'THE SPRINT'

A sprint is not really a mind game but more of an act of strength and speed as you will no doubt have watched the great Usain Bolt deliver some amazing performances over the years. 
The interesting thing to note about Usain however is that he does not often win the start, he very rarely loses the race though. That's unique in itself when you consider that in a 100 metre sprint there is not much margin for error.
Less than 10 seconds is not a time frame that you would like to work with on a regular basis and hope to come out on top more often than not. I wonder if the great man has worked on his starts or whether he simply accepts the fact that it is part of his 'game' that is not really an issue. 
He seems to reel in his opponents like a professional fisherman toying with something at the end of his line.
When you look at a sport as complex as tennis you will notice that it is a series of sprints in many different directions however unlike Mr Bolt who acknowledges the crowd at the end of his race there is a split decision to be made at the end of a tennis sprint. 
Have you ever taken a moment to really look at just how hard tennis really is ? It's outrageous.
Most people who know anything about the sport of tennis will tell you that the mind is the one thing that separates a very good tennis player from an average one. Most good tennis coaches will also be well aware that simply teaching a student how to hit a tennis ball is only one part of a rather complicated sport that at times resembles a jigsaw puzzle. 
Putting the pieces together can be difficult.
History will tell you that only the smartest tennis players have been successful in tennis, not necessarily the players who have owned the greatest looking shots. 
How tough is tennis ? 
Well you can train all you like and become as fast as Usain Bolt but the sprint in tennis is just part of the jigsaw. Once you get to the end of the sprint you have to be smart enough to choose correctly what should be done with the ball and a successful tennis player has to do this regularly, not just spasmodically.
The 'flash' tennis player can do it to the point that he or she will look great to the naked eye yet will probably lose to the 'hacker' who is a little less flash but a whole lot smarter.
Being technically correct is a huge part of tennis yet I have seen many students train for many years and the same flaws remain. Some students are happy to just hit the ball in training and not tinker around with some technique experimentation because they are in a comfort zone despite their lack of improvement. 
Each to their own I suppose.
Tennis, an individual sport where every student owns their own perception of what is right and what is wrong. 
Same as coaching.
Every tennis coach on the planet owns a theory on tennis yet implementing those theories is like training a dog to catch a Frisbee on a full sprint.
Not easy......