Now, in Winning Ugly Gilbert teaches recreational players how to win more often without necessarily even changing their strokes. The key to success, he says, is to become a better thinking player -- to recognize, analyze, and capitalize. That means outthinking opponents before, during, and after a match; forcing him or her to play your game. Gilbert's unconventional advice includes:

* How to identify the seven "Hidden Ad Points," and what to do when they come up

* Six reasons why you should never serve first

* How to beat a Lefty, a Retriever, a Serve-Volley player, and other troublesome opponents

* How to keep a lead, or stop a match from slipping away

* How to handle psyching and gamesmanship

Winning Ugly is an invaluable combat manual for the court, and its tips include "some real gems," according to Tennis magazine. Ultimately, Winning Ugly will help you beat players who have been beating you.

I keep it in my tennis bag, not to read during changeovers, but to remind me that I'm there to win. It's that simple. Another reviewer noted that INNER TENNIS is the theoretic, while WINNING UGLY is the downright practical.

Or instead you can just go buy yet another book that shows you a different way to hit your forehand volley. It's your pick. Gilbert's a winner, and the book is engaging reading as well.


Analytical and Intelligent Tennis   September 7, 2002
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Winning Ugly is a great book on how to gain the advantage in a tennis match in ways other than perfecting your strokes or training into world-class shape. The book is divided into three sections. The first is on preparing for a match and gaining an edge before the match even begins. Gilbert goes through planning, equipment preparation, stretching, overcoming nervousness, and how to mentally prepare to win the first few games. Some things in the chapters on equipment and stretching may be a little elementary but are nonetheless good tennis knowledge. The next section is on strategizing during your match and recognizing critical points. The last section is on developing a good mental game. Throughout the book, Gilbert uses examples from his own career and analyzes other players. These illustrations are perhaps the most valuable aspects of the book. Written in the early nineties, Winning Ugly talks about the top level pros of its time. The concepts, however, will never become outdated. The book is very easy to read. The reader gets a feel for Gilbert's analytical approach to playing tennis and can use it as an example for his own game. In one chapter, Gilbert goes into how to deal with certain types of players. It would have been nice if there was more of this, but overall, Winning Ugly is a great book and will help improve anyone's game.


Learn how to win from an overachieving master   June 2, 2000
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I played tennis for a long time without the results I really wanted. This book helped to fill in some of the holes to help my game. It is a very easy, quick read. I didn't like that it went so much into minor details like what is in the tennis bag. What I really liked was the blow by blow description of how he won some big matches against Becker and McEnroe. Also, his explanation of basic strategy types was very good. I've watched Brad play many matches live and he is a master at mentally undressing his opponent. He is a perfect guy to write this book. I do agree with the reviewer who said it will be better for the intermediate player than the expert but still would recommend it for any player.


This book is great!   September 11, 2004
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

While I have enjoyed reading many books in the past, the book I am currently reading, Winning Ugly, has been especially enjoyable for me. It has been good not only because of the fact that it is on the subject of improvement on my favorite sport, tennis, but also because it has many lessons that apply to life off the court. It is very amusing because of the examples he uses, that often have John McEnroe at the butt of a joke.

The author of Winning Ugly, Brad Gilbert, has a great writing style. I think part of the reason that I enjoy this book so much is because of how he makes points by explaining how he has actually used what he talks about against players like Jimmy Conners, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, and Andre Agassi. It's not a book about the basics of tennis, or how to hit the ball and such, it's a book about the mental aspect of the game, or as he describes it, playing smart. One of the first points he makes is how important it is to stay focused. He talks about how throughout his whole professional career he was playing and beating many players, who, on paper, should have won. The main reason he was able to beat so many players who had a "better game" (i.e. more powerful, cleaner shots) was because of simply making observations, and changing his plans accordingly. A great example of this would be many of his matches against Becker. He realized that in a contest of who could hit the ball harder Becker would win, hands down. So he changed his strategy, instead of hitting the ball as hard as he could, like most players would, he went for shots that didn't generate much power, making Becker hit a shot he isn't comfortable with, and giving him an edge.

This book doesn't just help my game, or prove that Brad Gilbert is a great coach and player; he doesn't need to write a book to prove that. He's been number five internationally for long periods at a time, and coached both Andre Agassi and Andy Rodick. What the book proves is that there is a connection between the mind and body that can help improve performance in sports, and elsewhere. It also exposes many important aspects of planning and being able to change plans, without loosing focus and getting distracted by the fact that things may not go your way. I still haven't finished the whole book, but I can honestly say that I get excited every time I read it. That's why this book is, even though I still have more to read, among my top favorite books.




A win is a win   November 19, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This book helped me win a lot of matches, beating the guys that I wasn't supposed to beat! The underlying principle is that it doesn't matter how you HIT the ball, but how you PLAY the ball. This book won't tell you anything about how to improve your technique, but it'll sure help you understand what tennis is all about. I heard players saying that the book doesn't teach anything they didn't know before. This might be true, but it is amazing how many of those players simply fail to APPLY Gilbert's ideas. Hitting a soft return to a serve & volleyer is probably something "we already know", but Brad emphasizes that many players are brain-dead when it comes to the match. They don't think how to win points, they just try to smack the ball. Brad's main idea is exactly that: to think when you're on the court. In other words: analyze, recognize and capitalize. Some people might win by putting in use Brad's ideas and still think that it wasn't REAL tennis, or that it's not the way tennis is supposed to be played. Well, all I can do is ask: WHAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT? PLAYING BEAUTIFULLY OR WINNING A TENNIS MATCH? I'd rather win a tennis match.