Center Court
Tactics
There are many tactics against different styles of player. See also tactics under Club players. One crucial factor, though, is imposing your own game and keeping the future in your own hands.............
A method of play
The one common factor between all the good players at international level is that they have a recognisable style. It is also known as a method of play.
This is very important because it allows players to impose their game on the opponent and allows them to make straight forward decisions in match play.
Be the actor
In my opinion, the most exciting methods in the modern game centre on one key notion: initiating the play. It's what I call 'being the actor'. Indeed top tennis has become a game of who can get on the attack first. The advantage of initiating the play is that you get to keep the future in your hands. Modern tennis is becoming a case of 'hit' or 'be hit'!!
When to be the actor
The best time to establish yourself as the actor is with the first shot of each rally.
There are only four ways of beginning a rally: your first serve, your second serve, their first serve, their second serve. Let's identify the shots which are required in each of these situations.
Weapons required to be the 'actor'.
Your first serve
In order to attack from your first serve, it is important to be able to place your serve to at will. This is so you can ...........serve wide to the deuce court will allow you to open up the court....... serve to your opponent's weaker side, .............or serve at the body to cut down on angles. Different spins will also allow you present your opponent with difficult returns.
To follow the serve up with an attacking shot in case a short ball is returned, strong early ball groundstrokes are required. A strong forehand, hit at shoulder high to your opponent's weaker side is ideal for this,.
Forehands are generally easier to take early than backhands and running round to hit a forehand often creates more fear in the opponent than running round to hit a backhand. Having run round your forehand the best place to hit it is cross court to the backhand of your opponent (if they are right handed). this often called an 'inside out' or 'off' forehand!
Their second serve
The next key to being the actor, is attacking your opponents second serve. Again, an early ball strike as described above is a necessary weapon. Aim to your opponent's weaker side.
Much of the advice just above about running around forehands applies - however, there is one difference to be careful of. When attacking a short ball you are often in the court and they are often off it. Therefore if you don't feel you can hit a clean winner because they are in a good position on the court, go for a hard placement shot.
Their first serve/your second serve.
The two other 'first' shots - their first serve and your second serve present less opportunities for attacking. The key issue here is stopping your opponent from attacking, so you can begin a rally on level terms and work to impose your game once again.
Rallying
As players will often end up in rallies - the key to understanding rallies is understanding who is 'on' the court and who is 'off' the court. Here are some brief rules to use as a guide........
If you are on the court and your opponent is on the court, when you are both at the back........try to get your opponent off the court - either sideways or backwards . Angles and loops are the way to do this.
If you are on the court and your opponent is off the court, look to attack.
When you are off the court and your opponent is on...........certain rallying skills will be needed to defend, the key to defending is to hit the ball high to give yourself time to get back in position.
Biomechanical analysis has now taken the science of technique to a very sophisticated level. Using an advanced understanding of the structure of the body and applying the laws of science to how it moves and the different ways power is produced, more is now known about technique than ever before. One thing is does show, though, is that there are many different ways to hit a ball.
I will not go into Biomechanical here but will touch on some points which will hopefully give you ideas to think about, and which will hopefully lead you to find your own best technique.
Perhaps the safest way to approach technique is to begin by looking at what tactics are needed. This way, technique is driven by tactical requirements and doesn't exist in a vacuum.
So let's examine what basic technical requirements are needed to realise these tactics described under the section 'Tactics - Centre Court Stuff'
Technical development of weapons to use to 'be the actor'
Forehand and backhand
- To have the best chance of being the actor, a strong, solid consistent hit is required on the groundstrokes. Top Coach Paul Dent talks about the need for the racket to win the collision with the ball. I like that - you need to hear a 'thwak'!
- To get a good solid hit, two things are important:
Firstly, good racket head shape (low through to high) and racket face control. As a teaching aid, try hanging a piece of old carpet over the net and swing at it (not too hard!) to feel the solid, full on contact needed on the ball.
Secondly, it is important that you arrive on balance so that you can control the ball and it doesn't control you. This requires the first movement to be fast, slowing down to arrive on balance. Players who are having to regain balance after the hit, need work in this area.
- The ability to take the player off the court with angles is also important. To develop this, it is beneficial to find the outside of the ball to hook it crosscourt. Particularly important for doublehanded backhand players is the use of the left hand to do this.
Shoulder high early ball forehand - the 'end game'.
- In the modern game, the ability to take the ball early at shoulder high becomes an important development. This is the 'end game' - to bring the point to a conclusion.
- It can have a big effect on the tactics of the match because it makes it dangerous for the opponent to drop the ball short and high when defending, putting pressure on them to find better depth.
- Technically, it requires the player to 'lift' the height of their takeback. If they normally hit the ball at waist height for example, the swing begins below the ball and finishes above. When striking at shoulder high, the whole shot needs to be lifted to allow the player to hit through the ball to achieve a flat fast flight-path. It is a common error to attack these high short balls beginning with the racket in too low a position, (as if still hitting at waist high) thus making a forwards and attacking flightpath difficult.
When learning this shot, players also need to be aware of the importance of taking the ball at shoulder high and on the rise. If the ball gets too high and is allowed to 'hang' with no pace left in it, then power will be lost. The ball needs to be struck whilst it has still got power left in it from the bounce. This requires players to be ready to move very close to the bounce which is often daunting at first.
Defence
- To defend well when your opponent has become the actor is important. Development of reasonably good feel to adapt on low balls/awkward balls when defending is important.
- For defending high, a good feel for the use of gravity is required i.e. knowing how to 'drop' the ball into court. This requires good racket face control and control of the speed of the swing.
To develop the feel for gravity, stand on the baseline and have a competition to see who is the first to hit the baseline at the other end with a lob straight from their hand.
Serve
- A strong throwing action. Many girls do not learn to throw well at an early age. As young as seven and eight, they should be learning to throw balls. The type of throw is important, it should be a high throw (as if aiming for the peak of the roof over the middle of the court on an indoor tennis court).
- Enough feel to be able to serve wide to the forehand on demand. This can often be developed with a chopper grip. A good teaching aid is to learn the feel for slice on the serve by holding the racket at the top the handle and developing a feel for 'skimming the ball' around the outside.
- A reliable spin second serve that cannot be attacked easily. A slice or topspin/slice serve is my recommendation.
Players should practise their serve more often. It can be more fun in pairs. With a target in the service box, each player has a first serve and a second serve at the target. Whoever is nearest to the target gets the point. Scoring can be as in normal tennis, changing sides after each point as in a match, and a full set can be played, to emphasise the importance of the serve in match play. (The same can be done for return of serve.)
Netplay
- Effective reliable volleys, primarily kill volleys to finish off the point in case they get your shoulder high forehand back. The volley is arguably the easiest shot to learn. It is a blocking action, make a wall with your racket and tap it where you want! Single handed backhand volleys take time to develop for double-handers.
- Good smash and bounce smash are also important for killing off the point. Very often, developing a good smash is firstly a case of making sure you hit enough in practice.
Secondly, good balance is key. The contact point on the smash is the same as for a first serve - the only difference is that your opponent is throwing the ball up for you!!
A good teaching aid to develop balance is to teach pupils to smash and see if they can keep their feet still after the hit.
And finally ........
Always remember that whatever techniques you read about or teach, they firstly need to have a tactical purpose and secondly their success should be judged in matches.
