Pick a Target

Greetings Essential Tennis blog readers. Welcome back for another article which I hope will help your tennis game. If you haven't already, check out the Essential Tennis podcast which is available for download on the Apple iTunes Music Store. There is a link on the right side of this page leading to the .xml file.

Today I'm going to write about the importance of having a target at all times in your tennis practice and play. It's a simple concept, but something that I find very few club level players take advantage of, and even a lot of teaching professionals.

First off, let me encourage you to have a target for each and every shot! It doesn't matter if you're on the practice court, taking a lesson, or competing in a match, you need to have a target for each shot. Why? Because how else are you going to be able to gauge your success? Thats the point of your finely honed strokes right? To be able to actually hit the ball somewhere. Well, having a target is the means to directing your strokes. If you're not actually aiming someplace you're hitting without a purpose or direction. Don't waste your time practicing or playing without having a plan and a target for every shot.

When you aim for a target, you have a mental picture or image of where you'd like the ball to go. This means that you do NOT look at your target as you hit your shot. Refer back several articles to learn how to properly watch the ball during all of your strokes. Your visual focus needs to be on the ball at all times, all the way up until you make contact to ensure you're hitting the ball cleanly as often as possible. However, during this process you should have a mental idea of where your stroke is being directed. Sound complicated? If you're not doing this already get out there and start practicing, I guarantee it will improve your tennis in the long run. The place where you're trying to hit is NOT going anywhere, the court isn't moving and the lines and net are constant. This means taking your focus off the ball to look at your target is unnecessary. What about keeping tabs on your opponent? Use your peripheral vision to do this, and keep the only 3 degrees of sharp focused vision on the ball at all times.

Make your target as specific as possible! My gosh, if I had a dollar for every time in a lesson I ask a student "where were you aiming?" to get the reply "well somewhere over there" while they point to one corner or the other. Sorry, thats not good enough if you have the hopes of becoming a higher level player, and I assume if you're reading this you do have that goal. When I ask that question of a student its usually because they've hit a pretty solid shot and their intentions and strategy was good, but their target was much too general. Aiming for one half of the court or one corner or the other is such a huge amount of court. If the ball lands 6 inches off of your target you lose the point, and 6 inches is an extremely small amount of court, after all you're working with 80 feet if hitting from back behind the baseline. Very few people in the world are good enough to be working in 6 inch areas of the court as a target. If you're behind the baseline trying to hit a strong penetrating shot to your opponents side you need to be leaving yourself 3 or 4 feet of room for error inside each line. Does that sound like a huge amount of space? Then I challenge you to get some rope and make a 4 foot square target and see how many times out of 10 you can hit inside of it with a ground stroke. If you've never attempted something like that before then trust me it's a lot harder than you might think.

So what the above comes down to is that you need a SPECIFIC place to aim for. And the place where your target is needs to be realistic. Don't aim for the line, or even a foot inside the line, thats just not enough room for error, you will miss it more often than you make it. Once in a while an emergency situation arises where you're forced to try a low percentage shot when your opponent is on top of the net getting ready to put the ball away. Fine, go ahead and go for it. Just realize that most tennis points end with an error even at the professional level, so getting the ball in play is going to always be a great play over going for an impossible shot that you only make 2 or 3 times out of ten.

So next time you head out to the court for practice take some targets with you! At the club where I teach we have small plastic cones that I usually use, but anything will do including a ball hopper or making a pyramid of four balls. Set up a target on both sides of the court both in the deuce side corner 4 feet inside the sideline and baseline and get a cross court ground stroke rally going with your partner using only your outside strokes (forehand for a righty). If you're as competitive as I am, wager 10 or 20 push ups for every time you hit your partners target over etc, make it fun. After 15 minutes switch the targets to the other side to work on your backhands. The same can be done with volleys, serves and returns, the possibilities are endless.

So remember to have a purpose for your shots! Practice with a purpose and a target, and take that practice to your matches. Hitting a specific place on the court over and over builds better technique, focus, and confidence in your tennis. Now thats essential.

