THE MAGIC KEY TO TENNIS 1 Thru 10 System
A Revolutionary Tennis System from A Visionary Trendsetter
Eric Sage
A Library Tales Publishing Book I
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The Magic Key to Tennis 1 Thru 10 System
Published by: Library Tales Publishing, Inc. 244 5th Avenue, Suite Q222 New York, NY 10001 www.LibraryTalesPublishing.com Copyright Š 2012 by Eric Sage. Published by Library Tales Publishing, Inc., New York, New York No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Library Tales Publishing, Inc., 244 5th Avenue, Suite Q222,New York, NY, 10001, 1-800754-5016, fax 917-463-0892. Trademarks: Library Tales Publishing, Library Tales, the Library Tales Publishing logo, The Magic Key to Tennis: 1 Thru 10 System, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Library Tales Publishing, Inc. / James F. Hamilton, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department at 1-800-754-5016, or fax 917-463-0892. For technical support, please visit www.LibraryTalesPublishing.com Library Tales Publishing also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Every content that appears in print is available in electronic books. ISBN-13: 978-0615757933 ISBN-10: 0615757936
Printed in the United States of America
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To all of the dreamers out there
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FOREWORD
Robert Landsdorp World famous tennis teacher Coached the most #1 tennis players in the history of the game.
“Sitting in the stands watching my student Maria Sharapova win in the 2004 Wimbledon final, I recall thinking, “All the years, all the intense work, all the dreams.” Maria was about to realize her lifelong ambition. Not a lot of people get to hold up the championship trophy and reach the highest level of their profession. I have coached some of the greatest tennis players in the history of the game: Pete Sampras, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, and Maria Sharapova, to name a few. Many have won Grand Slam events and been ranked number one in the world. How did they reach their dreams? Eric and I go back some 30 years. I coached him for several years and watched him work his way on to the professional ATP tour. He was not the biggest, not the fastest, but I will say he was talented, disciplined, and mentally tough. When his career ended and he started teaching tennis, that made sense. Eric was always a student of the game with a keen eye and an easy going personality. When I heard he was trying to become a professional musician I was a little bit shocked. Who does that? He started playing tennis when he was five—after their careers, most tennis pros start teaching or get involved in some sort of business. Rarely do they engage in another endeavor that takes countless years to master. When I was asked about the “get-the-best-athlete” approach that now seems to be the rage, I was skeptical and then offered this anecdote: There was a group of athletic girls who gathered for a drill, and one was the fastest girl in the school—a track star. In the drill of running to the baseline and touching the net when the word “go” was given, she won. But the girl who finished second in that race finished ahead of the track star when it came to chasing down a drop shot. So, obviously, there is more to being a good tennis player than just being a great athlete. It takes heart and guts. This is one thing Eric has always had, and something that this motivating and enlightening book V
has. Lots of HEART AND GUTS! After his career, Eric had his dream of music and nothing was going to stop him from achieving it. He worked hard and didn’t give up. He believed in himself and had the qualities needed so that people around him started to believe, too. Yes, Eric has an incredibly successful tennis coaching career, but equally impressive, he is also an amazing musician and motivational speaker. I think what makes him a great teacher is his expansive knowledge, gift for seeing each student individually, and utilizing his unique mind to develop this amazing tennis system. In this book, Eric not only teaches topspin, mental toughness, and shot selection, but also answers that elusive question: How to become great and reach your dreams? This book should be read by anyone who wants to play great tennis, understand the importance of not giving up, and learn how to be successful - in tennis and in life. It is a pleasure to know Eric.
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PREFACE The Magic Key to Tennis: 1 Thru 10 System will change the way tennis is learned and played. It will cut your learning and practice time by 80% and teach you how to hit the right shot every time—where you want it, when you want it—with the precise amount of spin. In this instructional and motivational manual I share how, through discipline and intelligent practice, I reached an unprecedented dream, and I will guide you to reach yours. This book is not only for tennis players, but is also a self-help book about going after and achieving one’s personal goals. After opening The Los Angeles Tennis Academy with my brother, I became known as the “tennis teacher to the stars.” It is here where we taught many celebrities, including George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, and Robert Downey Jr., as well as famous rock stars, NFL owners and world-ranked juniors, physically and mentally disabled children, and kids of all ages—all of whom experienced amazing success. As I began to teach tennis in my twenties, I recognized that many of my students had not been given the correct information with regard to technique. It was then that I realized I, too, had received poor advice from some of my teachers throughout my career. I was devastated that I had put in nineteen years of work on and off the tennis courts, all the while reinforcing bad habits. After my career ended I felt compelled to pursue a latent dream outside of the tennis world. I began to study music, where I focused on voice, piano, and composition. During this transformational time I found myself in a unique position as both a music student and a tennis teacher. I vowed not to repeat with my study of music what had happened to me in the past with tennis. I would not study and practice music to develop bad habits, but would instead seek out a master voice teacher. Furthermore, I would not teach tennis without complete knowledge of the game; I innately broke down the sport of tennis to its most primitive form. Through my intensive study of both tennis and music I discovered a shared correlation; in striving towards mastery through this dialectic process I could help my students, whether
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they were beginners or touring professionals. While alternating back and forth between instructing tennis eight hours a day and studying music five hours a night I developed my revolutionary 1 Thru 10 System for teaching tennis, as well as the perfect impact position. It is here that I unlock the mystery of tennis for the first time. Readers will, once and for all, understand what high-level players do innately. Interspersed chapters explain this tennis system and how it arose from my personal struggles, along with true inspiring accounts of my endearing friend Howie, as well as my other tennis students’ successes.
