Andre Agassi in the last year of his career was interviewed and in that interview said that tennis and life were similar, both involved problem solving. Isn’t that the truth?
In tennis against a worthy opponent, problem solving can make the difference between who goes on in the tournament and who goes home.
A frequent singles opponent of mine I’ll call Jason, attacks my second serve with a lot of pressure and a fair degree of success. That’s a problem for me so it led to me doing some problem solving before the match. We played today and in two sets, I had 9 service games. I served about 85% as hard as I usually do and it enabled me to get all but three first serves in. This meant I only had to face a very aggressive returner 3 times today. It’s also no coincidence that I held 7 of my 9 service games today.
I figured out that strategy before the match, but many times you have to problem solve during a match. Yesterday I played doubles and in my first service game I missed a first serve on the deuce court. My admittedly weaker second serve to the returner’s forehand was returned powerfully right at the head of my doubles partner at the net. Dylan fortunately blocked it so he didn’t get hit but we lost the point. Big problem. Immediately I decided for the rest of my serves to the deuce court that all of them would be to the deuce returner’s backhand side. Problem solved. My partner was protected and the returner was frustrated in playing the forehand return side but having to return all my serves from his backhand side.
In that same doubles match one of our opponents, Andy, was thinking like me. Every serve to me in the deuce court was to my backhand. While not a weakness for me, it’s generally not a serve I can hit with as much power as the forehand. Andy served with a purpose, which was not to put him or his partner in trouble right away from my return.
When beginning tennis players serve the goal is to just get the ball in play so you can play the point. However, as a player becomes an intermediate and can control the pace and location of most of his/her serves, they should serve more purposefully and thoughtfully. Considerations of wind direction, opponents returning ability, a rough percentage of your first serves going in, number of double faults, missed serves to which side and going deep or short, plus more, should help a person to make necessary adjustments to their serving games.
One of our intermediate high school boys (a 3.5- 4.0) nicknamed The Ball Magnet has a hard, flat first serve but he only gets it in maybe 20-25% of the time. His second serve makes him look like a 2.0 player and unfortunately he has to use it a lot unless I am there to remind him to “take a little off that first serve to get it in”. Something magical happens then, he serves over 50% and wins a lot more points.
Tennis is not just a physical game. It’s also emotional and mental. The mental part is continually analyzing what’s working and what isn’t and then making adjustments to your game. Problem solving helped Agassi have a lot of success on the court and it can help your game too.
In tennis against a worthy opponent, problem solving can make the difference between who goes on in the tournament and who goes home.
A frequent singles opponent of mine I’ll call Jason, attacks my second serve with a lot of pressure and a fair degree of success. That’s a problem for me so it led to me doing some problem solving before the match. We played today and in two sets, I had 9 service games. I served about 85% as hard as I usually do and it enabled me to get all but three first serves in. This meant I only had to face a very aggressive returner 3 times today. It’s also no coincidence that I held 7 of my 9 service games today.
I figured out that strategy before the match, but many times you have to problem solve during a match. Yesterday I played doubles and in my first service game I missed a first serve on the deuce court. My admittedly weaker second serve to the returner’s forehand was returned powerfully right at the head of my doubles partner at the net. Dylan fortunately blocked it so he didn’t get hit but we lost the point. Big problem. Immediately I decided for the rest of my serves to the deuce court that all of them would be to the deuce returner’s backhand side. Problem solved. My partner was protected and the returner was frustrated in playing the forehand return side but having to return all my serves from his backhand side.
In that same doubles match one of our opponents, Andy, was thinking like me. Every serve to me in the deuce court was to my backhand. While not a weakness for me, it’s generally not a serve I can hit with as much power as the forehand. Andy served with a purpose, which was not to put him or his partner in trouble right away from my return.
When beginning tennis players serve the goal is to just get the ball in play so you can play the point. However, as a player becomes an intermediate and can control the pace and location of most of his/her serves, they should serve more purposefully and thoughtfully. Considerations of wind direction, opponents returning ability, a rough percentage of your first serves going in, number of double faults, missed serves to which side and going deep or short, plus more, should help a person to make necessary adjustments to their serving games.
One of our intermediate high school boys (a 3.5- 4.0) nicknamed The Ball Magnet has a hard, flat first serve but he only gets it in maybe 20-25% of the time. His second serve makes him look like a 2.0 player and unfortunately he has to use it a lot unless I am there to remind him to “take a little off that first serve to get it in”. Something magical happens then, he serves over 50% and wins a lot more points.
Tennis is not just a physical game. It’s also emotional and mental. The mental part is continually analyzing what’s working and what isn’t and then making adjustments to your game. Problem solving helped Agassi have a lot of success on the court and it can help your game too.
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