why you should never ever chase ranking points!

I know, who doesn't love rankings when things are going well! For coaches too, I'm all for celebrating ranking achievements, as they are undeniable and easily understandable. 'My son Wesley is really good at tennis and has been getting even better lately' doesn't mean anything. Wesley might not have a backhand and plop his serves over the net with the wrong grip! However, 'Wesley has just made the Top 10 in his age group for the first time!' gives you something useful, BUT... junior tennis rankings are also the biggest scam there is in junior tennis, and I will explain why.

When I say scam, I don't mean they aren't accurate. All ranking lists at all levels will have players who have a higher ranking than they should and vice versa, but overall they're pretty good in that sense. When I say scam, I mean they can lure you into wasting a lot of precious time and money chasing points at the expense of doing what is actually going to give you a chance of fulfilling your potential. 

The best players are good at tennis, they are REALLY good at tennis. If you want to be the best, then get better! It's as simple as that, develop a laser-like focus on getting better, and forget about chasing points, because chasing points will only dilute and distract your efforts to get better.

A focus on ranking points leads you into the wrong mindset, one that encourages you to rate your tennis ability on a number, rather than whether you can make an impossible retrieval to keep the ball in play, or have the mental strength to win more tie-breaks than you lose, or have the skill and confidence to save a break point with a surprise tactic, or have the awareness to know what's going wrong mid-match and find the solutions before it's too late. 

To help understand the right mindset, here's an interview excerpt from the legendary and recently deceased Vic Braden:

One of the coaches (at my academy) would always say that one of the worst players we ever had as a junior was Pete Sampras. The kids didn’t even want to play him he was so bad and so Pete quit tennis to go play baseball. But his sister Stella persuaded him to stay in tennis.

But Pete Sampras set his goal on improvement rather than winning!

He always played up in his divisions in the juniors and got beat all the time, but with each defeat he learned something. (Sampras became one of the best players in the history of the game! He won Wimbledon 7 times.)

So Pete is always a good example to me. What Pete did in the approach that he took, because he did not count defeat as just a gigantic loss, he counted it as a way to gather some new information!

Notice the emphasis is not just about playing up, but also gathering new information from every defeat, learning something every time, and getting better from it.

There is no point hitting with, or playing against stronger players, if you're not actively learning from the experience. Likewise, playing with much weaker players can go from being a waste of time to a golden opportunity for progress when the learning mindset is fully in gear. I often encourage players to play a lower level tournament purely to use skills that they possess, but don't yet have the confidence to use in matches. The player who can do that understands the importance of getting better, but how many do it?

If you're good enough, I PROMISE YOU the ranking points, and the subsequent opportunities, will take care of themselves without you needing to do a thing. Venus and Serena barely played a single junior tournament, but guess what they were doing instead? Yes, getting better!

You also need the drive and determination to get better. Rankings can very easily fool a player into not realising that, or perhaps it allows them to deny the reality that they don't actually have the necessary dedication. 

NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: The junior competition environment can be highly stressful, no-one is immune. Even those who look calm and relaxed probably don't feel that way inside, and let's face it, that's not many, especially when they start losing!

As well as using tournaments to get better, players must also use tournaments to develop their ability to own the environment.

These days, when I play tournaments, I'm calm, relaxed, and happy to be there, no matter how the match goes. Being in that state naturally means I play better. I didn't used to be like this. I went through a phase of being a total nutcase on the match court, and then a phase of incredible self-doubt and lack of confidence and belief, and then I learned how to teach my students to overcome this and all other mental weaknesses, and then I trained myself to do it because no-one taught me this when I was younger. Partly it's maturity, but juniors can learn and develop this area of the game if they are willing to work at it and have a good teacher.

You do need to experience tournaments if you want to get better at owning the tournament environment. To succeed in tennis, you have to beat other players in that environment. But it's an environment which has the ability to intimidate you, shred your nerves, destroy your confidence, and upset your emotions, and it does this to players ALL THE TIME!

Having the tennis skills isn't enough. You need inner confidence and self-belief, the emotional skills to feel relaxed and in control before and during a match, and the mental skills to be positive and have a clear head at all times. Every tournament your child plays is an opportunity for them to get better at owning the environment, but it's an opportunity that few even see let alone take. If they don't make enough progress owning the environment, it's only a matter of time before the opposite will happen, and they will quit.

Here are a few FAQ's about ranking points;

Should I play doubles tournaments to maximise ranking?: NO! Play doubles tournaments to get better at tennis! It offers wonderful opportunities to develop serve/return skills, volley skills, positioning, reactions, and tennis intelligence.

Should I do team tennis for ranking points?: NO! Do team tennis because it's fun, to support your club, and to feel part of a team (which is a rare opportunity in tennis). It's also an invaluable opportunity for your coach to watch and support you, which helps them to do an even better job at making you better at tennis.

All my child's training mates are playing the ranking points game, if I don't won't my child drop behind?: Drop behind in what? Numbers? What about their tennis skills?