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ICONS USED IN THIS BOOK In the margins throughout this book, you will see the following icons indicating that something important is stated in the text.
An important tennis note
Key to success
Reaching your goals
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INTRODUCTION Believe in Your Dreams (even when no one else does) I am a believer in dreams. If you have a dream to play great tennis, it can happen! I don’t care how old you are or what your situation is; you can reach levels you only imagined. This book will not only improve tennis players of all levels and ages, but will inspire you to pursue your personal goals with a newfound power. Everybody has their dreams. Some have just one big one, while others have many smaller ones. There are tennis players who just want to get better, some who want to climb their club ladder, and some who dream of winning Wimbledon. No one person’s dream is more important than another’s. People talk about their desires all the time, but few achieve them. Life is not what you want it to be, but rather what you make of it. When you fulfill a dream, something in your soul releases. When the dragon of doubt rears its ugly head I say, “Bring it on!” I can’t tell you how powerful the feeling is to fulfill your passion. It’s pure bliss. The Magic Key to Tennis: 1 Thru 10 System is a revolutionary, yet simple three-part tennis system that will change your tennis game immediately. Millions of readers have read the beautiful book and New York Times best seller, The Inner Game of Tennis, by Timothy Gallwey. As cutting-edge as the book was in 1974, I always had one problem with the concept of the self one and self two minds. How can a player let go of their conscious (self one) mind and let their unconscious (self two) mind take over if they don’t have a solid foundation of technique? It is only when good technique is embedded in your muscle memory that you are truly FREE to let go!! I know this from my years on the professional tennis tour, and then in my second life performing and touring as a professional singer and pianist. I believe in hard work but, more importantly, intelligent hard work
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One can take all the lessons in the world and practice all day long, but without the proper technique and understanding, you are just reinforcing your bad habits. I have watched thousands of you try your hardest and fight through the frustration, only to walk away without reaching your goals. I don’t just teach the dream—I live it. I live it every day and it’s what makes life such a beautiful journey. The truth is, I went through hell to reach my goals. I physically and emotionally went to places I would not wish upon anyone. I had my dream of music, but I didn’t have my master teacher. When I found him, everything changed. Everything. The skills I watched others display so effortlessly, so magically, started to shine on me. It is an experience like no other. It is yours and yours alone. You can get there. I promise. I will help you and walk with you on your path. Are you tired of walking up to the net to shake hands feeling frustrated and unsatisfied? Are you ready to hit shots only the pros hit? You can become the player you always dreamed of. Let’s go on this journey together and … don’t stop believing. To create a balanced tennis game, you must integrate the mind, body, and spirit. It can be one of the most rewarding and spiritual roads you may ever travel. When a human is at one with nature and itself, it is whole and at peace … the power is within you.
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FRIENDS AND CLIENTS “I have worked with some of the best coaches in the world. When it comes to tennis instruction, Eric is one of the finest.” ~Tai Babilonia (world champion/Olympian figure skater)
“Eric’s tennis methods took my game to a new level” ~Bradley Shahine (touring tennis professional)
“Everyday I work with stars who reached their dreams. Eric is a master at helping people reach their goals.” ~James Talbot (manager for Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Velvet Revolver)
“For Eric, nothing is unattainable if you want it badly enough.” ~Patricia Kara (actress/model)
“Eric helped my mental game in 5 minutes - it blew me away!” ~Brad Smith (from the band Blind Melon)
“I was so taken by your story on the Channel 6 morning show. Your determination is so inspiring and your passion is heart felt. After I saw your interview I decided to not give up on my dream of running a marathon while I am still in my 40’s.” Cheryl - San Diego
“I am 15 and I was playing tennis for my high school. I quit tennis as the girls made fun of me for being overweight. After seeing you and listening to what you said, I realized I shouldn’t listen to bad things people say and I should get back on the tennis team. I like when someone believes in what they say and then backs it up with what they do. I really love your tennis and music story! “ Beth - Los Angeles
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It is vital to write down your goals. Without goals, we are like a ship without a rudder, drifting from place to place. “Manifest that which you desire.� ~ Eric Sage
