7 Tips to Win More Matches from a National Champion (Part 2)

This is part 2 of our episode Kenny, who is the 4.0 18 plus singles National Champion! 

Most tennis players look for a magic swing tip, but the real edge often comes from preparation, emotional control, and what you do between points. Carolyn and Erin sit down with Kenny, a 4.0 18+ singles national champion, to get specific about how he scouts opponents and builds a plan before the first ball. He shares how he uses UTR (Universal Tennis Rating), friendly intel from other players, and match video tools like SwingVision and YouTube.

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Transcript

Scouting, Warm-Ups, and Mental Strength

Carolyn 0:08

Hi, this is Carolyn and I'm here with Erin. And this is part two of our episode with Penny, who is the 4.0 18 plus singles national champion. In part one, he gave a lot of great tips on how to succeed in every match and also told us his really interesting story about winning a cheese rolling competition. So if you haven't listened to part one, we hope you go back and listen. But here is part two.

Erin 0:32

Okay, let's talk about number four. It's scouting and reading your opponents beforehand, warm-up, and match.

Kenny 0:39

Yeah, so obviously there's a lot of um platforms that you can kind of you know do your research and check. Um UTR is a big one that I use, universal tennis rating. Um, when you're playing tournaments, you and even locally or somewhere else, you can ask other players and even like maybe you played an opponent like in a in your division or your draw that you're probably not going to play them again. And you can ask players for insight. And if you're friendly, um, that's how I use that nationals. I'd say, you know, give me a little bit, what does that guy do well? What is he? And and a lot of people are, you know, they're willing to open up and tell you about your next opponent. And um, so a lot of players, you know, post videos of themselves on YouTube, especially, you know, higher, higher level players, and then you know, swing vision. If you can find them on swing vision, obviously you're gonna see almost all the stats that you could imagine.

Erin 1:29

That's really smart. Gosh, I didn't think of any of this stuff before.

Carolyn 1:32

I never would have thought swing vision. I never would have thought to look there, but that's a great point. Right.

Kenny 1:38

Yeah, because swing vision, I mean, you're gonna see like, you know, pretty much you can see everything and you can break it down. And so that that's a really cool thing to check out. And then so for warm-up, um, during warm-up, I'm using that to get myself ready, but I'm also using that to check out my opponent, um, see how they move, check how to handle their spin, see how they handle short balls, see how they handle overheads. And then I'm big, especially with playing doubles, but even in singles, of practicing returning serves. Now I don't have to whack them. Sometimes I'll just hit it back to them. And I I know some people kind of are annoyed by that, but it's also my warm-up. So I I like to return serves just as much actually as I you know practice serves in the warm up.

Erin 2:18

That's smart.

Kenny 2:19

So again, with the match, take a break after this set. I know you guys have talked about that before. Um, you know, think about what you're doing well, think about what you're not doing well, think about what your opponent, and then we are our best critics, and like we don't have coaches, like we're not fortunate display to have coaches on court with us, but we know like if we had a coach, what would our coach say? And if we're playing doubles, like I like to say, hey, ask my partner, like just to make sure we're on the right page, like, okay, what am I doing, or what do we need to do better? Mm-hmm.

Carolyn 2:51

Yeah, that was fantastic. Okay, for number five, we've got handling multiple matches and downtime physically, mentally, emotionally. Can you talk about that?

Kenny 3:01

In tournaments, you're gonna be playing multiple matches per day. And like, so in in my experience, you know, playing these fast four, if you're playing doubles and singles, you could play between three and six matches per day, which that is a lot to deal with. And for me, the hardest thing was just kind of mentally and emotionally decompressing after a match, because it's you're just like it was like back to back to back, and you didn't have time just to like, you know, you lose or you play a really tight match, and you got to get ready right away for the next match. So after matches, when I have time, I certainly like to take my shoes off, walk around in sandals. Um, I'm big on changing clothes, whether the match went well or not. And then, you know, at nationals it was so hot. So I was, you know, literally taking a shower between matches sometimes, even when I had like, you know, 30 minutes or an hour. As far as the emotional aspect, you got to move past those tough emotional matches and you know, forget about those mistakes, forget about those bad points. And I like a quote here. I use this a lot, and it's it goes, accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be. And it comes from the author, uh, Sonia Riccati.

Erin 4:11

That's great. That's great. So number six is playing your best tennis, mental strengths, adjustments, pressure. And you've got three of three written down here. I want to know what that is, but talk about all of those.