Doubles: The Return of Serve

Today I'm going to write about the return of serve in your doubles play. If you don't play very much doubles then you should! I remember being a teenager just starting to become an overall competent tennis player and absolutely hating it, now I prefer a good doubles match to singles most of the time. Doubles compliments your overall game by forcing you to become comfortable at the net using volleys and overheads, so if you're not already mixing up your play time with both singles and doubles definitely start!

Listen carefully to what I'm about to say since its probably the most important thing I'm going to write in this blog: RETURN CROSS COURT! Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Do not get suckered into trying all kinds of fancy down the ally passing shot returns of serve, you will not come out ahead on it unless the net player in front of you has no idea what they're doing. I wrote a blog about why to hit cross court several weeks ago, if you haven't read it make sure you do. Not only is the court longer, and the net lower when you aim cross court with your return, but you avoid the person closest to you on the opposing team. Whoever is closest to you at any point in time during a doubles point poses the highest threat to you losing, unless you're on the attack and able to hit aggressively at them.

The only time I would condone hitting down the line on your doubles return of serve is when 1) you're at a 4.0 or above level player and can make an aggressive ground stroke 8 out of 10 times 2) you're receiving a very weak serve 3) the net player has no idea how to volley and is making lots of mistakes. If none of those three things exist in the match then cross court is your play all day long. Sound boring? In my opinion winning is never boring, and a cross court return is the highest percentage shot to hit. Not only is it higher percentage, but it gives you time to come into the net yourself and add pressure to your opponents next shot.

Ok lets get more specific now for you higher level players. What if your opponents are serve and volleying or poaching? If neither of those two things are happening then your return should be relatively stress free, with a full half of the court open to your disposal. If the server is coming in right after the serve your best play is cross court and down at his feet. If you're able to hit heavy top spin along with some good drive that is your best play, making the ball dip down low where he cannot attack on the first volley. If you can't hit heavy top spin, just taking some pace off to drop it lower is great. Either way, if you give the server a nice high volley you'll quite possibly be in trouble, so do your best to keep it not only cross court but low to him as well. If his partner is squirrelly at the net and moving around a lot on your return do your best to keep your focus and just continue to hit cross court. If it's becoming an obvious problem and he's getting to most of your returns easily and putting them away then you'll have to start mixing up your return. This is what they want!! A good net person will make you nervous and confident in where you're hitting, always wondering if they're going or not.

If the server has a tough serve and is coming right in to the net, and the servers partner is covering the net great and putting volleys away with ease, and your last resort is to play double back. Get your partner out of harms way so that your weak returns don't get him killed on every point. Realize that you're not giving up the net outright to your opponents and your points on their serve will most likely be an up hill battle, having to hit big passing shots or great lobs to regain momentum once they both get up there. As an alternative to this you can have your partner stand in no-mans land for your return and have him wait and see how good of a return you're able to produce. If on that particular serve you get in a great low, cross court shot then he has the ability to get right back into the net with you hopefully following him in. If you have trouble and a weak return goes up, he has the ability to scoot back to the baseline quick and prepare to defend the fort.

As always I hope you found this article helpful and informative. Remember to check out the Essential Tennis Podcast to get your tennis instruction on the go! There is a link at the top of this page on the right hand side. Feel free to e-mail me at any time with tennis questions or suggestions for the blog or podcast at ian@essentialtennis.com. Take care

Hustle: the "it factor" of tennis

Hustle. There's few things that will give you an advantage like hustle will. Today I'm going to go over my thoughts on giving all the effort you can every time you step onto a tennis court, and changing your mental thoughts about running for the ball.

Few things get to me more than a person who goes out onto a tennis court to play or practice, and watching them not try for a ball. I'm personally extremely competitive, so there's a part of me that doesn't even understand how somebody could just give up on a point or shot that they could have gotten to with just a few seconds of effort. There's three main reasons why a player will not run for any particular shot, I will list them briefly below.

1. The player doesn't think they can get to the ball. A shot is hit short, wide, or over a player and an immediate judgment is made that it's out of reach and so its allowed to pass by completely unchallenged.

