Winning Ugly

Description

He's been called the best in the world at the mental game of tennis. Brad Gilbert's strokes may not be pretty, but looks aren't everything. He has beaten the Tour's biggest names - all by playing his ugly game. Now in Winning UglyGilbert teaches recreational players how to win more often without necessarily even changing their strokes. The key to success, he says, is to become a better thinking player - to recognize, analyze and capitalize. That means outthinking your opponents before, during and much after a match; forcing him or her to play your game. Winning Ugly is an invaluable combat manual for the court, and its tips include some real gems. Ultimately, Winning Uglywill help you beat players who have been beating you. Review: I am winning ugly and you can do it too - I'm a 6.0 player and here's my story with winning ugly. For some time I used to have very good strokes and a very solid constructed game that would normally destroy anyone in my league or even higher, yet it didn't. Instead, I kept struggling with my matches, especially against players ranked lower than me. Sometimes I'd barely win and sometimes I'd lose like an idiot. Regardless of the result, most of the time I would: first blame my strokes, then blame my lack in physical preparation and lastly I would blame my point preparation. Bottom line was, my mind and mental preparation weren't considered or blamed for my results. Then one day I watched this Chris Evert interview on the tube and she was saying how grateful she would have been if "Winning Ugly" had been available for her when she was a student learning. This puzzled me, as Chris Evert eventually had over 90% of winning percentage through her career. Then Mary Carillo -the interviewer- agreed and said something about the book helping players who struggled with results. I felt related to what I had just heard and decided to buy the book. So what happened next was a dramatic change in my game over the next months. The first thing Brad made me realize was that I had been struggling because of my mental preparation and approach to the game, not because of my beautiful shots. Then I realized an epitome that has been sealed in my brain: in order to win matches, I had to use my mind first, then my strokes. To be fair and honest, the initial results were mixed. It was hard to stop playing "hitting big" tennis and start playing "percentage" tennis -or as Brad calls it, "winning ugly". It was hard to play a 30-15 differently than a 40-0; I was used to normally play both points the same. Now, I do play a 30-15 way different than a 40-0. After about two, three months I started seeing results. This guy I used to play against, who was actually quite even with me... all of a sudden I started to beat him. Badly and soundly. I kept using my strokes, only this time I was doing it smarter. That's the result Brad's book can do for you. The book is about strategy and mental approach to a tennis match. It states several key moments during a match and how to prepare for them, so that you are ready when they come -because yes, they will come-. I personally like this down to Earth phrase from the book: "there are people who play just for fun and don't care of winning or losing, but isn't it more fun winning?" As other reviewers have stated, Gilbert uses examples from his career to prove his points and the majority of the time he does it pretty well. However sometimes the stories go a bit over abroad and sound more like "the Gilbert miracle" rather than a chapter of Winning Ugly... but it's only by a bit -it may bother some people though-. I think it would have been interesting if Brad would have included at least a couple of examples from players not being him or his pupil Agassi. There is also a hidden lesson not from Gilbert and it's Ivan Lendl's. I gained much more admiration for Ivan knowing his methods and how and why he employed them. I actually adopted some of his strategies, because they prove incredibly useful against most opponents. I even used the "hey Mr referee, can you please tell my opponent to not take much time during serves" gag. Summarizing, Winning Ugly is a valuable -perhaps the most valuable- mental asset a tennis player can have. I recommend it to every player who is into tennis and has a true competitive nature. Review: Guía perfecta para mejorar tu juego - De los mejores libros para aquellos que disfrutamos jugando tenis