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Tip #6

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Let me know if last week’s tip helped you! I was very excited to share that with you.

Today’s tip will be a lot shorter BUT it comes from the best player in the world, IVAN LENDL. He had so many records but the 2 most amazing achievements of him that stands out to me is:

8 straight US-Open Sunday 4pm singles finals.
4 singles titles in 4 weeks on 4 different continents.

Remember I told you in a previous tip that if you can not play like a pro you can still think like a pro. This tip comes from a doubles match that Lendl and I played in France.

Lendl was serving to the deuce side, to our opponent's backhand. We were in the 2nd set and it was Lendl’s 4th service game of the match. I turned around after we once again were up 15-0, having just won the first point AGAIN.

I said, "You know that you have not served one serve to this guy’s forehand yet". He replied with a question, "Have we lost any points yet"? You all guessed it! We had not lost a single point by serving the same serve over and over and over and over and oovvvverrrrrrr.

We had won the first set and Lendl was serving for the match at 40-15. I was at the net waiting for him to serve us to the next round as I hear him calling me over. Quietly he whispered "Now I will mix it up and serve to the forehand". Obviously we both had a grin on our faces getting ready for the matchpoint to be played. His serve came by me, like a rocket, straight to the guys backhand and we won the match. Never had I played a match in which an opponent never returned a forehand. Now you know the humor of Lendl who became one of my best friends.

WHY THIS STORY?
In the locker room he called me over and with a big smile he asked me if I liked the way he "MIXED UP THE SERVE TO THE DEUCE SIDE TODAY".

My reponse after a big laugh was "what were you going to do if this guy was going to start returning better. By doing the same thing, he was going to get rhythm and get better as the match goes continued".

With a simple reply he asked me "did he get better"? And then he smiled and walked away.

That night at the dinner table, like always, we were joking around about the funny things that happened that day in our matches. He turned to me and said: "NEVER CHANGE SOMETHING THAT WORKS FOR YOU IN A MATCH. Let the opponent change first, because you do not know if he can change".

SUMMARY: If you have just won the point, do the same thing again as soon as you can. What was about to be just a funny story, turned out to be the best tip of my life and now yours too. This way you will always focus on what you are doing well. Look for those points that will take you to match point before your opponents.

Ivan Lendl is a true friend of mine and I was fortunate to be a guest at his wedding. Now that was another story of its own in how he tricked me AGAIN in believing it was something else. One of the most funniest guys off the court and someone who taught me not only about tennis strategy, but made me see what it means when someone gives you their word in something.

If you like my tips tell your friends, but not your opponents!!!!!!!
Have a happy F-ACE
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