(Inspired by the podcast episode #72: “It’s the Player who makes the Coach” w. Magnus Norman on The Adam Blicher Show — Dissecting High Performance in Tennis)
I like to have my own notes. Not only about the opponents, but also about the player I’m coaching. So I’ll make a summary of all the blocks throughout the year. The Clay Court season, at the end of French Open where I ask myself:
What did we do well?
What did we do wrong?
What can we think about for the next clay court season?
What is important for the next block?
I think a lot of coaches are doing the same thing. I’m a little bit old school when it comes to that. It’s to share with my team. The journal also includes notes for opponents. Where I basically ask myself the same questions; What worked, what did not work so well and what should be changed for the next time.
I have three different things that I look at:
– What happened when Stan was serving
– What happened when the opponent was serving
– General things to think about in the game
So I have got 3 bullets and under each bullet I have a couple of notes. I like to keep it very simple.
To see the bigger picture, I like from time to time throughout the year to use advanced statistics. This goes for Stan but also his opponents. Here I look at:
– Positioning
– Serve patterns
– Return positions
The advanced statistics helps me to see a bigger picture.