Write down the goals that you would like to achieve with your tennis game:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreward..............................................................................................................V Preface...............................................................................................................VII Introduction: Believe in Your Dreams (even when no one else does).........X Section I Chapter 1: How I Got Here (what a long, strange trip it’s been)................17 Chapter 2: Digging in the Dirt..........................................................................23 Chapter 3: My Friend Howie...........................................................................26 Chapter 4: What is Topspin? ...........................................................................29 Chapter 5: Howard’s First Lesson...................................................................31 Chapter 6: Tennis to the Stars - Los Angeles Tennis Academy..................35 Chapter 7: A California Tennis Family...........................................................43 Chapter 8: Howard’s Forehand (Eric’s Bach concerto)................................46 Chapter 9: Big Dreamers Never Sleep............................................................49 Section II Chapter 10: The Concept - Numbering Your Spin.......................................51 Chapter 11: Numbering Your Height - Matching Spin # to Height # .....53 Chapter 12: How to Hit Topspin - The ‘Flip’.................................................56 Chapter 13: This is What the Pros Do.............................................................73 Chapter 14: Howard’s Enlightenment............................................................78 Chapter 15: The Physics of Topspin on a Tennis Ball..................................82 Chapter 16: Working With All Levels............................................................87 Chapter 17: Reading the Ball...........................................................................91 Chapter 18: Howard Learns to ‘Read’...........................................................96 Chapter 19: Numbering Other Shots - Backspins & Topspin Serve..........100 Chapter 20: Howard Spinning Out of Control............................................104 Chapter 21: Finding the Right Teaching Pro...............................................106 Section III Chapter 22: The Search for My Singing Guru.............................................111 Chapter 23: A New Way to Watch Tennis on TV (the Spindicator™).....123 Chapter 24: Shot Selection - Neutral, Offense, & Defense.........................124 Chapter 25: Mental Toughness (developing the Young Jedi)...................128 Chapter 26: Howard’s Emotional Rescue (being aware of your opponent’s emotions)..........................................................................................................135
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Chapter 27: Cracking the Nut........................................................................138 Chapter 28: Howard’s Friend Anne .............................................................141 Chapter 29: The Girls Learn to Play Doubles..............................................143 Chapter 30: Training My Daughter – Salish................................................145 Chapter 31: Putting It All Together (a not so young Jedi Knight)............149 Chapter 32: Show Me Your Guts...................................................................152 Chapter 33: Exercises to Practice...................................................................155 Glossary............................................................................................................161
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have been on the Head Penn advisory staff for 14 amazing years and would like to thank Head Penn Racket Sports for their continued support. I would like to personally thank Carrie Cimino who has been an amazing sales manager and a good friend. Thank you, Robert Landsdorp, for your kind words and your belief in me. I am so grateful to have been blessed with my brother Christopher. As we marched through the trenches of childhood, tennis, and life there is no one I would rather have had by my side. I would like to thank my beautiful wife Tanya for her work on the design and layout of the book. Her faith in me is immeasurable. My love and respect for her is unwavering. To Usher Morgan and the wonderful team at Library Tales Publishing. I am so appreciative for all of your creativity and diligence.
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(WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP IT’S BEEN)
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was born the middle of three children. My parents said I didn’t start walking until I was about a year and a few months old. In fact, apparently I wouldn’t even crawl—I just rolled. I laughingly say, “I knew I needed to save my energy for the road ahead.” I also was in no hurry to speak according to mom and dad. My older brother would play ‘superheroes’ around the house. One day I crawled into the living room. I babbled for a moment and moved my mouth around. “Ba Ba Ba.” My parents had friends visiting and everybody looked at me. “Ba Ba Ba.” My mom stopped and said, “This could be it! Our chubby little roller might say something.” “Ba Ba Ba Ba.” The room went silent for a good 15 seconds. “Ba Ba Ba - BATMAN!” It was my first word. I started playing tennis at age five and was also a child actor. I was the voice of the ‘Little Green Sprout’ on the Jolly Green Giant commercials from age nine to twelve (until the inevitable changing of my voice). I became the #1 tennis player in Canada in the under-fourteen division and continued through the years to train and compete with the best players in the world. Among them were Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang. After my junior tennis career I was given a scholarship to San Diego State University. School was an amazing experience and, looking back, I regard my years at SDSU as some of the best of my life. I was then offered company funding and a sponsorship to play on the pro circuit. After all my years of hard work I was off to play on the professional tennis tour. I traveled all over the world from England, Paris, and Amsterdam, to Monaco, 17
Germany, Canada, Hawaii, Australia, and all over the United States. I played on the pro tour for four years, where I earned a world tennis ranking.
