The following post is an excerpt from the NEW Second Edition of The Tennis Parent’s Bible- Coming Soon! Thanks for visiting, Frank Giampaolo
Opponent Profiling
At the advanced levels, every player has efficient strokes. In tournament competition what often separates the champion from the field is their mental and emotional skill sets. This includes paying attention to why points are won and lost. They manage the score, their strategies and their performance anxieties as well as their focus control. Winners enjoy adapting to the ever changing challenges of closing out sets and matches. Winners maintain their poise under stress because they are one step ahead of the opponent by opponent profiling. I encourage both the parents and the coaches to begin to develop each athlete’s mental and emotional “muscles” at an early stage.
“In any sport, experts don’t simply see where the action is… they can see where the action is going to be in the very near future.”
Opponent profiling is essentially paying attention to the opponent’s patterns and tactics and applying the appropriate counter tactics.
Benefits of Opponent Profiling:
- Controlling the tipping points and energy of the match.
- Shutting down the opponents preferred play. Forcing them to shift to their less comfortable patterns at crunch time.
- Gaining the critical mental/ emotional edge in tiebreakers.
- Inflating their own confidence while systematically deflating the opponents.
- Intimidating the opponent by out-thinking them-staying on top of their preferred patterns.
Just as I urged players earlier in this mental chapter to design and rehearse their “Top 7” patterns (2 ball shot sequence), I also have high hopes that your athletes will progress one step further and apply the art of spotting the opponents favorite shot sequences.
Identifying the Opponent’s “Top 7” Categories:
- Top serving pattern to the deuce side.
- Top serving pattern on the ad side.
- Favorite return pattern and position versus a big first serve.
- Favorite pattern and position versus a weaker second serve.
- Favorite rally pattern.
- Favorite short ball option.
- Favorite approach shot pattern.
“Forcing talented opponents out of their comfort zone requires your athlete to identify and systematically shut down the opponent’s favorite strategies and tactics.”
Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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