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Private Lessons:
Practice, Practice, and Practice

by Kerry Mitchell

We have all heard the term “practice makes perfect.” We think we understand what it means. According to the dictionary “practice” is defined as “repeated exercise” or “habitual action.” In terms of tennis we have all been told we have to practice to get better, but very few times are we told how to practice, or the amount of practice needed to reach the goals we set for ourselves.  

What are the various ways a player can practice? A player can compete, do controlled drills involving one or more strokes, work on movement drills to improve speed and stamina, or concentrate on the mental side of the game. All of these are important aspects in making improvements, but in what combination? How much of each type of training is necessary to get the greatest potential out of your game and on what schedule?

First, let me talk about competition. There are numerous ways to compete. Most players think “competition” means league or tournament play, or at least that weekly match at the club you are so desperate to win. Players don’t equate “practice” with competition. In reality, there are many other forms of competition that should be used when practicing. 

Competitive practice situations are actually a prerequisite to achieving your potential in match play, but very few players know about them, much less use them systematically. They are essential to becoming the best player possible.   

A lot of the blame for this phenomenon of failing to practice properly has to be placed on the growing popularity of league competition. League play has players competing in matches far too often. A related problem is that in league matches, the competitive level is often very low.   

Too often, even practices for league teams involve playing sets or challenge matches where the focus is on winning and not on improving or at least practicing good technique. That's not what I mean by competitive practice. The pressure to win is always on. This slows down improvement or stagnates it all together. Stagnation and lack of improvement are especially common in the lower level leagues, 4.0 and below.   

Don't get me wrong I think league play is great. It gives players at all levels a structured framework for regular play. It’s a key to the growth and health of recreational tennis.

League play is also good because it creates team camaraderie. Dealing with competitive pressures as a team can also be a positive experience, one that is completely different from dealing with the pressures in individual competition. However, to make improvement possible, practices need to be less competitive amongst teammates. Players need to save that competitive energy for the team’s opponents.

Rather than only playing challenge matches, players must learn to “practice” competition by doing competitive drills involving point sequences that are outside of a match format. These competitive drills create some pressure, but far less than actual match play

The key to improvement is, obviously, making changes in one's game. But that is extremely difficult to do when every time a player steps on the court winning a match is the only goal. With change, mistakes occur, at least initially. Making those changes in lower level competitive situations allows a player to make mistakes with little consequence and, in the long term, with numerous repetitions, build confidence in the newly learned skill.

Mistakes trying new strokes or tactics in matches can cause panic. Ego then takes over and the player reverts to his/her old form to try to win the match. The cycle repeats itself every time a player steps on the court in a match situation, making improvement difficult if not impossible. 

How to Practice

If one decides to try a different approach, the question naturally arises; how do I practice? Structured repetition is the key. Making a successful shot in a league or tournament match at the crucial moment comes with having confidence, and confidence is gained by making the shot over and over again. 

Playing a lot of matches where you may only get a few opportunities to attempt a particular shot does not yield enough repetitions to gain the confidence necessary to make it under the ultimate pressure of a league or tournament match. For example, if you need to make good consistent approach shots to win a match, then the only way to achieve this is to hit as many as you can in a controlled setting. In this way the mental and physical process can be grooved sufficiently so that nerves play less of a part of actual play. 

To do this you must start by repetitive drilling with a partner, coach, or ball machine. Thereafter you can progress to competitive practice games. 

The most basic competitive practice game to work on these changes is to play rally games (no serve) to seven or eleven. In this way the players can focus on technique or the execution of pattern play.   

For example a player working on attacking takes every opportunity to hit approach shots and go in, regardless of the consequences. Initially he may end up losing more points than he wins. If he continues, however, he will eventually make better approaches and start to win far more points.

The game can be structured to work on any pattern that needs improvement, for example, hitting consistent crosscourt backhands and trying to hit 5 balls in a row keeping each shot deeper than the opponent’s service line, etc, etc. 

These competitive practice games can be expanded to involve the serve, which is rarely practiced sufficiently to see improvement in matches. Again, this is because most players’ ideas of practice is to play matches. The warm up may last 15-20 minutes most of which is spent hitting groundstrokes. 

In many cases, the serve is never really warmed up, with players opting to play “first ball in.” When serving in the match, the main concern becomes getting the ball in, reducing the chances the player will practice the good technique learned in a prior lesson. 

In practice games, a player working on a heavier spin on his serve can now hit out, even if it means a few double faults. Over time, going for the right technique will result in the confidence to hit the same spins in a match. Besides the serve, most club players’ weaknesses include movement, volleys, and overheads.  Specific practice games can be created for all of these.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Kerry Mitchell's article by emailing us here at TennisONE.  

Last Updated 10/15/01. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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