Eric at age 13—Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy
In a blinding moment that changed my life forever, I was a passenger in a horrible car accident. I’ll never forget the sound of the metal crushing and the onset of intense pain in my neck and back. When the smoke cleared I had been badly injured. I put in two years of physical therapy, but as hard as I tried I could not regain the form of the world-class athlete I once was. So, with the abrupt end of giving nineteen years of my life to tennis—from my childhood, teens and early twenties—my professional career was over. The thousands of hours on the court, the countless miles of running in the snow of Canada and heat of Florida, all of the strength training and personal sacrifices—gone. Consider the impact that can have on a person. I realize there are far worse situations one can endure but nevertheless, when you dedicate your entire life to one career goal, to lose it is deeply devastating, on many levels. “Where do I go from here? What am I going to do for the 18
rest of my life now that my dream is lost?” I moved to Los Angeles and started to teach tennis to survive. I felt very natural as a tennis teacher, but I didn’t want to be obligated to be on a tennis court for the rest of my life. I decided to do some acting, got an agent, and landed some roles - one being in the movie Wayne’s World. I was the guitar salesman: “No Stairway to Heaven.” I did a number of commercials and studied the craft of acting, but never felt a love for it. Although I had been through the trenches with tennis, I was still a young man. What did my heart say? What would allow me to wake up each day of my life and be happy? I just didn’t see myself in a suit for the next forty years. What I had always fantasized about was music—singing, playing the piano, and composing. Music had always touched me on a profound level. It was hard to explain but I felt it deep inside. “Don’t be stupid,” I thought. “You have already spent a huge part of your life chasing a dream. Do you really want to spend God-knows-how-manymore years going for another one that is, in all reality, way out of reach?” Well, I had always loved to go to concerts and one fateful night my fellow tennis pro and best friend Jamie and I went to a show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. To get to the stage there was a long walk through the fields. It had that magic feel of the ‘60s, like something out of Woodstock. I always enjoyed those moments as the masses of people flowed with great anticipation. We got to our seats and waited for the show to start. The lights went off and the theater went pitch black. There was a deafening roar, a moment of euphoria and, like a flash of lightning, the stage lights came up and the band appeared. There I was, twenty-four years old, and we were watching a famous rock band doing what they love. The crowd of 18,000 was going crazy—the massive arena lights illuminated the smoke and haze coming off of the stage. There was electricity in the air. I remember watching the singer intently as he poured out his emotions into each song. I felt the power of the music rush through me. I recall thinking, “This guy is doing what I can only fantasize about, while someone else is living my dream (that damn Agassi). I’m sick and tired of watching other people perform when I’d rather be doing it myself.” I turned to Jamie and yelled over the music, “That’s it!” 19
“What’s it?!” “I have decided what I’m going to do with my life!” “What?!” “I’m gonna be a singer!” “A what?!” “A singer!” Jamie just smiled, chuckled, and drank his beer. Knowing me the way he did, I think he might have realized I was serious. So the next day I went out and got a karaoke tape and decided to start studying voice. I loved the idea of singing, but had no idea how Herculean and enigmatic a task it was going to be for me. The truth is, I had never sung before. My pitch was not good and I had an incredibly difficult time trying to hit notes. Also, it was nearly impossible for me to get a full sound out, as, in general, I spoke softly. The idea of getting a warm and pleasant tone seemed light years away. Furthermore, my rhythm was not natural, and to make things even more challenging, I was discovering that I was very closed off emotionally, making me incredibly tight in the throat and stomach. Therefore, it was an intensely arduous task for me to get the “support” I needed. These are extremely agonizing traits and weaknesses to overcome as an adult learning to sing. On top of that there was an overwhelming belief that a person could either sing or not sing. It was something you were born with. This scared me as much as anything, as I did not believe I was a natural-born singer. The first vocal teacher I ever worked with taught some wellknown singers, and he also played tennis. I didn’t have much money, so we worked out a deal to trade for lessons. At my first lesson he had me singing a Foreigner song, “I Want To Know What Love Is.” He had me trying to hit extremely high notes in this vocally demanding song. At the time I thought nothing of it. Wow! Looking back I realize this was the worst thing I could be doing. From my first lesson as a singer I was squeezing and tightening up when I needed to be loose. This went on for months as I developed very, very bad habits; ones that would later take me years to undo. This is the equivalent to having a beginning tennis student serve as hard as they can before they learn proper technique.
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Unfortunately, I didn’t know any better as a beginning singer. This left me confused and frustrated. I was having such a difficult time trying to sing that I decided I needed a greater understanding of music, so decided to incorporate piano and music composition (theory and harmony) lessons into my music studies. You see, when I was singing, the notes felt as if they were out in space. I had nothing concrete to, as they say, “hang my hat on,” as I had such little musicality. This is basically like a tennis player who is not at all athletic. However, it was through these music studies that I could really tap into my tennis students’ learning experience. I realized some of my students were going through the same types of challenges, both physically and emotionally, that I was facing as a musician. Well, the piano was a whole new animal! What a daunting task. First of all, my hands and fingers found themselves in a new world. I could not get them to move in any sort of logical, fluid motion. When I started to learn to read music, it was like learning Chinese. Except, I had to read two different staffs of notes and then had to transfer the information to my rebellious fingers, which in turn would not respond. Learning these skills as an adult is so much different than learning them as a child. When I would watch six year olds flying effortlessly up and down the piano, I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry. After much time and work I could tell that the vocal coach I was working with was not finding ways to help me break through. This is one of the biggest problems I see when I start to work with tennis players who have not received good instruction from prior teachers. Teaching is a massive responsibility. The truth is, the student must seek out and find a way to locate the right teacher for them. With my voice lessons something didn’t feel right. I knew from playing tennis when a certain technique felt good and I knew from teaching tennis when my students would have breakthroughs. As a music student I was not experiencing a good feeling or any epiphanies. At this point I went to other various voice instructors. When the experts in their respective fields said, “You need to understand, it’s too late. You are too old to ever reach a level of professional expertise. Professional singers,
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piano players and composers start when they are young.” At first I figured “they” must be right. But then I thought, “How do they know? This is my life and no one can tell me what I am able to accomplish until I am done trying.” When I told people that I had decided to become a professional musician at age twenty-four they would laugh at me. That just made me want it more.