Kenny 4:23

Yeah, so mental is obviously um, you know, really figuring out your greatest strengths and you know, tell them self, tell yourself them and talk about them, you know, before you're playing, especially like when when self-doubt creeps in and you're like, oh man, I suck, or like, oh, I I I you know, it's not going right, right? So when when self-doubt creeps in my head, I like to go to my words and like kick in. And I think I mentioned those, but I, you know, I say, I got this, grind, fight, win. And um, it just gets me a little more pumped up and a little more motivated to play. And um, you you really have to understand what gets you excited and fired

Positive Relationships

Kenny 5:00

up. And um, for me, like when I had a chance to play on center court at Nationals, um, that was added pressure, and I like that. Like, I was just gonna run a little bit harder, I was gonna swing a little bit faster and just play a little bit bigger. And also, I like to record uh my matches. I use swing vision and just simply recording matches or even having people watch there that like I typically don't know. I just I feed off of that and I play a little bit better and a little bit bigger. So it's just can you develop that that a positive relationship with pressure and use it as a tool for you?

Carolyn 5:36

Yes, I agree with that.

Kenny 5:38

And then another point of that was um strengths, like you know, write down your strengths, figure out you know, really what those I think we all know them, but just simply writing them down, like for me, my strengths are I'm very fast, I'm physical, I fight every point, and I typically play, you know, big points well. Um, I have weaknesses also, so I try to, you know, stay away from those. And then as far as making adjustments, like you got to recognize in a match, you know, if everything's going right, it's you don't have to think about a lot, and that's how you should be playing. But when things aren't going right, you know, you got to make those adjustments and really figure out. And that's why, like, especially after maybe you played a bad set, um, take a break. Uh, I think you guys have talked about it. Like, go to the bathroom, you know, whatever you need to do, take just that moment to yourself, go fill up your water bottle somewhere, you know, do something just to like kind of reset and come back out there. If you can, you know, develop that positive relationship with pressure and use that as a tool to perform at your best. And that's what you see, you know, the biggest players doing. So I have a crazy stat for you. Or maybe uh like a pop quiz. What according to this study, how many points should you be striving to win in a match?

Erin 6:51

I'm I'm raising my hand. Nobody can see it. Um you have to win at least 51 point 51%. That's what I'm going with.

Kenny 7:00

But I don't know.

Erin 7:00

Are you asking actual points?

Kenny 7:02

Yeah, a percent, a percentage.

Erin 7:04

Percentage. Oh, 52. I'm going with 52.

Kenny 7:06

Yeah, so we're taking pro tennis, and your goal really should be 52%. So if you're winning 52%, you're losing 48%. So you got to be mentally prepared to handle that. And they talk about this study of they took the greats um in singles, Nadal, Feder, and Djokovic, those are the only players, they're all at like 54. Those are the only players throughout history that they've found that win more than 52% of their points overall.

Erin 7:34

Isn't that crazy?

Kenny 7:36

If you look at stats um across all of tennis, the most common rally length is crazy. It's it's one shot. And the second most common common rally length is three shots. So, like 70% of all points across all tennis, even pros and recreational tennis, is um 70% of points will be played between zero and four shots or one and four shots. So to me, it's big understanding that and practicing that because you know a lot of people will go out and practice like these huge long rallies, and that makes up such a small percentage of the actual game. And then the final thing I have to add about that is um the three of three rule. If you win three of three of these, you're probably gonna win the win match. Even if you just win two of these, you're still probably gonna win the match. So, number one is your before the match preparation, your scouting, your strategy, your warm-up, and your focus. That's number one. Those are something, all those things you can easily control. Number two is your on court time, playing your points, playing those key points, winning those breakpoints, saving those breakpoints, and again, comes back to winning 52% of your points. And then the final thing is three, and that's the time between points. And I if you really think about it, there's probably more time between points than there actually is playing points. So the time between points is it's the mental battle with yourself, it's the self-doubt, it's overcoming pressure, challenges, making adjustments. A lot of people kind of explain it as those 20 to 30 seconds between each point, and that makes up a huge part, probably the biggest part of a match.

Carolyn 9:17

Agreed. I have a lot of work to do, Erin.

Erin 9:20

I know. We both do. Kenny's gonna be our new um our new guy, we're gonna call.

Kenny 9:28

Yeah, reach out anytime.

Carolyn 9:31

I love that though. Okay, number seven, post-match, opponents, cool down, physio, notes, match review. Can you talk about that?

