Power or Consistency in Tennis
Tennis is a dichotomy of power and consistency. On the one hand power wins out over consistency; on the other hand consistency wins out over power.
Power
In this blog I am only dealing with a specific definition of power: to move or travel with great speed or force. I will not be going into how to generate that power; i.e. racket technology, stringing, hitting technique,etc., only with the aspect of speed or force of a shot executed in the playing of the game against an opponent. We’ve all seen, or played, someone who hits their first serve with as much power as they can. When it doesn’t go in, they ‘blip’ the second serve in. We have all played someone who tries to power their ground strokes and win the point by ‘outhitting’ the opponent. When skill doesn’t measure up to power, power loses. When Player A and Player B reach a point in their contest that Player B starts to draw ahead, Player A thinks that in order to even the score he has to overpower Player B and starts hitting out with the result of more errors and loss of the contest – if their abilities are the equal. That gets old with time and takes away the enjoyment of the game.
Consistency
Consistency in tennis would be meaningful in the context that Player A hits the ball over the net one more time that Player B, thus winning the point. When starting out, fun is the name of the game. Going out with your friend(s) and playing a game of tennis means knowing how to score and win or lose points. Technique doesn’t have as much to do with the enjoyment at this stage as keeping the ball in play one more time than your friend and winning the majority of the points. How you do this is up to you, which is the creative side of the game. Some move quicker to the ball than others. Some have a knack of placing the ball better. Others have a sense of hitting a shorter, higher ball harder and winning more of those points. Consistency plays a big part in having fun.
Combining Power with Consistency
There is a point where the two, power and consistency, work together. I always taught four concepts: control – get set up to hit the ball, consistency – get the ball back in play, placement – get directional control of your shot, and power – hit with more speed. Develop good technique with consistency first. Over time your consistency will develop with more power because you have good technique and are able to execute the shot at a faster rhythm due to muscle memory (biomechanical feedback) becoming ingrained. Having coached individual tournament players and men’s and women’s teams over the years there was always one thing I could say that would be accepted when losing. “You needed to be more consistent.” I always had agreement.
If you have a choice which is more satisfying to you – working on consistency or power? Which is more fun – POWER. NOT!
