Deciding tactically WHAT and technically HOW you are going to play in less than half a second demands unconscious compentency.

1. PERCEPTION of the challenge! (location of the players – diffilculty of the ball – etc.)

 A tool to help you make better shot selection is to link the challenge to a color code!

           The difficulty of the challenge                               COLOR CODE       

                        HIGH                                                              RED

                        MEDIUM                                                         YELLOW

                        LOW                                                              GREEN

Defining the difficulty of the challenge = context: 

A red context is a situation that doesn't allow you to put your opponent under pressure and/or you are under a lot of pressure yourself!

A yellow context  means that you have an opportunity to take control of the point and to create for yourself a green context and a red one for your opponent.

A green context means that you get the chance to win the point directly or to force an error.

2. CHOOSE the right intention!

                        ACTION                                                       INTENTION

                    RED ACTION                             Preventing the opponent to score

                    YELLOW ACTION                     Point building to force a weaker return        

                    GREEN ACTION                         Put away to force an error or hit a winner       

3. PRIORITY of your choice!

RED ACTION: Highest priority is to restore tactical balance!

Directing your shot deep to the middle of the court with a high arc will greatly reduce your ratio of errors and will give you enough time to recover to the middle of the court.

YELLOW ACTION: Highest priority is to put your opponent under pressure!

There are several options to do this;

1. placing your shots so your opponent has to run
2. play your shots with different degrees of spin, speed, hight and distance so your opponent has to hit the ball out of their comfort zone
3. approach the net and take time and space away from your opponent

GREEN ACTION: Highest priority is to force an error from your opponent!

This action is the most difficult one, because if you go for to much you'll make an error, if you don't put enough pressure, the opponent get a chance to take over control of the point.

 Conclusion:

Clearly the context (=difficulty of the shot) is a personal perception, the color of the same situation will be different when you've mastered that challenge!

Go for the opportunities (green and yellow) and don't underestimate the threats (red)!

I love to receive your feedback and remember …TENNIS WITH PASSION!

Walter D’Amico

Walter.damico65@gmail.com