Kenny 9:38

Yeah, so I'm a big um proponent of, you know, you gotta win and lose um graciously and respectfully. Um, again, not all of your opponents are gonna be your best friends. We've we've certainly ran out of those people that we don't want to talk to ever again, right? But when you're playing a local league or a regional tournament, even a national, you know, the tennis community is not that big. You're gonna see these people again. Almost a hundred percent their chance you're gonna see these people again. So when I win or lose a match, I really do try to be the same person, whether I win or lose. And I really believe, you know, that's the way it should be. And you I'm sure that you guys can tell me a million examples of people not acting that way. But I said most of us are here to compete, win, and have fun. And we're not, you know, we're not playing, we're not professional players, we're not playing for big money, we're not playing for millions of dollars and huge endorsements. So again, it's it's just important to handle that, you know, with with have fun and show good sportsmanship, in my opinion.

Erin 10:41

100%.

Kenny 10:43

And then as far as like a cooldown, this is something I've kind of recently incorporated because you know, I didn't really want to do it afterwards. Like, oh, it's fine, I don't need to do this. But, you know, in in most recent time, you know, having a few injuries and then you know, playing tons of matches, you know, multiple matches in a day, I really found that it was more important. So after a match for a cooldown, I like to do like a light jog, five-minute jog, um, or like when I play at the court near my house, I live really close to the courts. So I do like a 10-minute easy bike ride home and I also use that as like a warm-up. And then, you know, if I'm feeling soreness, I certainly add some light stretching, um, icing, um, any aches. And then especially in tournaments um in hot weather, and I'm sure you guys have experienced this, but you know, making sure those feet and those fingers, watching for those hot spots, because it is it's tough to play if you have, you know, blisters and and all those kind of things.

Erin 11:37

I used to come home from matches, um, from singles matches mostly, with really if I had really sore legs, if I played during the day, but I still had to come home and work, I would fill up a trash can, like a big rubber trash can with ice and cold water, and I would stick my legs in it under my desk and I would soak my legs out. It was so yeah, it was so helpful. I need to I need to incorporate that again, but I used to do that all the time because my legs would be so sore from singles.

Kenny 12:06

Yeah, so my football background, we would sit in ice baths every day um after practice, after summer camps, and uh I I totally feel like you're if you can get used to ice baths, um, you especially in soreness, you can reduce your soreness by, you know, a big, maybe 25-50%.

Erin 12:24

Another thing you gotta do, Carolyn.

Carolyn 12:26

Yeah, I know another thing I have to do, but also how do you guys motivate yourself to do that?

Erin 12:31

I can't get in an ice bath, but I can put my legs in it.

Kenny 12:34

Honestly, like it's tough. You know, some people use like these special toe pads so your toes don't go numb because that's like the biggest thing. Like your toes or your hands will go numb. But um honestly, it's just it's mental. It's just like once you get used to it, like no one I think likes it originally, but once you get used to it, it's kind of like cold showers. I there's research kind of along the same things about taking ice cold showers. I hated that, like my first 20 years of my life hated taking cold showers. Now I love taking cold showers no matter what the weather is like.

Erin 13:05

Listen, Carolyn, this is a man who beat like who did a cheese contest where he had to run down a hill really quickly. So he could take an ice bath.

Kenny 13:14

Yeah, I'll show you.

Erin 13:15

He can handle anything. He can handle anything. Oh my goodness.

Kenny 13:21

So again, after the match, um, you know, I like to, you know, take some notes, and especially, you know, we talked about that review

Swing Vision in Tennis

Kenny 13:28

swing vision. If you don't have swing vision, you're not recording it. You know, I still recommend that you maybe have someone record some for you. But if you can't, definitely, you know, write some notes down, um, kind of review those things. And I said, I love swing vision because you know you can really deep dive into all the stats and analytics and see what you're doing well and not, see the shots you were missing and making, and really break it down. And then, yeah, if you can, you know, utilize and improve these things and and all these steps, you know, I'm sure you're going to win more matches, have more success, and kind of feel more comfortable and more in control and play better under pressure. And I like this kind of quote that I've kind of merged from others and say, like, tennis is a journey with highs, lows, and lessons to learn. But most of all, it's experiences to enjoy, share, and remember.

Carolyn 14:19

I love that.

Kenny 14:20

I love that.

Carolyn 14:21

We really appreciate Kenny being on the podcast. Kenny mentioned that he reviews his matches using swing vision, and we have an affiliate link and discount code for swing vision in our show notes and on our website, which is secondservepodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening. I hope to see you on the courts and the colour.