I ran across a great tennis article a racquetball player posted on fb. The article dealt with failure and how great players fail as much as hackers. Why? They take more chances and the window of great and missed shots is very small. Of course this applies to racquetball as well. When a player attempts a backhand rollout from 38 feet away and skips it in a close match people roll their eyes and think “how stupid”. Those same people gasp and call the shot “brilliant” if it rolls out. There is a fine line between failure and success and if you aspire to greatness you must practice greatness. Here are five things great players know and runner-ups do not.
1. You do not have to roll out every shot. You can leave a margin of error. Do not let the floor beat you!
2. Use the fifth wall. I work with the greatest player of all time. He hits ceiling balls. Nobody remembers them, but I do because he uses the ceiling brilliantly and gives few setups off the back wall with a ceiling ball.
3. Understand when your opponent is under pressure. You are ahead and they are behind and they sense the match momentum changing. The pressure is on them. Give them a “tease” shot. A tease shot is something that looks good but is not. Make them beat you from their worst area on the court.
4. Keep pressure on your opponent. Getting cute with dink shots in the front court or beginning a skip fest from deep court may take pressure off. Ripping keeps pressure on!
5. The hunted always get the best effort from the hunter. Know that and use it to your advantage. Trying to do too much is one disadvantage for the hunter. The hunted know that!
You can probably guess more things but employ these five things to take your game to a higher level!