Twice a year, the LTA hosts County Fun Days. This is where all coaches in the County are asked to nominate their ‘best’ students so that the LTA performance team can see the level of players and in their select the ‘best’ children for support and development.

What is it that the LTA team look for?

I’m sure there are criteria that I don’t even know about but here are the 4 main themes:

1) Technical
2) Tactical
3) Physical
4) Mental

1) Technical

Is the child’s shot technique correct. In theory we’re all trying to teach the same way, but in practice we don’t. Even within a team of coaches at a club there are differences unless you’re perhaps at somewhere like the Bollitieri Academy.

But generally there should be a natural technique within certain parameters, this is completely teachable of course.

2) Tactical

What to do in certain situations, where to hit the ball. Again, completely teachable BUT very difficult to have tactical ability if the player doesn’t first have technical ability, so there is a dependency there.

3) Physical

Can the player move correctly, efficiently and have the endurance to last through the physical demands of a match. Even at a young age children can be taught the correct footwork patterns to approach certain shots. As with Technical and Tactical this is completely teachable.

4) Mental

Now this to my mind is really key. This is about the right attitude and for attitude I mean listening, ability to assimilate instructions into the process (the technique, tactics and movement), the ability to work well with other players and the emotional maturity to deal with everyday tennis situations.

I’ve seen very good players who get upset that they lose points in practice. Children like this would not get selected because the mental attribute would cause problems in a squad.

Again this is teachable, but I think to a degree. In a one to one situation we can work on this a lot, but in a group/squad situation, without good listening, the child will really struggle to progress.

Our focus is Safety, fun, learn tennis and safety for us means listening, respecting and trying their best, even in things people see as optional like warm ups. If you don’t give it your best in practice, very hard to suddenly switch on your best in a match!

We focus on this a lot in our groups, we’re maybe not perfect at it, but generally we see respectful groups where the kids really do progress but most importantly love their tennis.

I read a fantastic piece of analysis on the Australian Open by Craig O’Shannessy on the Australian Open website and wanted to share it with you here and see how that relates to junior and club players.

Craig was kind enough to let me share it here, so big thank you to him, you can find Craig on twitter @BrainGameTennis

Here is Craig’s analysis with some added notes from myself:

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2016-02-02/ao_analyst_tournament_review.html

1. Tennis is a Game of ERRORS.

If there are any players on the planet that should not miss the court when they hit a ball, it’s the field at Melbourne Park. But they actually miss a lot, just like the rest of us.

In the men’s draw, 64 per cent of all points for the entire tournament ended in an error. As much as you may like to hit winners, they represented just 36 per cent of all points. The ladies are right in the same ballpark, with 67 per cent errors, and 33 per cent winners.

Takeaway: the primary way you want to end a point is forcing an error, not hitting a winner.

From Jonty: Stay in the points, don’t go for wild shots, get that ball over and in one more time than your opponent!

2. The Baseline is a LOSING proposition.

If any specific strategy you attempt on a tennis court wins you more than 50% of points, then keep doing it.

Rallying from the baseline is an essential part of our sport, but it’s also a very difficult place to be successful from. The Australian Open average win percentage from the back of the court for the men was just 46 per cent – 48 per cent for the ladies.

It is pretty safe to say that Djokovic is the world’s best player from the back of the court, but he was able to only win 54 per cent of his baseline points for the tournament.

Angelique Kerber stunned Serena Williams in the ladies final, and Kerber only averaged winning 52 per cent from the back of the court. It’s quite rough back there.

Takeaway: the baseline is not a high percentage place to play from. Much better to develop an all-court game.

From Jonty: The court is a big place, learn to love all of it!

3. Get to the NET

The “herd mentality” in tennis says it’s too tough to get to the net in today’s game with faster athletes, better strings, and more powerful racquets to contend with.

The herd is wrong.

While the baseline average win percentage languishes below 50 per cent, both men and women won exactly 67 per cent of the time at the front of the court.

Takeaway: If you have a 50-50 ball that you could approach on, or stay back, go to the net 100 per cent of the time to activate a much higher winning percentage.

From Jonty: Martina Navratilova once told me ‘If in doubt, go forward’, don’t be afraid, take control if the time is right.

4. SHORTER is better.

There are three recognized rally lengths in tennis that help us identify different strategies used.

They are 0-4 shots long, 5-8 shots, and 9+ shots.

Djokovic looks like he loves long rallies, but he wins far more of the shorter rallies than you think.

For the entire tournament, Djokovic was +123 (493 won / 370 lost) in 0-4 shots, +39 (191 won /152 lost) in 5-8 shots, and only +28 (152 won / 124 lost) in the extended rally length of nine shots or longer.

Takeaway: work far more on your serve and return on the practice court. Endless rallies may feel good, but don’t contribute a lot to the bottom line.

From Jonty: The entry points to a point (serve and return) are crucial, make sure you can get into a point well.

5. FOREHANDS are better than backhands.

Think of it like this – your forehand is your sword to attack with, and your shield is your backhand, that is essentially more defensive by nature.

In the men’s draw, 68 per cent of all baseline winners were forehands, and 32 per cent were backhands. The women’s numbers were very similar, with 64 per cent forehand winners, and 36 per cent backhands.

Takeaway: Look for more forehands in your matches, particularly as a run-around in the ad court (for right handers).

From Jonty: Look at the flip side here as well, enjoy your forehands but try to force your opponent to play backhands (assuming he’s not Stan Wawrinka!)

6. YES, you can serve and volley

This is not a strategy of yesteryear.

The men won 67 per cent of their serve and volley points, and the ladies won 62 per cent.

This is a hidden gem that you can sprinkle into your game to freak the opponent out with a surprise foray forward to the net. Use it once a set if need be, maybe at 40-0. You would foolish to dismiss this amazing tactic, simply because of the high win percentage it yields.

Takeaway: it’s time to make serve and volley sexy again. Start developing it in practice. If you can’t put the first volley away to the open court, always volley back behind the opponent with the first volley. You are then going to be rewarded with an overhead.

Congratulations to Angelique and Novak for taking the titles Down Under. Learn from them and the rest of the field, and make your own game a lot better in 2016 as well.