PROBLEM SOLVING once had the chance to watch Martina Hingis, who was the topranked player in the world at the time, practice up close while coaching several players at the 1997 U.S. Open. Superficially, Hingis was solid, but not great. She was fast, but not the fastest. She struck the ball well, but half the women in that year's draw hit as well or better. Her serve was good, but not great. She was strong in so many ways, but not incredible, with one notable exception. Hingis was a terrific problem solver. If you closed to the net just a moment too soon, you would be lobbed. If you didn't close the net enough and gave her just
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By Steve Kaplan
the slightest passing angle, you were toast. She could make split-second decisions and execute with adaptive skill accuracy, consistency and remarkable disguise. The end result of these qualities was that her opponents had very little time to adapt to her shot choices. The million dollar question here is not, "how did she do that?" but "how can you do that?”, and the answer is simple: Practice With Purpose Problem solving is a highly specialized skill and, like any skill, requires highly targeted practice that emphasizes performance in context. For example, if you want to serve better, just practice your serve, but if you want to serve
better in a match, practice your serve after doing a sprint to raise your heart rate and always include a recovery movement after the serve. Most players will attribute serving great in practice and poorly in matches to nervousness, and while they might be right, their reaction is not surprising. Who wouldn't be nervous if they wanted to succeed but spent very little time preparing the exact skills that make you successful? Here are five of the many problem solving skills that players can learn for better performance with examples of each. 1. Risk-Reward Tactics Let's say that you are run very wide in the back court by your opponent. You could go for a shot that you will make nine out of 10 times, but it will not be very strong. As a result of your opponent’s superior position, you win one third of those points, or three out of 10 total . If you go for a riskier shot and you make just half of those, you win four out of five because your shot will be stronger. Your winning percentage now will be greater than it was, or four out of 10. In this case the risk-reward of a less frequently made shot is more favorable than a more frequently made shot. 2. Skills adoption Let's suppose that you don't love to
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Long Island Tennis Magazine • July/August 2021 • LITennisMag.com
