Why you shouldn't avoid playing practice sets

Why you shouldn’t avoid playing sets in your practices.

What do you do for your tennis practices? Some people say that they don’t like to play tennis matches. There are people out there who avoid matches just like some of you avoid taxes and dental visits. And I have to admit-I am one of those people. Or I was one of those people. Until, I realized that the only way I am going to improve my match play skills and combat match anxiety is by actually playing sets.

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This week, I went to hit with my friend. I was having a blast playing singles. I was hitting the crap out of the ball (sorry, I couldn’t find a better word for it) and relishing my brilliant shots. Then my friend said, “lets play a set, I need to practice for playoffs”  And I thought, ok, why not. And boy did I learn a lot from playing the set. I’ve been reading a book on mental toughness by Frank Giampaolo called the Tennis Parents’ Bible and it talks about different messages to tell yourself between points regarding strategy. So, I figured playing this practice set would be a great opportunity to practice implementing these mental patterns. I started out roughly. I wasn’t hitting the ball the way I did in the practice session. My balls were landing short and they were just plain weak. Of course, she started out by hitting sharp shots and moving me around the court. I was down 0-2 and I started going back to my usual patterns of scolding myself for being down to a person I felt I should beat. Then, I told myself about how maybe I’m just not the kind of person who wins matches. And then I realized that I had to replace these thoughts with other thoughts. Like, “how the heck am I going to beat her? What do I need to do? What patterns do I need to execute in order to win?” I need to hit to her backhand to start with, then I need to hit to the other side of the court to get her on the run and then I need to go for  a winner when the opportunity is right. Between every point, I kept asking myself, “where is her backhand” While this sounds rudimentary and I’m sure there are more sophisticated patterns, I felt that a simple message like that could sooth me and stop me from self destructing and either allowing her to continue being aggressive and teeing off of my short balls or over hitting shots to compensate for het winners. So, I kept asking myself “where’s her backhand”. Suddenly, I was able to produce deeper shots and even muster the gumption to attempt aggressive shots when the opportunity presented itself. I eventually, was able to come back and win the set, 6-3, after having been down 2-0. I continually assessed what patterns were pertinent and appropriate for that stage in the game. I would obviously risk more if I was up 40-15 and play more safely and allow her to make the errors if it was deuce. At the end of the set, I felt that I had learned to switch from the scolding/ bashing mode to the thoughtful tennis mode well. In addition, I felt that I exhibited more endurance than my friend. However, I wasn’t the tennis goddess I am making myself out to be. I did fail to approach the net and volley’s are my greatest asset.  What will happen next set? Will I improve at my ability to approach the net? Do you think people should play the same way regardless of the score? Email your thoughts to info@elftennis.com. Stay tuned for more tennis tips in the coming days.