First match after 7 months 🎾

on

The weather in Belgium is finally improving. On Sunday it was 26 degrees. To celebrate that, I went to play tennis for the first time since October. I haven´t played for so long because the courts were closed due to the pandemic. Only outdoor activities were allowed, but it was not possible to play outdoors in the winter.

Actually, I wasn´t even playing during the weekend but coaching. I have been involved in many different aspects of the game over the years. I have been a competition kid, coach, worked in HEAD marketing and also co-founded a tennis start-up. Sometimes during summer holidays I also organise tennis camps. But this summer I have decided not to do it. Instead, I want to play.

After the coaching session, I was playing with a coach next court just for fun. It was quite hard after so long. 😀

A tennis rally revolves around a couple of things. Firstly, with every shot a player repeats a circle of sensing (where the opponent might hit the ball) – decision – action – feedback – back to sensing.

All of this is happening in five possible situations during the rally.

  1. Serve
  2. Return
  3. Baseline game
  4. Moving to the net
  5. Hitting against an opponent who is on the net

In a nutshell, a player has five tactics to focus on.

  1. Stability – for a beginner, it can mean hitting the ball to the court three times in a row. Stability for an advanced player can mean hitting cross court three times in a row.
  2. Moving the opponent
  3. Recovery and positioning
  4. Using your strengths
  5. Using opponents weaknesses

And to finish, a tennis ball movement has five characteristics:

  1. Depth
  2. Height
  3. Spin
  4. Direction
  5. Speed

It is up to the coach to know all this stuff and guide players without confusing them with too many details. A pleasure of being a player is that there is no time to think about the above. During the game, one should focus on the moment and just keep the eyes on the ball. That is very difficult in the beginning because tennis is so technical and it is hard not to think when you are learning. But trusting the process and your own body takes you to a new level. Then it becomes all about the feel and the rhythm. And it is a lot of fun. 🙂

Leave a comment