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Tactical Analysis - Golden rules
Golden Rules of playing singles plus drills to
practice these rules:
1. A player rallies cross court and attacks
down the line
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Attack all mid-court balls, except
sharper angles that put a player under
some pressure.
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Only attack down the line on deep balls
if you are in position early and feel no
pressure on the ball i.e. you can
dominate the ball. (This explains why
weight of shot is so important).
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Never approach from playing outside the
inside sideline. (Show from behind)
Disciplines:
Percentage tennis means sticking to the
rules 80-90% of the time. Experience and
talent is expressed by players who know
when to take the risk of when to
wrong-foot an opponent.
Drill:
Rally cross-court, then call "now" when
there is a no-pressure ball that one
player can attack.
Do:
Forehand and backhand side.
Exceptions: Opponent has a specific tendency.
2. Know where to aim your returns
How closely a player sticks to the rules
depends on how much pressure the server
puts him/her under.
3. Always be positive returning 2nd
serves
Stand in and take
away the opponent’s time. Find a
position to return between waist and
shoulder height.
4. Defensive aggression
Stand way back and
hit high and hard, or sharp and hard
with spin and plenty of angle (mostly on
slower courts).
Drills:
5. Serve and Volley ==> defend the
percentage returns
Exceptions:
Serve
not good enough to specific area which
allows opponent to dominate the ball,
therefore able to change direction
easily.
Opponent has a
specific tendency to aim in one
direction most of the time (three out of
four times should ring some alarm
bells).
6. Defending under pressure
Defend high, deep and cross-court under
pressure or to the middle of the court.
Deep slice backhand also good. Both of
these are subject to playing someone who
does not cut in and take these shots on
the volley.
If you play someone who sneaks into net
:
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Lob.
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Play down the line safely,
occasionally taking a massive
risk and smacking the ball down
line.
NB: If you are breaking the rules of
percentage tennis monitor carefully your
rate of success. As it lowers, lower
your risk level.
7. When you sneak in
Do it fast and get the ball as close to
the net as possible and always try to
volley down.
8. Passing shots
The first one should go mostly down the
line with spin dipping the ball.
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Cross court with lots of spin
dipping down at the feet.
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Hit firm and hard into the open
space if a fairly large space
presents itself.
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If you are cramped or running
forward for a low ball in the middle
of the court, then hit with spin
right at your opponent.
Attitude:
Hit to places not past players. Lifting
the head is the most common mental
error.
9. Volleys
Try short cut-offs when possible back
behind your opponent, when faced with a
difficult volley.
by David
Sammel
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