I have been super-obsessed with watching tennis lately because, as I write this, it's about mid-way through the 2014 Australian Open. This is definitely one of my favorite Slams because, here in the United States, it seems like it's on ALL THE TIME. When I wake up in the morning, I can watch replays from yesterday. In the middle of the day and into the afternoon, I can watch it live. At night, I can watch more replays. And, just in case I miss anything at all (not likely), I can keep up with it on the Australian Open iPhone app, Twitter, Instagram, etc. etc. Yes, I am obsessed.
And it just so happens that my league tennis is starting back up. So that's forcing me to think about my own tennis. And why it doesn't look exactly like what I see happening at the Australian Open. Just how do the pros do it? What are they doing that I should be doing? What can I learn from watching the pros?
Well, besides being super-human athletes, I'm pretty sure tennis pros who make it to the Australian Open have a plan. They don't just mindlessly hit the ball. Like I do. They play each point with some kind of strategy in mind. The funny thing is – a lot of these strategies aren't complicated. They're really easy. And the other funny thing is – I KNOW SOME OF THEM! I keep a note card in my tennis bag with some very basic tennis strategies written on it that can work against almost any opponent. If I would just remember to apply them.
I thought that it would help me to remember to look these strategies over before or during my matches if I made them look cuter (and this may be where you go – “Oh, here comes the crazy.”) than being hand-written on a tacky old note card. So I decided to type them up on my computer. In different colors. With different fonts.
Two hours later, I came up with a very cute pdf of my six “no-fail tennis strategies” that I'm now keeping in my tennis bag. AND, bonus for you, I'm attaching it here so you can also print it out and keep it in your own tennis bag. And hopefully it will remind us to apply these easy, no-fail strategies in our next tennis match. To get the pdf, you can click on this image:
Or you can click on this link: NoFailTennisStrategies-PDF
Now, let me throw out a few notes here. You are going to read these and probably go, “Wow, thanks a lot for stating the obvious in a cute pdf.” Yes, I agree. These are simple, obvious strategies. But that's why they're important and why you even see the pros applying them. They're simple. And they work. They can work at every level. They can work for singles and for doubles. And they can work almost all of the time.
So, if you can't come up with a strategy because you've just never tried to do that, try these. If you can't come up with a strategy because you keep forgetting to come up with one, try these. If all else fails, try these. These are the strategies that are great to start with and you can build on them as you go.
Okay, enough chatting. Back to watching the Australian Open.
© Kim Selzman 2014-2020 All Rights Reserved