Aim at What?

When you play tennis, do you ever forget that there is a net? I know what you’re thinking: “Matt, a net is a pretty integral part of the game, and it’s a good three feet tall.” But, hear me out. I’ve noticed that a lot of great tennis shots are ruined by the net. When I ask most players where they aim as they play, they tell me they aim their shots at a place on the opponent’s side of the court. The problem is that if you are hitting to a spot on the opponent's side of the court, you are aiming at a spot with a net between you and the place you want the tennis ball to go.

Instead of aiming at a spot on the opponent's court, pick a spot on the net that the ball will have to cross on its path to end up right where you want it. You will need pick this spot on the net but aim approximately 6” higher to avoid hitting the ball into the net. A strategy like this will make you a more consistent and accurate player.

Once again, a tennis strategy also applies to life.Often I get so excited to accomplish a new goal that I only set my sights on the end point of that goal--where I will land when I am finished--and forget to focus on the entire path I will follow to reach that goal. Then I can get tangled in the net of unorganized effort. My vision of what I am actually doing to reach that goal becomes unclear. If I would take a minute to identify my mid-range focus--what steps should I be taking and in what order--I would be able to continue at a quicker pace toward my goal.

Make sure you have a clear vision of where you want to go. It will give you more confidence and accuracy to actually go there.

It's All about Communicating

Singles or doubles, I love them both, but I have to say that there is something particularly fun about doubles and being on the tennis court with a teammate. It adds a bit of complexity to the game because instead of thinking about what you and your opponent are going to do, you now have to think about what you, your partner, and your two opponents are going to do.

One of the key strategies in doubles is to get to the net faster than your opponents. At the net you have a better opportunity to make aggressive shots. But what will often happen with beginning and intermediate tennis players is that instead of trying to get to the net, they view the ad and deuce sides of the tennis court as "my side" and "your side"--they cut the court in half and only play on one side from the net back to the baseline.

The most effective tennis teams don't view the tennis court in two parts; they see it as one court and communicate with their partners so they position themselves together to make the most efficient and strategic shot they can.

Here is one specific hint: when you are both at the net, you and your partner must be very active in moving around. You always want to position yourselves so that you keep the hitter on the other team in the middle of you and your partner. This will force your opponent to most likely try to hit a winning shot between you. You will be able to quickly attack a shot that is between you, and you will have a better chance to hit many winners. You will likely have to scramble to keep yourselves in position--moving up and back and even switching sides with your partner.

The other day I was working on a PowerPoint presentation for a homework assignment. I knew what the teacher wanted, but I didn’t want to do the assignment exactly the way she described it. I stayed within the boundaries she gave, but I tried something very non-traditional (in other words, I didn’t see the court as a rigid structure that had "your side" and "my side"). So I took the risk and tried something new. When I went to class the next day, the teacher raved because I didn’t follow the conventional way of doing the assignment.

Remember that limiting yourself to one way of doing something isn’t always the best. Don’t be afraid to try a new way of thinking--on the tennis court or off.

Game, Set, Match

In tennis you win points, then points win you games, games win you sets, and sets win you matches. So when you walk out on a tennis court, your end goal is to win two sets, because winning two out of three sets wins you a match. Seems pretty simple, right? But the reality of the matter is that you have a lot of little points you have to win, if you want to be the one to win two sets.

Tennis players can get so caught up in winning sets that they forget they need to win games and points to get them there. What really makes a difference is to think, "Win one point at a time." If you have this type of attitude as a player, you will win points, then you will win games, and the sets will come.

Overlooking the simple, small steps is a common mistake that I often make in life, too. I am generally pretty good about setting an overall vision for myself. I set a goal, and I know exactly where I want to go (in other words, I want to win the set). What I often fail to see is that just like in tennis, there are lots of little steps I need to focus on to lead me to my goal.

For example. I just made a goal to read a book a month--doesn't seem like it should be too difficult in theory. But what I am noticing is that I will say to myself at the beginning of the month, "You have a long time to read this book--you can start in a few days." Well, you can probably imagine that I have that attitude until about the twenty-first of the month. Then I don't want to start because the task is overwhelming. What I need to realize is that every day of every month I just have to do a little to reach the overall goal.

In tennis or in life, focus on the small steps that help you work toward your overall goal.

Love the Score

I think we can all remember learning how to score the game of tennis. Not only do I remember my mother walking me around the tennis court and explaining how tennis is scored, but also I have tried to explain scoring to hundreds of kids in tennis lessons. It’s pretty difficult at first, but once you get it, nothing seems more second nature.

Tennis definitely doesn’t seem to be scored in the most practical way—Love, 15, 30, 40. Where’d the whole scoring thing come from? Most tennis roots come from France (not surprising, since we know tennis was invented there). So why the crazy scoring? There seem to be two well-accepted theories.

Tennis, when first invented, was a game of royalty. Some say that the scoring was created to be confusing on purpose. The odd scoring system would confuse the common French population and discourage them from wanting to learn to play. Thus, tennis would remain an elite game for royalty only. I’m not so sure about this theory; I’m more inclined to agree with a second explanation.

The second theory says that old clocks were used as scoreboards. For every point scored, you would move the dial of the clock ahead a quarter turn. So, one point was fifteen, two points were thirty, and four points would have been forty-five. Over time, to simplify the terms, forty-five was shortened to only forty.

So that could be a couple of theories about the scoring, but where did “love”—meaning zero—originate? This also seems to have two origins. The word for egg in French is "l’oeuf," pronounced “loaf” as in a loaf of bread. Well, eggs to the French looked like zeros—which you can see with their oval shapes. With time “l’oeuf” transitioned to the more familiar English word “love.” So if we translated French to English, and the score was zero-zero, we would have said "egg-egg."

The second theory about using "love" for zero has to do again with the clock being used as the scoreboard. The word for hour in French is "l'heure." If a clock truly was used to keep score, it would make sense that zero was called "hour" or in French "l’heure." As the game transitioned to England, "l'heure" was changed to "love."

Join me tomorrow for the interesting conclusion about this confusing method of scoring.