Tennis Glossary: Playing Styles

We’ve added a Tennis Glossary page which includes playing styles.

Benefits of describing tennis playing styles when teaching include:

1. Personalized Coaching: Tailors instruction to match a player’s strengths and weaknesses based on their preferred style.

2. Strategy Planning: Helps in creating game plans and tactics that leverage a player’s strengths while addressing weaknesses.

3. Opponent Analysis: Enables analysis and preparation for opponents by anticipating their strategies and developing counter-strategies.

4. Versatility: Enhances adaptability to different opponents and situations, offering a competitive advantage.

5. Skill Development: Allows coaches to focus on specific skills aligned with a player’s style, like groundstroke consistency for baseline players.

6. Mental Preparation: Boosts confidence and mental toughness by aligning game plans with a player’s strengths.

New Whisperer Website

The Tennis Whisperer was previously part of the Manly Tennis Centre (MTC), a subdomain of the Manly Lawn Tennis Club.
Following the ownership transfer of the Manly Tennis Centre,  MTC has established its own independent website. You can find it here: https://manlytenniscentre.com.au/.
Consequently, the Manly Lawn website has now been revised to incorporate these updates.
The Tennis Whisperer section has relocated to its new digital home at www.tenniswhisperer.com.

Seven Basics of Tennis Strategy | ATP

Craig O’Shannessy is a well known tennis statistician.  He recently republished the stats below in the context of the Australian Open.

Our Tennis Whisperer attempts to explain the WHYs underlining Craig’s stats in simple terms of the three primary skills underpinning every tennis stroke: ball watching, balance and rhythm . [See WHY comments in these brackets].

These are the seven basics of tennis strategy and, as always, they will be the key to winning at this year’s Australian Open.

Lesson 1: Forehands and Backhands 

Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic has arguably the best backhand in the world. But who cares.

When Djokovic last won the “Happy Slam” in 2021, he struck 98 forehand winners and 45 backhand winners. That’s why you see players running around backhands to hit forehands. They desperately seek to upgrade.

The forehand is the sword. The backhand is the shield. The sword accounts for about two out of every three winners from the back of the court.

Forehand and backhand winners

M/W Forehand winners Backhand winners
Men 70 per cent (3228) 30 per cent (1386)
Women 64 per cent (2236) 36 per cent (1247)

[Whisperer: The NADAL VARIATION creates more extreme angles because of the racket position in relation to body.]

Lesson 2: Tennis is a game of errors

The Australian Open features the best players on the planet, who rally back and forth ad nauseam on the practice court with precious few mistakes. Then matches start, and errors flow.

Winners and errors

M/W Winners Errors
Men 34 per cent 66 per cent
Women 30 per cent 70 per cent

Winners are rising at Melbourne Park, jumping from 30 per cent for the men in 2015 to 34 per cent last year. In the women’s game, there was a jump from 27 per cent in 2015 to 30 per cent in 2022.

Because errors are so prevalent, it’s much smarter to make opponents uncomfortable and force mistakes than chase winners. Obsess over the bigger pool of points.

[Whisperer: Minimizing errors by staying in the point has always consistently won more points. ]

Lesson 3: Eight ways to force an error

There are actually eight ways to make the opponent uncomfortable and extract an error.

 [Whisperer: WHY explained in Where column of the three primary skills in any stroke: ball watching, balance, rhythm—strength is NOT necessarily the key.]

Eight ways to force an error

# 8 ways Where
1 Consistency Court:  Watching
2 Direction Court: Balance
3 Depth Court: Balance
4 Height Court: Balance
5 Spin Ball: Watching
6 Power Ball: Rhythm 
7 Court Position Me: Balance
8 Time The clock: Rhythm

These eight elements are the holy grail of tennis. If a player hits a shot that contains just one of these eight, such as depth, they will have gained the upper hand in the point. 

