Many tennis players think the only way to improve is to be on the court with stronger players. While it is true that seeing stronger players can help give you a sense of what areas of your game you need to work on, you likely won’t get the opportunity to work on those areas of your game during those practices. For example, you may notice that the difference between you and the level-up is that at the next level, they hit with a little more pace or place the balls to the corners of the court better. That’s a great lesson from that hit – but how can you work on playing better offense when you are spending most of your time on defense? If the difference in your game is developing more offense, then you should spend more time in situations where you can be on offense. This means there is a tremendous value in playing people below your level; sadly, most tennis players overlook this.
When you control the points, you can focus on areas of your game that you want to improve and try new and different strategies. Once you feel comfortable and confident with these shots and strategies at a slower pace, try them out a few times against somebody you consider yourself even with. See how those new shots hold up and commit to working on them. Finally, once you feel confident doing this in close matches, challenge that stronger player again and see if you can implement them at this higher level now. You will improve once you start practicing with all players in a way that you will not if you are insistent on always being on the court with a stronger player.
My advice for practice matches is that you should be the stronger player about 30% of the time, even about 50% of the time, and then the weaker player 20% of the time. You must always have something you are actively working on, especially when playing the weaker player. If you approach those 30% of matches correctly, they will be the most important matches for your improvement.
By Austin Barr, Head Tennis Pro
