With over 350 grand slam titles, America is often hailed as the powerhouse of top-notch tennis players who have continued to dominate the world of professional tennis with their successful and dominant exploits on the court. Over the decades, America has produced numerous tennis stalwarts, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Serena Williams, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and many others.
From technological advancements to infrastructural development, America has left no stone unturned in producing legendary tennis players in the past few decades. Have you ever wondered about the techniques used by America in order to train their tennis players? Well, let’s find out.
In this article we will take a look at the top three interesting secrets about America’s tennis training system.
Top 3 Secrets Behind America’s Tennis Training System
United States Tennis Association (USTA) Pathways
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) has played a major role in shaping America’s future tennis stars. USTA’s scouting begins at an early stage via schools and local clubs. Additionally, the USTA entirely focuses on long-term athlete development, wherein top-notch coaches prepare amateur tennis players to face the excruciating pressure on the court and dominate opponent players with their unbeatable exploits. Moreover, USTA Pro Circuit events and Junior National Championships also play a major role in providing intense training to tennis players.
Advanced Technology Used by Tennis Coaches
Well, the sphere of tennis coaching has undoubtedly undergone a major transformation in the United States in the past few decades. Unlike the majority of countries, the United States actively makes use of cutting-edge technology in order to train their tennis players to compete on the professional circuit. From hawk-eye to playsight, the tennis coaches of the United States use advanced technology in order to analyse a player’s strengths and weaknesses on the court.
Additionally, the United States has also made it mandatory for tennis players to wear smart wearables during their hardcore training sessions, as it accurately tracks the physical output and helps the coaches to avoid overtraining, which often leads to injuries and exhaustion. Moreover, in recent years, the United States has also started actively utilising Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) platforms in order to improve the reaction time of players.
High Octane Game-Based Drills
The tennis coaches of the United States often prioritise match-like training instead of repetitive rounds. According to reports and the training schedule of a majority of top-notch American tennis players, the coaches recreate actual point scenarios and introduce extremely competitive elements instead of feeding the balls to the players in a predictable manner.
Often popularly referred to as “game-based drills”, this particular strategy of tennis coaches plays a major role in strengthening the reflex actions and decision-making capability of the tennis players on the court during intense matches to an unparalleled extent. Also, tennis coaches in the United States often keep a live score during the training sessions, and it helps the players to train to their full potential and stay in high-octane action on the court.
