Women's Tennis: key things to know, do, and say!
June 2010
By Rob Antoun
Co-Founder of Pro Tennis Solutions Ltd and MyTrainingDiary Ltd
Introduction
As coaches, one of our main roles is to not only inspire new players to play this wonderful game, but to retain and engage the ones
that are already playing! To do this properly, it is important to fully understand the needs of these female players. The purpose of
this article is to help coaches look at women's tennis from the pro level down, and to see how we might apply this knowledge to our
everyday coaching skills when teaching female players of all ages and standards.
Let's Start at the Top
It always helps to have a good idea of what a top female player looks and plays like. Having a picture of the 'finished product'
will positively influence the work that a coach does with his/her younger players, even if they are very new to the game. Also,
because tennis is so visible today on television, it is important that the coach (who is often the most respected tennis authority
in the club) has an informed and up-to-date comment to make on the modern game. Let's look at some interesting facts about top-level tennis today:
Serving
- Favoured 1st serve direction?
Women wide from right court (40%)
Men wide from right and left court (41%)
- Favoured 2nd serve direction?
Into the body (50% women and men)
- % 2nd serve points won?
Women 39%; Men 46%
Returning
- % 1st serve returns hit from inside the baseline?
Women 29%; Men 12%
- % 2nd serve returns hit from inside the baseline?
60% (women and men)
- Favoured 1st return direction? Down the middle >
50% (women and men)
Baseline Play
- Average length of rally?
Women 4.85; Men 5.25%
- % points won by the 3rd shot of the rally?
45% (women and men)
- % shots hit from in or around the baseline?
Women 42%; Men 36%
Net Play
- % of points played involving net play?
Women 10.4%; Men 20.8%
- Number of volleys played per net approach?
Women 1.05%; Men 1.15%
- Number of drive volleys?
Women 39%; Men 3%
So What?
These stats bring up some interesting issues regarding the differences between men's and women's tennis today. Firstly, the serving
preferences are significant in that there are far fewer female players choosing to use the topspin serve out wide from the left
court (from a right-hander's perspective). This may be because male players are physically stronger and can therefore 'kick' the ball
higher and wider, but it also may be because female players want to serve away from the right-hander's backhand return – often the biggest
weapon on the women's Tour! For developing players, therefore, learning a topspin serve is a requirement for boys but is more of an additional tool for girls.
From a groundstroke (and returning) perspective, the baseline hitting position stands out in that far more female players are taking
the ball earlier – and are hitting on or around the baseline more frequently. Male players are choosing to play from deeper positions
and, as a result, are playing with far more tactical variety. Again, physical factors play a part in that female players like to create
pace from the oncoming ball (and therefore need to stand closer to the baseline) whereas male players tend to generate their own pace and
can afford to play from a wider and deeper range of court positions. This may also be one of the reasons why male players choose to play
far more forehands from the middle of the court than their female counterparts (69% men vs. 55% women).
The way men and women are playing points at the net is more similar – in that they are looking to 'sneak' or 'ghost' in to
kill the point off. However, male players are approaching the net twice as often and are playing more 'block' volleys compared to female
players who are hitting far more drive volleys. This may be because male players take more risks and move forwards earlier, or perhaps
they are quicker to see opportunities to approach, or it may be because female players prefer to hit volleys which are more similar in
technique to their groundstrokes (i.e. the drive volley). Whatever the reasons, we do know that both male and female players experience
a high level of success when they do decide to approach the net.
It is important to remember that this research gives a clear insight into tennis today – but this doesn't mean that tennis will be played
like this in 10 years time! In fact, it is often said that tennis evolves in cycles and it may well be that women start playing much more
like men in future years. If this is the case, then the role of quick start tennis will become more and more important as female players
start developing a wider range of tactical and technical skills at younger age. In my opinion, quick start tennis provides the perfect tool
for players to develop these skills.
