For any racket sport player and fan I would strongly recommend Brad Gilbert’s “Winning Ugly”. Brad Gilbert was a successful tennis player in his own right. Certainly never a classic or entertaining player to watch, but he made the most of his limited resources to win a lot of matches, and had a reputedly for taking down higher ranked players than himself. The book focuses on his tips and techniques for getting the most from yourself.

Whilst the book focuses on tennis, and indeed mostly singles, a vast majority of it can be applied to any of the four major racket sports. A lot of the advice seems simple and obvious but you would be surprised when you look at yourself honestly just how much of the obvious things you don’t do.

Where the book excels is in the mental approach to the game and there are excellent pieces on evaluating your weaknesses and strengths and applying them against your opponents. For people who play Racketlon I think it is a fantastic book to read, after all in your weaker sports it is all about making sure you grind out those vital points.

Gilbert applied his successes to career coaching, he achieved great success with Andre Agassi, and to a lesser degree with Andy Murray.

The book has been out a while, so no doubt you can pick it up quite cheaply. Stick it on that list for Santa – happy reading.

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