Mastering Transition Can Make the Difference a Tight Win and a Tough Loss

Tennis players are always looking for an edge that will make the difference between defeat and victory.  Is the X factor consistency? What exactly defines mental toughness?  Which shots can a player most rely on? What should you bring into play versus a better player? Or during those key points in the late stages of a match?

Be it a junior seeking a big result at one of this summer’s big tournaments, or an adult hungering for better results in age group events and league play, these are the questions that surface again and again.  It was interesting, for example, to hear no less an accomplished player than Jannik Sinner declare, after losing the 2025 US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz, that he needed to become more unpredictable. And indeed, throughout 2026, Sinner has more frequently trotted out such tactics as serve-and-volley and drop shots.

Might the differentiator be a deeper understanding of the very court itself? Instead of a ball machine or a drill, might the better solution be a map? Those were just two of the questions that drove us to make the concept of transition the focus of our latest issue.

As former pro Trey Waltke points…