Bailey’s Blog

Anna Ivanovic      World Number 4

” Every player is different and has to find their triggers to focus properly. I think about my footwork and ask myself “Am I watching the ball closely enough?”

“Open Diary” - Australian Open Column Jan 19th 2008

Triggers come from your training! Triggers are unique things you think about that help fix problems or keep you in the right frame of mind. They come from experimenting , defining and polishing aspects of your game so you can focus on these triggers when you play. Triggers come from KNOWING WHAT WORKS for YOU.

Because moving well and watching the ball are such important triggers for staying focused, then training these 2 skills religiously are incredibly important. Especially if you can train both together .i.e. hitting fed balls on the court and only thinking about moving your feet and watching the ball!

Great Tip Anna!….and by the way watch her footwork, her movement is very clean and smooth.

If  you don’t know who Harry Hopman is then I suggest you research and find out as he is considered a pioneer of tennis coaching and one of the best tennis coaches of of all time. He was the most sucessful Davis cup coach to ever live!

I am going to tell you a great story about Harry.

When he was 70 years old he was asked to give a promising young junior a lesson. So he slowly strode onto the court with his basket of balls and asked his new pupil to take up his ready position on the baseline. Harry immediately fed the ball into the tramlines and the new student stood dumbfolded standing on the baseline having not moved a muscle.

Harry motion to his young boy to come up to the net and directed him towards his bag and said that is the end of the lesson, pay me now and see you tommorrow. Well, the tears swelled up in the boys eyes and as Harry took the boys money and said ‘If ever I ever  feed a ball over the net you chase that thing no matter where I feed it. See you tommorrow’ And, the boy was sent home.

So the boy came the next day…Harry stood him on the baseline said nothing and fed that exact ball into the tramlines again…… Well the boy was like a pouncing panther and flew across and hit that ball back as if his life depended on it! He never forget his lesson the day before!

The moral of the story is when you get on that court you never give up and you try for every ball and eventually that want to chase every ball will be etched in your muscle memory!   

The Bailey method is about FIXING footwork in tennis…..but I also teach that the secret to great movement is doing every step as easily and effortlessly as possible… as this is what tennis is all about!

Once you have learnt and understood HOW to move it is then really important to approach your movement mainly from an artist approach….emphasising relaxation and fluidity of movement rather than strict technique .i.e. ‘Trust your Training’ and ‘Let it Happen’ rememeber ‘To move without flaw…being relaxed is the law’

Apart from being relaxed however, it is eqally important that you NEVER give up on a ball….YOU CHASE EVERYTHING!!! You will be amazed what you can reach if you focus on reading the ball and reacting with a explosive first step. Understand when to lunge and understand when to make that extra step to get behind the ball. Always keep the feet widep and stay down.Never forget that making  the effort to set up the feet and sit low into your legs is the secret to great power and balance.