Most kids would carve a scary face into a pumpkin when they were young. I would carve names of rock bands. 1981
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s a professional tennis player I didn’t think a lot about basic technique while I played on tour. However, as I began to teach the game, I realized I had to break it down from the beginning. With each student came a myriad of new questions and concepts. This was true from beginner students to the world-ranked juniors I coached. I had learned how to play tennis as a child and I didn’t have a clear memory of how I had developed each stroke. When one learns as a child, information is absorbed and built upon, whereas an adult must endure difficulties in learning and processing new information. As a teacher I had to take each stroke, each concept, and be able to present it in its simplest form, in certain cases, baby steps. Some of my biggest breakthroughs as a tennis teacher came from my own challenges with music. It was fascinating that the voice and piano obstacles I was facing, from learning these skills as an adult, mirrored the obstacles I faced in my personal life. Many of the emotional areas I needed to work on as a person were similar to the troubles I was having trying to sing, such as opening up emotionally and needing to express my feelings. Also, the physical difficulties I was experiencing learning the piano were coming from too much tension and being too tight; this was another area I needed to work on in my own life. As most of us know, breaking physical or mental tension as an adult can be very difficult. Now ask yourself, when was the last time you tried to master any complex skill? For some people it was when they were children. For others, never.
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When was the last time your tennis pro tried to master a new skill? Most of my teaching peers said, “Never.” They learned tennis when they were kids and that’s all they ever focused on. I had studied the complex skill of tennis as a child and now I was doing it again as an adult with music. I felt this gave me tremendous insight to my students no matter what their age. It’s hard to crawl into a student’s mind as a teacher if you have never experienced what that student is going through. Also, because mother is the need of all inventions. Sorry, Freudian slip. “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”—I felt the need to be the best teacher I could be. As I discussed earlier, to master certain physical skills it is incredibly helpful to be LOOSE. This is especially true for topspin. It’s one thing to think you are being loose; it’s another to actually be loose. I learned this the hard way as a singer and pianist. Great singers’ tongues are like putty. Great musicians’ shoulders, elbows, and wrists are at times soft as spaghetti. Unfortunately, most of us tighten up when we are performing a new physical skill. The next twelve years of my life were dedicated to teaching tennis and studying music. After my day of teaching I would eat, shower, and proceed to the music books. It was during this time that I taught a tremendous spectrum of movie stars, rock stars, and people of all ages with varying challenges and needs. I also developed my own holistic counseling business. The holistic counseling began when I started to help some of my tennis students off the court when it was raining. It started with mental toughness training as their sports psychologist, if you will. I seemed to be able to feel what they needed in order to achieve their desired result. I was able to talk to them, calm them down, and help them reach some goals that had been evading them. My first client was a tennis student who had weight issues. After working together Sandra went on to lose fifty pounds. It started with her desire to become a better tennis player and grew into a life-changing experience. Her diet changed, her exercise changed, and most of all her outlook changed. Sandra got into shape and was completely radiant. She said, “Every day I wake up with purpose.” I am not sure why, but it was
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comfortable for me to work with people. I drew on my own life experiences and world travels where I had learned so much. The truth is, there was a time I became so drastically out of balance from my intense focus on teaching tennis and studying music that I checked myself into a health facility. Although it was very scary, it was the best thing I had ever done. I learned so much about myself and my past that I was able to cleanse and get a clear understanding of who I had become—more importantly who I wanted to be. When you are willing to truly look deep inside yourself, you never know what you may find. One of the biggest things I discovered was my need for balance. Although I had made a conscious decision to climb this musical mountain, one must always be able to look in the mirror and see the truth. It was one thing to become a worldclass musician; it is another to lose yourself in the process. One day after a tennis lesson, Sandra told me that friends of hers were having trouble with their marriage and asked if I would talk to them. Their first session went so well they asked if I would work with them two times a week. They were able to work out many of their issues and reconnected to find balance and love. From there, one referral led to the next and I eventually had a waiting list of clients. I began working with professional athletes, businessmen/women, married couples and teenagers. I explained I had no formal training but no one seemed to care, as they felt they were making important progress. This work also gave me wonderful insight into how people’s minds obtain information, and how to work with each person as an individual. With counseling and teaching it is my job to instill what I feel is one of the main keys to success— discipline. With this focus it becomes much easier to get results. If a client is facing difficulty in an area, the key is to figure out what trigger points will ignite specific motivation. It was during these years, in my twenties, as I “dug in the dirt” to discover and develop myself, that I realized how much I wanted to help others. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” ~Rosalynn Carter
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or some reason, on certain days, I was able to see the revolutions of the tennis ball in midair, as if it was the size of a basketball traveling in slow motion. It was so obvious to me that topspin was the key to unlock the magic of tennis. I thought I would get around to writing a tennis book when I was older, but first I needed to complete my own journey of music and spirituality. The problem was that I had the order wrong. Developing this book was my journey and through this came my spiritual growth. For a number of years I had been trying to think of a title for the tennis book that I would someday write. Actually, not a title, but rather the title. The title of all titles. Titles like: The Zen Guide Through a Blade of Grass at Wimbledon, or The U.S. Open Your Mind, Body, and Soul. This was no different than my visions of how I would propose to my wife: some sort of concoction of a thousand balloons in the sky spelling out, “Be with me for eternity.” It had to be the best. I have to be the best—or so I was taught as a child to think. But, in the end, my book title is really quite simple and found its name organically. When asked the key to tennis, I would simply reply, “Spin.” Yes, it is true, one of the reasons I was able to come up with the 1 Thru 10 System was through my music studies. However, another defining moment in the development of my system came when a man in his midsixties showed up for his first lesson. He was about five feet, ten inches tall with silver-gray hair. He was fit, had a warm smile, and a firm hand shake. His skin
