Some thoughts on better training.

A couple of months ago, Murugan, as a part of the weekly drills, took out the orange plastic cones that serve as the targets for the shots. A player has to hit a target placed in a specific area of the opponent's court. For instance, a target might be placed in the box behind the advantage service court, and when a ball is fed, a right-handed player must aim his forehand shot on the target.

Though targeting your shots in this way, is a nice and cleaner approach, in this process, no one tells you how you have improved over a period of time on your shot targets. A better scientific method might be allowing a player to hit 15 shots (or better 20 shots, the more might be an overkill, though!) on the target. The margin by which the target is missed (in case it is missed! :-)) should be measured for each hit and an average statistic can be recorded. Over a period, this measure needs to be tracked and gives a better idea on the overall improvement of the player's shots.

The same approach can be followed in the backhand-forehand drill for a player. Currently, a player gets around 10 - 20 balls (depends on the crowd :-)) for the backhand-forehand drill. One simple measure on the performance of the player might be the number of balls he hits over the net; another measure might be the number of hits in the singles court on the opponent's side; a measure that combines these two might be a still better option.

Of course, taking these scientific and organized training methods will not guarantee a player a better performance after a period of time. He needs to regularly take the drills and practice over time to even out the other factors that influence the performance such as the emotional and physical well-being! :-) Murugan! Are you game?! :-)