Duey Evans Duey Evans has been an innovative force in the world of tennis for nearly two decades; from taking beginner and intermediate players to pro and collegiate levels to starting competitive and recreational programs in communities where none existed. Along with coaching tennis players, Duey also uses his talents to coach, mentor, and motivate other types of athletes, corporate executives, and individuals to achieve their ultimate performance level professionally and personally. Based in Frisco, TX (a Dallas suburb), Duey operates 3 tennis programs, Advantage America, TOPS and Sunaskeo which he created, designed and implemented from the ground up. He is available for personal evaluations, one-on-one and group training sessions, high-performance architecture and program development. Duey can be reached at 469.955.3839, 469.633.9202 or devans@snavegroup.com. View all articles by Duey Evans

When you are a tennis player who is either playing at a higher level or working towards playing at a higher level, one of the things I believe has to happen is doing the right kind of work to make sure all of your key bases are covered. What I’m talking about is making sure you’re covering the tactical aspects of tennis, the technical aspects, the psychological aspects, and the physical aspects. It’s kind of like a baseball diamond that has four bases; every single one of those bases must be covered because if you leave a big hole there’s going to be a negative impact on your game and ultimately the level of your success.


Let’s take a look at each one of those critical bases. The technical piece is largely about how you hit the ball. It is stroke production. It is footwork. It is those things which most of the time are covered early on, even during the very first lesson, such as how to hit the ball and are refined over and over and over again until a player is capable of striking the ball at the highest level.


The tactical piece is about how you employ the technical elements of your game. Once you have those tools in your tool belt – which is what I call having different shots and different techniques - it’s about figuring out how to employ those tools in order to get the job done and win the match. During a match you’re trying to figure out if you should use a cross-court forehand or a down-the-line shot; should you use top spin or under spin or hit the ball flat; or should you do the same things over and over again or do you play with variety in your game. All of those questions require a player to make a decision in a split second that revolves around tactics and is employment of technique to give your opponent trouble and prevent them from being able to do well and hit the ball back. Tactics are most easily taught and become most deeply-seeded, I believe, by using the trial and error method. I like to use the games-based approach to learning and let my players figure out how to apply tennis warfare (the tactics). That’s how I like to teach tactics. Those two pieces, tactical and technical go hand-in-hand.


The third base is the physical piece. It is about figuring out if you are strong enough, fast enough, quick enough, and can last long enough to do what you want to do. The physical piece is one of those things a player can control. I think it’s important for players to learn to control only the things that you can, and not worry about those things you can’t control. You can’t worry about your opponent and whether or not they’ve had more lessons than you have, or if they’re bigger than you are. However, you can make sure you have enough cardio vascular endurance to be able to play consecutive 3-set matches if that’s what is required in a tournament. You can make sure that you are eating right; nutrition is definitely part of the physical piece and it’s key. Are you putting the right things in your body to fuel it over the course of the day? It’s vital for a player to understand what his/her body needs to operate on as an athlete.


When it comes to physical training, a lot of times these days, because kids don’t have a chance to just run around and play anymore, it’s necessary to have specialists help with general athleticism. Some things which used to be learned by just running around and having general free play now need to be taught by specialists in controlled environments. Making sure, as a player, that you cover the physical base is very important. There is something to be said for ‘believing that I’ve done more than my opponent in those critical situations, and knowing that I’ve put more time in running stair steps or in the gym, or on the court and knowing I deserve to win because I believe I’ve done more than what my opponent did.’ That’s all part of the physical piece, but it also feeds into the last piece, the psychological piece.


The psychological base is about being resilient. It’s about being coachable. It’s about being open to change. It’s about overcoming adversity. Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest bases to get a grasp on for some people. Some people are just very calm, very stoic, while others are more fiery. There’s not one particular type that we can look at and say this is the perfect psychological make-up to be a great tennis player. However, what IS important to understand is where you operate best. Then you’ve got to figure out whether your temperament is allowing you to win or if it’s keeping you from winning.


Unfortunately, we can all look at players we see on television and say that player isn’t very emotionally strong; they choke in the big moments. There are players known for doing that. If we know these players names, watch them on television, and if they’re known for choking in the big moments, it also means those players have also managed to get well beyond the vast majority of people playing tennis without being mentally strong. I hate to say that, because I like to think that it’s very important to be mentally strong, but we see players every day who get to the highest level - maybe they don’t win a grand slam, but they get to the semis or the quarter-finals – and they are great tennis players. And, so by making sure they covered their physical, tactical and technical aspects of their games, they were able to, some degree, overcome the psychological.

I think one of the reasons this area isn’t addressed by most tennis coaches is because it’s often times the fiery ones who have the greatest success and tennis coaches don’t want to chase away their meal tickets. So early on they don’t work on the psychological aspect of the game. My belief is that we give players the best chance for success by having developmental plans which assess where a player is currently in each one of the four areas, where improvements are needed, and what resources are available to apply to the improvement process. Leaving out any of the pieces, or failing to cover all the bases means you’re creating a weakness in your game and ultimately limiting your success.