articles Article Reprinted from Long Island Press August, 2005 In Focus Glenwood's Landing'sBob Litwin Is World's Best—And Most Enlightened—Senior Tennis Star by Kenny Herzog In this corner, we have Bob Litwin, 57-year-old Glenwood Landing resident and the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) reigning world chamption and current No. 2-ranked 55-and-over player. He's tall and slim, with a gentle voice and patient demeanor, and agility on the tennis court that belies his years. In the opposite corner, with Har-Tru dust in his eyes and sweat on his brow, is a medium-sized, stocky-framed European man with cauliflower ears and a noticeably short fuse. "How was that backhand, all right? Easier because the point was over? I thought so," Litwin tells the man, one of his weekly students, as they finish up their hour lesson. "It's perfectly fine if you're going to criticize the shots that you missed, but you gotta trade it off with the shots that you made." Litwin's Zen-like approach to the game is about as effective here as his student's approach to the net, but really, that's not Litwin's problem. He knows his philosophies on tennis, an extension of his balanced take on life, can work. It's ultimately up to the person on the opposing baseline to embrace them or continue getting aced out of their game. And it's a nonchalant confidence he's earned, having not even entered competitive tennis until he was 34, ditching his life as a teacher and part-time tennis instructor to make a two-decade climb to the top of his sport's senior circuit. "I was taking what I was getting out of losses and turning them into teaching experiences, and I got more in touch with how it was difficult for people that I was teaching to go out and win at whatever level they were playing at," he explains. "Their thing was, 'I get nervous.' Whereas when I first started teaching, I would say to them, 'Well, just relax'; going and playing, I found out that's not as easily done as said." After being humbled by failure at tournaments during his mid-30s, the light bulb finally started to go off. "I said, 'I can do this. I have the physical ability to do this. What's missing for me is I don't know how to compete,'" he recalls. "And I started to work on my mental game. For example, I was very negative when playing. As soon as I missed a shot, I was like, 'Ugh, that sucked.' And I decided, 'Okay, I'm an adult, I'm not a kid; I can do something about that. The next time I go out and play, I'm going to allow myself 10 berating comments, and if I decide to use them all up in the first three games, well, that's the way it goes.'" Litwin even has a name attached to his strategy for the game: focus tips. On his website, www.focustips.com, they're described as "phrases, mental pictures, associations and feelings that contribute to high levels of performance," ideas that can be repeated silently in one's head, spoken out loud or kept in a diary. For example: Work with Infinite Patience, Know Your Goals, Be Process Oriented, and Stay Mentally Contained. Litwin insists that these tips can be applied to other facets of life also, to the point where he sometimes comes off as self-help guru more than tennis mentor. But it's hard to argue with results: Aside from his present run as world champ, some of his other feats are bronze and gold medals at the International Maccabian Games, final victories at the USTA National 35-and-over and 40-and-over Grass Court Championships, and being named the 2002 USPTA Men's Senior National Player of the Year. And when Litwin talks to you, whether it's about the realization of his own goals or how well you're meeting yours, there's an almost hypnotic effect. Despite your most cynical instincts, you come away feeling somehow enlightened. Then again, only a centered person could move past an incident like last September's, when Litwin, playing in the Men's 55 Singles at the 24th annual ITF Super-Seniors World Championships, bowed out of the finals because it fell on Yom Kippur. A win would have given him the No. 1 55-and-over ranking, but ITF officials would not postpone the match, and worse, any ranking points and prize money he had earned up to that point in the tournament were not awarded. It's a situation on which he no longer chooses to comment, but in the end, he garnered that No. 1 ranking regardless (and was only recently replaced by Spain's Jorge Camina-Borda), an accomplishment that epitomizes the effectiveness of his mental game, and how that can trickle down to those who seek out his help. "So much of coaching is the relationship, where either people think you really know what you're talking about or they don't," Litwin says. "Usually, when somebody starts with me, they stay with me forever. I'm a role model for them. They don't ever get to a point of saying, 'Well, I guess this is as good as I can get,' because they see that even though I might have achieved a lot externally, I'm still working on my game and I've improved in other things. So if I can do that from up