Matches Are Won or Lose 2-3 Months in Advance

Many times we, as coaches, are approached by eager parents who would like us to fine-tune their kids' games immediately before the tournament ("hey, ________ has a match on Saturday so is it OK if you could give him a good hit on Friday").

My personal theory is that matches are won or lost well in advance of the tournament (CHAMPIONS ARE CREATED ON THE BACK-COURT NOT CENTER COURT). It's how you approach your practices 2-3 months prior to the tournament that has a greater bearing on your results. Sometimes, a "good" practice can in fact be counterproductive because the player is overloaded with new information that s/he has not been able to process, synthesize, implement and refine. Consequently, there is a chance that the player enters the tournament with too many thoughts in his/her mind. This is the fallacy of fine-tuning in that it's difficult to fine-tune something that hasn't been "tuned" in the first place. Second, a great deal of players have the tendency to play better in a tournament when their immediately preceding practices have not been the "best". These players use these bad practices as ways to motivate themselves for the match. In other words, they don't take their Saturday morning match for granted because they know how easy it is to be thrown off their game by the opponent. Such players go out there and actually concentrate better during the match and compete hard for every point. 

As a result, it is more important for players to set up their practices in such a way that they peak for the main event. An effective process would be to have consistency/stamina-focused practices well in advance of the tournament (T[ournament]-minus 2-3 months) and the add more power and precision-based practices as the player gets closer to the main tournament. Smaller tournaments during this period should be used as testing grounds for what the player practices. For example, if the player is working on his backhand, he should try to play some tournaments where he focuses on working his backhand around the court. Maybe go for no winners with his forehand and try to get as much practice hitting backhands as possible. 

Then, as the player gets closer to the main tournament, practices should alternate between consistency, power and precision so that the player is comfortable executing the same on a day-in day-out basis. The last few weeks before the tournament (T minus 2-3 weeks), every practice should contain a consistency, power and precision component. Only after mastering the foundation and fundamentals can the player be assured that some last-minute fine-tuning will have any effect. However, the good results come from the player's knowledge that she's given it her best during the foundational practice stages. 

Components of Complete Practice

In order to maximize the benefits of practice, developing players should incorporate the following components into every practice:

a. Warm-up. The purpose of warm-up is to establish rhythm. In addition to limbering up the body, elevating the heart rate and expanding oxygen intake, a proper warm-up will serve to focus the eyes. Too often, players will step on the court and commence banging the ball without rhyme or reason without establishing any sort of rhythm or sense of purpose. As a rule of thumb, if the player should not move on to the next step until s/he is confident or capable of keeping 100 balls in play. A player who cannot do that is simply not ready - physically or mentally - to move on.

b. Feeding drills. Feeding drills are important because they can artificially simulate either the problem areas of the opponent's game or the patterns that the player seeks to improve. In a sense, they serve as focused repetition - much like elite warriors repeat drills over and over until they become second nature. Furthermore, they can be created to simulate actual match situations thereby enabling the player to recognize the appropriate pattern during match play. The reality is that a lot of "coaches" (or instructors) get stuck in this stage because they are either overworked, lazy or incapable of matching the player's skill and fitness. It is my belief that  practices that revolve around feeding drills exclusively serve to hold the player back in terms of development. The player becomes proficient at artificial drills (looks good on paper) but fails to improve as a tournament player. 

c. Live ball. Live ball training should be incorporated in order to simulate the patterns or problem area when the ball is not perfectly placed on the player's racket. Be it simple cross courts or more elaborate drills, live ball training serves a transition stage from feeding drills to match play. As a rule of thumb, I would never advocate moving to point-play directly from feeding drills. The player should master the live ball before playing points. 

d. Point play. Point playing is an integral part of every practice since, after all, players don't get judged for how they look but by their actual objective results. Therefore, it is important to incorporate point-playing in order to show the student why we're practicing certain things and when/how to execute. If possible (depending on time, resources and energy), the student should cycle from feeding to live-ball to point playing throughout the practice in order to further refine the particular skill.

e. Fitness. Lastly, no practice is complete without some form of fitness mixed in. Again, too many coaches leave the fitness (like the serve) to the end of practice. What kind of message does that send to the player?! That fitness and serves (or volleys) are secondary in terms of importance. If possible, the player should be encouraged to perform fitness exercises DURING the practice; be it jumping rope while the coach is collecting the balls, performing push-ups in between sets, or running sprints between various drills, exercise should be performed both when the player is "fresh" as well as when she's tired. 

LEGO Approach

As a child, I was fascinated with LEGO building blocks. I loved how combining pieces of different shapes and sizes could be used to construct elaborate projects. I believe that the same concept could be used in understanding and improving one's tennis game. As a player, it is important to figure out how to combine the weapons in your arsenal to the maximum effect. Be it serve-and-volleys, chip-and-charges, forehand cross-court (topspin) followed up by backhand cross-court (slice), or swinging volley (FH or BH) followed up by "regular" volley (BH or FH), a player should know how to create the best "plays" with his/her shots.

Often times, it is impossible for a player to construct a complete point from beginning to end as it's the opponent's primary obligation to put up obstacles and defenses ("you're only as good as your opponent allows you to be"). However, by mastering 2-3 shot combinations a player can implement the appropriate strategy while adapting to whatever the opponent is throwing his/her way.