2. The player thinks the ball is going out. A shot is struck by a players opponent sailing deep or wide and the player stands and watches it land thinking the point will be over in his or her favor, only to be mistaken.

3. The player sees a shot hit some distance from them, and simply decides they don't want to run for the ball.

All three of these reasons why somebody would not go for a shot are mental mistakes. If you know that you do any of them then you're simply selling yourself short on the tennis court, and you can become a better player by banishing these thoughts from your mental vocabulary. It seems like such a simple thing to ask of a player: when you go to play tennis, run for the ball! However not everybody has the same amount of drive or desire, and so in my lessons I very often find myself in the position of motivational speaker trying to get my students to put out as much effort as possible.

Here are the three main reasons why I want you to run after EVERY ball:

1. You'll get to shots that you never thought possible. I 100% guarantee you this, when you start running for every ball that's hit to your side of the court it won't take very long before you get to a shot that you wouldn't have ever dreamed would be possible. Even if it's only 4 or 6 extra balls that you get to per match compared to before trust me its worth it. Not only are you making your opponents work harder to try and beat you, but you can leave the court with the personal satisfaction of knowing you gave each and every point your best shot.

2. As you run and hustle for every ball, you will get faster! I 100% guarantee this to you as well. If you're not already running for every ball hit on the court, when you begin to do it you will get physically faster. The reason for this is two fold. First of all, when you try for the really hard and difficult shots, you'll simply get a better physical work out, your muscles will get stronger and more used to the higher level of effort. Secondly, over time you'll get better at running full speed. Your coordination and quickness will improve as you practice going for every shot no matter how far away it is.

3. You will win more points, more games, and more matches. Few people realize how big of an effect their hustle has on their opponents. Thats right, how hard you try has a direct effect on your opponent as well. When they hit a great shot to a corner or short in the court that would usually not be returned and see you just bust it trying to run it down, even if you don't get to the shot and make it they'll know immediately that they'd better keep coming up with those great shots. As you continue hustling for their every ball, often times players will start making mistakes because they'll try to make their shots better and better in response to you running them down. This puts pressure on your opponent, they can take no shot for granted once they realize you are going to put in 100% effort for each and every shot they hit. Not only are you going to win more points because you will start getting to and hitting more shots in the court, but you will win more points because of the pressure you put on your opponents to come up with a better shot to beat you with.

So let me encourage you, you can do this! As I said before, the main reasons why people don't hustle are MENTAL ones. I don't care how fast or slow you think you are, make a conscious decision right now that you WILL try for every shot hit to your side of the court. My coach in college would get absolutely livid when somebody would stand and watch a ball travel out by only a few inches. What if it was in? Run, get there, and be ready to return it in case it does land in. If it is in fact out, fine you still win the point, but you were ready to continue play just in case your judgment was a little off.

There are no subjective decisions when it comes to your point play. You will not stand and wonder to yourself "huh, that could be in, but I think its going out". The only decision is an object one, you will run for every ball, no matter what. If you subscribe to this, your tennis game will improve.

Approaching in Singles

In my teaching of both singles and doubles players I encourage my students to come to the net a great deal. I love the net personally, but if approached incorrectly this strategic move can become much more difficult that you bargained for. I will split up this article into three main parts: when to approach, where to place your shot, and where to place yourself when approaching the net in singles. Enjoy!

1. When to approach

This is crucial, and if you're a singles player a good fundamental understanding of the right time to come in is the difference between winning and losing a point. When you come to the net, you take time away from your opponent. However, by placing yourself close to them, you also take time away from yourself. That means you cannot afford to come waltzing in on just any old shot or you'll be a sitting duck. There are three main times that I encourage students to come on up to the net, they are:
a. After receiving a weak shot. If your opponent has had trouble with your previous shot and hit a weak reply, get in his or her face and follow the weak shot in! Generally most shots that bounce in front of the service line are considered "weak", due to their lack of pace and depth, these shots will be easy to hit with an aggressive swing and followed in behind.
b. After hitting a challenging shot for your opponent. We'll get into this more in depth later on in the article. If you've just completed a stroke that will be tough for your opponent to return, compound their worries by immediately following it in for the put away. This takes good anticipation and some knowledge of your opponents strengths and weaknesses.
c. You're headed upwards anyway. Sometimes I'll see students rush in for a short ball barely retrieving it, and then they will try to high tail it back to the baseline again before the next shot is hit to them. If you have lots of forwards momentum getting to a shot, go ahead and let it carry you up to the net. It will be less work than getting back to the baseline, and you will be pressuring your opponent. Just make sure you know where to hit your shot before you come in!