here, they have a lot more that they can go for." Article reprinted from www.sportsmediainc.com "Litwin Writes World Championship Win" Bob Litwin By Richard Pagliaro 04/29/2005 Before Bob Litwin left his finger prints on his first world championship trophy, he found his focus through his fingertips. The writing was on the web prior to Litwin's arrival in Perth, Australia for the 25th annual ITF Seniors World Individual Championships earlier this month and the 56-year-old Long Island native read every word of it. The top-seeded Litwin did not surrender a set in winning five matches to capture the Men's 55 Singles Championship on grass. In the final, Litwin broke serve twice to storm out to a 4-0 lead against second-seeded Australian Lito Alvarez. As Litwin served out the first set, 6-2, a steady drizzle began to fall on the gass. Determined to finish the match, Litwin surged out to a 3-0 second-set lead when Alvarez, who had beaten Litwin the prior week in an international team competition, retired with an injury. Twenty years of competitive tennis reached a championship climax at that moment as Litwin claimed his first career world title. "Within three minutes I realized I had accomplished this goal," Litwin said. "I went from being a talented player in the 35s who couldn't win a match to becoming number one in the world. It was really humbling and hard to get my brain around. But it is so gratifying. My wife, Carol, who has always been a huge part of any success I've had was there and we hugged each other. It was a very rewarding moment." Long before Litwin wrote his name into the record book as the world champion and world No. 1 in the 55s, he wrote his world championship goal — and the game plan to achieve it — on his Focus Tips.com web site from his Glenwood Landing, N.Y. home. "I started this blog about six years ago. It's basically a means of announcing your goals to the world," Litwin said. "If you don't achieve them so what? I write every day at the tournament. It's a way to keep me honest because I know the kids I teach are reading this and if I don't follow through where is my credibility to them? I have to do the things I tell other people to do because I am completely on view. I never want to write: 'I packed it in and I lost the match.' " Even while he's playing, Litwin is scripting the story he will write on his site and the responsibility of reporting on his own performance promotes competitive integrity. Serving the dual roles of competitor and confessor, Litwin refuses to write himself off in a match. "When play I am relatively conscious of the fact I will write about the match so at the very least I make sure I can say 'I gave great effort. I never quit.' " said Litwin, who teaches tennis in Great Neck and Glen Cove, Long Island. "Because to me, I am giving the lesson the same time I am playing." Litwin spent the recent World Championships scripting a storybook sequel to his last appearance in a World Championship tournament that came to a controversial conclusion. In the span of 17 days, Litwin produced some of the best tennis of his life, collecting 20 consecutive victories, capturing national singles and doubles championships and earning the top seed in the Men's 55 Singles at the 24th annual ITF Super-Seniors World Championships in Philadelphia last September. The left-handed Litwin, who possesses a wicked serve he backs up with a solid all-court game, surrendered only one set in five tournament victories and was on the verge of attaining a life-long dream in playing for a world championship with a shot at securing the world No. 1 ranking. It never happened. Litwin, who is Jewish, was scheduled to play the final on Saturday, September 25th — Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement that is the most important holy day of the Jewish year. When he could not reach a compromise with ITF officials, Litwin conceded a walkover in the 2004 final (for more on that story, please read ITF Decision Prompts Protest From Litwin). Disappointment from the 2004 World Championships fueled Litwin's determination to win the 2005 World Championships as he embraced the challenge of claiming the title that eluded him. "I started this year with the goal of winning the world title," Litwin said. "I told myself: 'I've got it in sights, I've made it to the finals before and if I can stay focused and play the type of tennis I am capable of playing, I believe I can do it." Despite the fact finding a grass court in New York in the middle of winter can be about as easy as locating an igloo Down Under in the Australian summer, Litwin compensated by working on his conditioning and setting goals. "The thing is that I feel I can walk on a certain surface and within two to three days I'm OK," Litwin said. "Personally, I don't feel like I need to be on that surface at all to prepare. I work on conditioning and I play against different, younger people who will beat me and expose my weaknesses. If I can build on the weaknesses exposed against a 25-year-old in practice, I