Andy, when you won your first professional title, right around the corner from our RPM Tennis headquarters, upon returning to the courts at Pebble Beach and convening with my coaching colleagues, I dropped a pretty big bomb on the boys.

"Guys" I said in a manner that not only called for their attention, but also foreshadowed some kind of a bold statement. "I am hear to tell you all that I have been to Seascape Challenger and I have seen the answer to the dominance of the great, Federer."

If memory and my challenged sense of math are correct, that will have been six years ago this coming July.

Having followed you quite closely since that week in Aptos, California almost six years ago, I believe I know precisely how to keep you on track toward the fulfillment of your goals.

Today, you lost in the Semis of Monte Carlo. This first, RPM-Tennis complimentary coaching feature is going to start by giving you a grade in the three areas of RPM Tennis.

Margin Method - Technically and strategically, you get a B+. The game plan was right on. You played more effective, all-court tennis than Rafa! The net stats and the winners to unforced stats were looking pretty darn good, as were your break point conversions! Criticisms come below.

Movement - A very solid A- in your long-suit area. Some room for improvement and this is primarily reflected in that movement is so dependent on the next area, Presence.

Presence - Here, in your most challenging RPM area, you earned a B-. This is a dramatic improvement and bodes really well for the future. If you are not already trying to utilize practices, disciplines and similar information for attaining a peak performance state of being, you are in for a great surprise.

Method - Strategically, I have nothing to add.

Executing the strategy, the forehand was awesome!

Since the first time I watched you play, I have been partial to your forehand technique because of your absolutely perfect wrist to racquet relationship through the backswing. This wrist to racquet relationship minimizes the variables that occur from a busier wrist during the backswing (i.e. Nole).

Deviating the point of contact more forward on drivier forehands is key, just like it is on shallow dippers and shallow  angles with heavier top and less drive. Such point of contact sensitivity is vital in your quest to further develop your offensive capability. While this forward vs. back, point of contact deviation is commonly associated with first vs. second serves, the dynamics are just the same for groundstrokes.

Which leads to our next topic - your backhand. One particular shallow angle backhand attempt in the pivotal early going of the third set today, epitomized the problem I have always had with your backhand. It is the opposite of the challenge facing your forehand. The forehand needs lessons from the backhand and vice versa.

On that short angle attempt, early in the third, once again, your offense on the backhand did not have enough margin. The brush to drive ratio just gets a little out of whack. I mean, that ball was certainly high enough that it deserved nothing more than getting spanked - but it still needs a little  bending along with the spanking.

Beyond that particular instance, I would like for you to practice with the intention of arcing topspin backhands with respect to the following variables:

* position at point of contact, factored by height of point of contact

* where ball is contacted on the bounce trajectory (later=brush; earlier=drive)

Finally, with respect to the serve. This is the area that is going to benefit most from improved Presence. Although I am curious about how a couple of little experiments might feel to you, technically things look good.

Experiment One - I just want to make sure you are viewing the slice wide in the deuce court as a slice/kick hybrid. While this might sound like an oxi-moron, what i mean to say is: don't just envision your racquet face sliding down the side of the ball on this shot. Rather, try to get a bit more brush across and around the back, top-right corner of the ball. This makes accessing the shallow angle much more reliable over the high part of the net.

Experiment Two - In discussing grips, my RPM Tennis Grip Gauge is a more specific perspective because we reference two points on the hand. Point A is your index finger knuckle at the top of your palm. Point B is the same pinkie finger knuckle. Then, with the racquet face vertical, like a neutral ready position, number the sides of the handle 1-8, going clockwise for you, as a righty.

Having said all that, I want you to experiment with Point B ooching up a bit. This means Point A stays over Side 2 and Point B comes up toward the middle of big, Side 3. Basically, the beginnings of a more Eastern Grip, especially with respect to how this adjusts the wrist/racquet relationship. Begin studying the wrist to racquet relationship of all excellent servers.