If their shot includes two or more qualities, such as power and direction, they will be standing inside the baseline hitting with authority when the weak ball comes back.

If they combine three elements – such as height, spin and court position – the ball doesn’t come back.

Lesson 4: Rally length

Winning the short rallies is the best way to walk off court with a victory. The study of rally length started at the 2015 Australian Open and shook the foundations of the sport because of just how many short rallies occur.

Rally length

Shots Men Women
0-4 70 per cent 66 per cent
5-8 20 per cent 23 per cent
9+ 10 per cent 11 per cent

[Whisperer: Impact of powerful racket technology and advantage to server.  Corollary: get into the point as much as possible. Use typical Djokovic/Medvedev strategy of deep returns to put server off balance to nullify server advantage.] 

Rally length is predicated on the ball landing in the court, not hitting the strings. So a double fault has a rally length of zero as the ball didn’t land in, and a missed return is a rally length of one as the serve went in and the return was missed.

Seven points out of 10 are contested by players hitting the ball a maximum of two times each (four-shot rallies) in the court. 

The data also blew the doors off the myth that winning long rallies equated to winning matches. There are, typically, not enough long rallies to make a difference.

Lesson 5: Mode

The mode simply means the most common value in a data set. We can predict with certainty that the most abundant rally length at this year’s Australian Open will be the same as last year, and the year before that.  One shot in the court. No more. No less.

Ask someone which rally length is the most frequent, and the typical answers are from four to eight shots.  You can tell them that Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray thought they played more four-shot rallies than anything else. They were very surprised, like all players, that they play more one-shot rallies than any other. That equates to a made serve and a missed return.

2015 Australian Open men: Most common rally lengths

Rally length Percentage
1 shot 30
3 shots 15
2 shots 10
5 shots 9
4 shots 8

As you can see from the table above, one-shot rallies are incredibly frequent in a match (30 per cent). The next closest rally length is three shots at 15 per cent.

Notice that three-shot rallies occur more than two shots, and five-shot rallies occur more than four shots. That’s because of the halo effect of the serve, or how long the influence of the serve lasts before things become even in a rally. 

[To repeat. Whisperer: Impact of powerful racket technology and advantage to server.  Corollary: get into the point as much as possible. Use Djokovic /Medvedev strategy of deep returns to nullify server advantage.] 

Lesson 6: You win a higher percentage at the net than the baseline

The baseline seems like a safe haven for players, while the net seems a risky place to win points. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The baseline as a safe haven?

M/W Baseline win percentage Net win percentage
Men 47 67
Women 48 66

If you rally from the back of the court, you are lucky to win half of your baseline points. 

[WHISPERER: Volleys are an ESSENTIAL stroke for any serious tennis player, and particular for junior development,  not an afterthought. Moving forward to the net (from GHOSTLINE) wins about two out of three points.]

The net has always been a fun, prosperous place to win points and nothing has changed statistically to think otherwise.

Lesson 7: Serve and Volley works

No tennis strategy has been more maligned and misunderstood than the serve and volley. Pundits say it belongs to another era and is too difficult to employ in today’s game. It’s simply not so.

Serve and volley works

M/W Played/won Percentage won
Men 709/1053 67
Women 36/57 63

Both men and women won about two out of three points serving and volleying at last year’s Australian Open. 

That is a far superior tactic than serving, staying back and trying to eke out a living from the baseline to hold serve.

[WHISPERER: Enhances probability of winning the point because of the geometry and physics of relative court positions of each player]

Tennis Whisperer

Source: Craig O’Shannessy, SMH

MLTC Seaside Results

Congrats to a number of our club members who did very well.  Bede, Matthew & Milton were amongst the event winners.

Tennis Intelligence: It Takes Pyramid Power | ATP

Too often, the average player’s focus is on their “Hardware” — coordinating muscles to hit the ball.  True, for most, just coordinating your body to consistently hit the ball week in and week out is difficult to say the least. It quickly becomes very frustrating when playing in the wind, changing court surfaces or against, what I will call, an awkward opponent.  And escalates even faster as we age and our muscles lose strength and coordination.