believe there's no way it will be exposed against a 55-year-old playing on grass." Much of Litwin's training for the World Championships was work done in his mind and in front of his computer. "I needed to work on my belief system to make sure I wasn't kidding myself. All players have self doubts and so I worked on my core beliefs to prepare for this tournament," Litwin said. "I write out what my plans for the year are: what my external goals are, what parts of my game I need to strengthen and I write down particular ideas I need to be committed to as a player. For instance, at the start of this year, I wrote: 'I'm going to make myself a difficult opponent to win a point against.' I reminded myself a lot about that promise as I practiced. I don't think about winning or losing in practice, I think about being a difficult opponent to win a point against A Self Made Champ "Where there's a focus, there's a way" by Bob Litwin         My goal was to win a National Championship. I was 33 years old, a solid teaching pro and a good practice player who couldn't win matches in tournaments. When it counted, I was usually counted out.          Improvement on the practice court didn't translate into results. So I started to look for answers. Then I noticed my students always played at their hightest levels when they were paying complete attention to what they were working on. Their success seemed more related to how they were working rather than what they were working on. When they threw themselves into what they were doing, all of their normal distractions slipped away.         I also realized that I was always focused while teaching. No matter how many hours I taught, no matter how many hours I taught, no matter the distractions, I was able to give each student 60 minutes of attention. I didn't let myself drift into the past or the future. Students were buying a full hour and demanded my complete attention.         Perhaps the key to my improvement was recognizing that "focus" lead to higher levels of success. So I set to work on creating a method for improving, full convinced that focus was something that could be accessed on a regular basis. I wanted to be a National Champion and figured that the only way to get there was by being more focused during my matches.         The first step was to make a commitment. It is the attitude, determination and persistence to complete a task that moves a person toward a specific goal. making a commitment would eliminate "if only" and "I could have" from my speech. with real commitment, I felt I could accomplish anything.         Since focus is paying attention to one task at a time, the next step was to pick the task to focus on. I asked myself a simple question: If I started today, what one thing would make a huge difference to my game? I decided that it would be to develop a backhand passing shot. Even if I didn't improve any other part of my game, I knew that this would at least get me on the path to success.         Knowing what my focus task was helped a lot, but I still needed to clarify it. Each person clarifies in his or her own way, with words, pictures, or a combination. Defining the specifics of the task is the way to make focusing more feasible. For me, developing a backhand passing shot was easily clarified with the words: "Get around early." "Step in." "Stay down and hold balance." In time, the word "balance" became a trigger that reminded me of what I should do. I started to make more backhand passing shots.         So I would go on the court for my match, ready to succeed, committed. And what would happen? I'd be bombarded with all of my normal distractions and forget. Forgetting the task at hand is natural. Reacting to external distractions is how we spend a lot of our day. I needed to be proactive, and what I found was that simply taking the time to remind myself of what I wanted to do before doing it--serving or returning serve--put me in charge. I needed to remind myself constantly: in the car on the way to the match, in the locker room, walking out on the court, when I was warming up. It was enormously helpful to remind myself over and over and over again. It served as a means of blocking any distracting thoughts. It felt foolish, treating myself as if I were in kindergarten, but I reminded myself that successful people are willing to do what unsuccessful people won't.         I developed that backhand passing shot within months of following my program. Then I took another part of my game and improved again. This developed greater emotional stability, and I started to believe in myself. My results started to improve. I started to win.         When I was 35, I went undefeated in the Eastern in the Easter region of the USTA. I turned 37 and won a gold medal at the Maccabian Games. At 38, I won matches in national tournaments. My national ranking rose each year, and at the 35 National Grass Court Championships I broke through to the semis at age 40. The next year I won the National 35-and-Over Grass court Championships. Eight months later I won my second gold ball by winning the National 40s.         