My child needs one win at a certain tournament level to get the points to qualify for nationals, surely it's worth travelling further for a weaker tournament?: You already know the answer. 

No matter what level we're talking about, either your child is good enough to be at that level or they're not. Recreational level, Futures Tour, Club level, ITF Tour, National level. It doesn't matter what your level is, all that matters is whether you want to move to the next level. If you do, then get better! Do the stuff your coach tells you to do, and maximise every opportunity to learn and develop your skills, and to own the tournament environment. There is also a wealth of good info on these pages about how to get better quickly 😃

Chasing ranking points is a losing mindset. Those who are good enough don't need to do it, so change the mindset and get better instead.

Get better at tennis, so you'll have the required skills to move to the next level soon, and get better at owning the competition environment, so you'll be able to perform those skills under pressure on the match court, where it counts.

Good luck!

No-one has a good answer because most people don't look to actually understand what is going on when someone cheats.

Firstly, be absolutely sure that someone is cheating. Until you know someone is cheating, then you have nothing to deal with. Trust your gut instinct, but give them the benefit of the doubt the first time.

Once you know the other person is cheating, let's start with what not to do!

DON'T cheat back. Fighting fire with fire is never the answer. All you're doing is giving someone else the power to make you act in a way that goes against what's right, and what you stand for. You're allowing that person to lower your personal standards, and although it might have the desired effect sometimes, it won't make you feel good or strong inside.

DON'T give up. It's sometimes tempting to walk off the court, saying something like 'if it's that important to you, then just have the match'. Giving up in any situation in a match should never be acceptable to you. Giving your best effort, facing challenges, and learning from the experience, is what it's all about if you want to feel satisfaction with yourself after the match.

DON'T directly call them a cheat. Don't call them anything, don't be rude or confrontational. It serves no purpose to resolving or moving on from the situation, and won't help you.

DON'T get upset. This can be hard to avoid, but your self-confidence, inner strength and happiness are fuelled by your ability to not allow the actions of other people to have power and control over your emotional state. 

To help you not get upset, understand one very important fact; when someone cheats against you, it's always because that person is suffering inside, in some way that you won't understand. 

Some players just find the competition environment too stressful, and their inability to handle it might be the only thing causing their suffering, but it could be more complex than that. It could also be temporary or more of a chronic issue. You don't need to know the cause of their suffering, you just need to know that it is there.. 

No-one who's in a mentally good frame of mind will purposefully cheat in a tennis match. 

Therefore, you can be sure the reason your opponent is cheating is never anything to do with you, it can't be. For that reason, NEVER take it personally. 

There are 2 courses of action to take, always in this order;

Call the ref. Yes, we all know they'll ask your opponent if they're 100% sure, your opponent will say 'yes I am' with differing levels of acting acumen, and the ref will allow the call to stand. Taking this initial action is still worth doing because you're standing up to something that is wrong, and it sends the message to your opponent that you won't accept an unfair game. You may have no further problems after taking this action.

If you do, then take some action of your own. Here it is, the BEST thing you can do to deal with a cheat!

There is a kind and decent person inside EVERY human being, it's how we are designed. Only life experiences can suppress that side of us, but it is always there. Beneath the actions, the bravado, the awful behaviour, the anger, the insanity, there is a good and fair person. The BEST thing you can do is try to talk to that side of your opponent!

Go and talk to them, expressing that this is the second time you feel they have made a mistake with their calling, and then be calm, firm, and relentless as you try to help them connect with their good side:

You're a really good player, you don't need to make calls that might be wrong.

Don't you want to win the right way?

Don't you want to feel good about your win, knowing you won fairly?

If you end up winning after making calls that might be wrong, then you'll know inside that you didn't really win the match, and the win won't mean anything.

It's very unfair on the other player if you get your calls wrong.

If you do this all the time, you might get a bad reputation.

It's only a tennis match, making sure it's a fair game is better for both of us.

It's important to say these things with the right tone of voice. Don't say it with a tone of arrogance or superiority. Say it with a tone of voice that represents 'I'm trying to help you'. Remember, this person is suffering in some way for them to be cheating in the first place. Anything other than a helpful calm tone will have no effect. 

Of course, can a young junior player have the maturity to do this? Probably not in most cases, but some will. Teach it to any child who doesn't know how to handle cheating, and I promise whether they ever end up using it or not, they will benefit greatly in how they act and feel on court in difficult situations.

Also, the positive effect you might have on a cheating opponent by taking this action may extend far further than you'll ever know. At a recent team tennis match, I said these things to a 10yr old on the opposition team who was blatantly cheating. It had no effect on the day, but several weeks later at a tournament, I saw the same player allow an opponents winner on the line and then repeat exactly one of the phrases I had said to him that day! True story.

Remember, I told you this was the BEST advice to deal with a cheating opponent, I didn't promise it would be simple or easy!

Good luck!

Afternote: What if my child is the one who cheats?: Firstly, well done for not being in denial about it. Secondly, sit them down and have a proper open and honest talk with them. Such a talk should reveal the reason(s) for their behaviour. Once identified, take those reasons to their coach because they will be fixable.