Archive for October, 2007

The Approach Shot – Continued…

Brent | October 23, 2007 in Approach Shots, Court Positioning, Singles Strategy, Split Step | Comments (0)

In response to my recent post about the split step, a fellow WebTennis.net susbcriber, Richard, wrote the following question that I want to make sure you have had a chance to read my reply…

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“When is the best time to come in on a ball and on what path to the net, i.e. if you hit a strong, deep cross court shot do you follow your shot in on the angle past the service line towards the side of the court you hit or do you stay near middle of the court to cut off angles?”
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Approach shot question:

OK, you’re asking a 2 part question about approaching the net.

When and where…

First of all, let’s get it laid out what the real purpose is for approaching the net, and that’s why…

Here’s my thought on why we should come up to net.

WHY: We play shots (call them anything you want, approach shots for this discussion) that allow us to move forward so we can eventually be in a position on the court up at net where we force our opponent to go for an all out passing do or die shot.

It’s that simple.  You want to force your opponent to have to hit another *#&!…ing passing shot.

And my philosophy has always been this, no matter who I’m playijng, I believe they have a limited number of passing shots in their “bag” for that match.  If they could hit an unlimited number of passing shots, then guess what, they’d be on the pro tour and you and I wouldn’t be playing them.

Yeah I know, and since you didn’t ask me to sugarcoat it, there it is sort of in its blunt form.

Your opponents have a finite number of passing shots they can actually make on any given day, and the sooner you force them to empty their bag, the sooner you begin to drive them nuts because they see you’re still coming into net!

WHEN: If you’re playing me, I’m trying to look at everyone of your shots as an approach shot opportunity.  That’s just me.

Lots of players don’t have that comfort level to come in a ton.  They try to pick and choose, and the consequence is they just don’t really come in and force their opponent to have to play a passing shot very often.

This is a numbers game.  The more you approach, even when you come in on a full fledged crappy approach where it just sits there in the midlle of their court begging to be knocked off, the reality is you’re going to win more points by them actually missing their passing shot as opposed to you having to hit a winning volley or overhead.

I learned this from Tom Stow.  And when I finally “got it” was when he’d be coaching us and I’d come in on that lousy approach I just described, the guy would shank it over to the next court, and as I turned around to look at Mr. Stow with this “wow, what’s going on” look, he’d just wink and give me a little sly grin that said it all.

You don’t have to hit perfect approach shots to force your opponent into what appears to be an unforced error.

And that’s the rub.  Your continuous, never ending, presence up at net is the pressure that creates “forced” errors.

Don’t worry about picking just the right time to approach the net.  This week get out on the practice court where the outcome doesn’t mean anything and decide that you’re coming in behind everything for the next hour.

1st and 2nd serves, short balls from your opponent, medium deep balls from your opponents, deep balls that you can play an approach volley, 2nd serve return of serves, you get the idea, anything…

See what happens with their passing shot attempts.  Are there any patterns you can start to detect?  Can you start to eliminate certain possible passing shot types and directions so you can begin to realize that this specific approach shot equates to only really one or two possible shots from your opponent?

In the beginning you’ll naturally think you’ve got to cover the entire court, but if you observe, you’ll learn that every approach shot you hit tends to fall into a specific passing shot category for your opponent, and you’ll eventually cover those one or two possibilities rather than thinking you’ve got to defend the whole court.  Make sense?

You can only learn this stuff from on court real life experience.  Some of it can be theoretical, but in the end, you’ll have to get a little dirty and bloodied before you start to sense the patterns.

WHERE: I normally approach either up the line or right down the middle and I never ever think I’m going to hit a winner.  I always make sure I totally commit moving forward and eventually move through my approach shot no matter where I play it so I challenge my opponent to pass rather than putting the pressure on me to have to hit a winner.

Hey, I could hit the greatest approach shot ever hit, but if my opponent guesses and anticipates my approach shot target, if I haven’t moved through my shot to get up to net, I’ve just left a huge opening for my opponent to hit into.

