The Art of Improving Your Tennis Game

It is rare to meet a tennis player who is not interested in getting better or improving a certain aspect of their game. Most players want to move up a level, beat a player ranked above them, or figure out the one stroke giving them fits for years. And most players, if not all, want to win. But how is a player to accomplish and balance those two things — improving and winning?

For the sake of this discussion, a distinction between competition, practice matches/ games, and actual practice needs to be made. Competition is anything where the results will be recorded, such as tournaments, league play, and ladder matches. Practice matches/ games are matches played against friends, Open Play, or any games played on the court where the score is being kept. Practice isn’t practice unless there is an intent to improve. Repetitions are the obvious one here. Having a coach or ball machine feed the same ball or sequence of balls with attention to specific parts of the stroke or strategy — that is practice.

In competition and most practice matches, the ultimate goal is to win; it is not to get better. Many players find this hard to comprehend. The thought is that by playing matches and trying to win, they are trying to get better. However, if you are trying to get better, you are not worried about the outcome. Rather, you are worried about the process. Winning and losing doesn’t matter in practice. Accomplishing the task does.

Take, for example, the player who puts a lot of effort into developing a one-hand, topspin backhand. They take lessons, watch everything they can find online, work on the ball machine, and spend countless hours practicing running backhands, approach backhands, and backhand returns, all with aggressive topspin swings, only to get in a match and slice and lob every backhand they get. In that match, the process of developing a better topspin backhand went out the window. The only focus became doing what was needed to win.

In athletics, hoping for something is not a great plan. In order to truly get better, players need to practice the repetitions to gain confidence and familiarity with the adjustment. Players also need to spend time in practice matches and practice games where the focus is using the new technique or strategy in point situations, and the care of winning is no longer there. Here’s a great example: There’s a doubles player who always stays at the baseline. They stay back because they are good there and lack confidence at the net. For this player to get better, they will need to force themselves to get into the net more while playing. Now, no coach will suggest making this change for the next league match, but practice matches against friends are a great time to work this in after some time developing the skills. When players begin to practice a new skill, they will notice they are making more errors or losing more points and matches. This should be expected; however, if they stick with the process of developing this new strategy, this player will end up with more skills than they started with and, thus, become a more complete player. They may never be more comfortable at the net than at the baseline, but they now have a second option or style to play if things aren’t going well. And, in the process, they probably developed a better approach shot, volley, and overhead.

Tennis players are wise to have matches they view as practice with the goal of working on a specific skill, without wavering, the entire match. There is no care of the outcome other than that they accomplished the goal they set out to accomplish. Players also need to have practice matches they treat like actual matches with the goal to win, where they can incorporate the new skills, but if push comes to shove, winning is the goal and adjustments may have to be made. This is practicing the art of adaptability, which is also needed.

Any article on getting better would be remiss to omit fitness training. Maybe it’s not as much fun as playing tennis, but what if a little off-court training made the fun of tennis more fun for the time on court?!

Now is the time I share a personal story to bring home the point here. I recently felt I was not getting any power in the corners trying to get pace on the ball or recover quickly after being pushed there. The solution was two-fold and, honestly, neither of them are the fun part. First, I started lifting weights. I hate lifting weights! I also started training on the court with actual drills from back in my college days. During the first session, I lasted under an hour before my legs gave out. None of this sounds enjoyable to most, I know. The enjoyable part, for me, was playing a practice match with friends a couple weeks in and playing some of the best tennis I’ve played in a long time. Trust me, all the un-fun parts are worth it when the pieces come together for a great performance.

Players who play multiple times a week should challenge themselves to replace one session of playing to win for one session in the gym or one match with a process-oriented focus rather than an outcome-oriented one. The ability to get better is in the hands of every player. Whether the player can look past the short-term outcome for the long-term goal and face the trials and tribulations that come with it is the question.

— Paul Reber, Tennis Head Coach