Beyond the Strokes
Let's now look past the tactical and technical requirements of women's tennis to perhaps an even bigger influencing factor – the player's
environment. In many ways the environment surrounding a young female player will make or break her. It is often easier to create the right
environment with boys because there are usually more of them at the tennis club, and boys tend to be more outcome focused – therefore they
thrive off competition among each other. With girls, coaches have a harder job since there are usually less of them and they tend to be more
task-focused – meaning that they won't always be motivated by competition as much – and finding the right level of competition is harder with
fewer players available.
Role Models
In a fascinating study done by the Women's Sport & Fitness Foundation in the UK in 2007, it was found that only 1% of images and 2% of written
articles were dedicated to women's sport in newspapers and magazines. Wow! This has huge implications for us as tennis coaches because it means
that we need to work much harder at finding relevant and meaningful role-models for our female players. This is a key reason why so many girls
drop out from tennis – because they simply don't experience enough 'relatedness'. This means that they don't have enough meaningful relationships
within their sport, whether this means actual friendships or people that they look up to from a distance. Therefore, doing simple things such as
asking some older players to stay on and hit with the younger players, running more doubles events for girls, or taking players to watch a women's
pro event will foster relationships which may keep them in the game for life! This is also where the Tencap system can be so instrumental in helping
players develop strong and meaningful connections – not only with fellow players but with the pros who coach them also.
Quality of Relationship vs. Knowledge
I often used to wonder why so many top female players surrounded themselves with family members, hitting partners, boyfriends, etc when on the tour.
There were always far more qualified and experienced coaches out there who I thought could do a better job! Well it seems that female players require
more than just good knowledge and information from a coach – they need to know that you care! In my experience, coaches often grossly underestimate
the importance of this simple necessity. It is often the case that responding quickly to texts, watching matches, and taking the time to help players
set personal and specific goals can be more important than any biomechanical knowledge that can be learnt on a coaching course! You don't always see the
most experienced coaches working with female players – yet the quality of the coach-player relationship is often incredibly strong.
Commitment and Motivation
Coaches often talk about female players being too 'emotional' on the practice and match court compared to male players. This is often the case, yet the
crucial question is 'why'? In my experience, the attitude and commitment shown by female players is directly linked to how secure and stable they feel.
In many situations, female players will work harder and stay focused for longer than their male counterparts as long as they feel that the coach is 100%
behind them and their environment is secure. Here are a few ideas that might help coaches get this balance right:
- Be consistent and reliable in your attitude and beliefs
- Spend time setting personal goals for each player
- Try to avoid comparisons between players
- Give 'mini individual' lessons within a group session
- Spend an equal amount of time with each player in a group session
- Use a variety of practice partners (inc. male players) but keep a sense of belongingness
- Use basket drills to create 'individuality' between players
- Emphasize what players do well more often
- Encourage responsibility and ownership and use 'open' drills as often as possib
Conclusion
It is often said that there are three crucial ingredients that make a good coach: what to know, what to do, and how to 'be'. Coaches constantly need to
juggle all three of these factors in the hope that they strike the right balance with each of their players' ambitions and goals. It is important to bear
in mind that there are certain differences in women's tennis compared to men's and that female players require certain characteristics in a coach which may
be slightly different from those of their male counterparts. Just being aware of these differences will put coaches in a great position to help each and
every one of their players, male or female, to the maximum.
Rob Antoun Biography
Rob Antoun is a former ATP world-ranked tennis player who has coached at an international level over a 17-year period. Rob is a PCA-qualified coach and an
ITF coach education tutor and holds a degree in psychology (University of Arkansas 1992). Rob has had two books published: 'Women's Tennis Tactics' by Human
Kinetics in 2007 and '101 Youth Tennis Drills' by A&C Black in 2010.
Rob is co-founder of Pro Tennis Solutions Ltd – a company that provides resources, training, and consultancy for tennis coaches worldwide
(www.protennissolutions.com). Rob is also co-founder of MyTrainingDiary Ltd – a company that provides an
online training solution for competitive tennis players of all ages (www.mytrainingdiary.org).
