For those of you who have been following tennis so far this year, you've probably heard of a guy named Novak Djokovic.  This past weekend, he beat Rafael Nadal to win the Indian Wells title and supplanted Roger Federer as the world No. 2.  In doing so, Djokovic took advantage of a tragic flaw in Nadal's game during the final - which brings me to this week's entry on Acting Tips For Tennis Players/Tennis Tips For Actors.  The problem as I saw it was this:  Nadal's first serve percentage was abysmal.  If one of his match objectives was to win cheap points on his first serves, and his tactic was to win them by clocking in serves near 130mph, then - aside from the first set - his tactic failed because he kept missing more first serves than he was making.  Despite these serving woes, Nadal, somewhat uncharacteristically I think, stubbornly refused to take anything off his first serve.  By early in the third set Nadal had been broken three times in a row, losing the deciding set by a score of 2-6.  Thus, my tip for today, as obvious as it may sound, is:  when you are not getting what you want with a particular action, you need to change your tactic.  To illustrate with an acting exercise, say A wants something from B, and the line is, "give me that."  A might yell, "give me that!" all day long to no avail because B is not intimidated by A.  So, A would have to change tactics.  A might then try to beg B, guilt B, or seduce B into getting what A wants.  Each different tactic will necessarily affect A's delivery, but the objective remains the same.  Likewise, in tennis, if your objective is to win some cheap points on your first serve, and your tactic is to absolutely hammer the serve but it's just not going in, you need to change your tactic.  Try getting cheap points with your placement, spin, or even with a surprise change-up.  And even if you don't get a quick point, mixing things up helps to keep your opponent from getting into a rhythm over the course of a match; and it also helps to keep things from getting stale on stage between actors.  So use what's working and change what's not; because there will always be obstacles to what you want (the net, the other player, yourself, etc.) - but if you have the ability to adjust your tactics and not be married to just one way of doing things (especially when it's no longer working), you'll find yourself better able to achieve the objectives you set for yourself.