THE FORM MYTH

Today's greatest myth in tennis is that a perfect swing (form) equals a perfect game. Players and coaches everywhere focus on training form, hoping it will translate into better results.

Players and Coaches everywhere are
teaching form over function


That's simply not true.

Golfers can work on their swing at the driving range for hours, perfecting the smallest details and seeing great results later. 

Golf, however, is a "Closed" skill sport. Picture a golfer standing over the ball, having already decided what club to use and with the luxury of calmly deciding the specific flight they want the ball to travel. With Closed skill sports, you have time.
Closed Skill: "A skill performed in a stable or largely predictable environmental setting. The movement patterns for closed skills can be planned in advance"   
- Oxford Dictionary
Closed-skill sports also often rely on a similar, repetitive movement each time. High board diving, snooker, and archery are other examples of Closed sports where you are allowed time to prepare and where repetition allows a degree of predictability for the participant.

Having a stationary ball and the ability
to begin the swing whenever you're ready
makes Golf a Closed Skill Sport

Tennis is not a Closed skill sport, it's an "Open" skilled sport. Here's why:

1. Tennis is unpredictable; we never know what the next ball will be like. The better our opponent is, the more unpredictable the ball will be.

2. Tennis is more dynamic. Unlike a golf ball, which is stationary, the tennis ball is moving, and we must continually coordinate our movement,  balance, and ball striking within a narrow window of time 


Tennis is a dynamic, Open skilled
sport, we must avoid training
Players using Closed-skill methods

These are the two main differences between Golf and Tennis. Why is it important to distinguish between Open and Closed skilled sports?  Because these differences affect how we should approach a tennis player's training.

To truly develop the Open Skilled nature of tennis, you'll need to do away with several training methods you may be using regularly now. If any of the following play a large part of your training routine, take them out!
  1. Repetition
  2. Predictability
  3. Long warm-ups
  4. Stroke "grooving" 
Instead, replace them with more of the following:
  1. Unpredictability
  2. Pressure
  3. Creative rallies
  4. Decision making
  5. Finishing the point
SUMMARY

As a player or a coach, it's important that you stop focusing on the form of your strokes, the back-swing, and follow-through. Instead, turn your focus towards what your racket face is doing. 

Your racquet face will determine whether or not the ball you hit goes deep, short, left or right.

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