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was a little weathered from years in the sun and, I would later come to learn, stress. He owned a successful do-it-yourself car wash business in Los Angeles. He played the saxophone, which was cool for me as we could talk about different aspects of music. He was a real character and at times seemed a little awkward, which made him even more endearing. He would often show up to a lesson with a pleasant grin on his face and new joke to share. His name was Howard. He was the most physically and mentally locked up student I had ever come across. He chopped and hacked at the ball with horrible technique, resulting in a lot of backspin and sidespin, and he had consequently developed TENNIS ELBOW. I believe 95% of the time tennis elbow is caused by poor technique
He was a low 3.0 level player, (by National Tennis Rating Program standards) but he absolutely loved the game. I knew right away that if I could teach him the MAGIC SPIN—topspin—it would change his game completely. He would be more consistent and have much more power. That’s what topspin does. Keep in mind he had to overcome one of the toughest setbacks separating him from his goal: he was incredibly tight and rigged. Again, this is the dead opposite of how a player needs to be when learning and hitting topspin. He also could never understand why a certain ball would go long or into the net. He had the type of mind that needed to understand everything he did. It was funny because he reminded me of someone. I couldn’t think who it was. I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew it was someone. It was somebody who was very hard on themselves and it seemed the harder they worked the further they got from achieving their goal. When the pupil came to his guru and asked, “Sir, how long until I can master this craft I so desperately seek to have complete command of?” The guru replied, “Ten years.” The pupil said, “What if I work harder than anyone else and eat, sleep and breathe the craft? What if I think of nothing else
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and put all that I am into it?” The guru replied, “Twenty years.” Not to overstate the obvious, but it is a known fact that learning something new as an adult is uniquely more difficult than absorbing those same skills as a child. The adult mind has to work harder to make new neural connections while constantly fighting the ego, anxiety, and pressures of the adult mind. A teacher often has to take concepts and techniques to the extreme to have an adult “get it.” This was definitely true for Howard. For instance, if I hit a ball to most adults and ask them to swing the racket directly up, but not forward, they often can’t do it, as they are afraid of the outcome and where the ball might go. Often when I have a junior do the same thing, they swing directly up and don’t even make contact with the ball. When kids don’t make contact they will often start laughing. Not making contact is the exact result I am looking for, as the junior is now very close to hitting extreme topspin. If adults swing and miss the ball completely they are usually very embarrassed. This example is relative to Howard because I had to get him to let go physically and emotionally. I could tell that he wanted to reach his goal of becoming a good tennis player as much as I wanted to reach my goal of becoming a professional musician. Because of this, I wanted to, no, I needed to figure out ways to help him, as his game was in such dismay. Through our lessons we both grew and formed a lifelong bond. This man became “my friend Howie.”
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In sports, particularly racket sports, topspin is the property of a shot where the ball rotates as if rolling in the same direction as it is moving. It has forward spin imparted by an upward stroke. Topspin on a shot imparts a downward force that causes the ball to drop, after a certain distance traveled, due to its interaction with the air. In other words, the tennis ball can clear the net with a safe height and the topspin will bring the ball down into the court, thus creating a powerful and consistent shot. This being said, let me state emphatically that the golden key to tennis is topspin. But if you take the concept a little further, you will open the door to what ALL the pros are doing. What is relatively obvious to many players, yet maybe not to all, is there are different amounts or degrees of topspin. Different shots require different amounts of topspin. If you are able to hit different degrees of topspin at will, your tennis life will change. FOREVER! Not only will you become dramatically more powerful and consistent, but the ball you hit will be much more difficult for your opponent to return. As we have watched the decades go by, we have seen certain concepts come along that have changed our lives dramatically. Some of these developments have taken hours, weeks and years off of the time it takes to complete a task or to master a skill. For example, look how personal computers and the Internet have 29
made it easier to gain and learn information and communicate around the planet. Or how about modern medicine—with new information and better technology, millions of lives have been improved and saved. As the years have gone by, tennis has also changed dramatically—with modern grip positions, open stance on groundstrokes, and advanced racket technology. From Rod Laver to Jimmy Connors to Björn Borg, into the modern era of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal, topspin has developed through technique and equipment. Laver hit a lot of backspin (on his backhand), Connors hit mainly flat and Borg hit mainly heavy topspin without intense racket speed. Sampras, Agassi, Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal took the game to a new level through massive racket speed and by picking and choosing their amounts of topspin, and when to hit a flatter ball specifically for each shot. Rafael Nadal has now taken topspin to a whole new level. He is possibly the greatest proponent of topspin in the history of the game. It is through the 1 Thru 10 System that I feel players of any level can be helped to understand modern technique, which top pros use extensively in today’s tennis. Another way to help you understand spin is this: in all sports that use a ball, it is the spin of the ball that controls the desired result for the flight of ball. In basketball, when a player shoots the ball at the basket it travels through the air with backspin for the desired result. In football the ball is thrown with a spiral for its best result. In golf it’s the backspin through the air and topspin on a putt that directs the ball to its target. In billiards a good player hits the white ball in a certain spot so it spins, goes on to hit its targeted ball and continues spinning to a desired resting spot. This is how good pool players control every shot and often sink all the balls in a row (run the table). In baseball, spin allows a pitcher to control every pitch. A curve ball is the result of sidespin; a fastball is thrown with backspin. Once you learn to control your topspin you will play great tennis.