Every year I have added more focus tasks to my game. And I believe that my best tennis is still in the future. More important, I have discovered that focus is an incredible and simple way to be more effective in all aspects of my life. I have since used what I call the "Focused Method" to become a national speaker, a writer, a better parent and spouse, and a more effective teacher. Focus has helped me to discover a level of mastery in my life that I never thought possible. I now believe I can achieve anything to which I set my focused mind. "ITF Decision Prompts Protest From Litwin" Article Reprinted from TennisWeek.com October 4,2004 By Richard Pagliaro 10/04/2004 Bob Litwin's strength of competitive spirit helped carry him to the World Championships final. His commitment to observing a day of spirituality could prevent him from ascending to the top of the world rankings. In the span of 17 days, Litwin produced some of the best tennis of his life, collecting 20 consecutive victories, capturing national singles and doubles championships and earning the top seed in the Men's 55 Singles at the 24th annual ITF Super-Seniors World Championships in Philadelphia the last week of September. The Glenwood Landing, N.Y. resident surrendered only one set in five tournament victories and was on the verge of attaining a life-long dream in playing for a world championship with a shot at securing the world No. 1 ranking. It never happened. The ITF Men's 55 Draw lists eighth-seeded Brazilian Thomasz Koch as a walkover winner over Litwin in the Men's 55 final. But to Litwin the circumstances surrounding the final that was never played left him feeling as if he been stepped on by bureaucracy that squashed his efforts to attain the world No. 1 ranking. Litwin, who is Jewish, was scheduled to play the final on Saturday, September 25th — Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement that is the most important holy day of the Jewish year. Litwin, who informed the ITF in an email in March that he could not play the final on the last Saturday of September as it coincided with Yom Kippur, asked ITF tournament officials on site if they would consider rescheduling the final for either Friday or Sunday. "On Thursday after I won the quarterfinals I went into the ITF office and said 'Remember me? I'm the one who sent the email five months ago that I couldn't play the final on Yom Kippur.' And the person who responded to the email was in the room," Litwin said. "So we're close to the final at that point. I said: 'If I should win tomorrow (in Friday's semifinal), I will not be able to play that day. I will default the final. Is there some possibility you would consider speaking to the other guy and asking if he would be willing to play Friday afternoon or Sunday?' They said 'Okay, do you want to talk to him, or do you want us to? I said 'I think its inappropriate for me to talk to them before the matches.' Because at this point there were three other semifinalists left in the tournament." In the final four, Litwin, who did not begin playing tournament tennis until the age of 33, surprised himself by beating fourth-seeded Armistead Neely, 6-4, 6-4. Koch defeated seventh-seeded Hans Adama Van Scheltema, 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the final. Following his semifinal victory, Litwin said he again asked ITF officials on site to consider rescheduling the Saturday final. "Before that Friday semifinal, I went out thinking if I win I'm sure I won't be playing this final. So I wasn't really concerned and I won," Litwin said. "I had never beaten him before and frankly to me he was the favorite. He's a legend. I go into the ITF office after the semifinal and I said 'So? Did you speak to Thomasz Koch about playing the final today or Sunday?' They said 'Oh, his match is over?' People start running around looking for him. He's obviously showered and left. So then I said 'Why don't you call him?' So they call the hotel and he's not there. They said 'We can't reach him. It (rescheduling the final) is not gonna happen.' Meantime, an official from the club made three phone calls and found him. So it couldn't have been that difficult to find him." Litwin believes ITF officials did not contact Koch to ask if he would agree to reschedule the final and without Koch's consent, the final remained scheduled for Saturday, essentially ensuring Litwin's default. "Honestly, I don't know if Thomasz Koch would have done it or not, but from what I've head he's a great guy and a great champion and he probably would have played it (on a different day)," Litwin said. "You speak to 10 players at this level and six would probably say 'I'd agree to play that match in a second.' It was really horrendous the way it was handled." Litwin's protest is not based on the fact the ITF declined his request to reschedule the final to another day, but on the fact that the ITF ruled it will not award Litwin the ranking points and prize money