My Son Playing Tennis

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

My Son Playing Tennis

Andymonium · Satellite level

how old is he
possible future of this sport

keep pushing him

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

He turned 7 last Oct. It is funny, when we first came to Montana he couldn't play for nine months because of winter. I had no idea there were inside courts in the area, so I wonder how good he would be now if I had got him in a tennis program when he was five or six. He has group lessons twice a week and then plays other kids (team tennis) on Sunday evening. The team tennis is new, but so far he has not lost a singles match. It is fun!

Murraysman91 · Social player

Wow...he is good.

Drew · Feb 11, 2007

Great stuff Doug...looks like a prospect....

Dont know who is the fella hitting him the balls but his forehand looks a bit rusty

john · Top national player

9 months!? That is one long winter

-- Edited by john at 14:10, 2007-02-11

Salmon · Tennis legend

Thanks a lot for those videos.

Give him all the encouragement in the world. Who knows... one day Marcus could become a pro tennis player.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Thank you so much for your nice comments. Just to answer a few questions, the Montana winter can be nine months, in truth the reason why I didn't get him into tennis as soon as the snow cleared was because he was playing both baseball and soccer in the Spring, then I found out about the club in town and got him in group lessons.

Funnily enough, maybe one or two of you who play can help me. He lost his first game of singles today. They only play one set and he beat this lad 6-3 last week, but today lost 6-4 even though he had three break points while the lad was serving for it. It could have easily been 5-5 then who knows who had of won. Well my son is quiet and after shaking hands we started to leave and he really fell apart. I was so shocked. He didn't want to play again etc etc. I found it really tough. I am glad to say that he did talk about going to group practice on Monday, but the strain of playing tennis being on your own out there and losing had a real impact on him. I only really played team sports so this is new on me. Anyone else have a real tough time losing? I think it is great as this lad lives local hopefully over the years they can push each other on.

Sheddie · administrator

Wow Doug, your son is pretty good for 7

Make sure you get him to represent Britain when he turns pro in 2017

My advice folks, might be a good idea to start sweet-talking Doug for those 2020 Wimbledon and US Open final tickets

Sheddie · administrator

Montana Doug wrote:

Funnily enough, maybe one or two of you who play can help me. He lost his first game of singles today. They only play one set and he beat this lad 6-3 last week, but today lost 6-4 even though he had three break points while the lad was serving for it. It could have easily been 5-5 then who knows who had of won. Well my son is quiet and after shaking hands we started to leave and he really fell apart. I was so shocked. He didn't want to play again etc etc. I found it really tough. I am glad to say that he did talk about going to group practice on Monday, but the strain of playing tennis being on your own out there and losing had a real impact on him. I only really played team sports so this is new on me. Anyone else have a real tough time losing? I think it is great as this lad lives local hopefully over the years they can push each other on.

Ouch, that sounds like a tough defeat, however... it's an important learning curve, you have to get used to losing tough matches as it's inevitably going to happen as you improve over the years and play harder and harder opposition. The close matches are always the hardest to take, somehow if you get duffed up 6-1, 6-2 it doesn't feel so bad as if you lose 7-6 in the 3rd.

I've lost some really close ones, two in particular stand out. In 2003, I played my first mens singles tournament, for players in my rating range. You got put into regional box leagues (5 players) and then the winners of those go forth to a national knockout. In the box leagues, this other guy and I had both one 3 matches and so ours was the decider to see who got through to the national knockout. He was a big server but quite erratic. I led 6-2, 3-1 but he then changes his game plan and started working the rallies better, hitting loopy topspins to move me around the court and mixing things up with slice and net approaches. He eventually ground me down and won 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. I was so mad as I'd been a break up in the 3rd aswell....rackets, balls, kit bag all went flying

Another one was in the semis of a junior tournament where I lost 6-4, 6-7, 6-4...was 4-0 down in the 3rd, got one of the breaks back and had 2bp chances when he served for it but missed an easy forehand on one of them.

What's important is to try and learn from the defeat and so next time you're in that situation you play the big points better or use better tactics etc. You mustn't spend too long dwelling on the actual loss, just think about what you need to do better. I guess it's pretty tough when you're only 7 and so it's hard to put things into perspective but one thing which might be useful is this... (something which someone at my club suggested and he's played on the pro tour).

Get a small notepad and after every match Marcus plays (whether it's a win or a loss), you and him write down 3-4 things which he did well and 3-4 things which you and him think he need to do better. It's important to write down the things which he did well and emphasize those as that will probably make him feel better about the loss.

RobC · All-time great

Doug, different people react to losing in different ways - you'll need to work out how Marcus reacts and work with that.

some ways:

1. I hate losing so much that I daren't risk ever competing (bad one this!)
2. I hate losing so much that I'm going to work really hard so I can beat that *%&$$ next time (nice and positive, and great if you have the talent to pull it off)
3. I've learnt that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose individual matches, and the important thing is to work so that you're as good as you can be (e.g. I run to get my personal est time in a 5K down to hopefully eventually make 21 mins, and the fact that Olympic athletes will do it in 13 mins doesn't put me off)

Try & steer him towards 2 & 3 and point out that if you take route 1, you'll end up not trying anything, and having no fun at all....

but motivation is very personal - some people will be motivated to "show the b$%%$^&s wrong" (e.g. Boggo), others will be motivated by praise, others by awards, others by money, others from fear of failure & humiliation..... you just need to work out what it is that hits the spot for Marcus.

john · Top national player

Maybe this will help. Loads of stuff on there related to what you're asking:

www.britishtennisparents.com

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Thanks for this guys. It made really good reading before I head off to work. I think he will be fine, you just hate to see your kid like this and wonder what you could have done better to prepare him etc or know what to say. He has played four seasons of soccer and always been on a really good team and so losing is not something he has done much.

The more I think about it though the more I feel happy that winning means so much to him. If he had just walked off the court not caring that would have been worse, but he cares and so as time goes on maybe I can introduce him to Rob's #2 and that will inspire him.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

I just wanted to let you all know that my son played the boy who beat him a couple of weeks ago again yesterday and won 6-4. I was so proud of my little guy. He looked worried he'd lose again but played through it and did well. He does not hit the ball as hard as the other kids, but seems to get everything back and tries so hard. He is small for his age so hopefully he will hit a growth spurt soon.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Hurray for Marcus!