Foot Striking Warm Up
If we’d all grown up barefoot from birth, we’d probably strike the ground properly without even thinking about it. Alas, since that’s not the case, proper foot striking, like everything else, is a skill...
The Athletic Ready Position
With almost every skill in tennis, there exists a prevailing myth that natural talent is the primary factor driving success. You’ll frequently hear tennis commentators, awestruck after observing the latest feat of athletic brilliance,...
The Serve is a Throw
The serve is a throw. That line is both the title and the first paragraph for a reason – it constitutes the single most important insight that underpins effective serving. If you can throw...
5 Signs of a Great Coach
A great lesson is worth infinitely more than a bad one. And I mean that literally. It isn’t worth double, or triple, or quadruple its less effective counterpart. No, the difference in value is infinite. With...
Mixed Strategy – An Antidote to Guessing
A mixed strategy is a strategy in which we mix our shot selection decisions for a given situation; we won’t hit any shot 100% of the time. Consider an extremely common situation – the...
Balanced Strategy – The Mathy Version
For every probabilistic decision in a non-cooperative game, there exists a balanced (typically mixed) strategy which creates indifference in the opponent – it doesn’t matter how the opponent defends, their equity will be the...
A Common HESBA – The Inside-Out Approach
For many players, the highest equity shot before adjustment when given a short, high ball up the middle is an inside-out forehand approach shot. Most players can hit their inside-out forehand reasonably well, and,...
A Commonly Overused Mixed Strategy
One of the most common situations in which players adopt a suboptimal mixed strategy is doubles return of serve. In many matches, no, you don’t have to hit your serve returns down the line....
Highest Equity Shot Before Adjustment (HESBA)
For every situation from which we have to select a shot, there exists a best option barring strategic adjustment from our opponent. This is our highest equity shot before adjustment, our HESBA. That might...
The Optimal Frequency is Often 100%
Many players assume that doing the same thing over and over again is inherently bad, because it’s “predictable.” This is a misconception. Our goal isn’t to be unpredictable, our goal is to win, and...