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“I prefer traditional scoring, because when serving it gives me a degree of freedom, knowing that I won’t lose a point and I can therefore play more aggressively.”
This it seems is a common argument as to why people prefer traditional “English” scoring. When serving, some players will feel able to go for a risky or difficult shot, which may have a high reward and which without the safety net of the serve, they might not otherwise have gone for.
I would question their underlying logic.
That is, that a rally when hand-in (serving), in traditional scoring is less important than one when receiving, when one may possibly lose a point.
This is flawed thinking. The person who wins most rallies in any given game will win it. It matters not who was serving. What is certain is that if your opponent wins more rallies than you, you cannot win that particular game. Therefore all rallies are equally important and deserve
equal effort.
With this in mind, one needs to find the best game plan for each rally, and excepting the serve/return phase of the rally, maintain an almost identical strategy from rally to rally regardless of server.
Of course your strategy may change throughout the match as conditions change and opponents change, and of course, you’ll learn what is effective and what is not. But this won’t be conditional on who is serving. A good opportunity to win a rally is exactly that whether serving and receiving, and should be grasped as such.
So to answer the question in the title, if you have been playing with the belief that you ought to change your strategy dependant on who’s serving, then yes you will need to change your strategy for PAR to 11 scoring. Find the best way to win a rally, and stick to it. You should also change your strategy for traditional Hand in, hand out scoring too. Play each rally with equal care.
The only caveats to this rule lie with the attitude and strategy of your opponent. You can use their flawed desire to win some rallies more than others to your own advantage.
This is taking your tactical game to another level. Perhaps your opponent plays more aggressively when serving knowing that they will not lose a point should they lose a rally. One sensible “rally plan” would be to be more defensive and wait for an opportunity to counter attack.
On the other hand perhaps your opponent is more defensive when receiving serve? This might allow you to be patient and pick your opportunity to attack, as your opponent will be slightly harder to pull out of position. Or use this opportunity to really work them hard, aiming to reap the benefits later on in the match.
Considered application of the discussed points could very easily make the difference between a hard fought but comfortable victory, and a gallant loss. So get thinking “What’s the best plan to beat today’s opponent?” and execute in every rally, until you find it’s not quite right when you’ll need to tweak it, or you are shaking hands as the victor.
Steve Townsend.
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