Are you adjusting your strategy?

1. What patterns do they use with their ground strokes to set up points?
2. How do they handle pace and off-pace balls?
3. Are they predictable with where they hit under pressure?
4. Based on their grips, where are their power zones?
5. How many balls are they willing to hit before going for a winner?
6. To which side – forehand or backhand, do they move weakest?
7. Are they winning because they are better than you or are you giving away points too early in the point with unforced errors?
8. Are you using the 5 tactical priorities of match play: in play, direction, depth, spin and speed to effectively play your points or are you just hitting balls?
9. Is your opponent beginning to tire, are they injured or are they rushing to play the points?
10. Are you sticking to your game plan or have you adjusted to the flow of the match?

A good game plan will often have to be adjusted as the match is in progress.  The opponent may well change their tactics and force you to adjust yours as well. Pay attention and know why you are winning and why you are losing during the match to choose the correct strategy and tactics.

Ken DeHart

www.kendeharttennis.com
kendehart@aol.com

Photo Credits: nsaplayer

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This is my third day in Melbourne as a speaker and my first time to Australia.  It has been an awesome experience…..

Today I walked about 6 blocks from my hotel on Russell St down to the tram (trolley) which I took over to Hysense Arena.  I am the 2nd presenter today on Hysense and they have the roof open today.  My presentation is on “20 Best Games for Strategy and Tactics” and I have 6 young players who will demonstrate the drills I will do.

There are 4 cameras on and about 250 coaches.  It is like a match and today I am on.  Good energy and I make quick friends with the kids so they respond well to all the drills we do.  My jokes are good as well today and I can tell I connect with the audience well.

The weather is cool this year so far and has been a bit cloudy.  Cool weather comes in form the south and hot weather from the winds out of the north.

Got voted the best presentation of the weekend to date.  Every DVD I brought with me sold out after my presentation and they were asking for more, so I told them to go to www.kendeharttennis.com to order.  Gave everyone who bought DVD’s a copy of my “Today” card with Kam and me on the top of it.

Got to be on the court to assist Dan Santorum with his presentation on Corrective Techniques and with a top physical trainer from Australia for the youth doing exercises to prevent injuries.  Later Dan and I went over to Rod Laver Arena and went to the players area.  We saw most of the players practicing.  Said ‘Hello” to the Bryan Brothers and Fabrice Santoro and got to see Donald Young from the US play his qualifying match. We talked to a long time friend of ours, Brian DeVilliers who is the coach for young American player Melanie Oudin from Atlanta, said “hello” to Donald Young’s dad and a couple of other international coaches.

We took the players van back to the hotel.  Dan got a ticket to a Crickett match at the big stadium next door and I chose to go with Frank from Holland and Mike Barrell from England to visit Kooyong Club.  It was built in 1879 and was the site of the Australian Open for several decades until they built the new stadium in Melbourne.  We had dinner there with a couple of friends who are members (10 yr wait list to join), 52 courts – 30 grass and about 20 clay, pictures of all the great Aussie players from the past and a few hundred silver trophies.  They are having a tournament going on now as a lead up to the Australian Open.  Songa and Verdasco will play in the finals tomorrow.  Federer will be there to play a practice match as well.

What history at this club.  They just spent $132 million renovating the facility.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Coaches Conference back the Hysense Arena from 9-4:30.  We will have a 4 hour course on all aspects of the serve from Bruce Elliott, one of the top bio-mechanist in the world, a presentation from famous Australian player and coach – Ray Ruffles and Miguel Crespo on Drills, think before you feed.

I have Sunday off except for a dinner for the speakers at the conference to do some sight seeing.  Monday I have Rod Laver Arena tickets to watch first round play.

Ken DeHart

• Ken's LA – USPTA Report Up at 4:30 to catch my 6 AM flight to LA this Sat. About 3.5 hours of sleep – but sleep is overrated anyhow, too much fun stuff to do in life! Tom Brennan met me at the LAX airport and off to a quick breakfast – if we can......
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Ken presented a 4 hour continuing education course on Strategy and Tactics to more than 80 tennis teaching professionals and high school coaches attending the course designed to assist pros and coaches in teaching strategy and tactic to all levels of players.

The course addressed the importance of balance and footwork in allowing a player to be able to produce efficient and effective  strokes. World class players average about 10-12 steps between each ball they contact during a point.  That number of steps typically decreases in groups of 2 steps with lesser players.   The progression continues downward to a beginner player who averages about 2-4 steps between shots.

Once a player understands how to produce their particular strokes, the player needs to recognize the available targets on the court they can aim for during a point.  The player must also determine the correct speed and spin to use in producing the shot based upon their position and the position of their opponent.

Using the concept of 4 target areas on the tennis court, the 4 squares on the tennis court (square 1 being the deuce service court, square 2 the back court area behind the deuce service court, square 3 being the back court area behind the the ad service court and square 4 is the ad service court).

These target areas combined with using 3 speeds with which to send the ball to the target, (level 1 being the slowest and spiniest of the shots, level 2 being the rally ball speed and level 3 being the hardest they can hit the ball with out missing) players select the target and speed or spin that is the correct tactic for the position they are in and the position their opponent has taken.

Ken presented drills the coaches could use to allow a player to practice these tactical skills where the coach calls out the correct choice for the player initially.  As the player becomes more familiar with the concepts, the player will make those judgements and call out the appropriate target and speed before the ball contacts the court on their side of the court.