That’s why I normally go up the line or back up the middle because I’ll be able to close up the passing shot lanes faster than if I approach cross court.

However, I will approach cross court from time to time IF, and absolutely only if,  my footwork can naturally take me to the ideal spot on the court to force a passing shot from my opponent.  If I know I can’t to that good spot on the court before my opponent gets to my approach, then I won’t risk it.

The bottom line is this.  Just like we talked about in a recent post about the timing of the split step, you always try to get to the best place on the court where you are forcing your opponent to pass you while at the same time you can cover their realistic shot possibilites.

It may take you a couple of advances with split steps to get to that place on the court.

And, you’re going to get passed from time to time.  That’s part of the deal.  If you you get passed and feel like you’ve failed, then you’ll stop coming in, and the numbers game will never work in your favor.

If I get passed, I smile knowing that my guy now has one less passing shot in their bag for that day.  I’m for sure coming in on the very next point to see if I can quickly help their bag getting emptied…!

Hope this helps.  Let me know…

Brent’s Serve and Volley Lesson


Brent

“How come I can never play as well in a match as I do in practice?” – What’s the answer?

Brent | October 21, 2007 in Mental Skills | Comments (0)


One of my subscribers, Frank, asked me that question and it’s a common problem, but simple to change, and yet, since it’s rarely practiced, players continue to play better in practice than in their league or tournament matches.

Here’s what I wrote to Frank:
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Hi Frank and good to hear from you.
 
It’s a tough intangible that we all struggle with from time to time.
 
And trying to turn that intangible into a tangible of how to “feel” like you do in practice when you’re playing a match, especially when it gets down to a critical point at the end of a set or the match, is not an easy place to find for most of us.
 
I used to be the same.  It drove me nuts.  I could win a tournament match 6-1, 6-1 and my legs would be cramping up all the way home because I was so incredibly tense during the match.
 
I finally figured out something after observing the better players.  There was a real pattern there that I’d missed because I’d been so focused on what I and everyone else was doing during the point.
 
What finally worked for me is to go through a very specific routine between points.
 
That routine helps prepare me to play the next point with less fear but with more positive passion.
 
The routine does a few things for me.
 
- It helps me not go up emotionally after winning an exciting or critical point, and on the other side, it helps me not go down emotionally after losing either an exciting or critical point. 

I want to stay on an even keel after every point no matter what the outcome of that point is.  Doesn’t mean I have to be a mindless robot, but even though I can smile or frown after a point, I still want to immediatly get into my routine.

 
- I feel as if every point will be played without fear or a need to have to win this point feeling.
 
The 4 Part Between Points Routine.  Here’s what I do.
 
1.  Immediately after a point ends, I say the word “yes”, not sarcastically if I lose the point, and not like a punk if I win the point, but just a calm positive word that I hear first.  It helps dissipate whatever emotion I may have based on the outcome of the last point.
 
2.  I take 3-4 deep controlled breaths and simply hear whatever “song” is playing through my mind that day.  (I’m particulary partial to a lot of Van Morrison and El DeBarge stuff).  I replay the exact same “hook” to whatever song I’ve selected for that day after every point during those 3-4 breaths.
 
3.  I first consider and then positively visualize any specific strategy I may want to try to start (not end) this upcoming point.  And the positive visualization of the start of the point, not how you want to end the point, is vital. 
 
Such as, serve out wide this time, serve to the body, etc., or if I get a certain serev hit to me I’ll try this or that.  But I won’t go through a bunch of what ifs, just one and know that there’s a good chance things may go differently which is OK.
 
4.  And finally, I give myself a peaceful little “OK, here we go” which commits me to playing the point as well as I can.
 
The Benefits:  And the outcome of this short 20-25 second routine is I tend to play each and every point the same in terms of not worrying about the outcome of this next point. 
 