2. Where to place your shot

If you do not challenge your opponent on the way up to the net I guarantee you will not be as successful coming up. Since we're playing singles, in general the best place to aim is down the line. The reason for this is based in geometry. Let's say that you're right handed and just got a short shot to your forehand side. Your opponent is waiting for your shot in the middle of his or her baseline. If you hit cross court the largest part of your court is immediately in front of them because you hit from your right side of the court and placed the ball to the left. You now have a long ways to go in a short amount of time to cover this. If you hit down the middle, your opponent has an equal chance of passing either way, and can probably choose his or her stronger stroke as well. If you hit down the line, you are now automatically much better set up to cover the passing shot because you hit the ball from the right side of the court, and kept it there. Immediately in front of your opponent is you at the net, and passing cross court leaves little room for error, because one step over to your left covers most of that shot.

Now, again this is in general the best place to aim your approach, but I can think of several reasons why you could go someplace else as well.
a. Your opponent has a substantially weaker shot on the other side. If cross court leads to a terrible backhand that they have a hard time hitting aggressively go ahead and pressure them by forcing them to attempt a passing shot with the inferior stroke.
b. You feel you can finish the point outright cross court. An approach shot is a set up shot, you shouldn't usually be hitting for an outright winner unless it's an exceptionally easy shot. If that shot does occur go ahead and put it away cross court since the net is lower and the court is longer. If it's not very easy, better go down the line most of the time.
c. Your opponent is out of position. If your previous shot sent them stumbling into the corner down the line from you, then by all means hit a nice deep or angled shot the other away cross court.

3. Where to place yourself.

Regardless of where you place your approach you need to get yourself in the best possible spot to cover as much of the court as possible. I will quickly go over the depth and width at which you should be positioning yourself after hitting an approach shot.

Depth is easy: get as close as possible! Seriously, however much time you have between when you hit your approach and when your opponent hits their passing shot use it all to get as close as you can to the net. The closer you get the more of the court you will cover if they try to pass you. Now, I can hear half of you screaming from here "but they'll lob me!". This is where knowing your opponent is priceless. Some people you play will love to lob, and will be quite good at it. If that is the case then certainly don't go rushing blindly in with that previous knowledge, hit your approach shot and come in a couple steps in front of the service line. If they do in fact lob turn to the side and set up for your overhead. If they don't lob then get on your horse and close in as quickly as possible to take the volley as close as you can to the net. This will both cut off whatever angle they may have on the passing shot and also make your volley easier.

Width is solely dependent on where you place your approach. What you need to do is "follow the ball". If you hit your shot to the right corner, you should be moving in and placing yourself to the right of the center service line. If you hit your shot to the left corner you should be moving in and placing yourself to the left of the center service line. If you hit down the middle, first of all it had better be a heck of a shot, and second of all place yourself right in the middle. By doing this you cover the easiest place for your opponent to hit past you: straight ahead. While on the run to get to your (hopefully) well hit approach hitting back cross court at an angle sharp enough to get past you is the toughest shot to execute. Now, just like with the lob, you need to know your opponent. If after approaching three times you get passed cross court three times with the same shot then pay attention and cover that side more closely next time you hit them that same shot.

There you have it, the nuts and bolts of coming to the net in singles. If you keep coming to the net and getting passed, then the quality of your approach shots needs to improve. Focus on hitting keeper and with more pace to the corner you have chosen. If getting passed isn't your problem but your opponents keep running down your volleys then your net game needs to improve. Once you get up there behind a solid approach shot the point should be over within one or two volleys or overheads.

Hopefully this was helpful! Comments or questions are always welcomed at ian@essentialtennis.com