A call made by a player after an opponents ball contacts the players side of the court will put the receiver of the ball in a difficult position.  In this position, the ball often eliminates several options of the receiver and the player will appear to have to rush to produce the shot.  This typically causes the player to over-hit the ball based upon their position in the point and experience “unforced” errors.

Ken also addressed how to play the 4 doubles positions on the tennis court and what would be a typical job description for each of the 4 positions, before as well as during a point.  The more difficult positions being how to move when your partner is moving to the ball or learning to move when you are not the hitter.

Several “unusual” doubles formations were presented to demonstrate how doubles teams could compete against a stronger team or to change the momentum during a match.

Examples included:

1. Starting both players on the deuce court side of the baseline to begin a match.  When the server serves the ball into the deuce court to start the first point of a game, whomever returns the ball will then become the deuce court player for the rest of that set.
2. Playing an “I” formation where the server’s partner straddled the center service line in near the  service line in a crouched position.  When the server directed the ball to the opponents service court, his partner would stand up and move left or right in a pre-determined direction to distract or intercept the return of the receiver.  The server would move in the opposite direction to cover the open court created by his partners forward movement.
3. A similar position would be with the server’s partner kneeling in front of the baseline and directly in front of the server.  When the server served to the opponents court, his partner would stand up and have at least one chance to control the point for his team.  The server would move to cover the open court left by his partner.  This is best used when the receiving team is able to keep the return away from the stronger net player due to a weaker serve.  This position gets the stronger or more aggressive player into the point for a least one shot.
4. The Australian position puts the server and server’s partner on the same side of the court.  The server on the baseline near the center service “hash” mark and his partner halfway between the service line and the net on the same side of the court, i.e. Both on the deuce court side or the ad court side.  The purpose being to redirect an opponents strong shot to a different area of the court on the return of serve or to set up an alignment that favors the serving teams forehand or backhand.  This can also a done with both players on the same side of the court but both on the baseline, i.e.: both on the deuce court, the server serves from the deuce court then moves over to the ad court to play their stronger backhand strokes or forehand if the server is a lefty.
5. Both players back when serving or receiving allows a timid net player or weaker server or returner not to get their partner killed at the net.  It also takes away the net player as a target by the poacher at the net and permits the both back team to move toward the net together on a short ball.
6. The conventional  one up-one back position is the most vulnerable of the positions and least likely to benefit a weaker team.  Try unusual formations to take away an opponents strengths and to create some confusion to allow your weaker team to get a chance at the match.

Ultimately, Ken encouraged the pros and coaches to develop a system of communication with their players that was both truly meaningful and measurable.  A system that when a command or suggestion was given to a student it would allow both players to truly understand what was expected and how it was to be measured by both parties.

Telling a student to move their feet does not tell them how much to move or in what direction or for what intent.  Asking a player not to hit the ball so hard is confusing – so hard as what? Using the 3 levels of speed allows the player and instructor to determine more precisely what is expected.  Don’t grip the racquet so tight has no meaning unless you have a system that explains that there are different levels of tension to use, like on a scale of 1-5, use level 2 tension.  This is more meaningful and measurable by both the player and coach.

Stopping to ask the audience what they liked best or thought was their favorite tip of the day is key to getting your students to identify what they relate to best from your information.  This technique is key to  keeping the audience involved so you are not just “telling”, they are responding with what they are learning  and a reminder of key information that happened earlier so it does not get buried by the most recent information.  This method is also vital in determining how students learn; auditorily, visually or kinesthetic when teaching.

The USPTA Conference also included exhibits of major tennis industry manufacturers like Wilson, Head, Prince and several other industry information providers that could assist pros and coaches with their business.  Meals were provided by the conference committee at the Homestead Country Club and an Awards Dinner was held that honored the most outstanding performances by Missouri Valley tennis professionals this past year.  These included pro of the year, player of the year, coach of the year and several others.

The well attended conference was also treated to presentations by world renown Jack Gropple and several knowledgeable area tennis professionals.  In the evenings there were drills for the attendees to participate in including a Cardio Tennis Shootout. The shootout allowed the pros to showcase their ball feeding skills to targets both on the court and above the net in 60 seconds.

The winners of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place were recognized with the winner received an opportunity to represent their division in the finals at the September USPTA National Conference at Marco Island, Florida.

Congratulations were in order for Gary Trost, Bunny Brunning, Kendall Hale Kevin and Laura and all the Missouri Valley USPTA pros for such a great conference as well as all the pros and coaches who attended this years conference for 2009.

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All Adult and Junior Clinics are still on the week of the 15-20th either with Rudy, Jesse or Reno.

I will be attending continuing education courses and on Sunday I will be awarded the PTR International Pro of the Year Award out of 14,000 pros around the world for my contributions to tennis.

On the 19th I will be in Kansas City to present a 4 hour course on “Strategy and Tactics for all levels of players” for the Mo-Valley USPTA Pros.

By the end of February, I will have all 5 of my DVD”s completed:  The Best of Ken DeHart, Defeating the Monsters in Your Mind, Myth Busting and Corrective Techniques, Intermediate Drills and the 3 Secrets to Championship Doubles and 13 Best Drills.  They will be available through my web site www.kendeharttennis.com

Visit my “In the Game” Blog on my web site for lots of FREE tennis tips about Doubles Formations and tennis tips.  Go to my web site and in the upper information bar, click on Blog.

I will be home early Saturday morning the 21st to teach the 10-11:30 adult drop in clinic and will be available for afternoon Saturday or Sunday lessons for players seeking lesson time.

Thanks for all your support and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Photo Credits: 1

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