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I
taught tennis at a condominium complex where I lived in Sherman Oaks, California. It was on a Magnolia Boulevard, which was appropriate since the property had wellmanicured grounds, a quaint dog park, and three tennis courts surrounded by flowering magnolia trees. Howard had seen me teaching one of my world-ranked junior students, Brandie Braverman, and had inquired about lessons. He also lived at Oak Pointe as did a number of my other pupils. On his very first lesson, after he missed a few shots, Howard said to himself, “KISS—keep it simple, stupid.” I found his remark interesting, as he appeared to be anything but stupid. I guessed he had been told this saying somewhere along the way and felt it applied to him. Throughout the lesson he continually repeated to himself, “Why are you so stupid?” I thought, “This guy is really hard on himself. Could he be as tough on himself off the court as he is on it? I wonder if his life parallels his tennis as it so often does.” His berating of himself appeared odd, as he seemed like a nice person. And when I looked at him I sensed a sweet child hidden inside this older gentleman. I wondered what life had dealt him. Howard had reason to be concerned about his game. His technique wasn’t just bad; it was really, really bad. I remember a row of birds sitting on a wire near the courts, chattering away. I wasn’t sure if they were chirping to each other or
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laughing at Howard’s poor play. After the lesson I could tell he was frustrated with himself, yet fascinated with the unique instruction I had given him. I had put him in the correct grips, which is always imperative, and then my main objective was to have him relax and loosen up. I was studying yoga and meditation at that time to help relax my bod; teaching Howard to relax and relieve tension would allow him to drop his racket head and facilitate the correct wrist positions. I showed him some breathing exercises that would aid in developing this technique. Once his racket head had dropped, his swing had to come up, too. I walked him through his motion and had him freeze in the position of his finish to help him see that his racket needed to start low and finish high, to create topspin. As easy as this sounds, it’s not. When I have students freeze on their finish, it illustrates to them how far they are from actually following through from low to high. It also highlights their balance—or lack thereof—as many students cannot hold their stance. As they’re frozen I also examine their body and racket positions— opposite hand and arm, legs, feet, body, shoulder and hip rotation. I succeeded in getting Howard to raise his racket on his follow through and rotate the ball in a forward direction, to create a little topspin. I did not want to overload him as I felt it was as much information as he should be given for the moment in regard to his groundstrokes—forehand and backhand. Also I could see his mind churning on any new instruction I gave him. My experience had taught me that with certain students, less is more. I proceeded to examine Howard’s other shots— his serves, volleys, overhead, and other strokes. Finally, I played some points with him to get an understanding of his shot selection, ability to strategize, and to get a feel for his mental toughness. I found that each of these three abstract areas were basically nonexistent for Howard, but that didn’t surprise me. It was common with many of my students that their previous instructors had not addressed these aspects of the game, despite the fact that an improvement
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in any of these three areas would immediately lift a player’s game to a new level. After Howard and I had completed his lesson I had him join me on the bench. I asked him the same question I asked all my new students: “What are your goals as a tennis player?” Howard said, “I want to become a better tennis player and I’d like to win once in a while. I feel like I have not improved in years. I love to watch Sampras hit his backhand. I’ve always dreamed of hitting a one-handed topspin backhand. As a 3.0 player, it would be great become a 3.5, and it’s a dream of mine to be a 4.0. But that may be silly due to my age.” I then asked him if he would like a full evaluation of his game. “Yes. Please be very specific about what areas need work.” To be honest, I wasn’t sure if he was ready for the complete truth, and I didn’t know if he wanted to learn the correct strokes. I started by talking about the importance of technique and that he was lacking in this area. He told me that he had taken tennis lessons for many years from many different teaching pros and was suffering from tennis elbow. I was shocked. It appeared to me he had never taken a lesson in his life. I gently explained to him that he basically had no “stroke” on his forehand. I went on to say that he had been in the wrong grip, that his wrist, elbow and shoulder were locked, and as for a follow through—he had none. By stopping his racket and failing to follow through before completing his stroke, he was putting a lot of force on his arm. This might have been a cause of his tennis elbow. His one-handed backhand needed even more work. Once again, he was in the Continental grip and could only chop at the ball, as his racket was starting too high and finishing too low, creating backspin and sidespin. This was another possible cause of his tennis elbow. Such problems were common among many players, and could be corrected. As for the rest of his game—his serves, volleys, overheads— they were technically worse than his groundstrokes. Again, he was in the completely wrong grips and did not grasp the concepts of the proper technique. “I can only help you if I am able to be honest with you,” I told him.
