In Tennis’ 2024 US open, the average number of shots per point was about 3.8. That’s an astounding figure. Once you take into account the serve and the return, there are only two more shots, on average, before a point is won. And although this is data from the US Open, I’m confident that this data carries over reasonably well to the general population.
Players love to practise rallies. But the data doesn’t lie: we’re likely better off focusing on our serve.
Tennis is just an example, because I’m confident this prioritisation phenomenon exists in most fields.