Have you ever had a match charted or videotaped? If so I bet
you found out a lot about your game. Did you see the mistakes
you made far outnumbered the winners your opponent hit? Many
players leave the court after a match thinking about all the
great shots their opponent made.
Although it may not be what you want to hear, you need to
find out where your errors in match play occur. Let me give
you an example. In a recent match I charted for a student,
she missed 40% of all serves hit to her forehand. Her
backhand return was better but still inconsistent. So what
did she want to work on in her next lesson? Overheads! Why
overheads, you ask? She missed an overhead long by letting
the ball get too far behind her at a crucial point in the
match. She actually only missed two overheads the entire
match and made several. Yet she walked away thinking her
overhead had let here down rather than her true weakness
--the return of serve.
Finding out why you are losing can be a big step in improving
for the competitive player. Without this knowledge, you won't
know how to practice: you'll be practicing your strengths and
neglecting your weaknesses.
Of course I'm speaking from an instructor's opinion but I
think it is definitely worth it to have match charting lessons.
Your instructor can watch you in actual match play and see
how you react in those conditions. After the match, you can
see statistics and direct your practice accordingly.
