tennis tactics are often compared to chess the best tennis players are supposedly executing
complex predetermined moves prior to the point starting but I'm here to tell you that none of
that is true tennis is nothing like chess it's a game that's based on feel muscle memory and
most importantly instincts even if you wanted to execute complex tactics you wouldn't be able to
because it's a game that's highly unpredictable and for that reason tennis tactics have to be
simple and how do I know this to be true well I've been a coach for many many years and I know
that when I give my players complicated complex tactical instructions these are inexecutable and
the simple reason for that is that the tennis game is highly unpredictable so for that reason I've
always given very simple tactical instructions to my players and these by far produce the best
results so what you're going to do now is go you're going to run every ball down you're not
gonna watch the ball go by you you're not going to watch the Drop shots bounce two or three times
before you get to him you're gonna fight like it's the last that you'll ever play that's how
you have to treat the set you're going to fight to the Max and you're going to play aggressive
high percentage tennis all right aggressive high percentage tennis you're not gonna push but
I'm gonna come out here and Blast the Ball like a like a madman You're Gonna Play aggressive
high percentage tennis and you're gonna fight like you've never fought before okay and then
let's just see what happens all right all right come on and not only am I a coach but I'm also
a former high-level player and I know what it's like to be on a match court and trying to execute
these convoluted tactics these are going to be impossible to execute because like I already said
the tennis game is extremely unpredictable for that reason tactics have to be simple now don't
misunderstand me thinking that you don't need any tactics tactics are very important I released an
entire course on my website intuitivetennis.com titled intuitive tennis tactics there are many
things that you can do on a court to increase your chances of winning a tennis match but a lot of
people have a wrong idea about tennis tactics and they make it far too complicated when you
make your tactics too complicated you are gonna make your life very difficult on the match
court now another reason why I know what I'm saying to be the truth is because I read a lot
of interviews from the legends of the game I'll either listen to the interview or I'll actually
read the interview transcripts and there's so much that you can learn from the interviews but
there's another way that you can get an Insight of what the greatest players of all time think
when they play matches and that is the laver cup that's one of the reasons why I love the laver cup
so much because we get to hear the Legends coach the other players and the last Laver cup we had
the great pairing of Nadal and Federer playing doubles and Federer's last match and I got so
much out of those conversations in the changeover especially when Novak Djokovic was coaching them
I wrote five things down that Federer Nadal and Djokovic have said during Federer's last
doubles match at the laver cup that will perfectly explain what I'm talking about in this video and
that is the fact that tennis tactics have to be simple tennis is nothing like chess and once I
read you the statements that these three goats have made you will understand that tactics have to
be simple there's no other way guys so the first thing that Rafa said it was in the beginning of
the doubles match it's unbelievable when you don't play doubles how slow you are at the net so this
came after Rafa missing a few easy volleys okay his observation was that his reaction time at
the net was slow because he simply hasn't played a lot of doubles and just think of how simple that
is this is absolutely logical he hasn't come to the net enough he hasn't exposed himself to the
situation that one finds themselves in and doubles and for that reason he was a little bit Rusty he
said that it's incredible how when you don't play doubles how slow you are at the net so his
perception was that his reaction time was slower simply because he hasn't played a lot of doubles
now the solution to that problem is of course the play more doubles the more doubles he plays
the faster his hands are going to be come maybe he can work on his reflexes and those doubles specific
scenarios on the practice court so you can see here that Rafa identified the problem and there
is right away a simple solution to fix this issue now in the middle of the first set Federer said we
have time on the return the ball is not jumping like crazy so Federer's observation was that on
that indoor hardcourt that they were playing on they were playing against Jack sock and Francis
tiafoe he was referring to Jack sock's serve it wasn't bouncing like it normally does so he was observing
the bounce of the serve and his perception was that it wasn't so bad the ball wasn't bouncing
like crazy the bounce was kind of low and so his perception was that they would get a chance to get
a break in that first set in which they did and for that reason he quite possibly adjusted his
positioning on the return he moved up a little bit closer because the ball wasn't jumping like
it normally does on Jack socks serve so you understand how simple the problem solving in
a match is the tactics stemed from an observation based on the court speed and there's a simple
solution that Federer got from his observation to take more chances on the return because the
ball wasn't as Lively as it would be on other courts now I took Federal Nadal a while to get
the first break in fact it got it towards the end of the first set but somewhere in the middle of
the first set Federer said the following we cannot be scared to miss the ball we don't want to miss
pushing and I don't know how many times I've said this on my YouTube channel and I've said this
to a lot of my students if you watch my on court lessons you will see this statement repeated by
