Expert: Jim Leupold - 7/22/2009

Question

Hello, tennis

My 13 years old son playing tennis here in India since couple of years. He was doing well but his coach changed some of his technique like grip and some other errors. Because of this boys who were of his caliber are now started playing int. tournament and he is still improving. he gets frustrated because of this.

  As it is monsoon here in India ,he is even not possible to practise. What should he do during monsoon so his game improves? He wants to be a tennis player and very talented boy.
thanks, yuvraj

Answer
Dear Yuvraj,

There was an American tennis player who changed from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand and began serving and volleying - right at age 13.  His national ranking went down horribly, and he struggled quite a bit for nearly a year.  His goal, however, was to win Wimbledon, so the baseline game he had at the time just wasn't going to get it done.  That boy's name was Pete Sampras.   It turned out pretty well for him!

So as long as there were good reasons for grip changes and technique errors, other than this is the grip the Federer or Nadal uses, then it could be worth it in the long run.  If the changes were to make the stroke "look" like this or that, it might not have been the best idea.  Technique only needs to be changed if it's grossly inefficient, if the student asks for it or if the student is going to become injured because of the form he's using at the time.  

Where is his frustration coming from?  Is his new technique in alignment with what he wants to do/be as a tennis player?  Then he's only delaying things even more by being frustrated.  Any change takes time, in tennis and in life.  Hopefully, if the reasons for the technique changes are sound, he is practicing like crazy on the new technique to create good muscle memory as much and as quickly as possible.  

For off-season training, try some indoor sports, organized or just for fun.  Strength training, stretching, quickness training, short sprints are all great.   

Take a look at this website.  Pat Etcheberry has trained many of the world's top tennis players and other athletes.  I think you'll find some great help here:  http://etcheberryexperience.com/


Best of luck!

Jim Leupold
PBI Director of Tennis
Desert Springs, A JW Marriott Resort & Spa