Is it possible for young tennis players who don’t play the modern style of tennis to achieve great things?

I received this question from a concerned mom. I asked a tennis coach to answer it.

“I may not be asking this question in the correct forum but your advice would be appreciated as I feel that you all know what you are talking about.  My daughter is a 14-year-old level 3 / 4 tournament player.  She is a hard-hitting, aggressive, talented player and has recently started becoming a lot more focused, consistent and wise in her game which is yielding tremendous results and finally demonstrating the true potential we always believed she had. 

My concern is that while she has extremely good strokes and serves better than most of her peers, she does not play the modern style of tennis – i.e. trunk rotation. taking the ball on the rise and I have seen that the tournament players that she has problems with are those who have mastered these techniques. 

I have spoken to her current and previous coaches about getting her to play this way (over the last 3 years) but I think that because she seems so proficient in what she does now and the way she does it, they don’t consider it important to change her style of play.  I am concerned that she will not reach her potential if she doesn’t. 

Is it possible for young players who don’t play the modern style of tennis to achieve great things in this day and age and should I trust it to the coaches to help her achieve this potential using the technique she is already so familiar with at the age of 14 or should I push for a change in her technique?”

Great question. The short answer is, if you trust your coach, then listen to him. If you don’t trust him, get another coach.

Now the long part: The player has to believe in the coach all the time, though nobody is right all the time. If she guesses when not to believe the coach, she will never completely trust him.

If you think multiple coaching is a good idea, look at the unbelievable lack of success the USTA has had producing a champion with the millions they’ve squandered. That doesn’t mean the coach has to work in a vacuum, but there has to be a place where the buck stops.

The style a player uses will depend on her physical makeup, her mental tendencies, and the coaches strengths and interpretation of the first two factors. One size does not fit all. Rafael Nadal does not take the ball early, but he does all right.

The two greatest players of the past forty years, both men and women, had one-handed backhands. Jack Kramer said that in all his time of involvement with tennis, the only truly original change he saw was the switch to long pants.