Technique Change vs Time-Tennis

Technique Change vs Time-Tennis

Change is most often difficult. I like to get into a pattern I feel comfortable in and stay there. That goes for tennis as well. I like to hit the tennis ball the way I want to. What happens when that way of hitting the ball is taken advantage of by my opponent and I end up not enjoying myself due to my inability to counter act my opponents strategy?

Technique

I started playing tennis late – in my mid teens. I learned from a book written by Bill Tilden, ‘How to Play Better Tennis’. I followed everything in the book to a fault practicing against a backboard from 4-7am as many days as I could. The only thing I couldn’t copy properly, even though I thought I was, took place in the serving motion. I even won some tournaments with the improper motion. While I thought I was dropping my arm into the ‘back scratching’ position I was, in reality, hitting my serve with my arm completely straight (similar to bowling in cricket). It wasn’t until a touring pro came through and gave a clinic that I was told I wasn’t dropping the racket down behind my back to generate more power and rhythm in my serving motion. Obviously I wanted to change this to become more proficient at the game. This desire to change my technique propelled me to spend more time on exercises to change my muscle memory and allow my ‘throwing’ motion to become ingrained. A player’s desire to do this is dependent on the drive they have within them to make the necessary change. It does not happen over night.

Change

I didn’t realize it at the time but the time to change my technique took myriad hours of exercises and drills (many of which I would make up off court as well as on). Years later I chose a vocation of a tennis director. Working with students over 40 years of teaching I applied the time principle of changing technique, or forming a new habit. I found the average time was three months. This was only the physical (muscle memory) change. To take the change into a competitive situation took even longer. After the initial three month period a junior player would then begin to play tournaments again. It would take an addition 2-5 months for the change to enter their competitive game and they would become totally comfortable with it. An interesting factoid was when Bill Tilden, in the mid 20’s when he was dominating tennis, lost the first two joints of his middle finger due to gangrene setting in from an infection gone bad. He took three months off – relearned his backhand from underspin to topspin and came back to dominate again.

When I was Orange Lawn as their tennis director we had a pro tournament there for some years directed by Gene Scott. It never ceased to amaze me how many world class pros came to play, some with considerable faulty technique. With just one or two changes in their technique I could see how it could improve their win/loss results. However when a player has achieved that status in the world it is almost impossible for them to change psychologically. They feel they have to give up to get and because they have worked so hard to get where they are they are not able to handle it psychologically, even if it means in 2-8 months achieving even a higher ranking in the world stats.

If you are contemplating a change in your technique I hope this article will help you to understand the end result is worth it, if you will have more fun playing the wonderful game of tennis.

About wdkealy

I retired from a career as a tennis professional to move to Portland with my wife to care for my in-laws and my mother in Abbotsford, BC. Not wanting to retire I took a vocational test and at the top was 'writer'. I have been researching and writing for about five years now and am looking to take more steps forward in pursuing this as a career. Time will tell whether I have the 'passion' to stay the course. My wife and I have three grown children with whom we are close. I had the privilege of coaching a high school team to a state championship in 2010. The team won by 1/2 point which was a credit to all team players. Looking to attend another writer's conference this year and grow. In the meantime I look forward to improving my social networking skills in order to have more meaningful contact with others who share a passion for life.
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