he earned in winning five singles matches to reach the final. It is a ruling that effectively nullifies the week's worth of wins Litwin earned and one he says "feels discriminatory". "Here is the greatest day of my tennis life and now they're telling me for all that work and effort you're not going to get all those points, which very possibly could have made me the number one ranked (55-year-old division) player in the world," said Litwin, a tennis coach who has his own web site for mental training FocusTips.com. "As a tennis coach that's a huge label for me to have. Without the points, I'm ranked 15th or 20th. So basically they're saying to me 'A medical reason — no problem you'll get your points. But a religious reason, you will not get any ranking points.' I am a Jew and this is our holiest day of the year and my whole life I haven't done anything on this day. I am beside myself that they have made a ruling like this that on the one hand is unfair to me personally, but in the bigger picture it feels discriminatory to me." Emerging from the shower after his semifinal, Litwin said he was met by an ITF official who essentially rendered the ruling by handing him two sheets of paper — xerox copies of the ITF rules regarding withdrawals. "The ITF referee comes in and hands me a piece of paper which is a copy of two pages of the ITF regulations — the section on player responsibility," Litwin said. "Basically, it says any player who leaves the site prior to the scheduled match without a medical excuse will not be awarded any prize money or ranking points. So now they were saying 'this is what is happening.' At that point, I was really angry." The ITF states it was simply following its rule regarding defaults — a rule the ITF points out Litwin was well aware of months before the tournament began — and stresses Litwin was informed in writing five months before the event that should he reach the final, he would be scheduled to play on Saturday, September 25th. "The rules of the event state that, if a player fails to appear for a scheduled match for a reason other than injury, health or bereavement, they receive no prize money or points," an ITF spokesperson told Tennis Week. "Mr Litwin was aware of this rule and, in response to a question raised by him in March 2004, he was informed in writing by the ITF that, should he reach the final, he would almost certainly have to play on Saturday." In an email to Litwin, an ITF official wrote: "There are many factors that the ITF must take into consideration when scheduling these events and while there is no desire to conflict with any significant religious days, it is not always possible to achieve this. The ITF would like as many people as possible to participate in these events and so it is not in our interest to schedule them at the same time as these events either... Unfortunately at this stage nothing can be done to avoid Jewish players to play on Saturday 25 September." While the ITF's email states the final cannot be rescheduled, it does not address the consequences a default would incur. Litwin believes the rule is discriminatory in that he had withdrawn citing an injury — even if wasn't a severe or legitimate injury — he would have received both ranking points and prize money, but because he withdrew for a religious reason, and was honest in stating it, he not only forfeited the final, but the ranking points, prize money and a potential position as the world's top-ranked man in the 55s. "I said to one of the ITF reps there, 'You know I can get you a medical note saying I'm hurt from any of the 10 doctors here on site, but I would never do that'." Litwin said. "What I am going to do, lie on Yom Kippur?" Personal pain has given way to protest as Litwin has filed an official letter of protest with the ITF over its ruling. The ITF told Tennis Week it has received and reviewed Litwin's protest and is currently conducting an investigation on the matter before rendering a final ruling. "The ITF have received a letter of appeal regarding this matter from Mr Litwin," an ITF spokesperson told Tennis Week. "In response the ITF have confirmed to him in writing that they will investigate the matter and respond to him in due course. The event referee and the ITF official representative have been asked by Luca Santilli, Manager of Senior Tennis, to prepare a detailed report on Mr. Litwin's withdrawal from the event. Once all views have been carefully considered, the ITF will respond directly to Mr. Litwin." Litwin feels let down by organizational officials unwilling to reassess an existing rule in the context of a competitor's religion. For Litwin, it's not just a matter of spirituality, it's a question of common sense. "I don't think it's anti-Semitism," Litwin said. "I want to be very clear on that point: I don't it's anti-Semitism at all; I think it's just stupid. Salt Lake 2002 "Olympic Lessons" by Bob Litwin          Now that the winter Olympics are behind us, I hope that many of you had the opportunity to watch some of the great performances. There are valuable lessons we can learn from these elite athletes.          