Playing great singles is a lot like racing cars…
In a past life (aka before kids, haha) I was really into cars and spent quite a bit of time learning how to drive as fast as possible on a race track.
I read books, watched instruction, got personal coaching, and it all came down to one fundamental principal: following “The Line”.
“The line” was the exact path around the track that you had to follow to maximize turn radius, grip, and ultimately speed.
Deviate from that precise line and it was physically impossible to go as fast has somebody who kept it (all other things being equal).
Staying right on it meant anybody who wanted to pass you needed to take a lot of risk to go around without making a critical mistake that could literally leave them on the sidelines the rest of the day.
The concept (and even the line itself) is extremely simple….but high quality execution is another story all together!
Holding the line takes incredible precision, consistency, and smoothness.
And so it is with singles.
The concepts presented in high quality coaching (like this) are deceptively simple.
So simple, in fact, that most amateur players feel an incredible desire to break away from the geometrical patterns they know are best to try and force something offensive to happen.
The result: they crash and burn!
Here’s the first thing to write on your cheat sheet to refer back to every single time you play singles:
Hit cross court unless you have a GOOD reason to hit down the line.
That’s “the line” when it comes to singles strategy.
That’s your “Plan A”.
Of course, there are infinite variables and variations on this incredibly simple starting point and we’ll be getting to those layers in the coming messages.
For now, if you’d like a more in depth review of geometry and patterns this is an excellent presentation by my good friend Will Hamilton:
Singles Strategy Principles – Click Here!
I know its tempting to want to grab control of your singles points by hitting harder, closer to the lines, and changing direction….
ESPECIALLY when you’re playing a strong opponent and you’re unsure if you have what it takes to win.
Trust me – the more disciplined you are about sticking to a geometrically sound “Plan A” the more matches you’ll win.
I’ll be back soon to talk about strengths and weaknesses….which is the next “layer” you should apply to the principles we talked about today.
Thanks for reading and have an awesome day.
Yours Truly,
-Ian
P.S. I know there’s at least a few track nerds out there reading!
Would love to see your own pic of race day action 🙂
P.P.S. We’ll talk about what some of those “GOOD” reasons are to hit down the line in Part 2 of this series…
