MATCH POINT: COURTING PERFECTION

 By Clint Willis

 Avoiding unforced errors on the tennis court.

Most of us can tolerate losing a match if we know that we’ve played our best tennis. But losing is much more difficult when we’ve played badly, blowing easy shots, making double faults, committing the kind of strategic errors we learned to avoid years ago.

Yet it happens all the time. Think back to your worst moment on the tennis court. Your opponent probably was someone you thought you should beat, and yet he or she walked away with the match. “Your opponent can beat you if you make more unforced errors — even if you are the better player,” says Bob Starr, a USPTA tester who is head tennis pro at River North Country Club in Macon, Georgia.

What can you do to avoid the mistakes that turn tennis from a joyous, empowering sport into a torment? “Before you can fix your mistakes, you have to first be aware that you’re making them,” says Rob Grow, director of tennis at Orange Park Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida.

Typically, mistakes come in three areas. Mistakes of technique involve the nitty-gritty of tennis: strokes, body position, or movement. Mistakes of strategy are concerned with larger issues on the court, such as how to attack your opponents’ weaknesses or make the most of your strengths. Finally, mistakes of attitude concern the approach you take toward tennis.

Bear in mind that even the very best players on the pro tour make mistakes. Once you learn to accept that your game will include some errors, you can take a more relaxed approach, taking risks and living with the consequences.  The results will bring you at least three benefits: You’ll reduce your chance of injury; you’ll win more points; and you’ll get to know the feeling that comes when you truly are playing your best tennis. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of the most common mistakes tennis players make, along with some advice on how to identify and correct them.

TECHNIQUE TRIP-UPS
• Poor net play. Some players who are rock-solid on their ground strokes turn to mush at the net. One reason: a big backswing. “They’re looking to achieve power, but they should be thinking about placement,” says Scott Berler, director of tennis at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. “They lose time and they give up control.”

• Inadequate service. The serve begins with the toss; a weak toss leads to a weak serve. Players sometimes will swat at a bad toss out of impatience or misplaced courtesy (they don’t want to hold up the game). It’s far better to take that few extra seconds to catch the ball and try another toss.

• Failure to follow through. “I think every beginner makes this mistake,” Grow says. “They worry about hitting the ball out-of-bounds if they swing through.” Trouble is, shortening your swing costs you both accuracy and power, and actually increases your chances of hitting the ball out-of-bounds or into the net.

STRATEGIC STUMBLES
• Taking your time. “Many mistakes stem from lack of preparation for a shot,” Starr says. He and other pros note that it’s important to determine as quickly as possible where your opponent’s shot is going, so you can get to the right place and prepare to return it. If you lose focus or slow down for a second or two, you’ll be late getting to the ball. “Players tend to stand still, waiting for the ball to bounce,” says Ralph Acosta, head tennis pro at StoneRidge Country Club in Poway, California. “As a result, they can’t get enough power or control in their shots.”

• Ignoring your opponent. You can learn a lot by watching how the person across the net moves. With practice, you’ll learn to read the signals that tell you where and how a player is going to hit the ball. “Too many people focus exclusively on what they’re going to do next,” Starr says.

• Relying too much on ground strokes. Ground strokes are easier and sometimes more fun to practice than volleys and serves. As a result, players gain confidence in their ground strokes, but are unsure about their ability to serve and volley. That makes it tough to play a full-court game, a difficulty that can turn into a handicap when you come up against more all-around players. Sticking with ground strokes makes tennis less fun, too. “Very few players play a full-court game,” Berler says. “They don’t know what they’re missing.”

ERRORS OF ATTITUDE
• Picking the wrong opponents. Most players who want to improve their tennis insist on partners who are at least a little better than they are. But that approach doesn’t always work best. “When you learn the proper techniques, go out and play with someone you usually beat,” Acosta says. “You’ll have the confidence to try out new techniques.”

• Fear of failure. Some players lower their personal standards to avoid feeling like failures. For example, a player might avoid tournaments and dismiss the idea that winning is important. Fact is, the closer you get to playing your best tennis, the more fun you will have. But that won’t happen until you set goals and take on challenges, such as improving your serve.

• Poor practice.  “Very few club players practice enough,” Berler says. “And very few practice correctly.” Start with the first problem: not enough hours on the practice court. Let’s say you take a lesson from a pro, who teaches you to make an adjustment in your grip. You practice for half an hour and begin to get better; then you don’t play for two weeks. By then, you’ve lost your new grip. “You have to practice long enough to commit the proper techniques to muscle memory,” Berler says. Once you make time to practice, you should spend that time wisely. Which brings us to our next mistake ...

• Avoiding your weaknesses. Let’s say you have a wonderful forehand and a terrible backhand. When you practice, you like to practice your forehand because it’s easier than trying to learn a new skill. In matches, you don’t dare try to use your backhand; instead, you run around it — with mixed results, at best. Or perhaps you don’t feel comfortable at the net because you aren’t confident of your volley. Every time you find yourself there, you move back. While you’re on the way to the baseline again, your better-positioned opponent slaps a forehand between your feet. At best, you lose the point; at worst, you step on the ball and twist an ankle. “Players are always worried about winning, so they don’t spend enough time on their weaknesses during practice,” Starr says. “They won’t take a step backward to take a step forward. You have to make that commitment if you want to improve.”

Chances are, you are guilty of at least half of these mistakes — and thinking about them may have reminded you of others. Don’t try to correct them all at once; instead, pick one or two and work on that. “Get some advice from a pro, practice, play with someone you can beat,” Acosta says. “Then you’ll be ready to play your best tennis against anyone.”

Clint Willis is a free-lance writer in Portland, Maine, who loves the outdoors. His most recent book is High: Stories of Survival from Everest and K2.