me many many times and my observation has always been that when players are very careful when they
start pushing the ball their intention is to get the ball in because they're missing but the exact
opposite happens of their intention where they start missing a lot more because they don't have a
lot of muscle memory built up for the push this is a completely different technique and they end up
missing even more than if they go for their shots so the fact that Federer said this the laver cup I
was so happy to hear this where it's coming out of his mouth something that's so simple applied
to the legends of the game the greatest players of all time you cannot be scared to miss because
you're gonna miss anyway trust your shots and go for them now out of all the things that I wrote
down from this Laver cup doubles match my absolute favorite was what Djokovic said to feder and Adele
and this is when they were in a little bit of trouble they weren't playing well in the second
set they got broken early and Djokovic said make TFO play an extra shot he was referring to both
Nadal and Federer and going down the line too fast trying to end the point too fast he wanted the two
goals to stay in the rally longer with TFO because Joko is more than anybody in the history of the
game knows that you have to be patient and tennis it counts the same when your opponent misses then
when you hit a winner now Djokovic also knows that while tiafoe is an incredible player a
super Talent he's a little bit of a hot head and he's not known to be the most consistent guy out
there in fact Djokovic came out the next day and beat tiafoe three and one so Djokovic knows that if you
stay with Tiafoe if you don't lose your patience he will every now and then give you some mistake
and I thought this was the greatest tip that I heard in the entire labor cup basically saying
make TF will play an extra shot I mean think about how simple that is guys that's what I'm
saying tennis tactics have to be simple these are not some convoluted plays that you're gonna
run you can't anyway because tennis is such an unpredictable sport the tactics have to be simple
and we have proof right there the gold Novak Djokovic keeps his tactics extremely simple as
well now the last thing I wrote down was actually on Match Point with Federer serving at nine eight
in the super tie breaker on his own serve and he missed his first serve he actually did something
super smart tactically because he went on the second serve with a slice down the T and he was
serving to Jack sock so we all know that Jack stock loves to run around his backhand especially
in doubles so Federer did the Tactical move of switching his second serve and going with a
slice of the T and this would have worked most of the time but didn't really place it that well the
ball was still somewhat Central and Jack sock hit a pretty good forehand that went very deep better
then hit a backhand cross-court and TFO poached hit a weak Valley through the middle and Federer
sprinted through the middle and I'm telling you normally Federer would make this forehand nine
out of 10 times but he was just kind of late on the ball and he had to do a little bit of an
improvisation I ended up missing his forehand and that blew that match point and right after that
point Federer said the slowest movement ever and he asked the guys jokingly was this in slow motion
so as far as tactics are concerned and this is a super interesting statement because better is well
aware that his body didn't work anymore this was his last match the reason why he retired was that
his knees were falling apart and he just couldn't move the same way he was moving before but it's
important to understand when we're talking about tactics when a player has some physical
limitations there have to be adjustments made as far as tactics so points have to be shorter
the player has to be overly more aggressive in the case of doubles I think what should have
happened in that circumstance nadal should have covered that ball in the middle he should have
poached on it because he has to be aware that Federer's movement is not at the normal level
so technically this is an important consideration for everyone it's a super simple thing if you have
some physical limitations whatever they may be this will have a huge tactical implication to
your tennis game so there you have it guys the goats keep their tactics simple and so should
you this is one of the biggest misconceptions that's out there the tennis is this complicated
a complex game it cannot be complex guys it's just simply too unpredictable you have no idea what's
going to come from your opponent especially at the recreational level some of you might think that
maybe at the recreational level tactics are easier no because often at the recreational level there
are footwork issues there are technical issues on a stroke and a player might have a certain
intention but whether the ball goes where they intended to go that's highly unlikely to happen so
it's even more unpredictable at the recreational level then it would be at the professional level
so for that reason you cannot execute these convoluted complex complicated tactics because
they're just not going to pan out things that you think are going to happen on a tennis court are
not going to take place you might tell yourself okay I'm going to kick it out wide and I'm gonna
go down the line I'm going to run a pattern where I'm going to go three times Cross Court then I'm
going to hit a drop shot you don't know what's going to happen from the opponent the opponent
could do a hundred different things to you and tactic that you had planned is going to go
right out the window so for that reason remember that tennis is an intuitive game you're watching
intuitive tennis I named my channel intuitive tennis for a reason when it comes to tactics
there are many tactics that are intuitive as well however there are some tactics that you
can execute on the tennis court no doubt about it but when you do so these tactics have to be simple
and logical and remember if the goats can keep it simple out there on a tennis court so can you