DOES PLAYING BETTER PLAYERS HELP YOUR GAME?




Should you be practising with players who are better than you to improve? Well, yes, sometimes.

One of the problems many coaches have to deal with when they train large groups of players is this myth amongst players and parents that to get better; you need to practice with players who are better than you.

By practising with better players, you are automatically required to move faster on the court, make quicker decisions, and be stronger mentally. But I've seen significant progress in players who have practiced against players who are not as good.

Here's why working with weaker players can be beneficial to your game.

Offense & Defense

Even a dominant player like Noval Djokovic, during his best years, only won 56% of the points he played. That means he lost 44% of the points he played when he was at his best!

Tennis is a game that involves three conditions when you are playing a point; you are either in an Offensive mode, a defensive mode, or you are Neutral (neither Offense nor Defense).

I often see players who have trained themselves to be 100% Offensive in matches, but if they are forced to go on the defensive in pints don't know what to do. The quality of their Offense is far better than the quality of their Defense.

Many in the women's game are like this.

Anna Ivanovic went to number 2 in the world very quickly based on an all-out aggressive game. Once, she told me, "If I can play my game, nobody can beat me." While that might have been true, many times during matches, she had to defend, and as soon as opponents understood that they needed to establish Offense before Anna, she struggled to win.

If you practice against players who are better than you, you will experience many defensive points. That's great. And when you play against a weaker player, you will have lots of opportunities to work on your Offense. That's perfect also.

You need opportunities to practice your Offensive 
game and your Defensive game while in matches.

30/30/30

The ideal scenario is to play against opponents better than you for 30% of the time, against players of the same level as you for 30% of the time, and against players weaker than you 30%.

It doesn't have to be exact, but you get the idea. Each level can help your game if you approach practice intelligently.

30% Above

When you are playing against or practising with players who are stronger than you try to limit their ability to attack you, Get the ball to the right places. 

Generally, you're trying to maintain depth during the rally and trying to read your opponent as best you can.

Any way you can anticipate your opponents' intentions will give you an advantage.

Defense is just as important to you as Offense

30% the Same Level

Practicing and playing against players at your level helps you develop consistency. It's easy to play against players better than you because there's no pressure; you're expected to lose anyway, right? 

Many parents and coaches have their players play "up" and justify them playing up by saying that it will give them experience. Rubbish! They're afraid of the player losing within their own age group.

There's a unique pressure that comes with being expected to win. Let's start to get used to that type of pressure.

30% Below

The best way to improve and test parts of your game is to use them in live matches that mean something. But you can make this process a little easier and help gain confidence by implementing the new skill or strategy in games against lower-level players.

Young fighters are given easier fights early
in their career

In boxing, they often start a promising fighter's career by putting them in match-ups with many lower-ranked players. We can do the same in tennis to help players adopt new things into their game.

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