Net Notes: It's tournament week on Marco

Those of you competing in the Marco Island City Tennis Championships at the city's Racket Center later this week are going to compete with the game you own right now.

Whatever you do this week, don't make any changes in your game.

To develop a new skill or even a minor tweak of your current skills takes weeks, not days or hours, to become ingrained and usable in the heat of battle.

Work out this week in an effort to become patient and tactically aware.

Chances are it will be windy at some point during the tournament, so you had betterbe prepared to work with Mother Nature rather than fight her.

The event is on Har-Tru courts, so control your aggression until the opportunity to score is low risk/high benefit rather than high risk/high benefit.

Be willing to work the point until your opponent is taking all the undue risks.

Warm up thoroughly before you take to the court because a slow start isn't what you want in tournament play. Play hard, but play fair. There is no room for gamesmanship in tennis.

Do what all the great players do: let your racket do your talking.

Good luck and more importantly have fun!

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.