← Sidebar

By Johan Kriek

The difference between playing tennis and playing to win…..

If you cannot rally you cannot win….

If you cannot place the rally, you cannot win…

If you do not understand the difference between a deep lob, a loop, a flat ball, a side door shot a topspin and a slice off both wings you cannot win….

if you do not have a safe second serve with spin you can rely on as your bread and butter serve, you cannot win….

If you are a mental midget and bang your racket in the first game of the match, you cannot win….

If you have great abilities from the baseline and you have a weak transition game with wobbly volleys and overheads, you cannot win…..

If you constantly look at your parents on the side of the court or your coach and look for advice you will never learn to win on your own….

If you only play against good players and get your brains beat in every day, you will only undertand defeat and you wont know how to win….

if you only play tennis and do not work on improving your mental muscle….you will not win….

If you only play tennis and rarely do off court exercise….you will be passed by those that do and you will not win…

If you bounce from one coach to the next for whatever reason, the chances greatly increase of you never reaching your true potential…stability creates progress and your chances go up to win….

Winning isn’t going to come unless you suffer terrible defeats but if you are as competitive as i am…leave no stone unturned….

Johan Kriek won the Australia Open twice, reached no. 7 in the world and currently operates a tennis academy in Palm Beach, Florida.

Play to win #playtowin

<< Djokovic vs Nadal: 50

Biofile: Carling Bassett-Seguso Inteview >>