Trying to Hide Your Weakness

It use to be that this man, Fernando Gonzalez, would hardly hit a backhand. If so, it was generally a defensive stroke. You will still see him today sometimes get into that old bad habit of running around his backhand to hit a powerful forehand, but as many of us know, if it doesn't end the point, most of the court is now open for your opponent to reply.

Gonzalez today is an improved player. He has practiced and practiced, and... his topspin backhand and will hit it in pressure situations often with good results.

On the recreational level however, many are not confident with their backhand, or other weakness, and not hit it very often. A few years ago while coaching the boys high school team, there was a player in matches who would only slice his backhand, and often, not very well. In practice however, at my urging, he would hit over it with topspin, often hitting a powerful shot. But in a match he was too afraid to try this. When I would see him hit his ineffective slice, short, he would often lose the point, so I would insist he hit topspin. Then he would try and few and upon missing a shot, he would go back to his old safe pattern. To quote Proverbs, a dog always returns to it's vomit.

Why bring this up, again? As I have said before - http://paul-ihearttennis.blogspot.com/2009/08/superman-had-kryptonite.htmlte.html - and will say again, you have to practice what you are not good at. Your opponent is a problem solver and will quickly discover what you don't do very well. Can you imagine having a weakness driving a car? Uh, yeah I don't brake well and my right turns I always hit the curb and sometimes pedestrians feet if they stand too close. Sounds dumb? It is. And that's not the way to play tennis either, with a glaring weakness or two. Shaq needs to practice freethrows, and you and I need to practice our serve, volleys, overheads, backhands, or anything else that makes us less than we could be on the court.

Superman Had Kryptonite

I have...

I am playing some new guy the other day and about 3 games into it he yells in exasperation either during or right after a point, "what's your weakness?"

I didn't yell back "my second serve" but instead yelled back something slightly off-color, trying to be funny.

Five years earlier I would have had to respond to him, "well, where do you want me to start?"

I have told players before, and probably already written this in somewhere earlier in this blog but, you are only as good as your weakest stroke. Under pressure, that weak shot becomes your achilles heel and is sure to break down even further.

We all like to hit our favorite shots but to improve, schedule some time with a ball machine, or a tennis lesson, because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse-- because your opponent is improving, so in relation to her/him, standing still is taking a step back.

What is your weakness? fitness, overheads, backhands, pace, no pace, second serve ad court, volleys, half-volleys, keeping score, returns... Think about it and then set a goal to improve and a plan to get there. Aloha.

Viva Roger!!

You gotta be happy for the guy... he's got the monkey off his back. Is his victory diminished because he did't beat Nadal in the final? Nah, not unless you such a Nadal fan that you are considering naming your firstborn Rafa.

Federer overcame many serious contenders and deficits. He was behind in sets won against 3 different opponents, and went 5 sets twice.

As good as he was he has to rethink the backhand slice service return. Many, many of these balls are just making it 2-3 feet beyond his opponents service box and that is a short ball. It's hard to break serve when you are continually getting winners hit off of your returns or making forced errors over your opponents 2nd shots.

Yet, the men's game generally comes down to a few break chances that decides the match. In the case of the Fed's semi-final against Del Potro, in the first 4 sets the person that won the set was the one that was the first to break the opponents serve. In the 5th set, the pattern only differed slightly - they went break-break-break, with Roger getting broken on his serve in the middle of those three games.

You are only as good as your weakest shot-- whether it be your 2nd serve, your backhand return, your overhead, volley, etc. And under pressure, the weakest shot breaks down even further.

A few years ago I rallied with a boy who was going to be on the tennis team the next year. In the 10 minutes of rallying, he ran around his backhand and hit maybe 8-10 inside-out forehands cross court. He loved it so much he probably would have married it. Sure, practice your favorite strokes, but it's MORE important to practice your weakest ones. That's where improvement occurs, for you, me, Roger and anybody else that plays this great game.

Socrates once said, the unexamined life is not worth living. I say the unexamined tennis game is not worth playing. We can all improve leading to more enjoyment but the first step is identifying an area (or two) to start that improvement.