I believe this might add a heavier feeling of security to your delivery. At first glance, such an adjustment might seem more relative to producing heavier kick. However, you will find that this adjustment also adds a dimension of natural fluidity to the flatter delivery too.

That's it for Method right now. Awesome job with the forehand offense and forward movement today!

Movement - While not truly perceptible to my eyes, except where the obvious transition to clay-court movement into the shot is concerned, your overall movement got the A- because I know that with improved Presence, Movement does have room for improvement.

With you, Andy, it is actually your love for accentuating the cadence and downbeat of a rally with your recovery movement and immaculate splitting, that actually brings you to a state of being I am referring to as Presence. This is because your mind gets quickly absorbed and quite as it synchronizes with what your body is presently doing/feeling.

The challenge comes, most frequently, as the point progresses and especially in between points. This is where my technique for Presence comes in. I call it OOPSE.

Presence - Today, for whatever reason, you were not so fixated on your "box." Except for your attention to the elbow during the vital, early stage of the third set, your state of being was synchronize with Now pretty darn well today.

Andy, this is the area where I am going to be able to help you the most. If you will simply try these exercises and suggestions, you will quickly notice the positive effects. Presence, however, is nothing more than a process-oriented approach to chasing our potential.

OOPSE means Observing Our Present Sensory Experiences. Because my disposition is similarly challenged (could it be the Robertson half of my family?) I began, long ago, studying and experimenting with managing my performance more effectively - both on and off the court.

Our tennis senses, feel, sight and hearing, when observed objectively, become both heightened and integrated to form the super sense that we call: The Zone. Every time we catch our self anxious about the future or frustrated about the past, we MUST learn to replace our Human/Ego's distractions from Now with our Being Side's infinite power source: Presence.

It is really that simple...except that our Human side is so damn tenacious about having it's way. In fact, as you read this, your skeptical side is most likely, the Human/Ego Side talking. This side of us wants to be in control - even if it means losing.

Learning to identify more with our Being Side as our core essence, and with our Human Side as our physical, superficial, and even intellectual side that needs some objective management, just gets easier and easier the more we recognize and identify with the true source of our ultimate power - Being.

OOPSE is the recipe for our potential pie because it neutralizes distractions and heightens our awareness of nuances. Furthermore, our responses to variables become more appropriately matched with the situation at hand. When our mind is occupied with the observation of our senses in between points, distractions get muted, attention becomes heightened and our actions become aligned with adapting to each situation.

With OOPSE and Presence, we nurture our essential, Being Side. This changes our management style, with respect to our Human/Ego side. Although I often times, substitute Human for Ego, I'm giving you the Human/Ego straight up version because there is no time for messing around. Ego dominates thoughts. Weeding the wheat from the chaff takes Presence. OOPSE gives us this every time, without fail.

This is what Rafa "gets" that everyone else seems to struggle to embrace. In fact, this is absolutely the reason he has succeeded so dramatically. Presence. Somehow or another, he gets it on this level very deeply. You have more talent than all of those guys. Your game was so, technically mature at such a young age. In fact, until the external forces mounted and made it so challenging to attain Presence when you are not in motion, I described your game as being mature beyond your years.

Now is the time for maturing beyond your years in another area. However, this area is infinitely more important than all of the other areas. This is the area where mastery will bring you unlimited fulfillment. Both on the court and off the court, understanding our duality as Human Beings and learning to manage one side and nurture the other, is the most important of all life's lessons.

Practicing Observing Our Present Sensory Experiences off the court is an excellent place to start. Walking from here to there, attention on the feeling of the heal to toe stride, the feeling of an itch and the perception of a birds shadow flying overhead. Never once did we regret the past or get anxious about the future while paying attention to our attention, while observing our observational faculties.

On the court, you are going to notice it most quickly on your serve. Replacing some of the counter productive distractions in your head between points, particularly when serving, is going to yield results that make it that much more likely you will spend ever-expanding amounts of Now, absorbed in OOPSE.