Tip of the week: Build on a foundation of consistency

Every great player has a strong foundation of consistency. You might recall many a match where Roger Federer or Serena Williams hit a stack of winners while crushing an opponent. The lesson most fans take away from these matches is that to be most effective they must learn to emulate this style of play as soon as possible. But this analysis fails to acknowledge the foundation, developed over thousands of hours on the practice court, that allows great players to be successful when applying a more aggressive and risky style of play.

Think of your game as a pyramid. Much time needs to be spent developing consistency (the base) so you can simply out-rally your opponents. As you improve technically you will be able to, and will need to, move your opponent around and begin to force them into errors (middle layer). At high levels, building points to set-up opportunities for outright winners becomes more important (top).

The whole pyramid represents all of the options you have to play a point. But note that the top of the pyramid, which receives a disproportionate amount of attention, is the smallest part and is held up by the rest of the pyramid. If you try to build your pyramid ignoring the base and focusing on the top...well, you'll end up with a very small pyramid! Focus on starting with a wide base and you’ll have many more options in the long-run. See you on the court!