Tennis & the Time it takes to become a World Class TENNIS EXPERT!

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In tennis there are many unwritten rules about Game.

One of the rules about the Game that tennis Professionals, Parents or Players ever talk about in detail is Time that it takes.

OUTLIERS by Malcom Gladwell
In the book outliers by Malcome Gladwell there is a section about the time it takes to become an expert ( in anything ). the Books says it can take up to 10000 hours of practice/work to be an expert.

So, How does this relate to tennis Players?
Here is how.....

Imagine that all it takes is 10000 hours to master tennis (be a world class player) and we divide that into three sections.

1. beginner/novice = less than 5000 hours
2. Intermediate/ playing tournaments / winning tournament matches  = around 5000 hours
3. advance / tournament level / College / Experts / winning tournaments regularly = around 10000 hours

so if we start tennis with 0 hours we should be in the novice/beginner level. then when we start to reach about 5000 hours we will defiantly be intermediate or advance. When we reach 10000 hours we should be advance or an expert.

1. beginner/novice = less than 5000 hours

Beginner Level of Play Is Three Months to 4 years.

So if you where to play 3 to 4 hours a week for three months you might not reach a new level outside of the beginner/novice ranks. Because that's still not enough time or hours on court to reach higher levels of intermediate play. ( CoachV Level theory is based of the book outliers ) You will still lack the experience in competition, tournament play, & fitness training and how to deal with pressure and mental toughness. to reach the intermediate level of play around 5000 hours with a minimum of 4 hours every week is 25 years without training or coaching.

So players that don't train, or play tennis everyday for more than 1 hour never really get good because they don't put in the time it takes to get good.

But lets try now to get us 5000 hours within 4 years......  At 1250 hours per year, divide that by 52 weeks, we come up with 25 hours a week for four years. You will  defiantly be a intermediate tennis player to an advance player in four years, but not really an expert or even a tournament winner.

1. Intermediate/ playing tournaments / winning tournament matches  = around 5000 hours

Intermediate Levels of Play are within a players "First year" of year 4, Or a players who has reached around 5000 hours

So if you continue playing 3 to 4 hours every week for four years straight you may still not be strong enough to win tennis tournaments. You might win matches, but you will still greatly be left behind the player who is playing or putting more time into their tennis.

The Intermediate Years, or 5000 hours of play are the years you start to control and develop your tennis game & tactic/strategies. You will refine signature tennis shots, (weapons). You will Start to learn how to control emotion in pressure situations and have/or learn mental toughness. you can even have every single tennis shot in the book. These years/hours are the years/hours you have all the building blocks.

These are also the years/hours you start to build and refine how you are gonna play:

matches, prepare for tournaments, create a serious Fitness training regiment, receive expert tennis coaching, deciding on Equipment to use, nutrition, Scheduling (Matches,Tournaments,when & where)

3. advance / tournament level / College / Experts / winning tournaments regularly = around 10000 hours

HOW the Pros Did it while they were young!
I am speculating......
Federer, Nadal, Murry,  Djokovic, Agassi, Sampras, Vince Spadeia 

The pros I mention above all started playing around the age of 3 to 4 years old.  the beginning of there lives they witness great tennis professionals and athletes & they aspired to be like them.  So they played Tennis full Time starting around 4 - 8 years old. So a Young child at 6 years old playing around 40 hours will be an expert in tennis by the time they are 14 years old, still no where close to their adult bodies. 

(unless they are female who mature faster and are in their adult bodies usually by 14 Years old)

So at the age of 14 they are in the ITF Juniors and are winning the US-Open Juniors and playing adult ITF/ATP Challengers Tournament or have an ATP point which states that they are on the World professional Tour. They have learned all their shots and how to use them to win. their only weakness is that they are still Kids at the AGE of 14. A 14 Year old is much weaker than a 24 year old. But that 14 year expert gets another 4 year on TOUR Experience surpassing an expert and becoming a MASTER, Then out of no where we see an exchanging of the top tour players in the world Usually around when that 14 year old becomes 19/20 Years old, ( example NADAL who WON the French OPEN, Nadal is the second youngest player ever to win the French Open, First youngest "Michael Chang"(USA) age 18 or 17".)

The reason is because they learn the top players "games" and All of their opponents abilities and find ways to beat them. And When they Grow into their adult bodies or become strong enough they simple out play the top players.

Vince Spadeia, a Very Talented play back when i started tennis is the only one whose talent was equal to the top players of his time like Agassi,  But Vince could not bring in the wins.  How many of us ( like myself ) Have put in the work & TIME just to still lose. Tennis is a sport where you lose 90% of the time and the only players in the world who don't lose that much are the #1 and #2 in the World & They Lose 50% of the time.

So we mimic the Top Pros, And Study them and Speculate on what is going on with our games based off the top players.  We may change or learn something new and even get better or win a tournament from what we learn. But what really separates us from the top players is the quality time put into our tennis games.

if you started late Which is like 11 - 13 years old  & you don't have that Special TALENT or Natural Talent. You will Most likely give up the chase of becoming a world class player. But becoming a world class player/expert is never completely out of reach if you put the time in. The time When you reach that 10000 hours & MORE  expert or world class player status however will be pass your prime............

In Conclusion:

The Time it takes to become a great tennis player Takes time allot of TIME, or to shorten the time Allot of Quality Working HOURS.

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