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It's About Time: Learning Tennis as an Open Skill

part 4

Wayne Elderton

We are continuing our series on learning tennis as an Open Skill. We now move on to the 2nd step of the Open Skill process which is Decision-making. All games (including tennis) require large amounts of decision-making. Contrary to popular belief, decision-making is not just something one is born with. Any player can train and improve their decision-making if they know how.

Click photo: Federer is the master of making the right decisions at the right time. Here, on the dead run, he handles this awkward, short ball by deftly caressing it over the net and sets up an easy put-away.

Decision-making can be tactical (deciding ‘what’ to do) or technical (deciding ‘how to do it’).

Tactical decision-making comes in 2 stages:

  1. Intention (having a clear goal with what to do with the ball)
  2. Differentiation (choosing the best option from 2 or more possibilities)

Our focus today will be on training intention in decision-making. It is common for players (even good players) to have poor intention when they hit a ball. The pace of the game causes many to simply react to shots rather than having a clear goal for where shots should go and what effect they should have on the opponent.

Training intention is the critical first step of decision-making. One of the most useful tools is the 5 Phases of Play. Each phase is the relationship between the difficulty of the ball received and the risk a player takes to send it. Players need to make decisions that balance the safety and consistency of their shot and how much to challenge the opponent.

Too much challenge is risky when receiving difficult shots. The result is giving away points through errors. Not challenging the opponent enough when receiving weaker shots means opportunities are being squandered and not enough points are being won.

The 5 Phases of Play include:

  • Defense (tougher reception – low risk projection)
  • Rally (neutral reception – neutral projection)
  • Forcing (weaker reception – more challenging projection)
  • Counter (tougher reception – ‘turning the tables’ challenging projection)
  • Attack (weak reception – point-ending projection)

Training the phases in programs, lessons, and drills is important for improving performance in tennis.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Wayne Elderton's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

Wayne Elderton

Wayne Elderton is Head Course of Tennis Canada Coaching Development & Certification in British Columbia. He is a certified Canadian national level 4 coach and certified by both the PTR and USPTA.For two consecutive years he was runner-up for Canadian national development coach-of-the-year out of nominated coaches from every sport.He has also been named the Tennis Professionals Association Coaching Educator of the year and Tennis Professional of the year.

Wayne is currently Tennis Director at the Grant Connell Tennis Center in North Vancouver. He has written coaching articles and materials for Tennis Canada, the PTR, Tennis Australia, and the ITF. He is a national expert on the Game-based Approach.

For more information visit Wayne Elderton's website at www.acecoach.com