Apolo Anton Ohno, a United States short track speed skater, was tripped up with 30 yards to go in the 1,000 meter race and ended up with the silver medal. Ohno, who already had one gold medal under his belt, was overjoyed and gracious at the race's conclusion. Rather than bemoan his bad luck, he spoke of the pride he felt at skating a good race and being a silver medalist. Even more revealing of his championship attitude was his comment about getting tripped up and falling as being "a part of the sport".          We should all remember that tennis, too, includes some experiences that don't quite match up to the results we are searching for. It can be inches between winning and losing and that is just part of the sport.          Figure skater Sarah Hughes gave us all a wonderful lesson in being free of the fears of winning and losing. After finishing fourth in the short program, she was a long-shot for the gold, a slim chance for the silver and an outside chance for the bronze. Knowing that, she was able to let go of trying to win and just went out "to have a good skate and have a good time."          Often we hear elite athletes make comments like this and wonder if they are really telling the truth. In this case, it certainly looked like it was the truth. Once the concern for winning and losing was deleted from the equation, Hughes was relaxed and free. No longer was she concerned about being perfect, she was able to let herself go and just skate. There was no thinking...just being.          As Yoda said in Star Wars, "Try not, just do." Article Reprinted from Newsday April 21, 2002 "A Late Bloomer" Manhasset tennis pro achieving success at 54 by Liz Paw, Staff Writer, Newsday         Little fazes Bob Litwin as he edges toward match point. With each breath, he calms the nerves and focuses on the next serve. The way he handles pressure on the tennis court is not a secret. He has shared his own system of high-performance techniques with students for more than 20 years. Litwin's game proves just how well it can work.         At 54, Litwin is playing the best tennis of his life. In March, the Manhasset senior player won the USTA National Indoor Championship in the 50-and-over division, never losing a set. The win secured his second consecutive national title, having won the National Grasscourt Championship in August, giving him a career total of four.         Tennis success came late for Litwin, who discovered his love for coaching long before he returned to the game itself.         Litwin described himself in high school as "just a good athlete with a racket." The Great Neck South graduate once used tennis as a way to prepare for the basketball season and abandoned the sport completely during his freshman year in college. It took a brief high school teaching stint in Manhattan and a summer at a local tennis club to finally pique his interest in tennis again.         The budding tennis pro developed a series of relaxation and visualization exercises to heighten mental focus and improve an athlete's overall game strategy. His "focus game method" recognizes when a student is successful and attempts to recreate the environment and concentration necessary to produce the same results.         "I was developing myself as a teacher," he said. "But I wasn't really putting it on the line in my own game."         He entered his first tournament at the age of 33. Four years later, he won an individual bronze medal and a gold in doubles in the 1985 World Maccabian Games in Israel. Excited by his first win, he began to set new goals, which included a national championship, a selection to a U.S team and a No. 1 ranking Litwin must wait until January for the current rankings, his last hurdle.         "When Bob makes a decision about something, he tells a lot of people," his wife, Carol Litwin, said. "He wants to be held accountable."         Now Litwin runs a private coaching business based on referral and advertises his program the his website, www.focustips.com. He has expanded on the traditional tennis lesson to include phone sessions, instruction tapes and seminars for areas outside of tennis, as well.         Vanessa Thomas, a Drew University student and equestrian, came to Litwin while struggling with a specific riding problem. She soon discovered that his preparation exercises for competition were also helpful for her class exams.         "One of the things that is unique about Bob is that he teaches for life beyond tennis," said Adam Rose, a fellow senior player in the 40-and-over division.         Litwin leads a U.S. team of four in the ITF Veterinans World Team Championship this week in Palm Beach, Fla., to contend for his second Fred Perry Cup. A semifinalist in 1999, he also will compete for his first world individual championship April 28-May5 in Fort Lauderdale.         "With everything that has been going on," he said, "it's very, very special to be selected to play for the U.S. this year."