Tennis Strategy: Predicting Your Opponent’s Next Move

Unlocking Victory Through Strategic Scouting and Analysis

In tennis, anticipating a player’s shots and movements is critical to achieving success on the court. Pre-match planning and on-the-fly adjustments become key to outmaneuvering the competition.

Pre-Match Analysis and Game Planning

Many tennis players display consistent patterns. Studying these habits offers opportunities to gain an advantage. O’Shannessy discusses game plans designed to exploit these predictable behaviors.

“Gabriel Diallo is a guy I work with and he was playing in Majorca recently, and for his match with Jaume Munar I sent a detailed game plan to him on how to face him,”

—O’Shannessy

These plans can pinpoint serve locations and preferred shot types. This often involves identifying vulnerabilities, like forehand errors. According to a recent study, over 60% of professional tennis matches are decided by unforced errors (Tennis Stats 2024).

The Warm-Up: A Strategic Opportunity

The warm-up phase offers a chance to assess how an opponent reacts to different shots. This pre-match period is useful for players aiming to confuse their adversaries.

“In the warm-up you may want to disguise the type of shots you want to hit,”

—O’Shannessy

At the club level, the lack of scouting makes this tactic even more important. The ability to mix up shots during the warm-up can reveal an opponent’s weaknesses.