mikegaotennis
New User
from most important to least important, in what order would you rank:
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
from most important to least important, in what order would you rank:
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
1. Talent
i. natural athletic ability
a. all ground strokes
b. stamina
c. speed
ii. an intuition for the sport (when to pull the trigger, when to go safe...the "x" factor)
2. Mental ability
in my opinion and experience, if you have the natural talent, you don't have to worry as much about having a tough mind. mental ability is critical, but to me, not as important as natural talent. i would say it's a close second.
"footwork" is a bunch of BS. patterns, "strategies", "tactics"...that's the corporate boardroom equivalent of "synergy" and "revenue maximization" and "loss minimization"... etc. etc. footwork comes naturally through practice and match play. you naturally learn to get to the ball at the right time. your feet adjust themselves after hundreds of hours of practice. this si why practicing patterns is a waste of time and money.
talent comes first. it's not like golf, in which mechanics take precedence over talent. tennis, like basketball, football, soccer, requires a tonne of natural talent complemented by strong work ethic and mental toughness.
from most important to least important, in what order would you rank:
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
Hey BU, I've coached better players than you will ever be and played NCAA tennis for 4 years...why am I an idiot for placing the importance of various shots in order???
Isn't it potentially possible that someone could have a crappy bh and get away with a really good fh??? why would anyone who thought this way be "stupid". Your emotional rant called all of us "stupid" when in fact this is an analytical thread and a highly technical and intelligent one.....
btw, you can have a weak serve and mediocre volleys still compete. This is what the op was getting at.
Mike, tempest, ubermeyer and nfor left highly intelligent answers, please re think your emotional rant, you are incorrect my friend.
The fact that you coached better players than me does not really count for much, as I am self-admittedly not the best tennis player out there by any means, but at least I understand the topic which was to rank something in importance. The backhand is no more important than the forehand and vice versa. Like I said, you can have a crappy backhand and awesome forehand and do well, but how crappy is that backhand and what level of play are we talking about? I also play on a tennis team, Div II but still a team none the less, and if you don't at least have a backhand that can send back a ball with some pace you're not going to win for sheer fact that those players who do have a decent backhand can establish rallies on that side, forcing you to run around and hit a low percentage forehand shot down the line, leaving an open crosscourt shot for you if they don't hit a winner.
You all have listed many different things that are important, I am not discounting that. But to still say that one is more important than the other without regards to thinking about actual peoples, levels of play, conditions, and environments does nothing more than to demean the sport of tennis and trivialize its components allowing those fellow members who have not had much experience with the sport confused about how to actually approach this wonderful game.
from most important to least important, in what order would you rank:
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
I agree with you, but footwork is still the most important aspect. You cannot do anything on the court without footwork.
Well, to be fair, you can still serve.
groundstrokes
I know most people put mental game first, but I can't do it. You can have great footwork and groundstrokes and be mentally weak and you will still be a very solid player. On the contrary, if you are mentally strong but have pathetic groundstrokes, then you physically will not be able to play well enough to actually win matches at a decent level.
My philosophy is that you can't even dream of being a good tennis player until you have the fundamentals down such as the ability to hit repeatable, advanced strokes. Once you have the strokes developed, you can improve other parts of your game such as improving fitness, mental strength, strategy, etc.
1) Everything
2) There is no 2...
Honestly, to those who even attempted to rank these, your're idiots!! I know its harsh but that's the truth. It is impossible to say whether your backhand is more important than your forehand, or the serve is more important than the return. So you hit a good serve, but it comes back, and then you dump an easy sitter in the net. the fact that you may get a couple free points a game will not make up for the fact that you can't rally or volley for crap.
All of them are equally important. But it is true that many players are considered to have "weapons" when they have a big forehand and serve. However, footwork goes along with these hand in hand, (or foot in foot). However, look at Hingis. Didn't have any weapons but could move herself very well and move the ball around even better that she was able to compensate. However, when the Williams sisters burst onto the scene along with the pure power game, she couldn't handle it.
from most important to least important, in what order would you rank:
serve
groundstrokes
volleys
footwork
mental game
stamina
speed
1) Everything
2) There is no 2...
Honestly, to those who even attempted to rank these, your're idiots!! I know its harsh but that's the truth. It is impossible to say whether your backhand is more important than your forehand, or the serve is more important than the return. So you hit a good serve, but it comes back, and then you dump an easy sitter in the net. the fact that you may get a couple free points a game will not make up for the fact that you can't rally or volley for crap.
All of them are equally important. But it is true that many players are considered to have "weapons" when they have a big forehand and serve. However, footwork goes along with these hand in hand, (or foot in foot). However, look at Hingis. Didn't have any weapons but could move herself very well and move the ball around even better that she was able to compensate. However, when the Williams sisters burst onto the scene along with the pure power game, she couldn't handle it.