The most fundamental strategy in tennis is: Consistency

Hi, This is the second in a series of tennis tips. I don't
assume to tell you something new every time, however sometimes
you need to hear something you already know one more time! As
promised, this time I will give you some tactical advice. It's
called: CONSISTENCY! In tennis the basic idea is to hit the ball
over the net into the field of the opponent and preferably one
time more often than him/her. If you succeed you win the point.
That's the basic idea. Now I know there's more to it, however
since it is so basic, so essential, it's worth paying attention
to. On almost all levels you win more points of your opponent's
mistakes than you do of your own winners. Every now and then on
a professional level you will see a player hit more winners than
his/her opponent made unforced errors, but often it is the other
way around even on that level. This balance between taking risk
and not making to many unforced errors is very delicate and very
important if you want to enjoy some success in tennis. A good
example of this is the match Dutchman Verkerk played against
Federer in Paris in 2004. Verkerk hit an enormous amount of
winners, but unfortunately made almost as many unnecessary
mistakes as well. His unforced errors evened out his winners.
Although he had the initiative during most of the match, in the
end he lost. Experience (gained from years of practice and
playing lots of matches) and talent will help you decide when to
go for the winner and when to play it 'safe'. This is called
playing the percentages (or percentage tennis). It's all about
consistency in all game situations. (More about that next time.)
All this is assuming you can already play both offensive and
defensive shots. If you just started to play tennis the most
important thing for you is: CONSISTENCY! Yep, just concentrate
on keeping the ball in play. Try to get to every ball, run the
soles off your shoes and hit the ball to the other side. Be
persistent and you'll drive people crazy! "All he/she does is
bringing back the ball", they will say. (You will smile and know
that you consciously chose this strategy while you are still
developing your game.) So, remember to play with consistency!
HAVE FUN, Mark Luyk

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http://www.game-set-and-match.com