Our Hardware skills pathway includes three essential skills which underpin any tennis stroke: ball watching, balance and rhythm.  The basic Tennis Whisperer program teaches the development of the core supporting muscles to both enhance those skills and prevent injury.  As an example, just improving your ability to “really see the ball” rather than merely trying to “watch” it during play can go a long way to improving your consistency — at any age and stage of tennis. These basic skills can be taught or refreshed at any age.

But Hardware is only one part of the equation. Hardware is very much about muscles, joints and physical traits. “Software” is brain perception, action and decision making. Software is what often gives a player a head-start on those who might be physically stronger, quicker or, dare I say, younger! And from time to time, a win against the ‘better hitter’.

Your neural system is the third part of this equation, and in basic terms, connects a player’s “Software” to their “Hardware”.

Software should be view as a “Pyramid”. At its base be more aware of your end of the court:  basic court positions when returning serve or covering the net.  And the positions change depending on the opponent and the conditions.  For the more powerful opponent, it’s better to play further back when returning serve — not only to give yourself a little more time to watch the ball, but more importantly to ensure you’re moving forward into the shot to stay on balance. This is why Nadal, one of the best players in the world, plays so far back to improves his balance by moving forward into each shot.

Moving up the Pyramid, and still at your end of the court, where you stand in the court, particularly in dubs,  has a huge impact on your ability to stay in the point. For example, at ANY level of tennis, Tennis Physics means that EIGHTY PERCENT (80%) of shots fall in a two (metre) circle around the middle T of the serve line. Merely standing in that circle guarantees you’ll get a shot at most balls — you might not make the shot but you’ll be in the point.

As the Pyramid narrows, and looking at the opponent’s end of the court, action and decision-making comes to the fore.  Your focus is on the Hardware of the opponent.  Do they have any “obvious weaknesses” — not just the weaker backhand side but where do they consistently return the ball? Any physical limitations in running down lobs?  Are they comfortable hitting volleys or overheads? Are they comfortable moving forward, backwards, sideways? What did you learn from the warm-up? [You didn’t try to win the warm-up, right??]

Even further up the Pyramid, and still at your opponent’s end of the court, your focus is on the opponent’s Software.   How can you identify and find a way to exploit their limitations? Where do they stand in the court, to return serve, at the net etc?  Do they stand too close to the net and therefore are suckers to a simple lob return?  What’s their state of mind at different times of the match?  Do they rush under pressure?  Consistently miss first serves on game and tie breaker points??  How can you adjust your Software and Hardware to take full advantage of your observations during play??

And lastly, at the very Pyramid Top, and now we are back to your end of the court, what’s your decision-making style to analyze opponents during match play.  It’s the rare player who can change their Hardware midpoint to hit a different shot under pressure. Even rarer, the player who can consistently play more than one type of game — to unsettle an opponent and match the conditions. For most of us, suffice to say, it’s better to rely on a simple ritual to prepare to play each point — at least to start out each point standing in the right position and with a calm mind.

Tennis is a great game.  And you’ll get so much more enjoyment by NOT leaving your Software on the sidelines. And who knows, perhaps a few more wins.

© Rob Muir, USPTA
Tennis Whisperer

 

Here’s Why You Play WORSE In Matches | ATP

Have you ever experienced hitting an amazing shot when you know it “doesn’t count”?
For me it usually happens on a casual swing at a serve that landed a foot out – so I call it out and just let’r rip.
No pressure. No expectations.
Amazing how those swings feel so smooth, and yet the result is a booming shot that paints a corner.
Just like hitting in practice, right?
In practice you aren’t concerned with winning or losing so everything is smooth and relaxed.
Effortless.
So why the 180 degree turn around in match play?
It comes down to one ugly word.
Fear.
Now that the shots you’re hitting really “matter” your mind is racing and the feeling of fear takes over:
Fear of embarrassment
Fear of letting down your doubles partner
Fear of disappointing your teammates or coach
Fear of losing to a weaker opponent
Fear of losing your reputation as a player
Unfortunately, most tennis players treat fear as the problem when it’s actually just a symptom.
Once you understand what the root cause of your fear (and how to best manage your particular issue –emphasis added by Tennis Whisperer) is it melts away leaving you free to play your best tennis.
Source: Jorge Capestany, USPTA

