Topic: What's the most important point in a game?

[val]

I'm just a beginner, getting better, but I have trouble closing out games.  It seems to me like the most important point is once either player gets to 30.  Seems like there's a world of difference between being down 15-30 to 15-40 and too oftem I'm letting my opponent get to 40 too easily.  Then, I have to make a heroic struggle to get back to deuce and then feel like I've won a moral victory, even if I lose the game.  Same as when I'm 30-0 or 30-15.  Way too many times my opponent is able to reel off three points and i don't even get to deuce.

What do you say to yourself, what inner talk do you give yourself when you hit whatever point in the game you feel is crucial?  I played this morning, after recently coming to my realization that the first point after 30 was most important and really tried to gear myself to winning that point, and yet, I completely choked.  While new to tennis, I've played sports all my life and have been relatively immune to choking in pressure situations.  I know I wasn't tense at all those 30-15 and 15-30 points I played this morning, but I still lost most of them, and my return of serve being down 30-15 was pathetic.  Ball must have hit my frame four or five times and I must have sent another five or six week returns into the net.  I'm trying to stay calm, just return the serve, get into the point, not hit a winner.  And yet, it didn't work.  And three of my five double faults (is that a lot for an 0-6 4-6 game?) were with me at 30-15 or 30-30.  

What's going through your mind?

TIA

[timd818]

Well, for me, the most important point is the return of serves. If you don't get the ball in play,
there is no point. I try very hard to return every serve. If my opponents has a good serve and
punished my return with a winning volley, that's ok. Atleast I made him worked for the point. I
get super frustrated when I missed easy returns. So frustrated that I cracked a brand new racket
one time. Then I realized the new "most important" is not to abuse your racket. There goes $150  

[Jamesdster]

In my opinion, if you must single out a point, it would be game point (add-in and add-out).  The really good players know how to turn it up a notch at critical junctures in a match.  They just know how to play these crucial points and often it is these that make the difference between winning and losing.  This past summer, I cheated, scratched, clawed, Keifered my way to the finals of a tournament where I had to play a guy who has owned me forever and a day.  I swear in the first set I had game point 7 times and LOST 6-2.  We both won probably an equal number of points, but he’d win the really big points.  And if you are a beginner, EXPERIENCE is what really helps here.  The more of these types of points you play, the better you will become at figuring out how to win them.

[ImaMadGoat]

The most important point in a game, set, or match is the one you happen to be playing at that very moment....plain and simple.

The reason I say this is because you can only worry yourself with that which you have control over. If the score is 15-love on your serve...the most important point for you should be the one you're playing to get to 30-love. The 40-love point, or game point doesn't matter at all in that moment, because you're not there yet.

I realize this is a very simplistic way of playing, but you should try it. Only worry yourself with that which you can control. That's great advice for tennis, and for life.