Video analysis is a great tool to unequivocally show a player’s match tendencies. It allows me to break down a player’s game to identify areas of weakness and work with the player to improve their technique, tactics, court positioning or even dissect their body language before and after points.
Another advantage of video analysis is that it provides players with visual feedback rather than the normal verbal feedback. Approximately 65% of the world are visual learners so using video can really tap into a player’s natural learning preferences. It also allows players to see exactly what they are doing wrong and what they need to improve, but equally what they are doing right. Used consistently and correctly, video analysis can be an incredibly powerful tool for coaches to improve a player’s self-awareness and performance.
It’s 6am on a Saturday morning. My teenage player has just come back from playing two back-to-back ITF women’s events. She’s sore and her arm has been playing up. Physically she needs to rest, so no hitting, but we are still at the courts. While her last match is still fresh in her mind, it’s the perfect opportunity to analyse it.
Player buy-in is important, so I start the session by asking her to write down what she wants to see in the match.
This is her list:
- Energy
- Behaviours
- Physicality
- Intensity
- Present thinking
- Patterns
- Body language
I focus in on two of the items.
The first: behaviours.
I choose this because I want to begin the session with a positive and acknowledge something she’s been working on for a while and managed to achieve in this match.
I play the video and we watch the first few points. Transitioning from juniors to pro requires a real step up in how your project yourself on court. Behaviours are important, and in this match, she’s nailed it. She presents like a pro, walks with purpose and resets and prepares for each point with energy and focus.
Next, I ask her what she means by patterns and reinforce a concept I have been embedding for a while: Structure vs execution.
Structure refers to the correct actions/decisions a player should make given varying situations such as: ball speed, court positioning, ball direction, ball height, the player’s game style and their grips etc.
It can involve learning repeatable patterns and is how you set up the point and react to a situation. A structural error is when a player decides to play a low percentage shot – the wrong shot at the wrong time. This can be called a bad error.
Execution is about the players ability to hit a certain shot at a certain time. For instance, a forehand down the line, or a kick serve to the backhand. Reasons for improper execution might be technique, physicality, or attitude, but not poor decision-making. An execution error is when a player plays a high percentage shot but fails to execute it - the right shot with the wrong result. This can be called a good error.
I play the video.
A flat low ball comes to her forehand. She hits it down the line and it sails long.
Before I need to, she tells me she should have hit that shot middle to cross.
She’s right.
Each player has certain limitations due to grip, physicality, game style etc. For this player the correct structure is to hit the ball back, middle to cross.
She then confesses she was trying to hit to the opponent’s backhand.
And that’s why decision making in tennis is hard and needs to be reinforced continually. You usually have less than a second to react to a ball. You are trying to move and prepare, as well as decide where you will hit the next shot. In this case, she was right that one of her match tactics was to try and play to the opponents backhand, but that needed to be balanced with what the ball was telling her was the right shot to play.
That error – structure. A bad error.
Action: Work on showing more discipline when the ball is below the net level.
I resume the video.
A few points on, a ball comes in with shape on the backhand side and bounces three quarter court. My player chooses to shape it back. The ball floats long. I stop the video.
This player has an aggressive baseline game style. Big serve, big hitting. The match is on grass making it even more of a first strike game.
That means in this situation she needs to step up and take the ball early. In the women’s game at this level, if you don’t step up and take court position, your opponent will.
So, this error? Again, structure.
Action: Recognising when to step in and gain court position.
I restart the video.
The very next point, she steps into the court, drives her opponent back and wins the point. I stop the video and commend her. It is extremely important to spend as much time reinforcing good behaviours and showing players their strengths as it is showing areas of improvement.
Watching this passage of play has been immensely valuable for my player. In those two points she was able to see in context something we have been working on for the past few weeks. Not only what she should do, but how, when, and why. And that is incredibly powerful for imbedding learning.
A few points later, my player is returning on the deuce side. The opponent serves wide to her forehand. She hits the return down the line – straight into the net. This is the second time this has happened in the game.
I stop the video.
The highest percentage return for a serve out wide to the forehand is middle to line. So, her decision making was solid. She just didn’t make the shots.
So, those two errors were due to execution. Good errors.
Action: From this we identify and commit to practicing the forehand line return when she is back on court.
I end the session there.
Points to take away
- Video analysis helped my player and I to shape her upcoming sessions with solid actions. We did this in the context of structure vs execution.
- It’s just as important to show your player what they are doing right as it is things theyneed to improve on. Every player will have limitations and while they need to be taken into consideration, equal time should be spent on a player’s strengths. A player who knows their strengths has confidence to step up in big situations. A player that only knows their limitations can become limited by fear.
- Video analysis allows a coach to present information in a different way which can help cement concepts, ideas and habits.
- By identifying areas of improvement and strengths directly from a recent match, a player is more likely to be motivated to work on those areas in the coming weeks. And to be honest, so am I.
- In each analysis session I try to leave my player with no more than two to three main points to remember and work on. I’ve found that if I ask them to focus on much more than that, they can walk away overwhelmed and cluttered.
I want them to walk away focused and empowered.
By Marc Sophoulis
At The Tennis Menu, we constantly use data to back up our theories and turn them into facts. Our data science team dissect technical aspects of players games as well as tactical solutions to improve on court performance. If you want to know more send us an enquiry about what part of data science you are interested in and our team will guide you in every way.
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