Junior Development

[Mahboob Khan]

Of course you ought to be talented to make to professional cadre. However, there are some basic things worth mentioning:

Sound technical base: Quite often than not when Junior players start winning some junior tournaments they stop learning new things. This lack of learning turns out to be a tumbling block in graduating to the professional levels. Remember, Pete Sampras switched to single-handed backhand at age 16, Roger Federer removed some technical kinks from his backhand after winning so many grand slams, and Rafael Nadal switched to full continental grip for serve few years back ahead of U.S. Open. Early success should never block your future progressions. There is a stroke for each hitting situation and there is a technique for each age group i.e. you start with very basics and keep on making your strokes advance to match the competition at professional levels.

Sound Tactical Base: With increased match-play situations your tactics will evolve. Let your coach and your own playing experience on various types of surfaces teach you advance tactical planning. My advice would be to play with the Pros when you watch a professional match on TV.

Sound Physical Base: Once you have sound technical and tactical base all you need to focus on your fitness as modern tennis is all about run and return. Excellent movement and controlled power will win you matches.

Sound Mental Base: This will come automatically if you have done the first three right.

 

[FiReFTW]

I agree with everything.

However you forgot to mention practice and focused training.
Drilling, targeting, match situations etc

 

[Topspin Shot]

Welcome back!

 

[rogerroger917]

Too much sense for this forum. We only want pomo and sureshs. Sorry.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

I agree with everything.

However you forgot to mention practice and focused training.
Drilling, targeting, match situations etc

Yes. You are right. There's a drill for every situation. Generally players and coaches must address the following 5-game situations in their practices:

Serve situations
Return of serve situations
Baseline rally situations
Attack situations
Defence situations.

When you play a match all the above game situations are present.

 

[FiReFTW]

Yes. You are right. There's a drill for every situation. Generally players and coaches must address the following 5-game situations in their practices:

Serve situations
Return of serve situations
Baseline rally situations
Attack situations
Defence situations.

When you play a match all the above game situations are present.

Very good!

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I disagree that mental toughness is an automatic by-product of the other elements. I think it can be independent, both in a good and bad way [ie players who are mentally tough but aren't that good and players who are good but aren't that mentally tough].

 

[user92626]

What do you mean by "
My advice would be to play with the Pros when you watch a professional match on TV.
" ?

Also, I don't agree that mental strength comes automatically. Kyrgios seems very talented and has all the technical bases covered but no one would say his mental aspect is anywhere an asset.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

What do you mean by "My advice would be to play with the Pros when you watch a professional match on TV." ?

I think he meant to pick a player [ie the one in the near court] and try to decide what shot you'd hit and where along with the player. You could also split step and actually move as the ball goes back and forth.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

I

I disagree that mental toughness is an automatic by-product of the other elements. I think it can be independent, both in a good and bad way [ie players who are mentally tough but aren't that good and players who are good but aren't that mentally tough].

I know what you are saying. But weaker strokes, poor tactics, and bad physical conditioning, will not translate into mental toughness. Soundness in all of these and the player's burning desire to excel will result in mental toughness.

I do realise and emphasise that there may be other mental toughness techniques that may be employed because we do see players with good techniques lose it on the court.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

What do you mean by "
My advice would be to play with the Pros when you watch a professional match on TV.
" ?

Also, I don't agree that mental strength comes automatically. Kyrgios seems very talented and has all the technical bases covered but no one would say his mental aspect is anywhere an asset.

I meant to say when you watch professional players on TV try to play with them in your mind to see if your mental placement of shots match with their shot placement? This is the best way to learn tactics.

 

[Mahboob Khan]

Welcome back!

Thank you.

 

[Limpinhitter]

I meant to say when you watch professional players on TV try to play with them in your mind to see if your mental placement of shots match with their shot placement? This is the best way to learn tactics.

I don’t necessarily agree with that. Tennis is a tactically simple game, yet, even the top pros make tactical errors all of the time. Tennis is a percentage game, and there is a high percentage shot selection, sometimes more than one, for every situation.

My advice would be to learn high percentage shot selection and practice executing it with discipline.

 

[FiReFTW]

I don’t necessarily agree with that. Tennis is a tactically simple game, yet, even the top pros make tactical errors all of the time. Tennis is a percentage game, there is a high percentage shot selection for every situation.

My advice would be to learn high percentage shot selection and practice executing it with discipline.

