What Real Improvement Is
Regardless of a player’s objective with his/her tennis, most players want to progress and develop their skills. One common trap that many junior and adult players, as well as parents, fall into is to focus harder on getting an upgraded rating rather than developing skills. The list below will include some of the most common rationales that are seen in our sport, and a superior alternative to those logics.
“In order to get better, I need to play with better players.” While there is value in playing with more advanced players, as they can challenge you differently and expose flaws more consistently, there are many issues with this rationale, including:
For a player to play “up” it means that someone else needs to play “down”, and since most want to play up this is an equation that does not add up. Instead, players should play up, at their level, and below, as all three stages allow the players to work on different aspects of their game and mindset.
Playing up takes away the pressure, thus making it “easier” to play freely as there is less ego involvement. If a player who is playing up wins, it’s great! Similarly, if s/he loses it’s not a big deal as the opponent is better. On the other hand, when playing at your level, and especially down, players feel the losses very differently. Instead of avoiding that pain, learn how to conquer it.
Playing a mix of levels allow for a player to build his/her confidence, through some wins, while getting challenged by better players at times.
“Playing with low compression balls will slow down the development.” This is a common incorrect thought that many players fall into, that could not be further from the true. Learning how to play in a progressive manner, from smaller courts and slower balls, to larger courts with faster balls, allows players to learn tactics and better technical foundation at a faster pace than playing exclusively with yellow balls into a full court. While the player will eventually “graduate” to a full-size court with a yellow ball, it’s important that s/he already has the understanding of fundamentals and is able to play purposefully, meaning with intent behind his/her shots, at simpler stages before experiencing the most difficult scenario. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to actually be able to rally (even if with slower balls) on day one than to struggle for longer with a fast-moving tennis ball (yellow).
“I did a group X two or three times, therefore I should move up.” Not necessarily. One aspect that people often oversee is that while most do improve overtime, so do others in the levels above. Therefore, in order to move up the player needs to ensure that s/he closed the gap between where s/he is and the next level. Depending on the frequency of play, overall technical and physical skills, and other factors, it can take several sessions before a player can move up. So, be patient and trust the process.
Overall, while tennis can be a challenging sport to truly master, it offers many rewards for those who strive to improve. Not only from a mastery perspective, but also from developing an improved ability to “get good” at something, which can be highly transferable to other fields. Regardless of one’s goals, there is always room for improvement and everyone can improve if they put some work into it. Having patience and focusing on the 1-3 aspects that you need to focus on for the short-term is a healthier and better way to progress, than to constantly focus on outcome-related goals. Real improvement is about skill acquisition, which can be technical, tactical, physical, and mental, not about just rating improvement. While ratings are important for a class-creation perspective, focus on the skills and the rest will come.
