Turnaround in 3rd-set (10-point) tiebreaks?

[RobFox68]

I've noticed that in 10-point match tiebreaks, there is very often a huge swing in momentum. For example, if Team A goes up, say, 5 -1, very often Team B will be up something like 7 - 6 before the match is done.

In an extreme example, teammates of mine, usually very good competitors, were up 9-1 in doubles and ended up losing. It seems to happen more often than chance would predict.

My questions:

1. Have you noticed this being a real pattern?

2. What can I do to avoid this trap when my team is up?

3. What can I do to increase this effect when my team is down?

 

[Hatari!]

Generally, the advice is to continue to do the same thing you were doing if you are up. But if the other team gets down they will commonly change tactics, like two on the baseline, or lobbing constantly. This change can be unnerving to your players if this happens.

Often what happens is that the team that is up cannot put away points. For example, the net man on the team who is leading will hit a volley straight at the opposing net man, who will then just barely get it back. What tends to happen if the net man doubts himself just a little bit will fudge it.

A miss like that is all it takes to turn the momentum around.

Basically, you need to tell your players that a miss is a miss, and they all count for the same amount of points. It's easy to blow a miss out of proportion.

 

[OrangePower]

I've noticed that in 10-point match tiebreaks, there is very often a huge swing in momentum. For example, if Team A goes up, say, 5 -1, very often Team B will be up something like 7 - 6 before the match is done.

In an extreme example, teammates of mine, usually very good competitors, were up 9-1 in doubles and ended up losing. It seems to happen more often than chance would predict.

My questions:

1. Have you noticed this being a real pattern?

2. What can I do to avoid this trap when my team is up?

3. What can I do to increase this effect when my team is down?

1. I think the likelyhood of momentum swings depends a lot on level - what NTRP level are we talking here?

At higher levels, serving is a such a big advantage that most points are won by the serving team. So after a 5-1 lead, I think it's actually pretty rare to get a huge swing in momentum like you're describing.

But at lower levels, points can be equally won regardless of who is serving. In some cases serving can even be a disadvantage (people tighten up and throw in double-faults and/or easy sitter serves). So momentum swings are much more likely.

2. Play the point, not the score. Don't change your game once you take a lead. Easier said than done since sometimes the temptation is to play more conservatively to preserve the lead. Try not to tighten up - for me, it helps to take a few deep breaths, and then refocus on the point I'm about to play while trying to shut out the score.

3. Same as 2

 

[CrocodileRock]

It happened to us in the semis of sectionals, with a berth in the finals, and a possible trip to nationals on the line. We split the first four matches, so it came down to the last match, which split sets, and we got up 4-zip in the TB. Then they started playing better, and we gave them some charity, and they ended up winning 10-8.

 

[MNPlayer]

I just played a doubles match the other day where this happened. We got up 8-0 and got just a little too confident or something, because they came back all the way to tie it 9-9. We ended up winning 11-9, but our teammates who were watching were sweating bullets! Our match was the last to finish and the deciding factor for the overall 7.5 combo match. And this was a match in which serving did seem to provide an advantage (there were few breaks in the first two sets), although not an overwhelming one.

I think partly this can happen just because of the small sample size. If you treat the outcome of each point as essentially random, it is much easier to string together a bunch of points than entire games. The psychological factors probably make it even worse.

 

[fruitytennis1]

Well in doubles if i get up ill stop playing tactics and play half court singles. Another friend of mine who is the only other person i care to play doubles with likes the same thing. What can we say were singles player!!!