Played for the same All-Army team that world #1 Stan Smith was playing for when he was in the Army(1973). A cherished photo was the two of us wearing our All-Army Sports/tennis jackets and receiving my medal from him. A great guy that came out for the Armed Forces Championships on two occasions. It was my honor to know him even briefly in this context. I had the honor of representing the Army in 1986 & 1987, and 1995-1998. Wearing that jacket today at Diamond Head Tennis Center. Thanks Jim and Stan. And Colonel Dick Green and Chaplain Jonathan Etterbeek. TEAM champs 5 out of 6 years!
Just read a very interesting book that addressed this very issue, i.e., relative value of the points in a tennis match. The book is called Deconstructing Tennis by Robert Schewior. The author, in addition to being a competitive tennis player and coach, is also a Phd economist and analyzes the question of point importance in a very quantifiable way (as only an economist can). Can’t give his approach explanatory justice in this short space but it made a lot of sense to me. Didn’t know if you had heard of this book, just thought I’d mention it as worth a read.
Greg – the momentum concept is about the mental emotional aspect of the game – where a player can become “mentally down” but from a strict mathematical perspective it may be that all points are equal – what was his position?
best
Jim
Sorry to be slow in replying, was traveling. His basic concept is to assign weights to points based on how much they contribute to winning a game, a set, or the match. In a simple example for a set, with the game score at 0-0, the 40-30 point does not contribute much to winning the set and therefore has a low weight. However, with a game score of 5-4, the 40-30 point contributes a lot towards winning the set and has a correspondingly high weight. Pretty straightforward but he then ties this into 2 (at least) other ideas. First, in terms of tactics, you want to only use your high risk tactics (e.g. drop shot) on low weight points and save your most effective tactics for high weight points. Second, given equal talent, players who seem to win more matches are ones who win more of the critical points. And that these players don’t necessarily play the critical points better but they don’t suffer any drop in performance caused by the pressure of playing a critical point. Again, there is whole lot more to the book than I can effectively explain here but hopefully this makes some sense. He also talks about momentum but I’ll have to save that for another post.
Greg
Thanks for this – I like the idea about critical points and managing risk – and that might really be one of the keys that separate the best players from all the rest
best
Jim
This below that I copied is very good
“First, in terms of tactics, you want to only use your high risk tactics (e.g. drop shot) on low weight points and save your most effective tactics for high weight points. Second, given equal talent, players who seem to win more matches are ones who win more of the critical points”.
Excellent advice – always enjoyed and appreciated your advice over the years. Going for another High School State Championship this year – doesn’t get easier.as you know — eight in a row at this point.
Bob
Thanks for the note – motivating young people with simple messages is an art – if you are going for another championship – you must be doing something (or likely many things) right – GOOD LUCK
best
Jim
9 Comments
robert in Hawaii
March 30, 2018Played for the same All-Army team that world #1 Stan Smith was playing for when he was in the Army(1973). A cherished photo was the two of us wearing our All-Army Sports/tennis jackets and receiving my medal from him. A great guy that came out for the Armed Forces Championships on two occasions. It was my honor to know him even briefly in this context. I had the honor of representing the Army in 1986 & 1987, and 1995-1998. Wearing that jacket today at Diamond Head Tennis Center. Thanks Jim and Stan. And Colonel Dick Green and Chaplain Jonathan Etterbeek. TEAM champs 5 out of 6 years!
Jim McLennan
March 30, 2018Robert – a great note, an excellent memory you shared – thank you!
Jim
Greg Pierce
March 28, 2018Just read a very interesting book that addressed this very issue, i.e., relative value of the points in a tennis match. The book is called Deconstructing Tennis by Robert Schewior. The author, in addition to being a competitive tennis player and coach, is also a Phd economist and analyzes the question of point importance in a very quantifiable way (as only an economist can). Can’t give his approach explanatory justice in this short space but it made a lot of sense to me. Didn’t know if you had heard of this book, just thought I’d mention it as worth a read.
Jim McLennan
March 28, 2018Greg – the momentum concept is about the mental emotional aspect of the game – where a player can become “mentally down” but from a strict mathematical perspective it may be that all points are equal – what was his position?
best
Jim
Greg Pierce
April 2, 2018Sorry to be slow in replying, was traveling. His basic concept is to assign weights to points based on how much they contribute to winning a game, a set, or the match. In a simple example for a set, with the game score at 0-0, the 40-30 point does not contribute much to winning the set and therefore has a low weight. However, with a game score of 5-4, the 40-30 point contributes a lot towards winning the set and has a correspondingly high weight. Pretty straightforward but he then ties this into 2 (at least) other ideas. First, in terms of tactics, you want to only use your high risk tactics (e.g. drop shot) on low weight points and save your most effective tactics for high weight points. Second, given equal talent, players who seem to win more matches are ones who win more of the critical points. And that these players don’t necessarily play the critical points better but they don’t suffer any drop in performance caused by the pressure of playing a critical point. Again, there is whole lot more to the book than I can effectively explain here but hopefully this makes some sense. He also talks about momentum but I’ll have to save that for another post.
Jim McLennan
April 13, 2018Greg
Thanks for this – I like the idea about critical points and managing risk – and that might really be one of the keys that separate the best players from all the rest
best
Jim
This below that I copied is very good
“First, in terms of tactics, you want to only use your high risk tactics (e.g. drop shot) on low weight points and save your most effective tactics for high weight points. Second, given equal talent, players who seem to win more matches are ones who win more of the critical points”.
Harry Wood
March 27, 2018Excellent tip.Thanks
Coach Bob Luby
March 27, 2018Excellent advice – always enjoyed and appreciated your advice over the years. Going for another High School State Championship this year – doesn’t get easier.as you know — eight in a row at this point.
Jim McLennan
March 27, 2018Bob
Thanks for the note – motivating young people with simple messages is an art – if you are going for another championship – you must be doing something (or likely many things) right – GOOD LUCK
best
Jim
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