Dissatisfaction Syndrome
If you have ever found yourself in a slump, then you have felt the sting of disprized love. I am obviously not referring to the pain you may have felt upon rejection by Mr. or Ms. Right, rather the love objects in the Dissatisfaction Syndrome are your strokes, and the cold and unfeeling person with the attachment disorder is you. Virtually all of your slumps are the direct result of your inability to love each of your strokes completely and unconditionally. The very fact that you have found this website, a site dedicated to changing and improving strokes, is cause for concern that you don't embrace your backhand, caress your serve or fondle your forehand. And why would you? Throughout the years, each of these strokes has disappointed, humiliated and enraged you, perhaps not all the time, but often enough to prevent you from building the kind of trust that you feel is necessary before you 'give it up' to any tennis stroke. Even if you have a stroke which is pretty consistent and effective, there are always better 'fish in the sea,' and why shouldn't you keep your eye out for the bigger, better serve, forehand or volley? Why not keep all of your strokes on permanent double-secret probation? Every time you hit the ball, you are evaluating and criticizing your stroking, just waiting for the flub that breaks the camel's back. Often a stroke, such as your forehand, will go terribly wrong in the middle of a match subjecting you to horrific embarrassment and frustration. Your solution - create a completely new forehand on the fly! A forehand with more power, control, spin, placement, consistency; whatever you feel your forehand lacks. After all, you need a __________ (harder, more consistent, etc.) forehand right now, so why not dump that sinner and start building yourself a winner?
Of course, reinventing your strokes during a match is suicidal silliness. You are always better off hitting the strokes you have learned, practiced and fully understand. Even if, on a given day, your forehand keeps burying itself in the center of the net, you must keep on hitting it. I wish I could tell you that sticking with your tried and true strokes is enough to extricate yourself from a slump, but I can't because it won't. If you have just buried ten forehands into the center the net, hitting the next forehand the same way will likely produce the same result. What I can tell you is that you have no choice but to try to hit the same shot that has just failed you ten times in a row. That is what professionals and A-players do, and often as not, they are successful. They will keep on hitting a failing stroke in the same way and with the same technique, regardless of how that stroke is behaving. The only adjustment they make is to increase the love and attention they give the stroke.
So, 'what's love got to do with it?' Everything! When you hit a stroke with unrestrained affection, you pour all of your available energy into it. You move your feet and bend your knees. You take a full backswing with a complete shoulder turn. You add that little 'backswing proper' or load that creates control, power and extra spin. You stop your shoulders before you contact the ball to release all of the control, spin and pace forces you have stored. You are relaxed and expressive, not stiff and jerky. You prepare early, move quickly and see the fastest ball more clearly because energy, the master of time, slows down the world for you.
