A Good Partner is Hard to Find — SS #5

A few weeks ago, I asked you to branch out and find a new practice partner or approach that person at your club/local courts who's always practicing and ask if they need another practice partner. How did you do with that request?

In today's issue, I want to accomplish two things: reiterate why it's so important that you spend an adequate amount of time practicing in difficult scenarios and truly challenging yourself, and second, to guide you through some strategies and ways of finding practice partners.

Frustration from the Community

In particular, I want to use this response I got to our last issue of The Fast 4 as a discussion point. Please take a moment to read what one of your fellow subscribers wrote back to me:

I can taste the frustration in this commenter's response! But the situation he is describing is so, so common. I see it every day at the tennis courts. Players who learn to get the ball in—let's say in questionable ways—immediately jump into playing matches, and then never progress beyond that level.

They are forever stagnant.

The perpetual 3.5 NTRP/4 UTR player.

Now, look, if your goal is just to have a hit and have a few laughs and play some matches for fun, then that's all fine and good. But if you want to enjoy tennis for life and see how far you can go down the path of this great sport, that's absolutely not what you should be doing.

Our frustrated commenter is correct; if you want to stay at the same level forever, just go out and only play matches.

The Right Way to Improve

If you're excessively engaging in blocked and variable practice and sucking it up in tournaments, league play, and matches, then playing more matches will certainly help. But in general, you need to have practices where you focus on skills you are developing—whatever they might be.

I want to refer here to Anders Ericsson's Peak, which is something of a coaching bible to me. In his book, Ericsson emphasizes that mere repetition of activity, such as playing matches, does not lead to improvement unless accompanied by efforts to challenge and expand existing capabilities.

He argues that players who regularly engage in focused, deliberate practice targeting specific areas of their game can break through performance plateaus and achieve higher levels of skill. And simply playing matches every day is not the way to do it.

So with that in mind, and with the idea of finding practice partners with whom you could work to improve your game, below are some strategies to find more players to practice with. No. 5 is my favorite.

5 Strategies for Finding Practice Partners:

1. Join Local Tennis Clubs or Groups: These are hotspots for players who are serious about their game. Speak to your local pro about connecting you with other players. Leave your number with the person at the desk/proshop and let them know that you’re at level x and want players to practice with.

2. Use Tennis Apps and Social Media: Social platforms can connect you with local players. I know for certain that big cities in the US and Australia usually have Facebook groups where tennis players hang out, searching for partners

3. Attend Tennis Workshops and Clinics: These events are an opportunity for you to connect with players of a similar level to you! One thing I always do after running clinics and group classes is to encourage players to connect with each other so that they can practice together. Perhaps you can ask your pro to do the same.

4. Post in Online Forums and Community Boards: Specify what you’re looking for in a practice partner and your skill level. Be specific that you don’t want to just play matches, and that your goal is to improve.

5. Play in Tournaments and Leagues: After your match, ask the person you played if they’re searching for practice partners. It helps if you’ve just beaten them in a match 😉. And conquer your ego here. Unless it was a 6-0, 6-0 beat down where they did not win more than five points in total, there are ways you can structure practices that will be beneficial to you even if you’re playing with a “weaker” partner.

Have Your Say!

I had previously restricted comments to players who had purchased services from me, but I have changed this so that all readers can participate.

Share your experiences in finding and working with practice partners. Your input could inspire or help someone. Are there any strategies I may have missed?

Underrated

Casper Ruud is one of my favorite players—and he is so underrated in many ways. And one of them is his serve. If you agree, check out this breakdown of his serve with 5 tips that you can apply to your own serve to help you improve:

Thanks again for being here. If you’re enjoying the The Fast 4, please consider sharing it with a tennis friend!

I love helping club and recreational players get to the next level, and would love to have even more of you here.

My best,
Malhar