Technique Is NOT The Answer | AskThePro

Technique improvements are great, but if you’re in a pattern of losing to lower level players it’s NOT the answer.
A quick story from Olivier in France illustrates that perfectly.
He was able to play at a “9 out of 10” during practice but only a “2 out of 10” during matches, especially against players who were weaker than him.
During one particular match he actually completely lost confidence and feel for his backhand while his opponent floated him weak shot after weak shot.
Here’s how he tried to solve the problem at first:
  • “I had mostly looked at the technical aspects. I had looked at the internet already because I remember doing some drills and stuff like that because I was really thinking that I needed to find the technical stuff that makes me be more consistent in my tennis. But then I realized, no, what is happening that I lose all this confidence in just a moment, in just a second? So either I fix that and I progress so that I can see that it’s no longer a disaster or I quit and do something else.”

Olivier eventually came to understand a vital truth: if technique execution is good during practice but significantly worse during matches you do NOT have a technique problem.
You have a mental demon problem.
Mental demons cause a wide range of problems for players. Low performance during matches is just one of them but it’s definitely one of the most common.
Here’s how another one of our students describes it:
  • “I have a regular weekly match with someone I have been playing for many years. Our matches were always competitive but then I started overthinking my shots and forcing changes and he started beating me (badly).

Technique is a fundamental element to tennis success, but becoming fixated on it can cause big drops in match performance!

Source: Jorge Capestany, USPTA

Badge Tie Breaker Strategy | ATP

This Week’s Question: Tiebreaker Philosophy

From our Club Captain, Denis:
“With finals approaching, do you have a philosophy for tiebreakers?”

Ah… tiebreakers. Love them or hate them, they’re often the deciders. And let’s be honest — most players hate them. Why? Because pressure builds, and suddenly players start trying to do too much.

But here’s the thing: you got to the tiebreaker by playing solid tennis. Now is not the time to pull out trick shots, risky topspin lobs, or a screaming sideline winner that just misses wide. In tiebreakers, conservatism is your best friend.


Strategy 101: Let Them Miss

At every Badge level — whether it’s Grade 1 or Grade 10 — most points aren’t won, they’re lost. That means your best move? Give your opponent the opportunity to make the mistake.

Pressure builds after a few shots. That’s usually when players overreach — and misfire. So stay strong, stay steady. Play high-percentage tennis.


Key Tiebreak Tactics

  • First serve in. Don’t go for the ace. Just get the serve in play. Spin and target the middle of the box if needed.

  • Returns? Get them back. Focus on net clearance and depth. The center of the court is your friend.

  • Target big zones. Hit to big, safe areas — especially down the center or midcourt. That keeps you in the point and sets your partner up in doubles.

  • Let your net partner win the point. Smart placement draws the ball to your teammate who’s in prime position to finish.

  • Serving? Breathe. Slow down. This is the only moment you fully control. Calm your nerves with deep breathing and visual focus.

  • Receiving? Lob it. A well-placed, high lob can cause chaos. Give them a chance to miss — and many will.


Final Thought: Keep It Simple

There’s no need to “do more.” In fact, do what you’ve been doing — just a little better. Stick with your strengths. Trust your game. Trust your habits. And just keep playing.

You might surprise yourself. You’ll definitely surprise your opponents.

And remember:
The most important point is always the next one.
It’s never over until you shake hands.

