File this one under “Everybody is an expert”. I recently ran into a situation that explains the difference between an amateur coach and an expert coach.
Coach had an athlete playing another athlete with an unbelievable backhand. Coach had his athlete serve almost every serve to the opponent’s forehand because logically the forehand was weaker than the backhand. This is a mistake that many amateur coaches make.
A few things to dwell on. First, a great athlete can over-come amateur coaching. This one almost did.
Second, if the athlete has confidence in the coach, the athlete will succeed. (See Rafa Nadal’s Uncle Tony or the Williams’ Sisters father-both amateur coaches and the pros outgrew the coaches)
Back to the match and what was wrong about the strategy. If an opponent has a weaker forehand you play the backhand to open up the court. Serving to on one side of the court does not always work against a good player. They are good and they adjust! You must open the entire court.
But there was another mistake. The backhand side was on a glass side wall. That renders the best of backhands not as effective.
An experienced coach would know that. The inexperienced coach in the example above did not.