Isn't the highest percentage shot always cross court? Never quite understood this exactly, because people claim the highest percentage is CC and you should always play highest percantage shots, but that would mean you basically hit CC non stop until someone makes an UE, or am I missing something?

 

[Limpinhitter]

Isn't the highest percentage shot always cross court? Never quite understood this exactly, because people claim the highest percentage is CC and you should always play highest percantage shots, but that would mean you basically hit CC non stop until someone makes an UE, or am I missing something?

CC is the primary target from the back court, but there are a few exceptions.

 

[sureshs]

I meant to say when you watch professional players on TV try to play with them in your mind to see if your mental placement of shots match with their shot placement? This is the best way to learn tactics.

I have learned so much by watching the pros. I get both Tennis Channel and Beins Sports, so ATP and WTA are both covered. I find that not only my strokes and movement reflect that of the pros, but even mannerisms like ball bouncing style, reaction after points, etc. In particular, I seem to be mimicking Federer the most. Yesterday I moved towards a wide forehand ball and "covered" it exactly like Federer with a short take back and racket face angled into the court, feet stretched wide, sending it DTL with side spin.

But sometimes I have to be careful. I have tried bouncing the ball before the serve in the manner of John Isner or Lauren Davis - Isner was a basketball player and dribbles the tennis ball back to front between his feet before serving. Davis has copied that motion. When I tried it, it ended up with a painful bounce up into the private parts. I think I don't have the coordination to attempt such tactics, but others are achievable.

 

[stringertom]

I have learned so much by watching the pros. I get both Tennis Channel and Beins Sports, so ATP and WTA are both covered. I find that not only my strokes and movement reflect that of the pros, but even mannerisms like ball bouncing style, reaction after points, etc. In particular, I seem to be mimicking Federer the most. Yesterday I moved towards a wide forehand ball and "covered" it exactly like Federer with a short take back and racket face angled into the court, feet stretched wide, sending it DTL with side spin.

But sometimes I have to be careful. I have tried bouncing the ball before the serve in the manner of John Isner or Lauren Davis - Isner was a basketball player and dribbles the tennis ball back to front between his feet before serving. Davis has copied that motion. When I tried it, it ended up with a painful bounce up into the private parts. I think I don't have the coordination to attempt such tactics, but others are achievable.

Wear a cup inside those compression shorts to preserve those precious jewels!

 

[user92626]

I don’t necessarily agree with that. Tennis is a tactically simple game, yet, even the top pros make tactical errors all of the time. Tennis is a percentage game, and there is a high percentage shot selection, sometimes more than one, for every situation.

My advice would be to learn high percentage shot selection and practice executing it with discipline.

Your advice probably works for low level recreational tennis players though you seem to be speaking for tennis in general.

There's standard tactics that work to a certain point, then the rest depends on one's capability. In other words if you're so good you can really deviate from the standard. And I suspect the better you are, the further you can deviate.

For instance, hitting softly to the middle of the court is probably the highest percentage for you, ie 100% certainty for you to make, but that'd be a stupid shot since a capable opponent can just kill it to the corners.

Federer is where he is because he appears to make all the improbable shots, ie very low percentage, impossible shots for opponents to guard against. It's really unbelievable non standard stuff for everyone but for Federer, it's routine for his capability.

 

[user92626]

I have learned so much by watching the pros. I get both Tennis Channel and Beins Sports, so ATP and WTA are both covered. I find that not only my strokes and movement reflect that of the pros, but even mannerisms like ball bouncing style, reaction after points, etc. In particular, I seem to be mimicking Federer the most. Yesterday I moved towards a wide forehand ball and "covered" it exactly like Federer with a short take back and racket face angled into the court, feet stretched wide, sending it DTL with side spin.

Do you think it's time you release new videos that show these pro mimicking skills of yours? They need to replace the numerous sureshs style clips that litter all over the board.

 

[Limpinhitter]

Your advice probably works for low level recreational tennis players though you seem to be speaking for tennis in general.

There's standard tactics that work to a certain point, then the rest depends on one's capability. In other words if you're so good you can really deviate from the standard. And I suspect the better you are, the further you can deviate.

For instance, hitting softly to the middle of the court is probably the highest percentage for you, ie 100% certainty for you to make, but that'd be a stupid shot since a capable opponent can just kill it to the corners.

Federer is where he is because he appears to make all the improbable shots, ie very low percentage, impossible shots for opponents to guard against. It's really unbelievable non standard stuff for everyone but for Federer, it's routine for his capability.