Worrying about the outcome of this next point leads to the “what ifs” in terms of this point, this game, this set, this match, my social status at the club, my spouse going “you lost to who?  Oh my God”, that pain in the butt guy who would absolutely love to see me lose to this opponent, and so on and so on…
 
The other thing I am willing to bet happens in practice that doesn’t happen in a match (and I wish I could somehow test and measure this theory) is that on each and every shot you play you naturally keep your eyes down through contact longer in practice than you do in a match.
 
Meaning, you don’t “peek” to see your shot and it’s result as early in practice as when you do in a match because it just doesn’t have the same outcome importance.
 
On the same line of thinking, I am also willing to bet that you apply just a little more “squeeze”, pressure, on your grip in a match as opposed to a practice situation.  That extra grip tension equates to less racket speed which gives you less power and less spin.
 
How to Practice:  So, with all that said, the $64,000 question is how do you practice that more effortless feel you actually experience in practice so it becomes natural when you play a match?  And I’m hoping the answer turns into the $64,000,000 (that’s right, million) answer!
 
Like anything else in this world, you have to practice it over and over and over and over and never ever think that you’ve finally got it like it’s riding a bike. 
 
It’s not.  It requires that Zen like practice of thinking it’s going to be an endless journey.  And I do believe that if you don’t force the need to play a match the way you do in practice that you’ll actually get to where you want to be as a match player MUST faster.
 
Here’s how to practice playing a match as you do in practice.
 
First of all, go through those 4 steps I mentioned above and rehearse them a number of times off of the court.  Get comfortable with the routine, with the timing of each step, and make sure you’re able to accomplish all 4 steps within 20 seconds.
 
You can do this rehearsal anywhere.  However, do it enough of off the court that when you do go out on the court for a practicse session that you’re ready to try it in practice.
 
Play some points, some sets, and focus only on this between points routine.  Don’t work on your strokes or anything else.  Save that stuff for a different practice session.
 
Any it would be normal for you may find that for awhile it feels so unnatural that you actually end up playing at a little lower level until you become more and more comfortable with your new strategy between points.
 
This is definitely not like a light switch where you can just turn this stuff on and off.  It take diligent practice just like any other part of your tennis game.
 
A lot of this is just plain old simple desensitizing.  Meaning, that if you do this routine enough, it’ll become part of you and you won’t feel tight or worried when you play a league or tournament match.

This works for both singles and doubles.  You and your partner should chat bewteen points, but you can still get into some alone time between points in doubles and at least go through an abbreviated version of what you can do in a singles match.
 
Hope this helps.  Let me know…

The Split Step in Tennis – It’s When, not Where

Brent | October 20, 2007 in Court Positioning, Return of Serve, Singles Strategy, Split Step | Comments (0)

One of the most often asked tennis questions I get about approaching the net is this…

When I’m coming up to net behind my serve, return of serve, or approach shot, “where” do I split step?

[ And after my explanation here, I've got a video tip for you below. ]

And my answer is always the same. “I don’t know”, it totally depends on when your opponent is going to make contact with your shot.

The sooner your opponent is about to make contact with your shot, the sooner you’ll split step, meaning ths further away from the ideal net position you’ll have to split step.

Quick review.  What’s the main purpose of the split step?  It’s to allow you to efficiently react and move to wherever your opponent hits their shot back to you.

Thinking that you have to get from the baseline all the way up to the net without having to possibly play a shot in what we sometiomes call “no man’s land” can only happen if your opponent is positioned well back behind their baseline and your approach shot to them is played with medium to slow pace.

In that situation, you get more time to move forward before you’ll have to split step.

What happens if you want to come in to net behind your serve and you end up playing a big time first serve AND your opponent loves to return serve from iniside their baseline?

Right, your opponent makes contact with your big serve almost immediately after you complete your service motion and you’ll have to go into your split step almost a step or two after your serve.

Is that a problem?  Of course not.  Can you learn to split step and play an incoming approach volley from half way between your baseline and service line?  Yes, you can…

Check out this short video tip and then let me know your feedback on the biggest challenges you face when approaching the net in either singles or doubles.

Brent’s Serve and Volley Lesson.

Thanks,  Brent

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