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adapts his own unique style to his opponent’s to
beat him.
For example, when faced with an aggressive
opponent, an excellent tennis strategist might up
his consistency and reduce his number of unforced
errors to push his opponent into making mistakes.
He might also exploit his opponent’s fast ball to
counterattack or simply use that speed to his own
advantage while saving energy for the rest of the
match. Alternatively, when facing a player with a
more defensive approach, a great tennis strategist
would pressure his opponent by going more often
to the net and hitting more aggressive shots from
the baseline.
Naturally, most tennis professionals are known to be
masters of tennis strategy and tactics. They are able
to adapt their style of play and successfully deal
with any approach that their opponent decides to
take on them. Before a match, a professional tennis
player spends hours watching his opponents’ past
matches – spotting his patterns, preferred shots,
aggressiveness, and performance in moments of
pressure.
One prime example is current world No. 2, Andy
Murray. Known for being one of the most intelligent
players on the court, with professional tennis
coach Paul Annacone stating that he “may be
the best counter puncher on tour today”, Murray’s
tactics often involve passive exchanges from the
baseline. But to keep his style of game from being
too predictable, the 29-year-old frequently injects
sudden pace into his groundstrokes to surprise his
opponents who are used to his slow rally. At the
same time, Murray is also quick on his feet; he is
regularly one of the top returners, with the ability
to block fast serves with his excellent reach and
capacity to anticipate.
It is precisely Murray’s mental strategies that allowed
him to emerge tops in the recent Wimbledon
Championships, over favorites including world No.
1 Novak Djokovic and world No. 3 Roger Federer.
The former is faster, has a bigger serve and better
ground strokes than Murray, while the latter has
more Grand Slam tournament titles (17) than
any other men’s single players and is regarded
by coaches and past and present players as the
greatest tennis player of all time.
Indeed, all brawn and no brains can win you a
couple of matches – but with excellent strategy
in the chess game of tennis, you’ll have a better
chance of taking down faster, stronger and
technically-better players than yourself!
50
THE AMERICAN CLUB
SEP / OCT 2016