There are EIGHT ways to force an error.
Time is one of them.
G’day from Paris!
It’s been a magnificent first week at Roland Garros watching matches and researching the game.
I was just looking through the draw and saw that if Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem both win in the 4th round, then they will face off against each other in the quarters. The last time these two played was in Rome a couple of weeks ago, where Djokovic won 6-1, 6-0 in the semi-finals.
What went so wrong for Thiem in that match? It’s important to note that Thiem defeated Rafael Nadal in the quarters in Rome – and was coming off making the finals the week before in Madrid.
What went wrong? The clock. Time. The time to get ready. The time to prepare. The time to organize your hands and feet to get squarely behind the ball. Novak took Dominic’s time away. It must have felt like running downhill, trying to outrun an avalanche…
Here’s what Thiem said after the match.
So very, very revealing…
Novak was very pumped up for the match. The energy was there right from the beginning, and Thiem felt it as well.
Time accentuated Thiem running out of gas. He simply could not prepare at the speed he needed to. If Novak had have given Thiem all the time in the world (like Nadal did), then the result could have been very different.
The number one way a point ends in tennis is with a FORCED error. Here’s the breakdown for the men and women from all Grand Slams in the 2015 season.
MEN
- 41% Forced Errors
- 32% Winners
- 27 %Unforced Errors
WOMEN
- 37% Forced Errors
- 34% Unforced Forced Errors
- 29% Winners
You need to focus on forcing errors. How do you actually do that? Glad you asked…
Here are the EIGHT ways to do it.
- Consistency
- Direction
- Depth
- Height
- Spin
- Power
- Court Position
- Time
If you love tennis, if you love to compete and win matches, this is a critical list for you to understand. This is how you go about your business. Now take a look at No. 8 on the list. Time is what Thiem is talking about – or more to the point, the LACK OF TIME.
These elements are explained in much greater detail in the 25 GOLDEN RULES OF SINGLES STRATEGY.
All the best from Roland Garros.
Craig