Winners!
rackets, power strings, power shoes, power warm-ups, you name it. If it’s
got the word “power” on it, we want it.
It’s easy to understand why. We see Andy Roddick fire in a 150-mph
serve that would penetrate concrete, and we walk away thinking that
winning tennis is all about big shots and quick points.
While there is a place for power in your tennis game, the problem comes
when the search for those "magic moments" dominates our style of play.
Big shots are not your biggest weapon—not even close.
The foundation of a winning tennis player is not power and aggression
but consistency and control. From here on out, I’m going to show you how
to develop a style of shotmaking and strategy that will allow you to win
points with consistency and control without low-percentage power shots.
Several times a week, a player comes to me upset about their latest loss
to someone they feel they “should have beaten easily." The conversation
usually goes something like this:
Greg: "How did your game go?"
Anne: "Terrible. I lost, and the girl I played stunk. All she did was get the
ball back."
Greg (to myself): "All she did was get the ball back? Hello? Isn’t that the
idea?"
The ability to "just" get the ball back has somehow become something to
be looked down upon. Those who "just get the ball back" have been
thrown in with the other black sheep of the tennis world, the "lobbers,"
"pushers" and "dinkers." Macho tennis players call these people “tennis
wimps.” You know what I call them? Winners!
- Greg Moran