Tanking: What is it?
Are your players giving you their best?
Is your coach giving you the best?

There are so many beautiful things in tennis that are wonderful: the exhilaration of hitting a solid groundstroke, hearing the sharp hard sound of a 100 mph serve hit by a top player, a well built point, and oh so much more! God I love this sport! With all that is good in tennis there are however many ugly things that can potentially occur. As in life there are two sides to everything: good and bad, hot and cold, fast and slow, the list goes on. In this article, I hope to discuss the concept called "tanking." For those tennis enthusiasts who do not understand what this means, "tanking" is when a person's best effort is not being given. So when a coach says that his player is "tanking" a match, it means that the player is giving up and/or not trying their absolute best. It really hurts me inside to see juniors, professional players and coaches, "jump into the tank" when things aren't going well. It can happen in matches and it can happen during practices. Actually it can happen to anyone, in any profession, if the situation is just right.

Did you know that professional tennis has no off-season like many other sports such as soccer, baseball, football, etc.? The result is that pros are required to play a specific number of events each year regardless of ranking. Is it unreasonable for us to expect that touring pros give 100% each time they step on the court to play a tournament match? Personally I think if you're a pro then you'd better give it your all! I was recently at a professional tournament where top players from the tennis world were competing. This event was chronologically placed so that it was at least a few tournaments away from a Grand Slam event. Friends, they say ignorance is bliss, for some maybe, but for me knowledge is enlightening. In that train of thought, did you know that some professionals (even ones that we may currently idolize) sometimes tank during professional events! Shocking as it may seem, it does happen. I have seen it discreetly done for many years now, but sometimes the tanking is so artfully done it was like choreography. Other times it was so blatant that it was disgusting! One of the top players in the world was playing this match and for many of us it was obvious but for the general public it was unforeseen. How did I know? Well, the overall circumstances gave me a good idea:

• The Grand Slam event was a little while away.

• A good number of "warm-up" matches were needed by this player to prepare for the next Slam, but not too many or else this player would "peak" too early. This player already had enough good matches played.

• This player may not have wanted to show how he or she was really playing before the Slam in case others picked up on game characteristics.

• Another factor was that if this player won the match then he or she potentially faced another top player. Most probably this player didn't want to show the other player all their skills before a Slam.

What gave it clearly away for me was in the final set how this player gave away patterns of play to his or her opponent. This player had been mixing up serve locations with speeds throughout the match and then suddenly in the final set he or she started serving very predictably. I mentally charted serves and found that 8 serves were hit in the same locations and relatively same speeds in both the ad and deuce sides. What made it more difficult for people to see was that the opponent knew where the serves were going but kept on committing errors or missed shots. The opponent was literally choking away the chance to beat a top player whom he or she had never beaten before. He or she kept missing return after return because of nerves. The opponent was choking the match away while the top player was trying to lose on purpose by "tanking." Meanwhile the audience was in "oohs and ahhs," thinking that this top player was being tested.

Why would a top pro tank? Well, one of the main reasons is that they might use a "warm-up" tournament as just that -- a warm up for a slam and nothing more. The result is that the audience is not given a real show of talent or effort! Now, don't get me wrong, this pro would give an effort and have an intention of winning in the early stages of the tournament. But during a later stage match he or she might jump in the tank to get out of the tournament. I have literally spoken with people who were on tournament committees who have officially launched complaints to the ATP or WTA about players "tanking."

Some say that "tanking" in sport is an art, but for me it is a blasphemy. "Tanking" is a disgrace to anyone who has ever played competitive sport the way it should be played. The funny thing is that if you ever had the chance to sit down with any top pro, he or she would tell you that as a junior they fought for every single point in every match played, and that it was a matter of life or death. Now, as you hook up their fingers to a lie-detecting machine, ask them the same question their career as a professional player. However, I truly believe that there are many professional players on the tours that have given 100% during each and every match throughout their careers, i.e., McEnroe, Rafter, Evert, and Seles.

For me, well, "tanking" was never an option as a younger coach working for the Canadian Davis Cup Captain. Back then I took on the responsibilities of a senior coach/director even though in chronological years I should have been an assistant like some of my coaching friends. I loved all the responsibilities and the pressures of working with high performance juniors, some of which I might add actually are touring professionals today. The bottom line is that I learned how to see difficult situations as challenges and opportunities rather than objectives and pitfalls. My parents never pushed me to play sports (I played everything). They were never negative with me (or my brother or sisters) regardless of performance. I do strongly believe that how a person is brought up from childhood strongly affects what kinds of perspectives are seen. The value systems a person is brought up with, which are conditioned from a young age by parents (and the surrounding environment), have a huge impact on how that person sees different situations. Still, even as teenagers, young adults, or maturing adults we all are continually conditioned by stimuli, whether it be positive or negative, to believe or view events and situations a certain way. The roles of coaches, peers, and parents play a huge role as to the psychological development of a player.

How can you tell if a junior player or a coach is tanking? It is one of the most difficult things to identify in tennis. It can never be proven unless the player or coach admits to it. Here are a few ideas that might help you determine whether or not someone is tanking:

• Performance Standards -- A good idea is to reference the past performances of a player (or coach) both in practice and in matches. By referencing the past a standard can be made to measure effort or the lack of.

