Mythbusters: Not All Coaching Advice is Based on Facts, But You Should Certainly Believe In Your Coach…Part Three
I present to you Part Three of a series.
There are many tennis strategies, techniques and theories that are debatable, presented as fact by coaches but that are, in fact, opinions. While good coaches feel strong in their convictions, there are many instances where top players have taken different paths on a myriad of topics.
In the last two issues of Long Island Tennis Magazine, I discussed:
1) Whether the net player should look back in doubles
2) When a junior player should start to learn a continental serve
3) Whether it is better to play orange ball USTA tournaments or wait until the age you are allowed to play full-court tournaments
4) When to teach open stance forehands
5) The importance of confidence vs. technique on volleys
6) Is it better to slide the back foot up (pinpoint) or keep it back (platform) on the serve.
My opinions are:
1) Yes
2) Once the player can get 75 percent of their serves in with their natural grip
3) Play orange ball.
4) After understanding weight transfer in a closed stance position
5) Physically and comfort is as important as technique on the volley to a large extent.
6) Whatever the student is more comfortable with but present both.
These are not facts though, and no level of confidence by any coach makes them so. Below are three more items that I have heard coaches differ on and have seen great players do differently. While I will give my personal opinion and communicate how strongly I feel about it, I realize there are other good coaches out there who believe differently (and the same) as I do.
Which side should partners play when one is a lefty and the other is a righty?
Club players will often tell me they have been told that righties should play the deuce side, and lefties should play the ad side. This way each player can hit a forehand cross-court and not have to hit their weaker shot when it is served out wide. I strongly agree with that at competitive junior, collegiate and professional levels. At the club level however, I think this reasoning is flawed and shouldn’t be copied. The biggest reason is that club players are much more comfortable at the net poaching to their forehand. When a righty plays deuce and a lefty plays ad, both players are going to be poaching to their backhand side which in most cases renders them in effective to poach.
Secondly, depending on the level, most club players are returning serves where if they are returning from the correct position on the court should be able to hit a forehand return pretty comfortably because servers aren’t serving fast or placing their serves so great at the club level. At the higher levels, with players equipped to poach on their backhand volley and servers who can hit wide serves that can force backhand returns, in most cases it does make sense to play righty on the deuce and lefty on the ad side. Like many of these questions, the individual player’s tendencies factor into the equation. If you are an adult doing a Zone or a Bounce program with the pro feeding to start the point (no serving), it definitely makes sense to have lefty play deuce and righty the ad side.
How important is it to play “Up” a level in tournaments and practice?
Throughout the years, I have seen players reach their potential by winning or even dominating each level tournament before moving to the next level. I have also seen other players reach their potential by playing in older age groups and higher levels when there are plenty of other age and level-appropriate tournaments available. I truthfully think that in tournaments you have to learn to win and most kids who play “up” a level too often do it to feed their own egos, and take the pressure off because.
It sounds good to say you play 14-and-unders when you are 11-or-12 years old. I also rarely see kids who can’t win a Level 5 tournament go play international ITF tournaments and really get better for it. The USTA Sports Science Department has said previously that anywhere between 3:1 and 1:1 win/loss ratios work.
As far as practice goes, I remember a situation about 20 years ago where two kids of similar ages played at the same club in different scenarios. One child (let’s call her Jasmine) was always told how good she was and was put with older, stronger kids constantly. Another child (let’s call her Brittany) was overlooked because she didn’t strike the ball as cleanly and didn’t come off as athletic. Brittany was placed in groups where she was the best but the others on her court could “hang.” Over time, Brittany developed the hunger and confidence where she realized she had to go out and earn her victories and over time became a stronger player than Jasmine. I am not saying you should always be the best player on your court, but it is definitely not always necessary to play with stronger players.
Talking with program directors, it sometimes seems like court placement concerns are more about perception than actual improvement.
Which forehand grip is appropriate?
As I’m sure many of you know, what was considered an unacceptable grip years ago is considered acceptable today. As a 14-year old, my coach at the time went on a kick that I couldn’t have a semi-western grip because it was too far to the right and I wouldn’t get enough power. Nowadays, semi-western is considered by many coaches to be the ideal grip. While it is of course sometimes nearly impossible to see a little kid and know where they are going to be in their late teens, but the more one could project the future, the easier it is to get the proper grip. Characteristics such as future dedication to the sport, future size, speed, athleticism and even personality of the player can play into the decision. So can game-style.
Generally, players who are going to be fast, in good shape, patient and play on slower surfaces can afford to have a more western grip or hold the racquet more to the right. This is because they will generally hit higher over the net and hope to “out grind” most players. Players who are going to be playing a bigger game and wanting to play shorter points are going to hit with their hand a bit more to the left in semi-western or even eastern. The sooner one starts with their permanent grip, the better. As anyone who can attest, switching grips once you have one established could be a major pain and, in my experience, not a great idea even if the reasoning is sound. It is such a major adjustment and it may not even be good enough to make a difference, all the while other parts of your game would get neglected while working on it.
Again, these are my opinions, and you should ask your coach what his or her opinion is on these topics!