Sweet spot: how a racquet can make or break a player

How do the stars set up their racquets to enhance their game? And how has the evolution of racquets changed tennis itself?

By Anthony Colangelo
JANUARY 20, 2020 is perfect hair held by a perfect headband against a pressed polo shirt, Roger Federer walked on to centre court at the Queensland Tennis Centre for his first tournament of 2014 to an adoring crowd. A real-life glimpse of Federer was enough to transfix even the most casual tennis fan but, on this occasion, if you were in the know, it was his equipment that would have held your attention as much as the tennis God himself. Federer had broken with a decade of tradition and got himself a new racquet. The whole of 2013 had been a career low for the Swiss champion. Usually No.1 or No.2 in the world, he’d ended the year ranked sixth. A premature exit from Wimbledon, in the second round, had marked the first time in 36 consecutive grand slams that he had not made a quarter-final. He’d lasted until just the fourth round in the US Open, a tournament he’d won five times before. These results represented, in the minds of some, the start of a career plateau for the then-32-year-old, with back injuries among the factors blunting his dominance. But Federer arrested the slide. He hired a new coach – his childhood hero, six-time grand-slam winner Stefan Edberg. He set about mending his body. And, perhaps less obviously until he appeared on court in Brisbane, he changed his magic wand – the racquet he’d wielded through his rise to tennis legend. For a certain weekend warrior type of tennis player, changing racquets might offer a seductive solution to a subpar game. After all, it’s easier to spend a few hundred dollars on new equipment than it might be to work on a weak backhand or sluggish legs. And a change can’t do much harm, right? At the elite level, there is nowhere to hide. Just as any adjustment in stroke will be identified and perfected so will every variable gram, inch or centimetre in a racquet be scrutinised. The racquet is the player’s key weapon and one with which he or she has a symbiotic relationship. If a change is to be made to this set-up, it will be for good reason. And even an improvement of 1 per cent is a good reason in international tennis. For Federer, at that moment in Brisbane, the stakes could not have been higher. More recently, in the lead-up to this year’s Australian Open, eagle-eyed fans might have noticed that Serena Williams has stepped out with a new racquet. How do stars such as Federer, his on-court arch rival Rafael Nadal and Barty and Williams set up their racquets to boost their games? And how have changes in racquets over the years changed the game itself? Click here to read more –>    

Roger Federer’s Workout Routine – Sporting Ferret

We’re going to look at some of Roger Federer’s favorite exercises that have helped him retain elite levels of fitness in a professional career spanning over 23 years, covering warm-ups, exercises for mobility, agility, and strength training.

 

How Roger Federer Warms Up

Whether you’re a professional athlete or weekend warrior, warming up before undertaking intense exercise is essential in helping to improve your performance and avoiding injuries.

Though Roger Federer has an army of nutritionists, personal trainers, and coaches, his warm-up exercises are basic moves that are easy to do but have multiple benefits.

Jump Rope: Jump rope is an excellent exercise for your cardiovascular system and agility. Federer likes to start off slowly and work his way up to ‘double-unders’.

Butt Kicks: A simple yet effective warm-up exercise perfect for elevating your heart rate and getting some heat into your quads.

Stretches: Dynamic stretching is best performed once your muscles are warmed up a little. Avoid static stretching as it can negatively impact your workout and fatigue your muscles.

Side-Line Sprints: This exercise not only builds a bulletproof cardiovascular system, but it’s also known to pack on muscle and get the body used to sudden changes of direction, which is essential on the tennis court. This intense exercise is best done as the last part of your warm-up.

 

Roger Federer’s Favorite Exercises

Medicine ball Shuffle: Roger Federer uses the medicine ball shuffle (passing a medicine back and forth while shuffling sideways) with his coach as a way to build core stability, arm strength, and coordination.

Lateral Band Walks: With resistance bands, like the Victorembands, wrapped around his legs and feet set at shoulder-width apart, Roger Federer performs lateral band walks to increase his hip stability and knee-joint strength.

