Tennis World english 39 Tennis World EN 39 | Page 38

Expectations And
Reality
by Federico Coppini

In
my
many
years
of
coaching,
I
have
always
worried
about
the
techniques
and
tactics
of
my
students,
be
they
adults
or
children.
Indeed,
it
doesn’t
matter
what
age
or
level
they
are,
the
basic
concepts
remain
the
same
for
everyone.
A
big
problem
I
find
is
that
players’
expectations
don’t
always
match
reality.
Have
you
ever
wondered
why
when
you
are
in
a
coaching
session,
you
always
seem
to
rally
very
well
with
the
instructor,
but
during
a

match
rallies
rarely
last
more
than
a
few
shots?

Let's
take
a
classic
example:
the
cross-court
rally
drill.
How
many
mistakes
do
you
make
during
coaching
sessions?
A
lot?
Does
it
seem
that
you
hit
those
balls
better
in
practice
than
during
matches?

Here
are
some
reasons
for
that:

-
The
coach
can
easily
adjust
when
you
hit
a
bad
shot
and
still
get
it
back
to
you.

-
The
coach
can
play
and
handle
all
kinds
of
different
shots
easily,
keeping
the
rally
going.

-
The
coach
helps
you
stay
focused
during
practice
sessions.

-
In
matches,
the
coach
is
not
there
to
help
you
stay
focused,
and
the
conditions,
emotional
and
environmental,
can
be
very
different
from
the
practice
courts.

-
During
matches,
there
are
many
more
variable
than
during
practice
sessions.

You
must
remember
that
the
expectations
of
the
practice
court
and
the
reality
of
the
match
court
can
be
very
different.
But
there
are
things
you
can
do
on
the
practice
court
to
more
closely
reflect
actual
matches.

When
I
am
training
with
my
students,
specifically
when
we
are
working
on
crosscourt
rallies,
I
am
conscious
of
making
them
practice
transition
play.
During
each
practice
session,
you
should
be
asking
yourself:

-
How
many
transition
balls
have
I
played?
-
How
many
transition
balls
did
I
play
during
an
extended
rally?
-
How
many
transition
balls
did
I
play
from
the