Last week my mixed doubles partner and I had a conversation between points about how we both really need to get out on the court to work on sustaining crosscourt rallies. While we both arguably have mastered crosscourt groundstrokes, our shot tolerance for hitting that shot during our match was extraordinarily low. It was costing us points. The thing is, we frequently have a conversation along those lines. I can’t speak for my partner, but I have been doing a terrible job linking developmental opportunities to actual training sessions lately.
If you are engaged in frequent match play, your opportunities for higher performance on the court are probably acted out as object lessons on a recurring basis. Thinking through what just happened on the previous point, coupled with the second, more crucial follow-up analysis of why it happened, provides copious data on potential improvement objectives. In fact, the ability to step back to examine recurring themes is one of the super-powers of the very best players in Adult Senior Tennis.
Mastering the analysis can keep players from deluding themselves. If you frequently find yourself lamenting that you can’t hit a particular shot “today, ” it might be helpful to consider if your oppositional scouting report leads with the information that you, in fact, can’t reliably hit that shot ever. If you are fortunate enough to have players in your orbit who provide good scouting reports, it wouldn’t hurt to ask them how they would tell a person to play against you.
Players frequently chalk up poor performance to just being “off” that day. While that certainly happens from time to time, it is a dangerous thought pattern because it implies that there is nothing that can be done about it. If your “off” days are usually characterized by one particular shot not working, perhaps that shot is the root cause of the poor performance rather than the effect.
Video Analysis, is another technique that can be useful for identifying player development opportunities. Additionally, the discipline of maintaining a Player Development Journal will produce a wealth of information to be mined.
The very best players in Adult Senior tennis typically know exactly where their opportunities to improve their competitive levels lie. Additionally, they excel at linking that knowledge to their training sessions. Mastering the game at the highest levels requires a commitment to hard work. The players at the top of the rankings concentrate on the parts of their game where it matters most. Their training sessions have a purpose.
Throughout 2023 I am exploring the 12 Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Players. A complete summary of all posts to date on that topic as well as what is coming up for the remainder of this year can be found on the 12 Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Players homepage.