No! You don’t know what high percentage tennis is. Hitting softly down the middle is not high percentage tennis. Maybe that is the limit of your skills. Don’t impute your lack of knowledge and skill to me. Federer makes tactical errors regularly because he is stubborn and undisciplined as he has said himself (although Edberg and Ljubicic have helped him with that), and usually gets beat for it, especially when he tries to attack the net.

Among the top players, Nadal plays high percentage tennis with the most discipline.

 

[Sentinel]

When I tried it, it ended up with a painful bounce up into the private parts.

Did you finally understand "quantum entanglement" ?

 

[Mahboob Khan]

Isn't the highest percentage shot always cross court? Never quite understood this exactly, because people claim the highest percentage is CC and you should always play highest percantage shots, but that would mean you basically hit CC non stop until someone makes an UE, or am I missing something?

Yes, cross court shot is a percentage shot because you get the longest area of the court and lowest part of the net but it does not mean you hit cross courts all the time. With cross court shots you open up the court for your down the line shots. I agree that down the line shots may be of lesser percentage but one must practice this shot also. DTL is less percentage because it has to travel along the line and over the highest part of the net but it is an important shot and must be practiced. For example, you have hit two great backhand CCs, one deep, and one short CC, now your opponent has been stretched wide, this is the time to go down the line either with your BH or FH whatever is handy.

 

[FiReFTW]

Yes, cross court shot is a percentage shot because you get the longest area of the court and lowest part of the net but it does not mean you hit cross courts all the time. With cross court shots you open up the court for your down the line shots. I agree that down the line shots may be of lesser percentage but one must practice this shot also. DTL is less percentage because it has to travel along the line and over the highest part of the net but it is an important shot and must be practiced. For example, you have hit two great backhand CCs, one deep, and one short CC, now your opponent has been stretched wide, this is the time to go down the line either with your BH or FH whatever is handy.

I agree 100%

Unless the opponent hits a really good deep heavy topspin ball, then its a bit hard to go DDL, very risky.

 

[rogerroger917]

What about if a bird flies across the court? What's the highest percentage shot then?

 

[donquijote]

I have learned so much by watching the pros. I get both Tennis Channel and Beins Sports, so ATP and WTA are both covered. I find that not only my strokes and movement reflect that of the pros, but even mannerisms like ball bouncing style, reaction after points, etc. In particular, I seem to be mimicking Federer the most. Yesterday I moved towards a wide forehand ball and "covered" it exactly like Federer with a short take back and racket face angled into the court, feet stretched wide, sending it DTL with side spin.

But sometimes I have to be careful. I have tried bouncing the ball before the serve in the manner of John Isner or Lauren Davis - Isner was a basketball player and dribbles the tennis ball back to front between his feet before serving. Davis has copied that motion. When I tried it, it ended up with a painful bounce up into the private parts. I think I don't have the coordination to attempt such tactics, but others are achievable.

Hard to believe there are things even you can't do.
When I watch your video I feel like I'm watching a documentary about human's evolution and where we came from.

 

[Limpinhitter]

Yes, cross court shot is a percentage shot because you get the longest area of the court and lowest part of the net but it does not mean you hit cross courts all the time. With cross court shots you open up the court for your down the line shots. I agree that down the line shots may be of lesser percentage but one must practice this shot also. DTL is less percentage because it has to travel along the line and over the highest part of the net but it is an important shot and must be practiced. For example, you have hit two great backhand CCs, one deep, and one short CC, now your opponent has been stretched wide, this is the time to go down the line either with your BH or FH whatever is handy.

In addition, hitting cross court helps you to maintain court position. Trying to redirect a well struck CC shot from your opponent DTL, from behind the baseline, is a low percentage shot for the reasons you state and, in addition, because it leaves you out of position, and such balls tend to ricochet off of the racquet and go wide.

There are high percentage times to go DTL. For examples: going for a winner DTL on a short sitter with good net clearance in which you are well inside the baseline, an approach shot, a passing shot when you are well in front of the baseline.

The ability of a player to successfully deviate from this basic high percentage approach depends on his skill. But, from my experience, even the top players seem to lose more points than they win when they deviate.

 

[Limpinhitter]

What about if a bird flies across the court? What's the highest percentage shot then?

12 gauge birdshot.

 

[sureshs]

What about the advice of hitting all balls at the same height being discussed in another thread now? May not be directly relevant to this thread though ...

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