For example, although you may start out the point with the intention of ending up at the net, your opponent may surprise you with his strategy and thereby force you to play the initial stages of that particular point in a defensive position. However, assuming that you have identified a weakness in your opponent's game that makes it attractive to come in, you have to figure out how to translate defense into offense. In this scenario, perhaps a heavy topspin lob, followed up by a swinging volley and then a regular volley will do the trick.

But how are you going to know these combinations unless you have practiced them?! The answer is that if you only practice A-B-C, X-Y-Z are going to seem like a foreign language to you and the shots are going to be difficult to execute on the spot. Therefore, it is important for a practice to include combination drills or patterns in order to be able to identify the pattern during play and have the requisite confidence to execute under pressure. Any stroke can be combined with 2-3 other shots (and then re-combined again in a different sequence) in order to learn how they work in concert. Then, when you are faced with a situation in a match, you can pick and choose the shot-sequence from various drills that you have done in the past and execute the play with confidence. 

Have Fun

We often hear parents or coaches tell their students or children to "just go out there and gave fun". Unfortunately, most players and coaches do not practice with this same goal in mind. Often times the too parties spend an inordinate amount of time developing the "meat and potatoes" of the game (forehand, backhand, some serves and volleys) while completely ignoring the rest of the game. Just like a mechanic has hundreds of tools in his box, a tennis player needs to be proficient at shots even though s/he may only be required to hit them a few times during the match.

For example, slices are not just great for defending, but they also work for neutralizing the opponent's weapons, for moving the ball around while not giving the opponent too much time (due to trajectory of the ball), for changing up the spins that you impart on the ball, as well as for breaking down the opponent's legs (by having her bend her knees repeatedly). In addition, swinging volleys are great for taking "moon balls" out of the air and not allowing the opponent to recover from a defensive position. Drop shots work wonderfully against players who spend a great deal of time close to the back fence. Top spin lobs, jump shots, sky-hook overheads, "lefty" forehands, mid-court chips, backhand overheads, "pick-ups" or half-volleys, between the legs, behind the back, etc. are all shots that a player should learn as you never know when you will be called upon to execute such shots at a critical point. Furthermore, executing these shots will give the player "true confidence"; the knowledge that s/he can handle whatever the opponent throws his/her way and that s/he can create openings with all of her tools. 

Now, we're not advocating utilizing these shots exclusively; far from it. The whole point of practicing them is to understand not just HOW to hit them but also WHEN to hit them (and when not to do so). For example, a player who has executed 1000 drop shots in practice and has been successful at hitting 200 targets is less likely to hit them at an inopportune time (because s/he understands the risks and his/her limitations). But, again, it is important for the player to have all these pieces in his/her arsenal in order for the player to be able to truly "have fun." There's only so much fun that a player can have while hitting 10,000 forehands in a  match. Lastly, a varied practice is more likely to be exciting for the player - keeping him/her coming back and asking for more - and result in LESS burn-out. So go out there are work on everything and use the tennis court as your canvas for producing great art.

Tennis Strategies Made Simple

Often times, developing players step on the court before a tennis match and have no idea what they want to accomplish in terms od strategy. The reality is that you can be the best ball striker in your division but if you have no idea how to use your weapons you will lose. A tennis player without strategy is no different than a warrior without strategy. Having the best equipment and training is not always sufficient. A player must know how to use his weapons to the most effect in order to be successful. Now, without going into great detail and creating a road map for every single point, the best strategy in tennis can be summarized as follows:

1) hit it away from your opponent; and

2), if you must hit it to your opponent, do so in such a way that s/he cannot hurt you: high, low (slice), hard or with a lot of spin. The objective being to draw a response that exposes the opponent's open court. 

Tennis is often times compared to chess in terms of formulating a gameplan. Unfortunately, tennis players must make decisions on the spot and react to what the opponent is throwing their way. As a result, it is often important to view the opponent's side of the court as a chess-board; squares of 4ftx4ft on the other side of the net.

In trying to implement the first prong of the strategy, vizualize one of those squares "light up" whenever you manage to hit it. After that, try to hit a square that's as far away from your first target and yet still a relativey safe shot. As you get better, you will be able to hit targets that are further and further apart. If you're really good, you will be successful in making the opponent move laterally, forwards and backwards, as well as diagonally. A moving opponent is more prone to break down - even with his/her weapon. Lack of oxygen, elevated heart rate, fatigued legs, core and arms (consequences of having to keep covering the open court) will force the opponent to go for riskier shots thereby generating more unforced errors. 

One of the best drills to implement would be the "figure 8" (or "envelope") drill where one person hits down the line and the other hits cross court. Try practicing 1-2 warm-up points and then play baseline games while doing this drill. This drill will teach you not only how to move, but also how to adjust to your opponent's shot. Furthermore, because everyone knows where everyone else is going, you are forced to hit a variety of shots in order to prevent your opponent from hurting you (prong #2 of our basic strategy). In addition, you will become much more adept at reading body language (i.e., seeing how your opponent sets up in order to hit down the line versus how s/he sets up while hitting cross-court). To spice things up, throw in a serve: if the returner returns the first shot cross-court, the server is the down-the-line player; conversely, if the returner returns down the line, the server is on the cross-court for that point. Also, you can set up certain "zones" (with tape or plastic lines or cones) where the player cannot hit (e.g. middle of the court) or risk losing the point and/or also zones where the player can hit and win the point automatically (e.g. deep corners). 

We will be revisiting the figure 8 drill in future articles.