The following post is an excerpt from the Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible
Available through most online retailers!
In my opinion, decreasing unforced errors always starts with the identification process. On numerous occasions, I have asked parents and coaches to chart players utilizing The Cause of Error Chart. (Found in Match Chart Collection at Maximizingtennispotential.com). The results were very interesting.
While the majority of the international coaches solely focused on stroke production year in and year out, the main cause of errors was consistently shot selection and NOT form.
Upon analyzing The Cause of Error Charts with high-performance athletes, the leading cause of errors was Mental-Shot Selection, followed by Movement-Spacing, a very close third was Emotional-Performance Anxieties…and last on the list Technical-Stroke Mechanics!
Because poor shot selection is the leading cause of errors at the higher competitive junior levels, let’s focus on that aspect. Shot selection starts with understanding that in between each shot in a rally, there are only about two milliseconds of actual decision-making time. So, how much can you analyze in that small amount of time? The answer is not much.
This means that most shot selection options are learned behaviors acquired on the practice court. That is right. These tools must be wired into a player’s game way before the tournament begins. Pre-setting offense, neutral, defensive, and directional options are mental training.
“High Percentage shot selection is mental readiness.”
To explain the importance of shot selection, we will use two of my students: Jack and Jason (brothers that couldn’t be more different). Jason has chosen to focus on tennis’s mental/emotional sides early in his development, while Jack was and still is too cool to listen to this silly stuff. Below are a dozen shot selection scenarios. Let’s see how each brother chooses to handle the situation.
The Tale of Jack and Jason
Situation #1: It is add-in, and holding serve means a comfortable 5-2 lead.
Jason: Selects to serve a big kick serve wide to the opponent’s weaker side. He runs a boring, successful pattern to close out the game.
Jack: Selects to go for a huge ace down the center (Like the one that he made once in tornado liked conditions back in 2014.) He misses, gets angry, and rushes into a double fault.
Situation #2: Our player just hit an offensive shot and has the opponent on the dead run, stretching and lunging at a low slice backhand.
Jason: Spots the visual clues like the defensive court position, body language, open racket face, and defensive strike zone of the opponent. He moves in, takes away the opponent’s recovery time, and steals an easy volley winner.
Jack: Didn’t bother to learn to spot these clues, so he stands at the baseline, lets the opponent float the ball back, and he re-starts the rally. Jack just missed an important opportunity to win the point.
