Coach's Notes: What Match Toughness Actually Is

Between-point tennis

A tennis match is roughly twenty percent ball-striking and eighty percent walking around deciding who you're going to be on the next point.

Match toughness isn't yelling. It's a repeatable routine: react for one second, turn away from the court, walk to the fence or the back of the baseline, decide on the pattern for the next point, then step to the line and play it.

The things that hold up under pressure

• Your legs. Split step every time, even when you're tired — especially when you're tired.
• Your first-ball pattern. Know before you serve where the ball is going and what you expect back.
• Your margin. Under stress, aim higher over the net, not harder through it.

Rules of the road

Twenty-five seconds between serves. Ninety seconds on side switches. Two minutes between sets. Use all of it when you're rattled and none of it when you're rolling — pace is a weapon, and it's legal.

Bring water, ice, racket, shoes, and mental toughness. That last one is the item most players forget.