How many hours of technique work before a tennis tournament?

A tournament is three weeks away. Two matches in one day, about ninety minutes each. Eight to twelve hours of work fit into those weeks, and the hours matter less than what survives at 4-4, 30:40, in the second match.

How many hours does the work take?

Eight to twelve hours, in six to eight sessions of one hour to ninety minutes, across two or three weeks. That is a coach's target and not a measurement. More hours do not make a stroke safer. Past about twelve hours the work that still pays is play for a score.

Before a tournament you make the stroke you own more reliable. You do not build a different one. Everything below assumes club level, NTRP 3.0 to 4.0, and a player who trains two or three times a week.

Why does nothing change in the last two weeks?

Because a change of movement needs more repetitions than ten days hold. Grip, backswing and ball toss stay as they are. Under pressure a player falls back on the movement with the most repetitions behind it, and that is the old one. A stroke changed ten days ago has the fewest repetitions of all.

So the plan for the last fortnight is narrow on purpose:

• One second serve, chosen and kept. A kick serve into the body is a common choice, because it needs the least court and the least courage.
• One cue for it, not five. A ball toss over your head, and a swing upward.
• No new grip, and no new backswing, on any stroke.

A change of grip or of backswing belongs to the four weeks after the tournament.

How do you split the hours?

About 40 percent on serve and return, 30 percent on the first three or four shots of the point, and 30 percent on play for a score. The split is a plan, not a measurement. A double fault is the only mistake that ends a point before the opponent hits a ball, so the serve gets the largest share.

The three blocks in more detail:

• Serve and return. Second serves in blocks of 20 to 30, with a rule attached: two double faults in a row and the block starts again. The rule adds a consequence, which a basket of balls does not have.
• The first three or four shots. Serve and the next shot. Return and the next shot. Most points end here, so this is where a rally pattern is worth training.
• Play for a score. Two or three full practice sets, or matches. Two matches of ninety minutes is about three hours of tennis in one day, and no amount of basket work prepares a player for that.

What do the last three days look like?

Forty-five to sixty minutes on court, and nothing new. No drill you have not done before, and no attempt to finish a stroke. Three days out a player can lose form and cannot gain it. Keep the sessions short, keep the serve warm, and sleep.

On the day before, serve for ten minutes to a target, hit a few returns, and stop.

How do you know the work has held?

Four tests, and two of them decide. Thirty second serves, one attempt each, as in a match. Two practice sets against a player of your level or a little above. Then the same serve test on another day, and again after ninety minutes of play. The work is finished when the result repeats.

1. The count test: thirty second serves, one attempt for each point, no repeats. A club target is 25 or more in, and the number matters less than its repeat, so run the test on two or three separate days. Two misses today and nine tomorrow means the stroke is not settled.
2. The tired test: the same thirty serves after ninety minutes of play. A fall of more than about a tenth says the second match of the day will not look like the first.
3. The match test: two or three practice sets, and three things to watch. No more than two double faults in a set. The same second serve at 30:40 as at 15:0. No change to the stroke after a point you lost.
4. The head test: during a point you think about a target, a direction or a spin. If you are still thinking about your elbow or your ball toss, the movement is not automatic yet. In a match that means one cue, not five.

Ready to enter, or not yet

The count test is done on two days, and two practice sets are played. What happened?

• Both tests in range, and the second serve held at 30:40Enter
• Tests in range, and the count falls when you are tiredEnter, and plan the second match
• The count moves a lot between the two daysNot yet. The stroke is not settled

What can a video tool count for you?

It counts shots. Tencoline puts one mark on each shot of a practice set, so the double faults in a set, and where each second serve landed, become a number instead of a memory. It does not see technique, and it does not know whether the serve you chose at 30:40 was the right one.

There is no biomechanics in it. It cannot tell you that your ball toss drifted, and it cannot tell you that your elbow dropped. Those questions belong to a coach, and a video of the point is how you ask them.

Does it hold in the second match?

The second match is where a stroke that is nearly automatic comes apart, and the tired test is what predicts it. If your count falls by more than about a tenth when you are tired, choose a simpler second serve for the second match, and choose it before you walk on court.

Plan the rest of the day in the same way: food between the matches, a dry shirt to change into, and one cue for the serve.