Cone Drills: Federer’s workout routine includes cone drills to sharpen his agility by using cones as markers for fast-paced direction changing, while simultaneously practicing his forehand and backhand.

Side lunges & Twists: Using a medicine ball to tax his muscles further, Roger performs side lunges with a twist for balance, coordination, and isolating his hamstrings, glutes, and quads.

Trampoline Volleys: Standing on one leg on a trampoline, Federer practices volleying the tennis ball to a partner. He believes it helps his balance and hand-eye coordination.

Racket Drills: Practice makes perfect, and Roger Federer’s fitness coach, Pierre Paganini, runs racket drills with the 20 grand slam winner to make sure his forehand, backhand, groundstroke, and volleys are as sharp as possible.

HIIT: Or ‘High-Intensity Interval Training is a series of cardiovascular exercises performed at maximum intensity for periods of 10-to-15 seconds followed by a rest period of around 45 seconds. Federer does HIIT to build explosive power for short but taxing points within a tennis match.

Jogging: While jogging is not high on Roger’s list of popular exercises, building cardiovascular endurance is essential for top tennis players. Though much of the game is played over short, intense time periods, tennis matches can last for hours.

 

Rest & Recovery

Roger Federer didn’t become a top athlete by exercising alone; he achieved elite status by recovering properly from consistently intense workouts and letting his body adapt to the stimulation.

If you want to recover sufficiently, you need a balanced and nutritious diet and proper sleep. Federer eats whole foods healthily, lean protein for muscle growth, and complex carbs for energy and endurance while getting a minimum of ten hours of sleep per night.

Following Roger Federer’s training routine might not lead you to win Wimbledon, but it will help improve your overall health and fitness, which will lead to gains on the tennis court.

www.sportingferret.com/2021/03/29/roger-federers-workout-routine/

Ask the Pro: Volley 101

Here’s a quick guide to the art of the volley:

  1. Volley Ready Position: The proper ‘ready position’ is to make sure your elbows are in front of your body.  Too often players stand too upright with their elbows tucked in behind their body — the result is they are slow to react because they have to move their body out of the way to hit the ball. Elbows in front increases your range of motion and speed to the volley.
  2. Move Your Eyes on the Volley:  It takes too much time to move your head, and you can’t recover quickly enough for the next shot.

Great to see a slow and steady improvement in our players in our Ladies Clinic practising these tips.

Cheers,
The Tennis Whisperer

 

ATP: Quick Guide to the Art of Doubles Play

  1. Manage the ‘real estate’ by understanding the 80% Rule.  80% of shots are in a 2-metre circle around the centre serve box!  Given a choice to defend always move to protect the centre of the court.  You might not make the shot even so you’ll have a play most times!
  2. Doubles is a Team Sport because one player gets to stand in a winning position without hitting a ball! The server’s, and the receiver’s job is to get the ball to their partner at the net. So much easier to win points at the net!
  3. Be a  ‘Threat” by your court presence.  Impose yourself when you’re at the net to intimidate the opposition.  For example Howard (big guy dominating the net) or Netto (fast guy moving around on the net) can cause opponents to make more errors!
  4. 80% First Serves.  Take a little off your first serve to start the point and serve 2/3 of your serves preferably to the opponent’s weaker side. Statswise, you’re more likely to win the point, you have more time to reach your volley position AND your partner has a greater chance of hitting a winning volley — a threefer! Besides your opposition is much more apprehensive about returning the first serve.
  5. Deep to Deep, Short to Short.  When you’re deep behind the baseline, simply return the balls higher over the net and deep within your opponent’s court.  A lob is a great shot to accomplish this particularly when your opponents are at the net.  Conversely, when you are drawn forward into the service box, try to keep the ball short, and preferably on the ground, so your opponents have to hit up — and you can volley down to finish the point.

