I’m going to discuss an issue I think is very important – reading your opponent. Ideally, you should look for signs of weakness and see what’s going on, not just with their attitude and their body language, but also mentally – what you think they could be going through.
Here’s a very interesting point I noticed at this year’s Australian Open with Federer and Murray: Murray was a little bit jaded towards the end of that second set. He started to pull up a little bit with a right quad injury and from that point on, every time the points were over, Roger Federer was looking up at the big screen to see what reactions Andy Murray had on his face; be it a cringe of pain or an expression along the lines of “Oh no, I can’t believe I have to chase these balls down,” and so on. That’s where Roger Federer is very coy in managing what goes on with his opponent, reading what’s going on in the scenario of the match
It’s very important for everyone to practice good training habits – avoid showing negative emotion and poor body language (even in training) because you want to train the way you play!
Pete Tramacchi
