The Golden Rule of Tennis
Never do anything on the tennis court that doesn’t help you win.
The Middle Game by Allen Fox, PH.D
Your goal is to develop an effective “middle game” that will serve as the hub of any winning strategy you choose to employ.
What do I mean by a “middle game?” The concept came to me some years ago as I watched a match between a hard-hitting talented junior player and a cagey senior.
The junior player seemed to hit every shot better than the senior player (at least he
hit them harder and closer to the lines) yet was managing to lose anyway. To all appearances, the junior should have been winning in a walk, but wasn’t.
What was happening?
Careful observation provided the answer. The junior could hit great shots but he lacked a middle game, which is a stable platform of consistent shots around which successful competitors build their game. Without this foundation, he was able to look flashy and play close matches with excellent players, but could not win.
Thus, the middle game is the base of shots that players can make nine out of ten times,
and it is as essential to victory as blocking and tackling is in football. Only when it is
in place can players afford to try the occasional risky winner or deceptive change-up.
Winning players use their middle games like the Chinese water torture. Its drip, drip,
drip keeps their opponents under constant, wearing pressure. Without a middle game,
players must bank on making a large number of lower percentage, difficult, hit or miss shots, and the odds are heavily against putting enough of these together to win matches.
Winning players and teams employ their middle games to win most of their points and
save the risky, tricky stuff for situations of lesser importance, to keep opponents guessing, or for times when they just feel gifted. Conceptually, having a superior middle
game allows you to occupy the high percentage part of the game and forces your opponents to go around you with low percentage, precarious, and, ultimately, losing
shots.
In the end, tennis matches are not won by hitting loads of scintillating winners. They
are won by applying consistent pressure and, if the moon and stars are right, hitting
a few great shots. At the recreational level, they are usually won if you can make fewer
errors than your opponent. And this is only possible if you have used a well-developed,
reliable middle game.
By Allen Fox Former Top 10 player and ex coach of Pepperdine University Men’s Tennis
What You’re Saying