Tennis Strategy Lesson – Why Learn Strategy?
Years ago I watched a singles match that I’ve never forgotten about because it had an important tennis strategy lesson in it…
It was a quarter final of a major qualifying tournament. One player was a very glamorous looking player who had a team of trainers and coaches with her for the match, the other player was a very understated player, who was quite thin and un-athletic looking and had no team with her on the sidelines.
The player, who I’ll call the Glamour Player, had perfectly styled hair, was tall, tanned, had an athletic figure, wore new big-brand tennis clothes, and she came to the court with a team of four people who looked like trainers and coach. She was all glamour and muscle and looked highly professional.
The other player, who I’ll call the Understated Player, was lanky, had bad posture, had pale skin, wore a tennis skirt that went to her knees, looked very young, had a crooked pony tail of un-brushed hair, and walked to the court alone.
The contrast between these two players as I saw them walking to the court was obvious to say the least. During the warm-up spectators had their eyes on the Glamour Player. She projected the image of fame and greatness which made it hard not to look at her. No one, including myself, really gave much attention to the other player. We were expecting this professional looking player to wipe her understated opponent off the court.
The match started and the Understated Player broke serve to win the first game to love. The Glamour Player was a little frustrated, but calm and appeared focused. As they changed ends the Glamour Player’s team was cheering her on and encouraging her, while the Understated Player had no one cheering her on and walked her slightly awkward walk to the other side of the net.
The Understated Player won the next game too with the Glamorous Player only winning one point. It was the Glamorous Player’s serve again and she lost that too. It was now 3-0.
I quickly realized that up to that point I didn’t have my Tennis Strategy Coach hat on due to the Glamorous Player’s appearance. I realized then that the Understated Player was a tactical player and I re-directed my attention.
Watching the Understated Player closely the first thing that I noticed was that she was watching her opponent constantly between points – she would walk with her eyes downcast but would quickly glance at her opponent while walking. On change of ends she would sneak inconspicuous glances at her opponent too.
I went on to notice that the Understated Player knew that no one was really paying much attention to her and she knew that this worked to help her strategically. I went on to see that she had an inner confidence in herself and she seemed to completely block the rest of the world out. She had an internal quiet focus.
I saw she was doing three key things – observing her opponent; hitting consistent shots to specific places (hitting to her opponent’s weaknesses which would set up easy winning shots for herself); and not paying any attention to anything happening outside of the fences of the court boundary.
In the fourth game the Glamorous Player started show signs of worry – talking and muttering to herself, glancing up with a concerned look on her face to her team – it was obvious she was wondering what was wrong with her game and she knew she was in trouble. Her team was clapping and verbally encouraging her but the score was 4-0.
That first set score ended up at 6-0.
The Understated Player had observed her opponent like a hawk watches its prey and as a result she found all her opponent’s weaknesses and repeatedly hit balls to those places. It caused immense frustration and embarrassment to the glamorous looking player who never figured out what her opponent was doing to her.
The whole match ended very fast with a 6-0 6-1 score. The Glamorous Player was bewildered and shocked to have lost so quickly and so badly. Off the court she sought consoling from her team, who all were very supportive with their arms around her, talking to her, listening to her. I could sympathize because I know how she felt and how confusing it is to loose like that after all the physical preparation.
The Understated Player was now in the semi-finals and she had made it into the prize-money zone of the tournament.
This match works as an example that we can practice as much as we want and get as fit at we want, which is a very good thing to do so don’t misunderstand my message, it’s just that to gain the maximum out of our game we need to add tennis strategy training to our practice sessions.
I believe that it’s critical that players learn to find their opponent’s strengths and weaknesses quickly if they want to improve their winning record. In addition, you should know your own strengths and weaknesses so when someone starts to take advantage of your weak shots you can adjust your game mid-match to stop that happening.
Learning to do this is as simple as watching players from the sidelines and try to pick their weaknesses and strengths. Over time you will find these patterns faster and faster. This new skill will help to put things in your favor early on in any match you play.
I highly recommend any level player buys a book called ‘Insider Tennis Strategies’. I recommend this book because it has some fantastic strategy advice in a very easy to read format. It get’s straight to point and it’s far cheaper than a tennis lesson at only $17 plus you get a couple bonus books with it. You can read my review of it by clicking “Insider Tennis Strategies by Glenn Sheiner” in the sidebar or go straight to the website where you can buy the book http://www.strategictennis.com/
