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United States Professional Tennis Association

STRATEGIC

The strategic component involves a player's overall game plan and usually incorporates two or more of the tactical elements. Types of strategy may include serve-and-volley, running an opponent until he gets tired or attacking an opponent's weaker side. Strategies may change during the course of a match, so a player must learn how to adjust his strategy in certain situations based on outside variables such as an opponent's style of play, the physical environment and particular game or match scores.

 

Repetition, recognizing strengths, game style, surfaces, game situations, match situations and tournament situations all make up the strategic component of tennis.

 

Strategic subcomponents

 

The following list defines each of the subcomponents and explains them with a short video:

 

1. Repetition - The ability to reproduce tactics that have proved successful against an opponent MORE

2. Recognizing strengths - Knowing one's strengths and weaknesses and using that knowledge to develop a game plan or tactics against different opponents MORE

3. Game style - Understand and distinguish between game styles and knowing how to use them and defend against them MORE

4. Surfaces - Knowing all types of playing surfaces with their individual playing characteristics and the ability to adapt to each of them appropriately MORE

5. Game situations - Adapting to typical playing conditions that occur during a game in a match (e.g., playing ad points, etc.) MORE

6. Match situations - Adapting to playing situations that occur during a set in a match (e.g., when to change a losing strategy) MORE

7. Tournament situations - Adapting to the variety of challenges that occur in the normal course of a tournament MORE

Resources

Below is a list of available video clips describing in detail the strategic component as well as each of its seven subcomponents.

Define strategy
Training



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