In this section we will discuss the core of tennis and what makes it a complex discipline: match management.
1.Which game plan for which type of player?
As mentioned in the previous tutorials, the basis of your match strategy should be an accurate analysis of your player's profile.
First, look at his natural attributes: weight and height. This is really just a matter of physics. Some significant advantages will be given to each player depending on his morphology. But, let's face it, being tall in a sport like tennis gives you an extra range on the volley and, more importantly, a much greater potential for strength on the serve. However, it should be noted that smaller players will have the advantage of velocity on their moves.
These attributes (technical, physical and mental) determine your player's ability to execute the game plan. The more a player executes a game plan that matches his personal capacities, the better he will tend to perform. Send a player, mediocre at volleying, on a serve-and-volley game plan and you will see the damage!
As a reminder, all of these attributes will be impacted in a match by his mental state and form (see another previous tutorial).
2.Game plans vs. tactical instructions
Mastering the game plan
The game plan is the overall style that your player will have on the field and that will determine the decisions he will take according to certain situations.
The parameter to take into account when choosing a game plan, apart from the attributes of the player, is the level of control of the game plan.
According to the color indicated (red/yellow/green), the game plan is presented as: mastered; moderately mastered; no mastery.
Choosing a mastered game plan means to bring serenity to the player who will be able to optimize his performance in a strategy he knows. However, it only takes a few tactical changes for the game plan to be out of control and disturb your player.
Therefore, if you want to change the strategy during a match, you should do it sparingly or choose another game plan that your player already knows.
Note also that a change of game plan during a match, while your player is winning, can disturb him. Indeed, your player may not understand the reason for this change and this could affect his morale. However, some cases (your opponent is getting tired so you want to lengthen the exchanges / your player is tired so you want to shorten the exchanges) may justify this change because of other factors like fatigue or mental state.
In general, we recommend to our managers to plan at least 3 fully mastered game plans. This will allow you to cover a maximum of situations and to go directly to a more defensive or offensive game plan without going through the details of tactical instructions each time.
The mentality
The mentality of your player will be represented here in the form of 2 gauges that will evaluate:
- Respect for tactics:
Evaluates here the freedom that we will give to our player in relation to the game plan in place. Note that this also impacts the chances to make dropshots.
- Defense/attack balance:
Measures the tendency of your player to take control of the point. Example: If he is totally attacking, then he will tend to attack in situations that he might have considered neutral or defensive.
Thanks to this gauge you can decide in which way, in which perspective, your rookie should approach each ball / each point. The set of scenarios (defense; neutral; attack) are represented as above.
Tactical instructions
Here we come to the favorite part of the sport's experts, tactical strategy enthusiasts and analysts of all kinds. Indeed, tactical instructions represent the score on which your player will rely on to make the most of his strengths.
The tactical instructions are divided into 3 main areas of the game:
- Serve
- Return
- Rally
The service
Here you can set a multitude of instructions on each side related to the execution of the service: power, risk, spin, target zone, second ball... It is up to you to decide the strategy you wish to implement.
It will then be easy for you, through the dedicated 3D analysis (as below), to evaluate the relevance of your choices and, if necessary, to rectify the shot by bringing the most appropriate instructions to the quality of the return delivered by your opponent.
The return
Here you can set a multitude of return instructions on each side: power, risk, target zone, depth... It is up to you to decide which return strategy you want to implement.
Here again, it is recommended to use the 3D analysis to easily evaluate if your strategy is relevant to your opponent's quality of service.
Rally
Rallies are of course the heart of the game. They are divided here into 3 types of scenarios (as explained previously): normal / attack / defense.
You will be able to set the way you want your player to manage these 3 types of points depending on whether he is on his forehand or his backhand: counterpunch, approach to the net, attack on the backhand, spin, ball power...
Here again, it's up to you to find the right recipe, the right balance, so that your player has the best chance to win the rallies. Various 3D analysis approaches, available throughout the match, provide you with a multitude of useful information to understand your strategy and its immediate results.
Finally, as explained earlier, we advise not to change the instructions too much because they can change your player's knowledge of the game plan... So, it is better to change the game plan than to change the existing tactical instructions too much.
Intensities
As you can see below, it is possible to modify the level of intensity that your player can put on 3 different aspects of the game:
- The serve
- The return
- The key points
Note that this parameter must be carefully measured since it has an impact on the state of fatigue of your player as well as on his mental state. Indeed, it is important to know that the intensity levels also impact the events of the match. That is to say that the loss of a tie-break, the fact of making a double fault when the player is giving everything on the court, will have a more important impact on his mental. On the contrary, if the intensity level is low, negative events will have less impact.