• Psychological -- If the player or coach seems to be elsewhere throughout the practice or match then ask the player or coach if they are having a difficult day. If yes, then it might just be that they are not in a good emotional state because of an event in school that day or an argument with a friend.

• Physical -- If the player or coach seems sluggish and has a lack of energy, ask them if they physically feel good or bad? If bad, then it might be a simple case of lack of food energies.

• Technical -- If the player or coach cannot seem to analyze, comprehend or perform a stroke that has been proven in the past, then ask the player if they understand the mechanical requirements of stroke. If they don't know where they are making mistakes or why then the coach needs to provide an explanation.

• Tactical -- If a player played a point during a match or during practice and repeatedly performed the wrong patterns, ask the player if they knew where they went wrong. On the other hand, if you as the player knew your tactical errors and it was obvious that the coach did not see it he or she may have been out to lunch. So it is better to discreetly ask them if there were any patterns that he or she did not like.

Reg: Thanks for sitting down with me.
Player: What's up?
Reg: So what did you think of practice today?
Player: Oh same as usual, tough but good (smile).
Reg: How do you think you practiced today?
Player: Good, I like to practice hard.
Reg: Is this good, above your average practice or below?
Player: About the same.
Reg: Did you sleep well last night?
Player: Ya, a lot of homework but yes I slept well.
Reg: Did you have enough food to eat today? A good lunch?
Player: I pigged out today! But overall good food for practice.
Reg: Well, did you give 100% today on the court? Cause it seemed at times you weren't giving 100%.
Player: Yes, I was giving 100%.
Reg: Ok then, did you try your hardest?
Player: Yes, definitely, I tried my hardest?
Reg: Were you physically intense?
Player: Ummm, yes, I was moving.
Reg: Were you concentrating?
Player: Yes, fully, I always concentrate.
Reg: Were you mentally focused?
Player: Well, ummm no, I wasn't really focused, I was concentrating though.
Etc.

"Bingo," after all those questions, I found what I was looking for -- a reason for the partial tanking. This player was very intelligent and only after asking questions put in other ways did I find the answers. Remember to stay patient when dealing with a potential tanking player. The more you get angry the more difficult it will be to ever really determine whether or not it took place. The important thing was that the player admitted to me that there was some tanking taking place. By admitting it, the player indirectly extinguished any future tanking opportunities during practice. The "coach" now knew that it might occur again and this knowledge put this player's cards on the table, so to speak. Today that same player is attending one of the top schools in the USA on a full scholarship, and we both laugh when we remember that conversation! The player still laughs about how he (or she) tried to get away with it.

Tanking can come in the subtlest forms and can be seen in the slightest details. It is important to be able to differentiate between poor performance caused by tanking and poor performance caused by other reasons. With juniors the usual reason why a junior tanks a match is because of the "fear of failure." By not giving it their best effort they do not take responsibility of the match.

For example, if a seeded player is close to losing to a player that is much lower-ranked, this seeded player might tank so as not to allow that player to "really beat him." When another player asks the seeded player "what happened in your match with that lowly ranked guy," the seeded player might suggest that he or she didn't actually lose, didn't feel like playing anymore or that he or she was a bit tired, etc. By not taking responsibility for the match results, the seeded player gave justification as to why tanking was acceptable to his friends. Of course, the smart players and coaches know that this excuse holds no water!

We as coaches, players, and parents need to be able to take difficult situations and find the good things in them. We need to sometimes take a few minutes before giving feedback to others. Taking a few moments enables a person to clear his or her head before talking to someone. We need to have a positive outlook so that everyone can feel good about themselves. In a world that is quite challenging already, maybe it's a good thing that we always look to the bright side of life!

Till next month all the best,

Reggie

Hello to Laura in Atlanta, Krista in Toronto, Bryan in Detroit, Bahar in Turkey, Anne and Bumble in South Africa, Noel in the Philippines, Edgar in Bolivia, Laura and Raf in California, Sydney in Barbados, Anne and Ken in Australia, Kay in Hong Kong, Jim in Nunivek, Jon, Nols and Stods in England, and all the others who kindly wrote me e-mails this past month!

This column is copyright 2000 by Reggie Vasquez Jr., all rights reserved.

Reggie Vasquez Jr. is one of Canada's leading tennis coaches for juniors. He is actively involved with Tennis Canada's grassroots player development. A frequent and enthusiastic speaker at tennis conferences, he is certified by the U.S.P.T.A., Tennis Canada and the U.S.P.T.R.. For almost 7 years he was a head coach for the Canadian Davis cup Captain's Academy at the Canada's National Tennis Center. He has been a Tennis Canada - National Youth Tennis Center Leader for over 8 years and is presently a head coach of an Elite Tennis Academy. He has experience working with juniors from the absolute beginner to the international caliber tennis player. Reggie is also a published author on junior tennis. His personal web site has additional information on his book, the Tennis for Kids. The Tennis for Kids can be ordered directly at a discount using this link to the Amazon.com online bookstore.

Questions and comments about these columns can be directed to Reggie by electronic mail at reggie@tennisserver.com.