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Howard had a look of trepidation, yet interest, in his eyes. “Bottom line, your technique needs a lot of work. I believe you could become a very good tennis player, but it will take a real commitment. Also, I can tell we will need to work on your mental game. I’d like to take all of your negative energy and turn it into a positive powerful force. That starts with how you talk to yourself internally and how you perceive personal strength. I also feel that with a better understanding of shot selection and strategy we’ll get some immediate results in your competitive situations and your desire to win matches.” And finally, “I would like to know if you enjoy playing tennis, Howard.” He didn’t answer. From what I had witnessed it seemed he had a love-hate relationship with the game. So I asked again, “Do you enjoy playing tennis?” He sat silent beside me for a long time, like a child who had been admonished by his teacher. I feared I might have overdone it but I didn’t want to mislead him. If he really wanted to learn the game, and I was to be his teacher, he needed to know what it would take. He finally said, “Sometimes.” I looked at this man who was 40 years my elder and said, “Maybe that’s the most important aspect that needs to change.” As gentle as I had tried to be, I felt my candor was what he deserved. I expected us to shake hands and part ways, as this flood of information would overwhelm him. So we said goodbye, and I picked up my tennis bag and began to walk off the court. And as I was walking away I heard Howard yell, “Eric!” I turned around. “I would like lessons every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.” I paused and studied him. I could see a long road ahead for Howie, but if he was up to the challenge, so was I. “Let’s do it Howie,” I said, and smiled as I walked away.
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(LOS ANGELES TENNIS ACADEMY)
I
had a very successful tennis academy in Studio City, California, that I ran with my brother, Christopher. We had an after-school junior program for aspiring champions and clinics for adults on weekends. Chris and I are not only brothers, we are best friends. We grew up together playing, running, swimming, and helping each other in tennis and in life. We traveled the world playing doubles together on the pro tour; we then had the good fortune of working together as young adults. Showing up to our programs was a real pleasure and something I looked forward to, as Chris and I were really trying to make a difference in the tennis community. Because Chris and I were raised in an unconventional family we had to become each other’s rock. At times we often don’t need words, as our thoughts seem connected. When my mother handed my baby brother to me for the first time, I knew that I would protect him forever. He has returned the favor many times since. Most of our private students participated in our programs. For juniors it is highly valuable to be working out and playing matches with other juniors. Chris and I trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida when we were juniors. Many famous players also trained there and it was an immeasurable experience. It was there that we gained first-hand knowledge as to what, in our minds, made and didn’t make a great tennis academy. Training juniors who were chasing the same dream that we had pursued was exciting. Using our tour experiences enabled us to impart years of knowledge to the
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kids and their parents. Working with the adults was equally rewarding, as Chris and I enjoyed the challenge of transforming club players into tournament-level athletes. Teaching adult clinics in Los Angeles was always exhilarating, as we never knew who might show up for a workout. We had famous actors, musicians, directors, writers, and high-level athletes training at our facility. We provided a very demanding workout with a relaxed atmosphere. The guys’ shirts were off, the girls wore whatever they wanted, and there was always fun banter about the previous evening’s festivities. Once in a while, we would have our margarita tournaments, which were most memorable—at least for Chris and me. I’m not sure how clear the matches were to the winners. The longer you lasted the more you drank. I remember the first day George Clooney came walking up to our courts. To us he was just another player whose game we could help improve. For some of our students though, the movie stars and rock stars were inspiring. With all of the tennis clinics and choices around the city, the fact that many stars came to us said something. George is very nice and a great athlete. He worked hard and had a great attitude. The cool thing about him or someone like Alec Baldwin was how respectful and gracious they were. Alec and others were so impressed with what we had accomplished that they listened to every word we said and watched intently when we hit. Sometimes during a clinic, a touring pro would come out or Chris and I would do exhibitions. The celebrities would clap with tremendous enthusiasm and say that they hoped that one day they could hit the ball with such ease and power. When the clinics were over, players and celebrities would often hang out with us and talk over a late lunch, unless it was a Vegas weekend. In that case our tennis buddy Jamie would show up at 5:00 sharp in the “Dark Side,” (what we called his black Honda Accord), and the three of us would roll out to Las Vegas for the weekend. Those were great times that we will always cherish—to be young, wild, and free. Too bad George wasn’t filming Ocean’s Eleven then; maybe we could have stayed in a cool suite. The truth is, we were just as happy at the Barbary Coast. Never, in my wildest dreams, did
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I imagine that I would someday be a headline performer singing in the big hotels we couldn’t afford to stay at!
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Eric at the 2012 French Open with Victoria Azarenka (current world #1)
Eric with the Bryan brothers at La Costa 2012, performing at the All American Tennis Challenge benefiting Bryan Brothers Foundation & Maggie’s Hope
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Eric and Sam Querrey at the All American Tennis Challenge benefiting Bryan Brothers Foundation & Maggie’s Hope
Eric with rock legends Geddy Lee of RUSH & Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters
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Eric with David Nalbandian, former world #3
Patricia Kara (Extra correspondent, Deal or No Deal, model, actress) in Eric’s “Redeem my Heart” music video.
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Eric with Mike Myers and Tia Carrere in the movie Wayne’s World
Eric with former #1 AmĂŠlie Mauresmo on stadium court, Rolland Garos, 2012 French Open 41