The problem with under-16 tennis is that they play many matches with few ideas, mainly because they are rarely taught to think before they act.
It is quite obvious that technique is essential just as knowing grammar is necessary to write an essay. But the essay is not a grammar exercise. Rather, it is a mental task of organizing one’s knowledge in relation to a theme, which in tennis is the opponent.
So in tennis you play without developing any ideas about what would be best to do.
That was the dominant approach when I was young: I train you to know how to do what you need to do, then the implementation in competition is your business.
We didn’t pay for sports, though, and our parents didn’t come to watch the races, much less the training.
If you were stronger you moved on, the rest was nobody’s business.
It wasn’t better than today, it was just different.
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