» Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master

Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Love this book!
Comment: [I'm an intermediate/avid tennis player.] This is a GREAT book. Gilbert is very matter-of-fact about how he was not a #1 player, but how by utilizing little tricks/techniques in both summing up his opponents and in being realistic about his own strengths/weaknesses -- he was able to make his own mark on the world of professional tennis. He does have specific examples of his matches with some of the greats, which are interesting to read -- but they're not so much used as "the story of Gilbert" -- but more as references for his suggestions on how to approach similar situations in the readers' own personal matches. In this book, Gilbert talks about how one needs to take advantage of a myriad of smaller elements -- which in sum, can actually give you the edge in the game. I read this book initially, but now will still pick it up regularly, just to read a chapter here and there, to remind myself of some of his strategies. I think about Gilbert's advice regularly when I play -- and I believe that it really can make a difference when utilized.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A VERY FUN, USEFUL READ
Comment: This is a fun book written in a very laid back style. It inspired me to track down a Sampras vs. Gilbert match so I could view his style of play. He definitely practiced most of what he preaches in this book. I've also read "I've Got Your Back" and the books have merged in to one in my mind though this one is clearly better. The best part of this book is the strategy section. He covers facing most styles of play including serve & volleyers, pushers, baseliners, and lefties. He's refreshingly direct and honest. He stresses to never to donate free points to your opponent, play within your skill level and step it up on "setup points". There's one point I do disagree with and have proof it doesn't work. I played a 3.5 match and my opponent had obviously just read this book as he was doing the Gilbert pre-match warm up --running circles backwards & forwards. He won the spin and elected that I should serve first. Well, I held and never looked back. Nowadays 3.5s can get their serves in and usually hold. Perhaps the book is designed more for 2.5s but I think it would be useful to anyone up to 4.0 USTA rating (actually James Blake would do well to read this several times). I don't play the pusher style but I ABSOLUTELY HATE DONATING POINTS and that alone allowed me to go undefeated and get a trophy in a weekend warrior league. Brad Gilbert took some nice athleticism and pretty ugly looking strokes to #4 in the world and a million dollar pay day in Germany because of strategy. Thumbs up.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Helpful
Comment: Very helpful book.. Especially for younger players who probably never thought of the mental part of the game. My 14 year old was definately somebody who just "showed up" for the game. After reading your book he started winning again..Great!

Charles

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Customer Rating:
Summary: UNA OBRA MAESTRA DE LA ESTRATEGIA EN EL TENIS
Comment: Brad Gilbert fue uno de los jugadores más tácticos del ATP. Se mantuvo como "Top 10" por casi 1 decada. Este libro es una obra infaltable para el tenista, sea profesional o amateur. Entrega consejos fáciles de entender y sin rodeos ni teorizaciones.
IMPERDIBLE, por algo lo recomiendan Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi y Jim Courier. Si los más grandes lo promueven, es porque realmente es una pieza infaltable en tu biblioteca.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Mental edge in Tennis
Comment: Although I no longer play tennis, this remains my favorite tennis book. After beating Becker to win Wimbledon, Brad explained how he had done it. He said: "I couldn't beat him at his level so I had to drag him down to my level." And anyone who saw that match knows that is exactly what he did.

That particular Wimbledon Finals was such a tactical masterpiece that anyone who knows anything about tennis knew that Gilbert was really on to something big. Against great odds, he "sliced and diced" Becker to the point of utter frustration -- the same as Ashe had done to Conners in the 1975 Wimbledon Finals.

Although Brad has been described condescendingly as a "journeyman tennis player," and as a "blue collar tennis player," since his ranking never rose above number 8, I still put him in a class of only a handful of the elite tennis strategists.

As this book so aptly demonstrates, his game is based on "playing the odds" to get and maintain a winner's edge. It begins with the idea that everyone in your rated-class is as good as you are, so the winning edge must lie other than just in talent alone: It must lie in preparation, both physical and mental; and then in knowing all of the fine points of the game and how and when to use and exploit them. In the book he de-constructs the games of the best players of his era, and somehow you know that everything he says is "dead on."

Gilbert's mental game is un-excelled and eclipses even the book called "Inner Tennis," which is devoted exclusively to the mental game of tennis. The fact that Brad went on to coach some of the greatest players of his era is testament to his vast tennis knowledge and skill as both a tactician and as a strategist.

There may be better tennis books out there in the market, but as player who retired as a 4.5 player at my best, I used this book to scare the hell out of more than a few 5.0 players, and that is no mean trick.

Touche to Brad, and five stars

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