Understanding Regression in Tennis
Regression occurs when tennis players begin to play worse, revert into bad habits, or a play in a style that no longer works at their level. Players that stop practicing regularly or take a long hiatus from tennis can expect to regress, and it’s also normal for aging tennis players to experience this as their physical abilities slowly deteriorate. Regressions may come from a lack of motivation or a drop in confidence or from the stress of competition. In these instances, players and coaches should reevaluate short-term goals, focus on restoring a love for the game, and reduce the burdens of practice and competition until the player feels physically and mentally ready to return.
To be clear, the regressions I’m referring to are not the same as growing pains. Many junior tennis players become overconfident after several months of practice and believe they can hit the ball faster or more accurately when they’re not actually that good yet. This is normal. It’s also normal for tennis players adding new skills to their game to take a step back in order to take a large leap forward. For example, when I learned how to hit a kick serve as a junior, my double faults increased by 50% or more. Committing these errors 1-2 points every service game was immensely frustrating, but I at least understood that this would eventually pay off. And it did. Somewhere between six months and a year later, my kick serve improved enough that my double faults decreased to normal levels again. More importantly, I began to win more points with second serves.
The actual regressions I’m referring to are somewhat more serious because they can have long term consequences. Here’s one case study involving my student “John” who started playing tennis at 5 years old. In his first 2 years, John took private lessons with me and attended small group classes with another highly regarded coach - about 2-3 hours of tennis per week. Improvement is slow going at this age, but John learned to followthrough on both of his groundstrokes, he learned how to hit topspin, and he learned how to rally from the service line and eventually in a 60 foot court. Things were looking good - very good.
Then John went to tennis camp. Going five days a week for 4 weeks, John’s parents and I both expected to see notable improvement. Instead, we saw that John had lost his followthrough, he lost his ability to rally, and he lost his focus completely. Through some gentle digging, I learned that this “tennis camp” was a free-for-all coached by high-school age counselors that routinely allowed more than 8 kids on a single court.
“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” - Rick Macci
It took 4 months to undo 4 weeks of regression, but in so many ways that damage still resonates years later. John was quite likely the best player in a mediocre, unchallenging, and unstructured environment. In his early days, John had something to prove, but he came back a changed kid, one that was only interested in the games that were offered in the camp setting. His effort level dropped too; the same drills and practice routines we’d done months earlier now seemed needlessly difficult to him. Fortunately, John is still young and he has lots of time to get his priorities straight.
For John, an unchallenging environment extinguished the desire to prove himself and rewarded mediocre effort. But regression is also possible when players hear bad advice from a coach or when players of a certain level thrust themselves into environments that are too challenging. I saw precisely this regression with another student “Billy” who - despite my warnings and misgivings - entered into a series of tournaments with less than a year of experience. Predictably, Billy lost across the board.
Amazingly, the losses didn’t affect Billy’s confidence but had another bizarre effect. Billy believed (rather he was convinced) that he needed to hit harder and use more variety. This would be a rational conclusion if Billy rarely missed easy shots and was losing most points for being too passive and predictable. This was not the case. The only thing predictable about Billy’s game was that he couldn’t keep the ball in for more than 5 shots in a row. Billy lost because his fundamentals were inadequate, and he was too immature to see it. Over time and through painful demonstration however, Billy has come to accept my views.
To prevent and address regression, seek out qualified advice from tennis experts and treat tennis like you would exercise and diet. Anyone trying to improve their physical condition will experience bumps in the road. Don’t overthink this, and stay on course. The best regiments are challenging but not dangerous, maintainable but not overly restrictive. Tennis should be the same. If the environments you play in are too easygoing, you may develop bad habits and/or a false sense of accomplishment which will stunt your progress. If the environment is too challenging, you may lose confidence or come to the wrong conclusions about how to improve properly.
