I cringe at my own blog title because I do not like to judge people, especially for their skill level. I do not like to call players unskilled because everyone can get better – skill is not a measurement fixed at one point. Skill is a moving variable that usually grows as you train more and learn to adapt to different shots. With that said, for the purpose of this blog, I will recognize that players are at different skill levels. Some are better players than others. And you will play people who are not as skilled as you in the game of tennis. But, even if they are not as good, you can lose to them.
So, here are five things you need to know to ensure you win against less skilled opponents:
(1) Do not underestimate any opponent. If you think you will win easily or that you must beat them because you’re the better player, you’d be setting yourself up for the risk of losing.
• First, the pressure of "you must win" could crack your mental game if you start making unforced errors. I had that experience and lost multiple matches where I was up a set and a break and would suddenly choke. One example was at a $15K Futures event. I was winning 6-0, 3-0 and up 30-0 in the game. I missed two backhands in a row and suddenly felt a rush of pressure. Couldn't relax and lost the match 6-4 in the third set. The reason was I set a lot of pressure on myself using the "I must win this" talk.
(2) Prepare the same way for every match. Sometimes, we may not think we have to win or that we are much better, but we show it by taking the match less seriously. The physical and mental preparation for the match gets a little lame, we don't hydrate or sleep properly. Maybe we will go out to a party thinking we’ll be fine the next day – there will be enough energy to play and win.
• Good preparation is about making sure that you will play at your top level. If you do not prepare well, you risk lowering your level, and then you could end up making the match balanced, giving your opponent a chance to win.
(3) Practice hitting dead-ball feeds regularly. Dead-ball feeds are shots fed by hand and not the racket. They are slower and generated from minimal force, which means you must do all the work to make it a good shot.
• Solid players usually hit a heavy ball. These are easy to counter-punch. But some less skilled opponents will give you “junk” shot and those are not easy to hit because there is less momentum and “weight” behind those types of shots. You need to be comfortable generating your own power and acceleration consistently if you want to control the points against players that don’t generate much power behind their shots. Otherwise, you will find yourself making a lot of unforced errors.
(4) Master the approach shot. Many less skilled players will hit shorter more often. But I've seen so many solid players mess up matches against less skilled players simply because they are not comfortable attacking the short ball. After missing a few short balls, confidence begins to wane and seep into the rest of the game.
• Simply practice attacking the short ball repetitively, and you’ll feel comfortable stepping inside the baseline and attacking the short ball.
(5) Be consistent. You might have a bad day, which will lower your playing ability. So, you need a plan-B game: that is consistency. If your A-game, where you attack the ball, is not working, you can’t keep it going because your unforced errors will pile up and affect the score. You could lose. Grinding, playing high-percentage tennis, is thus the best way to ensure that lower skilled opponents won’t get to take advantage of the days when you’re just not feeling good.
• Consistency is practiced by drilling cross-courts and playing with movement but without trying to end the point.
Lastly, enjoy the game no matter who you play.