Cheers,
MTC Tennis Whisperer

ProTip: When Should I Attack or Defend?

Question: I hit the ball fairly well but often am unsure of whether to ‘attack’ or ‘defend’ while playing a point.  What’s a basic strategy to make this choice simple?

Ninety percent of players spend their time on court trying to improve their technique, and particularly so when their serve or backhand breaks down under pressure or they commit a lot of errors. Often the “cure” suggested by their pro is more stroke lessons to either improve the suspect stroke or cut down on errors.  The next 9% or so figure out what the strengths of their game are: strong serve, volley, forehand weapon, speed around court, and try to play their strength(s) as much as possible against their opponent’s weakness. In case you have been doing the maths, the last 1% have actually figured out how to play/adjust against their opponent’s game.

Regardless of your strengths, your basic game starts with a clear understanding of when to ‘attack’ or ‘defend’ since ultimately success in tennis goes to the player who hits the ball over the net and into the court the last time! The so-called ‘pusher’ understands this very well and wins when his/her opponent overplays the ball — and their errors and frustration increase exponentially .

Many years ago, Billie Jean King wrote about a simple ‘traffic light strategy’ of dividing the court into green (safe), yellow (caution) and red (danger) zones. The strategy was based on a player’s ability to get close enough to the net to safely hit down on the ball. 

Here’s a simple figure I prepared some time ago to illustrate the basic principle:

It’s fairly obvious that a taller player has an obvious advantage by being able to see ‘over the net’ from deeper in the court. It also follows why the pusher wins if you are trying to constantly attack from the baseline — the odds are stacked against you! 

You’ll have noticed that in the modern game, the top players use more topspin to drive the ball up and over the net when closer to the baseline to overcome the disadvantage of being deeper in the court.

To be certain you understand the principle here’s a side view:

Hence, the simplest game plan of all then, is to figure out where your red, yellow, and green zones are and play accordingly.

When you are in the red zonedefend and keep the ball in play; in the yellow zone, hit approach shots to take control of the net by moving into your green zone. When in the green zone with a ball bouncing higher than the net, attack!  

This game plan also goes by another name — percentage tennis!  It may not be spectacular as ‘first strike tennis’, but success has a nice warm feel to it!

And even if you are trying to play ‘first strike tennis’, there are many times — and particularly on big points, when ‘first strike tennis’ is NOT your best option! Just watch how Roger and Rafa play the big points in tie breakers or when down set point or behind on serve.

Become THE ‘smarter player’. It’s always nice to come off with a win regardless of how poorly/well you hit the ball. In fact Brad Gilbert wrote a book about playing smart when you are outgunned. He called it –“Winning Ugly”.

Rob Muir, USPTA
MTC Tennis Whisperer

Contact Rob Muir

Ask the Pro: Dubs 101

Here’s a quick guide to the art of doubles play:

  1. Manage the ‘real estate’ by understanding the 80% Rule.  80% of shots are in a 2-metre circle around the centre serve box!  Given a choice to defend always move to protect the centre of the court.  You might not make the shot even so you’ll have a play most times!
  2. Doubles is a Team Sport because one player gets to stand in a winning position without hitting a ball! The server’s, and the receiver’s job is to get the ball to their partner at the net. So much easier to win points at the net!
  3. Be a  ‘Threat” by your court presence.  Impose yourself when you’re at the net to intimidate the opposition.  For example Thomas  (“blitzkrieg” big guy dominating the net) or Netto (fast guy moving around on the net) can cause opponents to make more errors!
  4. 80% First Serves.  Take a little off your first serve to start the point. Statswise, you’re more likely to win the point, you have more time to reach your volley position AND your partner has a greater chance of hitting a winning volley — a threefer! Besides your opposition is much more apprehensive about returning the first serve.

Great to see a slow and steady improvement in our players in our Ladies Clinics practicing these tips.

Cheers,
The Tennis Whisperer