By Eli Buenaventura
For Variety

YOU regularly play against your best friend at the park. You comfortably beat him in seven of the 10 matches in the past. During a recent tournament, however, when your win was most needed and expected by many, including your family, you suffered a disappointing loss . In your solitude, you started asking yourself why. My unsolicited answer is that your friend may be handling tournament conditions better than you do. Here are some pointers from smart tournament players that you may consider for better results next time.
1. Read the tournament rules. Good players read the rules. They know that knowledge of the rules will give them a peace of mind, particularly during the match. For instance, knowing that a 12-point tie-break will be used at a 6-game all, will save them time to ask the tournament officials. Instead, they can utilize the time to concentrate on their game. Another mental approach that good players apply is that they don’t assume that all tournaments will have the same rules.
2. Be a responsible player. Good players don’t depend on anyone with respect to tournament schedule and match times. They check their schedule by themselves. They write it down to make sure they don’t arrive late and lose their match by default. In other words, they are responsible and this is what separates better players from good ones.
3. Prepare your body for the event. Be it singles or doubles events, either of the two exacts physical demand on all the players. Good players prepare themselves for this. Aside from eating the right food and sleeping at least 8 hours a day, weeks before tournament time, they do some muscle toning exercises for flexibility. They run and jog for stamina and play practice matches to hone their tennis skills.
4. Equip yourself properly. Smart players don’t go to a tournament unprepared. They bring towel, water, extra pair of socks, couple of extra t shirts, sun glass and first aid kit. They know that club tournaments can only offer chairs on the court to the participants. No more no less. They are lucky if on court canopies are provided. But most of the time, they are not.
5. Learn to embrace tournament pressure. Successful club players know that tournament matches are completely different from weekend encounters. The latter is more of fun and players don’t even care whether they lose or win. In a tournament, good players thrive on pressure. The more the game becomes tight, the better they execute their shots. Even if they are behind, they dig deeper and deeper. They simply rise to the occassion as it is needed.
6. Do warm ups somewhere. Smart players understand this very well. That is why they always win. Tournament rules only allow a five-minute warm up before the match starts. They are aware they can do very little or none at all for that time. Sufficient warm up sometimes determine the results outright. This is what other tricky players do. They spend 30 minutes on stretching and hitting balls somewhere. They change their wet clothes and come to their match as if they did not even stretch. When the match starts, they race to a 3-0 lead quickly.
7. Keep your cool. Smart players are very seldom upset even to the point that their opponents are already cheating them. When they make mistakes, they don’t carry those mistakes to the next point. Off court distractions don’t disarray their concentration either. How do they remain focused during the entire match? They condition their mind the night before that they will never be distracted from anything.
8. Bring your flash cards on the court. Good players know that at one point during the match, wheels will fall off. Forehand will sail beyond the baseline. Second serve will go to the net. Backhand return will be a floater. When this situation occurs, they try to coach themselves. This is what they do. They pull out their notes from their bag and read them during changeover. Examples of notes are: When first serve goes to the net, reduce speed to 90%. When the ball is hit late, move your feet and prepare early. When the ball is misfired, keep your head still for a second after the shot. When ball keeps returning, hit it away from your opponent.
9. Take your opponents seriously. A lot of unexpected losses happen because opponents are taken for granted. Smart players don’t fall prey to this mistake. They treat their opponents as their peers. And therefore, they don’t make the mistakes of relaxing during the actual match. Good players always remember that their opponents don’t join the tournament for nothing. They also want to win.
10. Be a positive player. The good thing about smart players is that they always have a positive outlook. They dress up properly for the match. They walk like they are already winners even before the match. Their body language is commanding and their manners are worth emulating. When they lose, they don’t use the lack of stamina as an excuse. Rather, they will just say they lost to much better players today and exit quietly.