550 court-mapped situations that teach a competitive junior how to think on a tennis court.
Your player has had hundreds of hours of coaching on how to hit the ball. Ask them why they hit their last shot where they hit it, and watch what happens.
Junior tennis is taught almost entirely as a physical skill. Grip, swing path, footwork, repeat. All of it necessary. None of it tells a 13-year-old where to serve at 30–40, or what to do when their opponent starts running around every backhand, or why the ball keeps flying long and swinging softer is making it worse.
They're not losing to better shots. They're losing to better decisions.
Here's one that costs juniors matches every weekend.
Almost every junior plays 40–0 and 30–40 the same way. Often backwards — careful at 40–0, when losing the point costs nothing, then swinging for an enormous serve at 30–40, when it costs them the game.
Take your risks when they're cheap. That's one card. There are 549 more.
Every card gives your player a court diagram, the score, and a situation. Then either three options to choose from, or an open question to answer in their own words.
They write down their choice and why. Then they check the answer key — which gives the best play, the full reasoning, and the name of the tool they just used. The same tools come back in new disguises, which is how a decision turns into an instinct.
They get it wrong on paper, so they don't get it wrong in a tournament.
This is what makes it last. The Complete 500 runs in twenty blocks, and every block steps up.
| Blocks 1–5 One thing to notice. One clear right answer. | Cards 1–125 |
| Blocks 6–11 Two things interact. A second option becomes defensible. | Cards 126–275 |
| Blocks 12–16 Three things interact. The opponent adapts, and your player adapts back. | Cards 276–400 |
| Blocks 17–20 Everything at once. Score, conditions, tiredness, an opponent who has worked you out. | Cards 401–500 |
By the last block, two thirds of the cards have no multiple choice at all. Your player has to write their own answer — because by then they should be able to.
A 12-year-old starts at the front. The same kid is still finding new things in it at 14.
Buy the complete edition, or just the part your player needs.
Every card, ordered by difficulty rather than topic, mixing all seven phases together. Two cards a day and it lasts most of a year. Bought as separate volumes this is $407 — you save $177.
Where the safe ball goes and why. What depth actually does. When you're allowed to change direction — and when you aren't.
Every serve should have a target. First serve, second serve, the ball after it, and what changes when the score does.
The most wasted shot in junior tennis. Where to stand, what to do when you're late, how to attack a second serve without overdoing it.
Most net points are lost before your kid reaches the net. Which balls to come in on, where to stand, why the first volley isn't the finish.
The score changed. The tennis didn't. Which points deserve risk, how leads evaporate, what a bad line call should cost you.
Everyone sells you the good days. This is for the bad ones — diagnosing yourself mid-match, and winning when your best tennis doesn't show up.
Defending isn't losing, it's refusing to lose yet. Why height is time, and how to get from scrambling back to level.
Every pattern that reverses against a left-hander. The ad-court serve your kid has been taught goes straight to a lefty's forehand.
Buying a volume? The full price of any volume comes off The Complete 500 later. You never pay twice for the same card.
There's no name on these books, so don't take anyone's word for it. Ten real cards, free, with the full answer key. If the thinking isn't obviously good, don't buy the rest.
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You'll notice there's no name on these books. That's deliberate, and I'd rather say so up front than have you wonder about it.
I'm not a coach and I've never been a touring pro. I work in a different industry entirely and I'd like to keep the two separate. What that means for you is that none of the usual shortcuts are available here — no credentials to lean on, no trophy cabinet, no face. This has to stand on the work.
So before you buy anything, read the free sample. If the thinking in it isn't obviously good, don't buy the rest.
Here's the only thing about me that's relevant. I was the smallest kid in every sport I played. No power, no reach, nothing physical to lean on. What I had was the ability to read what was happening about half a second before it happened. Somewhere around eleven I started beating kids who were bigger, stronger and better trained than me, and I hadn't changed one thing about how I hit the ball. I just saw it earlier.
That's the whole idea behind these books.
I'll tell you my bias up front, because it runs through every answer: I have no respect for playing the game wrong and winning. It gets exposed eventually. Playing it right and losing turns around with time.
Judge it on the cards, not on who wrote them.
— Crosscourt IQ
Written for U12–U14 competitive juniors who play sanctioned tournaments. The tactics stay correct well into U16 — the situations don't change, only the speed.
No. It's about seeing the court — reading a situation and knowing what to do about it. Confidence tends to follow from knowing what you're trying to do, but that's a side effect, not the subject.
Two cards a day, about ten minutes. In the car, at the club, waiting for a court. They say the answer out loud before they look. You don't need to know the answer yourself — the key does the coaching. Your job is to ask "why that one?"
Ask what share of their court time goes on decisions rather than strokes. For most juniors it's close to none, because decisions are hard to drill and easy to skip. This is the part that happens off the court.
Instant download. A print-friendly PDF you own forever. No app, no subscription, no login. There's a write-in space on every card — print it and put it in the tennis bag.
Thirty days, no questions, and you keep the PDF.