STROKE OPTIONS IN TENNIS

By Brad Properjohn 

In the last twenty years with the proliferation of the “power game” many coaches have relaxed their attitude toward developing an “all round game” in favour of the heavy hitting baseline game. 

There was a feeling that to concentrate on shots that were “insignificant” in the big picture was simply time poorly spent and could be better put to use perfecting groundstrokes. 

Nowadays we are left with the legacy of having the amount of base line players hugely disproportional to players willing to come to the net either after serve or approach shot.  The increase of slower court surfaces on the tour contributes also to the inequity of styles of play on the tour. 

Now step up Roger Federer master of all strokes and tipped by most “authorities” in tennis to be the best ever.  When Federer plays you can almost sense that players feel helpless, they simply run out of options.  Federer learnt his craft playing on clay in the summer and on fast carpet in the winter.  He was also for years under the tutelage of Peter Carter a serve/volley/grafter from South Australia who would have put great emphasis on developing an all round game. 

So now the base line boys have got their work cut out for them.  Yes boys Roger might run out of steam or get injured or or or.  The one thing he’s not going to do is get beat by any one dimensional robot digging holes behind the baseline. 

Here are a few tips for the grinders if you want to be at least competitive with the champ: 

·        Drop shots can take an opponent out of their comfort zone.  Whilst you may lose some control of the point, this play forces the opponent to expose their volley, smash and court position.  You can also drop shot and approach at the same time letting your opponent know they must do something good with the ball not simply get it back. 

·        Roll and dink your passing shots to add dimension.  When Federer played Philippoussis in the final of the 2004 Wimbledon, Federer passed Philippoussis constantly with cross-court whips and dinks often catching Philippoussis on the toes.  The main point here is that Philippoussis would have seen only waist high line drives the whole tournament long and now he was being drawn into playing an agile touch game of which Philippoussis is unwilling to get involved, in spite of having the equipment. 

·        A change of pace is viable and worthy shot.  One of the few times Philippoussis has changed his game was during the Davis Cup final against Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero.  Philippoussis injured himself during the match and was forced to play “off” speed” slices and pushes in a kind of “cat and mouse” play.   Ferrero was thrown by this and continually over hit his enormous ground shots showing up his inability to handle “junk” balls.  No doubt the bad grass court helped Philippoussis to execute his plan but that simply made this particular plan more viable. 

·        Lob and come in behind it.  To break up a solid base liner you can lob and approach the net.  You can play: a) a heavy top spin lob and charge in challenging your opponent to pass you from way back in court or b) you can hit a defensive lob and sneak in when your opponent focuses on the ball and can’t see you anymore with their peripheral vision. 

·        Approach the approach. Most players will approach with a slice backhand attempting to keep the ball low and they will attack the backhand.  If you are not keen on defending against an aggressor you can take a chance and come in as your opponent sets for the approach.  This play is a little risky but if you pull it of it looks to your opponent like you have them on a string. 

·        Vary your returning position.  By varying your returning position you are forcing your opponent to think and come up with viable counter plan.  Visually it’s something to jar the server out of their comfort zone and often players “range-in” according to their opponents’ position.  This tactic works especially well if your opponent has a weak serve. 

·        Return and come in.  In the past it was considered justified punishment if a player took a weak second serve and came in behind it.  But these days even in the top group, only a few would take on the task.  Most would simply T-off on anything short and if it comes back, well that’s when the rally starts. Elena Dementieva is one whose serve has been under scrutiny for some time because of the suspect technique and the sheer number of double faults she hits.  You would think that the women would start to come in if only to seed uncertainty in an already insecure serve but instead she is allowed to continually get away with it because she scampers about and hits the odd counter punch winner.

·        The element of surprise.  You can really throw your opponent off their game by doing something quite out of the ordinary such as coming to the net of a normal  (well hit) ground shot.  Drop shot and come in. Drop shot and tube (straight at opponent), a tactic made famous by the “hilariously funny and comical” Ivan Lendl.

·        Underarm serve. By serving underarm (normally with heavy side spin) you can nullify a big returner.  All of a sudden the ball is 30 cm off the ground instead of waist high and short, almost obligating them to come in, often out of position because they have been caught unawares.   

If you are going to beat Federer or for that matter anyone who plays well it’s going to come down to either consistency of the ground (strokes) or the ability to utilise options in order to take players weapons away from them.  This means they are going to have to beat you with their B game and that is what you want.  

It takes a lot of work to get your options polished enough to feel confident in playing them under pressure.  It also takes more anaerobic energy to serve/volley/approach than to stay back, although the points are generally shorter, so perhaps a bit more explosive “jump training” included into your fitness work would be advisable.

The key to using any of these strategies is not so much the “how often” but more “when”.  The match dynamic has as much influence on shot selection as any given point situation and to gauge this is often a question of match play practice rather than repetitive on court drilling. 

Think about this: if two players could hit exactly the same amount of shots off the ground and had identical serves and mental states, which would win? The answer is the person with the next best viable option.