About 30 years ago W. Timothy Gallwey came out with a best selling tennis book called “Inner Tennis.” In it he spent most of the book talking about mind-body relationships. A key concept in the book was that the mind needs to stop controlling the body so much. The problem with this mentality is that the underlying assumption is, thinking on the tennis court is bad. Today I would say the average tennis player does not think enough on the court. This is because many players don’t understand the game of tennis very well.
W. Timothy Gallwey's landmark book.
The pendulum can also go too far the other way where players want perfect strokes, like the pros, on every shot. Here the goal is to play just like the pros and mimic their strokes. So we say Federer does this on his forehand, so should you. Pete Sampras did this on his serve, so should you. The assumption is that if it works for them, it will work for you; and this is not always true.
I believe the solution lies somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. This middle ground is where players understand key concepts in tennis and can think through problems on court while at the same time they are not trying to have faultless form on every shot.
One of the biggest problems I have found with most club players is that they don’t know how or even what to think about on the tennis court. So as a substitute they just try to mimic the styles and strokes of the pros. Today many players know how to hit the ball but don’t know how to play the game. Tennis has gone the way of gymnastics, if you miss a shot, your form (stroke mechanics) must have caused the error. Thus, in most lessons, a student hits a ball and waits for the judges to give him a score indicating how he did.
My solution is that by teaching players how to play the game they will learn how to hit the ball also. I would argue that tennis is not like gymnastics, at the intermediate and advanced levels, rather it is like college basketball. In college basketball tactics and strategy are the central issues coaches discuss with players during the game. I have never been in a college basketball timeout, but I am 95% certain, in a crisis the coach is not saying to the players, “Follow through on your shots” or “Square up to the basket more.” He is telling the players how they need to adjust tactically or what offensive plays they should be running. This is what is lacking in tennis today. Players need to be better problem solvers, critical thinkers, creative thinkers, and more emotionally stable on court.
Players need to stop always blaming their strokes (shot production) and focus more on what shots they hit (shot selection). They need to understand the geometry and physics of the tennis court and how this affects shot selection. By better understanding this they will then understand that unforced errors are a function of risk, risk due specifically to the geometry and physics that apply to shot decisions they make on the court.
Pros like Kim Clijsters can hit the ball extremely hard and still clear the net by several feet because they use sufficient topspin to bring the ball down inside the court.
Let me give an example. Say I have a lesson with a 3.0 man, who I will call, Martin Blaster, and he complains of forehand problems. When we get in the lesson he hits every ball flat and 80 MPH. When 1 out of 2 go out, he says I have lost my forehand. He is looking for a follow-through change or an elbow adjustment to fix his problem. If I tell him, “Mr. Blaster, do you know that errors are a function of risk and your risk level on the forehand is off the charts!” He most likely won’t understand and think that can’t be his problem.
What I mean is errors are a function of risk and the greater your risk the greater your chance to make a mistake. This is how auto insurance companies determine premiums for clients. The more accidents, or speeding tickets, you have, the greater your premiums. So too in tennis, the greater your shot risk, the higher your error rate will be.
The game of tennis still has to deal with the laws of physics and geometry. When a ball is hit 80 MPH, with little or no spin, we can give a window how high the ball can be hit before it goes long. This window is roughly 2 feet above the net, any higher and the ball will sail long over the baseline. When Mr. Blaster hits his regular forehand, what he is really doing is putting a maximum net clearance of 2 feet above the net on each shot. He then has this 2 feet of window in which he must hit every shot to keep it in. This is very difficult to do consistently.
Players understand this intuitively but not practically. If I ask a player to rally 25 in a row baseline to baseline, most all players will slow it down. Why? The answer is they understand intuitively the physics and geometry of tennis. That is a slower ball has a better chance to fall in than a faster one. Gravity is now working more for them than against them. Why do most people hit a big first serve and a “dinky doodle dandy” for a second serve? Same reason, errors are a function of risk.
Pros know when to give the ball some extra juice, but they rarely over swing.
If we go back to my lesson and I say to slow it down and give no mechanical advice whatsoever, my student will get more shots in. I would also add it is easier to control your swing when it is slower. You will also most likely need a shorter swing to hit the ball softer and this makes timing easier. Lastly a shorter and slower swing makes it easier to control the angle of the racquet face. All of these lead to fewer mistakes.
Usually at this point in a lesson a player will say, "but I can’t win points with a softer shot. If I hit softly my opponent will smack a winner on that 'cream puff' ball of mine." This distorted view of tennis is not realistic in two regards. First I am not saying to never hit the ball harder I am saying to know when to hit it harder and when to hit it softer. I am also saying there is a hard, harder, and hardest. Players must stop doing the latter two, harder and hardest, and focus on the former, hard.
Secondly I would say that unless you are playing Roger Federer your opponent will hit no more winners off of your slower speed than off your previous shot speed. I am not saying to hit “cream puff” shots but slower ones. They will hit winners but no more than normal and the added bonus is that you will have fewer errors. This leads to more opportunities to win points.
Other benefits are that you will learn how to rally and set up a point. You will hit more balls and gain more confidence as you hit more in, You will give your opponent more opportunities to miss because you are getting more balls in play. Finally you will have more fun and get more exercise because the points will last longer, which is one reason why you are out there in the first place.
Click photo: Even at the pro level there are usually more errors than winners hit.
When you understand that most matches are lost on errors and not won on “winners” you then realize your objective is to cut down errors and not increase “winners.” The more you try to hit “winners” the more errors you typically will make. However as you try to cut down errors, generally “winners” stay the same. Tennis is like football, the team with the fewest turnovers (mistakes) usually wins; so one of our main goals to play your best tennis, is to cut down errors. To cut down errors you must understand physics and geometry.
W. Timothy Gallwey opened players eyes to the internal dimension of people (Self 1) as well as the external (Self 2). The problem is that instead of improving the mind he may encouraged us to shut it down. Only when we improve the mind can we then improve our play. Tennis is a game of thinking not just a game of form. The key to growth in tennis is to develop internally, understanding how to play the game.
We also need to know that the internal self, your spirit, controls the external part, your body. We have great potential for growth when we learn how important thinking is. To think and think well should be the goal for all players of all levels. The only worse thing than not thinking on a tennis court, is wrong thinking. When you don’t understand how to play the game you will often be doing both; this can be a deadly combination on the tennis court.
Many players play tennis, fewer players understand the game of tennis.
Steve Beier has been the director of tennis at the Fort Wayne Country Club for the past 22 years. He has written and spoken regionally about Maximum Impact concepts to improve your tennis game. He has also written a book Maximum Impact on taking these concepts and applying them to life as well. This book can be found at Authorhouse.com. You can reach Steve at fwcctennis@aol.com.
