As I was watching my teammate play in our most recent league match, I saw he was playing a much more up-tempo game than he usually does. He was hitting harder, and striking the ball lower on the front wall than usual. It seemed like he was playing more to his opponent’s preferred pace.
My teammate lost the game, and so in between games I suggested he try and mix in his normal pace, which is still quite fast, just not as much as he’d been doing. This time he mixed in a few more lofted balls to the back court and suddenly his opponent started making a large number of errors. I think the change of pace helped, both because it was a change — which threw the other guy off balance — but also because it was playing more to my teammate’s preferred pace, and he was better at executing it.
I tried this myself when I went on court for my match. I tried to set a medium pace, which is my preferred style. This went well and I won the match.
For future matches I will try and remember to establish the pace I want for the match, and not let my opponent dictate it.
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