Conversation #8 Technique is not skill A beautiful forehand does not automatically make someone a skilful tennis player. We’ve all seen players who look exceptional in practice. Clean forehand. Dependable backhand. Powerful serve. Technically polished. Then a score is introduced. The opponent changes the speed, spin, height and direction of the ball. Time disappears. Pressure increases. Suddenly, the “perfect” technique appears to break down. But perhaps the problem isn’t that their technique has disappeared. Perhaps the player has learned to reproduce a movement without learning how to adapt it to the changing information and demands of tennis. Technique describes how someone moves. Skill is the ability to coordinate and adapt movement to achieve an intention and solve the problem in front of them. This doesn’t make technique irrelevant. It means technique cannot be separated from the situation in which it must function. A player does not need one perfect forehand. They ...