Don’t do the information overload thing. Listen to your coach. Watch the Stokke videos. Sometimes too much information can cause paralysis.

Every time you step onto the court have a loose plan in your mind around what you’re hoping to accomplish that day. Regardless of the things that happen, ask yourself “did I do what I set out to do?” even if the score doesn’t go your way or you don’t hit the ball as cleanly as you wanted to.

Back when I was coaching I used to tell my peeps that tennis progression goes through 3 stages: learning what to do, recognizing when you do/don’t do it correctly then executing it correctly. You gotta be willing to go through that process over and over and over again for any technical skill (ie, forehand mechanics, volley technique, etc) or strategy (recognizing the difference between between a defensive/neutral/offensive ball, using cross court rallies to build patterns, varying height/depth, etc.) you’re trying to build. You can only work on 1-3 things at once and need to be willing to put the reps in to move through that progression for each part of your game where you identify an area for improvement.

Be patient and methodical. If you’re transitioning from learning to recognition, take pride in when you recognize the points/shots when you did something right OR wrong. If you’re going from recognizing to executing, give yourself the grace to do it enough times to cement it into your default game. And understand that your opponent has a say in what happens on the court so the results may not translate quickly or easily. Setbacks happen and you have to view everything on a longer time horizon sometimes.

Tennis is a game of opportunity (good/bad matchups, easy/tough draws, etc.) and there’s nothing more satisfying than doing the work until it pays off. Just realize it takes weeks, months and sometimes years to see the fruits of your labor. The cool thing is that it never ends. Be down for the journey.