Given today’s soggy weather, I will journey into my own modest past playing USTA junior events on har-tru/green clay.  I remember two losses that could have gone the other direction had I been less stubborn on court.

Lesson from Match One – Vary Service Speeds and Placements

In the early round of an event, I drew an opponent who was roughly my equal.  My footwork on clay was never as solid as it was on hard courts (still true today).  I recall being the more powerful player and better volleyer, but my opponent was more consistent.  I had one big advantage in that I was winning a lot of free points on my serve or getting easy volleys off of a big serve.  So in my own teenage mind, I just thought keep throwing pace at him off of the serve and win.  As the match went on, I kept going for the same speed serves in two basic spots (up the T and out wide).  He eventually started getting a lot more serves back and making some of those volleys tougher with better returns.  I lost two close sets.  When we shook hands, he told me, “I’d hate to face your serve on a hard court.” His comment was the only reason I really remember the match at all.  A hard court would likely would have helped me, but by giving my opponent the same 2 looks on every first serve, I set the stage for a loss.  If a weapon becomes predictable, it had better be a weapon an opponent has no possible answer for because otherwise its relative value will shrink.  I had a good kick serve.  I could slice my serve.  I could serve the body.  I failed to do any of those things.

Lesson from Match Two – Have My Equipment Ready

 I remember this match because I had faced the same player at a hard court junior tournament a few weeks earlier.  That match was a close 3 set loss.  I felt I could avenge that result even though I was never a fan of playing on green clay.  In a similar manner to our earlier match, we split the first two sets.  I had won the 2nd set and felt I had figured him out to some extent.  I had two racquets, but one was strung in a manner that I really liked.  The other was overdue for a string job, but I so rarely broke strings I was holding out until after the tournament to get both strung the same way.  Well, I broke a string in the 3rd set and my level of play dropped.  Some of the drop was probably psychological, but I also just felt like my other racquet was dead.  Well, I lost a close 3rd set.  The crazy thing about this is I was pretty meticulous with my equipment.  I had my towel, water, extra pair of socks, and hat with me at all times.  I just took a risk on my back-up racquet that I normally would never have taken.

These seem like simple lessons.  However, if one is coaching a junior player, it may be worth finding a way to remind a teenager of the simple aspects of the sport because taking care of those can prevent some complex situations from arising on court.