Secrets of Spanish Tennis: Suffering

[chrislewit]

bottle,

Ahhh, memories.


Another great article from Chris on the Spanish system. I remember back in the 1994 when Sergi Bruguera won the French Open for the second consecutive time he said that to win on clay, you must love to suffer. That comment always stayed with me. It also was exemplified by one of my favorites, Austrian player Thomas Muster, The Nadal before Nadal. Muster put himself through hell on a consistent basis. Videos of him sitting in a chair like apparatus bashing balls while still recovering from his leg injury haunted my dreams. He loved to suffer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uNB4tMl8P8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUxdLWsxzw

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

You will commonly hear the word "suffering" from many Spanish coaches and players--from different regions of the country. The word and concept has become woven into the fabric of the tennis culture there

Best
Chris

[chrislewit]

I was screaming Catholic religion all the way down this article until I arrived at the point where it was cited.

It's not just the Spaniards that suffer. Italians have that mentality as do other Europeans. I think their Catholic religion has much to do with it. My wife is Italian and a staunch Catholic. She agrees with me.

I think Nadal has an almost masochistic attitude towards tennis. You can imagine him flogging himself alone at night after a bad loss. I find him intensely serious fellow to boot. He's too serious actually.

The Brits don't suffer. We truly don't. We don't believe either...believe in ourselves that is. We aren't too religious either come to think of it. I cannot think of a race less religious than us. The Brits are superb collectively when their backs are to the wall. Our history bears this out well. But we cannot seem to cut it on a tennis court...Murray excepted.

I think you Yanks have had a barren period as far as talent is concerned. You simply don't have anyone good enough to cut the mustard it seems to me. You don't come across as a nation that lacks confidence and your mentality ought to be fine for tennis. Look at all the fine players you've had.

I don't like the whole Nadal suffering thing. Federer has enjoyed the same riches with a much lighter attitude. I think he enjoys the game more than Nadal, much more. I guess it's just a question of "each to their own" when it comes to mentality rather than one attitude being superior to another.

Just my thoughts...

Great thoughts. Yes--if players have too much luxury and good things, it's harder to develop the willingness to suffer. I've heard other coaches say this is a major issue in England

Best
Chris

[klacr]

bottle,

Ahhh, memories.


Another great article from Chris on the Spanish system. I remember back in the 1994 when Sergi Bruguera won the French Open for the second consecutive time he said that to win on clay, you must love to suffer. That comment always stayed with me. It also was exemplified by one of my favorites, Austrian player Thomas Muster, The Nadal before Nadal. Muster put himself through hell on a consistent basis. Videos of him sitting in a chair like apparatus bashing balls while still recovering from his leg injury haunted my dreams. He loved to suffer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uNB4tMl8P8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUxdLWsxzw

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bottle]

The barflies from Detroit drinking in Swaim's Grocery, Winston-Salem, N.C., just couldn't believe it when I said I was moving north.

[klacr]

Living in Detroit is masochistic on its own.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bottle]

Lifelong Suffering

Assimilating new information into one's game is a kind of suffering, too. I'm just glad I have a taste for it. All oarsmen know about masochism. In Detroit, they drive over the Belle Isle bridge at 4 a.m. hoping the workout down below will be really tough.

On TV from Auckland and Perth (why won't the commentatoes ever say that those two cities are 4,200 miles apart!?), said commentatoes were on the verge of comparing Angelique Kerber's forehand with that of Jimmy Connors but stopped short.

They do look similar by the end. But Jimmy points across in the middle and Angelique doesn't.

[bottle]

It is a great article, and although I have good slice partially because of Trey Waltke's other article, I hadn't read this one, so thank you.

About the two "furnitures" of Jimmy's forehand and backhand: On forehand, the scatter backswing he uses (no clinging to racket with opposite hand) goes down and up like McEnroe and Evert. Or maybe level and then up.

This is an idea I'd like to challenge. Why not just go up? Saves time. Okay, okay. Just go up when you get old. No, I'm chickening out. Just go up. It's something to try at any age.

On backhand, look how Jimmy stays in the slot on backswing. And how lower arm folds with the shot. A push-pull coupling? A Type 3 two-hander? A strong resemblance to Novak Djokovic?

[hockeyscout]

Suffering ...

This article is the hidden gem of this site ...

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/champions/trey_waltke/playing_jimmy_connors/playing_jimmy_connors.html

[johnyandell]

Stotty,

I find this well said!

[stotty]

Let's discuss Chris Lewit's article, "Secrets of Spanish Tennis: Suffering"

I was screaming Catholic religion all the way down this article until I arrived at the point where it was cited.

It's not just the Spaniards that suffer. Italians have that mentality as do other Europeans. I think their Catholic religion has much to do with it. My wife is Italian and a staunch Catholic. She agrees with me.

I think Nadal has an almost masochistic attitude towards tennis. You can imagine him flogging himself alone at night after a bad loss. I find him intensely serious fellow to boot. He's too serious actually.

The Brits don't suffer. We truly don't. We don't believe either...believe in ourselves that is. We aren't too religious either come to think of it. I cannot think of a race less religious than us. The Brits are superb collectively when their backs are to the wall. Our history bears this out well. But we cannot seem to cut it on a tennis court...Murray excepted.

I think you Yanks have had a barren period as far as talent is concerned. You simply don't have anyone good enough to cut the mustard it seems to me. You don't come across as a nation that lacks confidence and your mentality ought to be fine for tennis. Look at all the fine players you've had.

I don't like the whole Nadal suffering thing. Federer has enjoyed the same riches with a much lighter attitude. I think he enjoys the game more than Nadal, much more. I guess it's just a question of "each to their own" when it comes to mentality rather than one attitude being superior to another.

Just my thoughts...

[bottle]

I want to say something about bullfighting but think that crew would be more appropriate (rowing).

[johnyandell]

Let's discuss Chris Lewit's article, "Secrets of Spanish Tennis: Suffering"