From The Pro

HOME
ABOUT CTTA
CLINICS
TOURNAMENTS
FROM THE PRO
HELPING HAND
SPONSORS
JOIN
LINKS
FEEDBACK
CONTACT

Are You Adequately Armed For Battle?

When preparing for battle, the amount of artillery in your possession becomes instrumental in your chances for success.

What weapons are in your armory?

Weapons are defined by Webster as “a means of contending against another”.

In tennis, that equates to any stroke that consistently creates winners or an advantage. It may be easier for most to identify weaknesses which are defined as “lacking strength or vigor”. Basically, it boils down to those strokes you avoid or don’t prefer hitting.

Why would identifying strengths and weaknesses be important?

Let’s look at a few of the top players in the world, Roger Federer and Andy Roddick.

- USA’s Andy Roddick has one grand slam tournament win. He’s known for two weapons, the serve and forehand.

- Roger Federer, on the other hand, has won 13 grand slam events and almost has too many weapons to name. I’ll provide a few just for thrills: serve, forehand, backhand, volleys, movement, etc. With this arsenal, Federer is forecasted to break Pete Sampras’ all time slam record of 14 this year.

Now that you know the importance of weapons and are well equipped to identify them, make your list. I’ll use my experience and provide a mock list that may describe most novelists.

Weapons Weaknesses

1. Forehand 1. Backhand

2. Serve

3. Volleys

4. Conditioning

5. Footwork

6. Overhead

Many of us, young and old alike are deceiving ourselves when it comes to self assessment. When internalizing our skill set as it relates to the game of tennis, we are sometimes bias or thoughtless.

Let’s explore another train of thought that may promote objectivity.

Consider the war in IRAQ in which our troops are so courageously fighting. If the US invaded IRAQ with one tank and six unsafe grenades one may consider that plan foolish.

Looking back at your list, “What adjective would you use to describe the arsenal you’re going into battle with?”

It’s deplorable to be thought of as asinine. I propose we analyze our games and focus on transforming the weaknesses into weapons. We have no excuses; our WAR dates have been published and are available to be scheduled.

"Chip and Charge, The Volley is a Powerful Thing"

Coach Ken Blakely

Metroplex Tennis Association

Info@cttatennis.org (Subject: From The Pros)