just throwing, I'm just trying to hurry up to lose. When I go to receive, I try to rip it down the line. Oh my gosh. Oh, Carolyn, we can't ever play together. I would be Do you do the same thing? No, I would be, I would yell at you. I would say I'm talking about in singles. Singles. Oh, singles. Still, still. What are you talking about? That's a terrible strategy. Because I'll get one winner and then like three that are out, three, two that are long, and then I'll get another winner. And then I'm like, I'm doing pretty well. I don't know why I'm losing. Well, Karen even would always talk about keeping the count, right? So if someone passes you down the line. Oh, yeah. Right. If they've tried three times. Gigi does that too, Fernandez. Really? Yeah. And you have to say, okay, they got one out of four. You give them one out of four every all day long. Yeah. You know?

Keep The Count And Communicate Plays

Carolyn 6:40

Yeah. You rip it down the line, Carolyn. You keep going. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the other thing that um I think it was Mackenzie that we had, you guys know on the podcast, but she would when she rips it down the line, she lets her partner know. Like, hey, I'm gonna rip it in the person. So they're ready to get it. Yeah. Because I played against her and she ripped it at me and I was like, oh, I got it. And then her partner got it and put it over my head. I was like, Oh, yeah, and I know who her partner is. It's familiar. And I remember thinking, that's really smart because when I decide to rip it, even if you got it, even if the net person got it, your partner's surprised by it. Let my partner know what I'm getting ready to do that's dumb, most likely. Um yeah. There's a lot of stuff that tennis is hard. It's so tennis is hard, especially dumb mental game, right?

Kana 7:28

Because you can't just outhit somebody. You have to outside them. You have to outsmart them. So now in the court is so much smaller to work with that you really

Outsmarting Beats Outhitting

Kana 7:39

have to play smart. And you know, two smart players with less skill can beat two people who are highly skilled but don't know where to put it. Yeah. Yeah. All day. You know, so don't be down if you lose that person. Yeah. You're most likely gonna be able to do that. And you're gonna win the tie break. Yeah, yeah. You're gonna be happy. Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. I'm happy if you're down 06. I have more confidence going down 06 than if I win 06. Because now I'm like, I'm gonna throw the kitchen sink at this. I'm gonna oh yeah, I'm gonna go for broke and then I usually play. They have to close it out. It's hard to close out a match. We appreciate Kana coming up with this topic. If you have any other tips, please let us know. You can message us on our website, which is secondserv podcast.com, or contact us on any of our socials. Thanks so much for listening and hope to see you on the court soon.