Swinging It In Your Favor

Momentum Boy

There is something more powerful in tennis than an Andy Roddick serve. In fact this power is not found just in tennis. It occurs in most sports including basketball, hockey, baseball and football among others. This fearsome power in sport is called momentum.

In tennis it produces some surprising results. When the box score reads 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 people are left scratching their heads and thinking ‘what happened there?’ Sometimes tennis commentators will announce things like ‘Nadal has just won 11 of the last 13 points’. If his opponent can’t find a way to derail Nadal’s momentum, it will be a short afternoon. Though I don’t completely understand this complex phenomenon myself, as it encompasses the fields of sports psychology, strategy, and unknown intangibles, I have noticed some things to change momentum and swing it in the opposite direction.

When I am coaching a high school boy and he is underperforming and nothing seems to be working for him, I tell him he needs to change something (because obviously the path he is on is working. Change something. Personally, I have changed momentum in changing racquets (especially when they might be different or just strung different), changing sunglasses (or just taking them off), changing tactics (attacking the net more, less/more pace, etc. When I suggest a tactic change to a player or doubles team, I will tell them “stick with it, even if it doesn’t work the first few times”. Too often they see the first failed attempt at a changed tactic as “well that didn’t work” so they just go back to what wasn’t working originally. Not smart psychology, not smart tennis.

There are also times where you or you and your partner are riding a wave of momentum to apparent victory and then the 5-1 lead is lost and you are kicking yourself at the start of the tie breaker thinking “how in the heck did it come to this?”

A few suggestions. First, recognize when you have momentum in your favor and do everything you can to maintain it. Last week, two boys I coach in doubles had this score after two sets: 6-3, 2-6. With Sam and Marko serving to start the 3rd set, Sam held serve and then they broke their opponents quickly to take a 2-0 lead. And this was after losing the last set 2-6. I was sensing a big momentum swing in our favor as these two games had been won rapidly and then Marko served. Several missed first serves and two double faults later they were at deuce. In our no-ad league the next point wins so we were on the verge of losing the all-important momentum that had gained after losing the 2nd set. What led to Marko’s double faults and a very complicated serving game was unrestrained enthusiasm and adrenalin from the quick 2-0 start. His heart was in the right place but not his head.

Nothing leads to a loss of momentum faster than double faults and missing a lot of first serves. Momentum is sometimes a fleeting phenomenon and you have to do everything in your power to keep it on your side. Short of rushing, it is prudent to continue play quickly with momentum which in part doesn’t give the opponent time to think or analyze what’s going on. Getting first serves in, even if they are softer, more spin is the smarter bet than risk longer serving games with possible double faults that rob the server of his spirit while at the same time bolstering hope in his opponent.

More about pace of play when momentum is on your side. A few years ago when playing singles, I raced off to a 5-0 lead against an opponent I had never played. At the changeover, I told him I had run out of water and had to use the drinking fountain about 150 feet away. At the drinking fountain I ran into someone I hadn’t seen for a long time and it would have been awkward to just say “hi”. We ended up talking for a longish 4-5 minutes. I was very apologetic to my opponent when I returned and then he ran the next 6 straight games on me to take a 6-5 lead. Talk about momentum swings.

In life, as in tennis, the KISS method of doing your work often pays off. Keep It Simple Stupid is a reminder to us to get the serve in, or get the return in, and then go from there. Especially at the high school level with boys, testosterone runs high, and they think that “might makes right”. If hitting harder was always better than we would see Mr. Olympus types crowding us out for court time.

Momentum is the best thing you can have in sports. Next time you recognize it’s “present” in your match, do what you can to keep it, or if it’s running against you, do what you can to change it in your favor, short of gamesmanship.

Momentum, once lost, is hard to find again