Want to win more tennis matches? The traditional answer is probably something about taking more lessons, fixing your forehand, improving your serve, or hitting another thousand practice balls.
All of those things can help. But what if you have a match tomorrow?
There are things you can change immediately that don’t require rebuilding a stroke. They require understanding how to use the tennis game you already have.
Let’s talk tennis.
Win More Tennis Matches With the Rule of 3s
Let’s start with one of my favorites: the Rule of 3s.
Give yourself three feet over the net and three feet inside the sidelines and baseline. Then try to make your opponent move at least three steps to hit the ball, whether that’s left, right, forward, or backward.
Why?
Margin keeps balls in the court. Recreational players give away an enormous number of points by aiming too close to the lines or net when the extra risk simply isn’t necessary.
But the third three might be even more important.
You don’t have to blast a winner past someone to hurt them. Make your opponent move just a few steps and they have to reposition their body, establish spacing, prepare the racket, and recover afterward. Stop feeding balls directly into their strike zone.
You aren’t trying to paint lines. You’re trying to make your opponent play another difficult ball.
Have a Game Plan That Fits Your Game
Before the match begins, know what you do well.
That sounds ridiculously simple, but players constantly abandon their strengths because they think they’re supposed to play tennis a certain way. Don’t build a game plan around the player you wish you were. Build it around the player you are today.
Know your strengths. Protect your weaknesses. If you know something about your opponent, incorporate that too.
Then keep evaluating. A game plan isn’t a contract. If something isn’t working, adjust.
Have Amnesia
You just missed the easiest forehand you’ve seen all afternoon.
Congratulations. It’s gone.
The worst thing you can do is carry that miss into the next point. Players miss, become tentative, decelerate on the next ball, miss that one too, and suddenly one mistake has become three.
Learn what you need from the error and erase the rest.
Every point starts at zero. Your racket doesn’t know you missed the previous forehand unless your brain tells your arm about it.
Make Your Opponent Uncomfortable
Variety doesn’t mean everyone suddenly needs to become a drop-shotting, serve-and-volleying magician.
It means don’t become predictable.
Move your serve around. Change your return position or return type. Don’t hit every forehand crosscourt simply because the first three worked.
If you own a good slice, use it. Change the height with heavier topspin. Bring an opponent forward. Push them backward. Pull them wide.
Your opponent wants rhythm. They want to recognize the ball, establish their spacing, and hit the shots they like.
Don’t make tennis comfortable for them.
Be Decisive and Determined
Finally, follow D&D: Decisive and Determined.
Decisive means choose the shot and commit to it. Last-second second-guessing produces tentative swings, poor footwork, and exactly the kind of errors you were trying to avoid.
Determined is different.
Be determined to make your opponent earn the match. Run for another ball. Fight through another rally. Put another return into play. Never give your opponent the feeling that you’re discouraged or ready to disappear.
You will be amazed how many points you can win simply because you refused to stop competing.
None of these five ideas requires changing your forehand grip. None requires buying a ball machine. None requires hitting a thousand balls.
They’re decisions.
And you can make them differently the next time you walk onto a court.
First Ball Forehand Match Point
Getting better at tennis doesn’t always mean learning to hit the ball better.
Play with margin. Have a plan. Forget the last mistake. Create variety. Be decisive and determined.
You already have the tennis game you’re bringing to your next match. Now use it better.
Source: Coaching principles adapted from Stop Losing! Play Winning Tennis Now by Joe Arena.
