How do you improve your tennis game? Is it a simple matter of more training? You must begin your journey with finding out good information to act upon, then implement hard work and persistence to achieve your goal which is improvement.
Good Information
The first priority is advice and information on what exactly you should be working on, your tennis coach should be able to supply your with this.
There are four basic elements to your game:
- Technical
- Tactical
- Physical
- Mental
You coach needs to analyse your game and see what areas need to be addressed and you should work on. Often with casual players, technique is the most deficient area.
It is best that you start with what will give you the biggest improvement for the amount of time you can devote to your game. If you only play for leisure then you should also practice what gives you the most fun.
The difficulty is highlighting what you should be working on. Some of the lesser clubs do not have the professionals to identify your problem areas properly. Often the problem of getting better is that nobody tells you what is wrong.
Hard Work or The Right Challenge
Like most things in life, you only get out what you put in. And it is down to a degree of hard graft, together with smart thinking.
In order to improve you first and foremost need to challenge yourself in the right manner and in the right areas in your practice sessions.
Your practice lessons should be targeted deliberately to assist your problem areas and should pose a challenge. You will never improve if you are either not challenged enough or conversely you are challenged too much.
Quality vs Quantity
Many players believe that practice makes perfect, this is only true to a degree. The practice sessions only really matter in the intensity and the amount of challenge that is involved.
For instance an hour session of truly challenging practice is worth far more than three hours playing in the comfort zone.
Persistance
Finally you need persistence in order to improve your game. Trying to change certain aspects of your game will often result in playing worse before you get better. Therefore, it is vitally important to set achievable goals in reasonable time frames, then stick to the plan.
If you are doing the same drills and sessions with the same intensity repeatedly then do not be surprised if your game does not improve. You need to think your practice sessions through and design them appropriately, ensure you have the correct amount of challenge and that you are out of your comfort zone.
A key ingredient to all this is to ensure you have the correct information in the first place to work on.
