The Debate: What makes a skilled player?
There is a debate amongst many tennis players and fans as to how important a player’s technique really is to their success. Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal, are three players who had graced up with their beautiful groundstrokes for years, and now, Alcaraz and Sinner have left their marks with their techniques. Despite all of their successes, none of these players have identical groundstrokes. Each of them have unique characteristics that distinguish their form from each other. Furthermore, players like Medvedev and Kyrgios have made it to the highest caliber of tennis despite their unorthodox technique and styles.
This leaves many wondering what technique is the most efficient, and whether it matters at all. Many coaches often stop working on their student’s technique as they advance and shift focus to the factors they believe matters more, even if their technique is not standard yet. There are many claims made that strategy is the biggest determining difference between a high level player and a tennis professional. Some claim tennis is a mental game, and yet others say it is footwork and agility that separates the winner.
However, it is clear to me that technique is the key indicator of a tennis player’s success and should not ever be neglected by tennis coaches. While a tennis player must be strong in all qualities to achieve great success, many of these qualities are conjoined with technique and depend on technique to be strong.
Why Technique Matters
There are 5 core fundamentals that make up a tennis player – technique, footwork, strategy, mentality, and physicality. Apart from physicality, the other 4 fundamentals are mainly only built on a tennis court. A big misconception is that these are independent factors, which is untrue. Rather, these fundamentals interact with each other, and oftentimes, strengthening one fundamental will help strengthen another.
Technique remains in the center of all fundamentals, as it is the main principle of tennis and is what allows all the other fundamentals to be effective. It is a boring answer, yes, but there is no need to philosophically dive deeper than this.
Strategies and tactics are patterns played out on court that include manipulating the ball and changing your court positioning. Depending on your technique’s stability, versatility, and the ability to create power and racquet head speed, the strategies that are available to you may differ.
A good example of this can be seen between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner’s extensive use of his wrist on his forehand generates tremendous racquet head speed. However, because of this, it is a difficult shot to time, reducing the control he has on the ball. Thus, you will see Sinner often play with large margins of error and try to outpace his opponents by playing long rallies. Alcaraz’s forehand technique has less wrist motion than Sinner and uses a higher backswing. This allows him to start swinging forward into the ball a split second later compared to Sinner, allowing him more adjustments that can be made and leading to more control. Due to this, Alcaraz can play with more angles and go for shots with lower margins of error and often opts for shorter rallies compared to Sinner.
Footwork is extremely connected with technique such that proper technique would not be possible without proper feet positioning. To generate power, the feet must be positioned in a stance that allows you to turn your body with ease. To make contact with the ball in the optimal zone, the feet must make adjustments that allow you to find the same spacing consistently.
Lastly is mentality. While this sounds far-reaching, mentality during crucial points is truly dictated by how confident you feel about your shot under tension. Djokovic, known for having the toughest mentality, has one of the most balanced form and simple techniques. This stability maximizes the control he has on the ball, though with the slight reduction of racquet head speed and power. Such technique is most advantageous in difficult moments, when consistency is the most important deciding factor.
All in all, with technique being the center of all core fundamentals, it is necessary for technique to continue being a factor in your game and something you can continue to improve, no matter what level you are. Do not neglect it, or you may be limiting your potential.