If Pam Shriver's tennis game were a guide to personal finance, you'd find all the basic advice you need to start managing your money effectively. While Shriver is not particularly athletic and has a duck-footed gait, capturing 21 singles titles and 112 doubles crowns earned her a spot in the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Shriver's success is a testament to players who can use smarts to overcome competitors with greater physical assets.

Here are some pointers gleaned from her success:

Don't spend what you don't have: In tennis terms, this means not hitting shots you haven't mastered. Discipline yourself to hit only those shots you can execute successfully eight times out of 10. Shriver didn't have a topspin backhand--or a topspin forehand--so when she was under attack she didn't try passing shots. Instead she lobbed, dinked, and hit soft angles to open up the court. Trying to hit a shot you can't afford will put you in debt.

Put something aside: Everything won't always go your way, both economically and on the tennis court. It's smart to have a nest egg to fall back on. Practice all parts of your game so that if Plan A fails, you have something in reserve. When Shriver's net-rushing game wasn't working, or when her opponent forced her to stay back, she had solid--if unspectacular--ground strokes to rely on. When she couldn't earn the point with her volleys, she could dip into her baseline savings.

Invest according to your needs: All players are different. Our personalities and bodies determine the type of player we will ultimately become, just as our needs and circumstances influence our investment decisions. Be realistic about your goals and your expectations. Shriver's temperament and physique--she was 6-foot-1--were ill-suited for grinding out matches from the baseline, but she was fortunate, as she noted in her Hall of Fame acceptance speech on July 14th, to have a coach who encouraged her to invest in a net-rushing game that would better utilize her body type.