BEGINNING: Serve – Tactics and Strategies
The most important goal when serving would be to get a high percentage of first serves in.
I’d like you to think of the following: when you are ready to hit the first serve your opponent positions himself further back (maybe behind the baseline) – he expects a fast serve; as a result, he plays defensively. Now, if you miss the first serve, and you are ready to deliver the second one, your opponent steps up inside the baseline and is ready to attack your second serve… now you are in trouble…
So knowing that, don’t give your opponent a chance to get confident and attack your serve – get the first one in.
Placement-wise, the serve should be directed deep and/or to the returner’s weak side.
To keep it simple, at the beginning level, I suggest that you look at the service box as if there is a line (parallel to the sidelines) that divides it into two halves – right and left. From the server’s perspective, the right half of the service box would be the returner’s backhand side, and the left half represents the part where the ball should go to the forehand (if the returner is right-handed). This imaginary line will give you a bigger target for less pressure to deliver your serve either to the opponent’s forehand or backhand – depending on which is weakest.
Remember to vary your serve to keep the opponent guessing. So if the backhand is the weak side, I’d say hit about 75% there and 25% to the forehand (approximately).
Another aspect of serve placement is depth. Delivering the ball deeper into the service box prevents the returner from attacking your serve. At the beginner level strive to make depth your priority considering that power is not yet controlled. In fact, at all levels, if you have to choose between power and depth, take the depth… and give it a margin for error too.
Review
– hit a high percentage of first serves in even if they are slower; sometimes throw a fast one in to give the returner the signal that he should stay back.
– vary your serve as far as placement between the opponent’s strong and weak side.
– hit it deep especially on the second serve to prevent the returner from attacking.
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BEGINNING: Return of Serve – Tactics and Strategies
Get to know the server’s tendencies early into the set and see if he likes to hit with power, spin, or if he likes to stay back, or moves up to the net after delivery of the ball. The more information and the sooner you gather it, the better, to make the second most important shot in tennis a comfortable one.
Returning the First Serve
Position yourself accordingly so that you don’t make contact too late or too early. If the first serve is very fast, stand just behind the baseline, if it is slower then you can stay on the baseline or just inside of it.
Tactically, prepare to just hit the first return back inside the opposite court and deep. You want to prevent the server from attacking the return.
To do so, shorten the backswing, prepare to contact the ball early, push through and add a long follow-through. Step into the ball and use your body weight to control and put a little pace on the ball. Avoid taking a big swing at it especially on returning the first, faster serve.
Placement-wise, give your return a big margin for error aiming toward the center and beyond the service line. By doing this you give your opponent fewer angles when the ball is kept in the middle.
Returning the Second Serve
Step a little more inside the baseline to return the second serve. How much inside depends on the depth, spin, and pace that the server is usually putting on the second serve. Again, pay attention to his tendencies early in the match.
Since most of the second serve at the beginning level is hit slowly, try to attack it by stepping into the ball and directing it toward the opponent’s weakness. If you have to hit it with your weak side (let’s say backhand) then return the second serve deep to the middle of the court.
If the serve comes at an angle, then hit a little more aggressive return cross-court. Avoid going down the line too often since it has less margin for error (higher net and closer to the line). Especially at this level, accuracy is not yet a skill.
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BEGINNING: Playing from the Baseline – Tactics and Strategies
Tactically, we can identify three types of play from the baseline:
– attacking
– rallying
– defending
Attacking from the baseline
You should attack when you receive a shorter ball – a ball that brings you inside the baseline to hit it. In doing so, you should aim it either closer to the lines (with a good margin for error), to the open court, behind the recovering player, or just toward the opponent’s weaker side.
At the beginning level, keeping things simple is very important. Therefore when aiming your shots give yourself a big margin for error. For example, look at the opposing court as being divided into two halves (separated by the center line and imaginary extension of it) – left and right. The left half corresponds to your opponent’s forehand (strong side), right side matches the opponent’s weak side (backhand) – assuming that your opponent is right-handed.
When aiming for the weak side (e.g. backhand), just direct the ball to the right half (from your point of view). Aim the ball in the middle of it. That gives you plenty of room and more peace of mind.
Attack the shorter ball by increasing the pace slightly, don’t overhit it. Remember: you will not win too much hitting clear winners. Points are won most of the time by your opponent making forced or unforced errors. So pressure your opponent into making errors by getting him to hit the ball on the run or attacking his weak side.
Rallying
This is the part you will spend most of the time at – hitting the ball back and forth with your opponent until one of you will hit a shorter ball which the other one will attack. That’s why it is important that you learn to keep your rallies deep and make the other player hit the ball from behind the baseline.
To do so, arc the ball over the net a little higher and aim a few feet beyond the service line. Use topspin to control the depth of the ball.
Keep hitting it deep until your opponent gives you a shorter ball (one that lands inside the service line) then you can step into and attack it.
At the beginning level, it is mostly about which player is more consistent, especially with the hitting balls on the run (side to side).
There are two priorities that every player should consider when rallying from the baseline:
1). Control the Point – it means you should hit the balls to your opponent’s weakness most of the time which will give you easy shots to control the rally.
Another way to control the rally is to make him hit on the run – see an opening and then go for it. Always aim well inside the lines to avoid missing out.
2). Prevent the Opponent from Attacking You
You do that by keeping the ball landing well beyond the service line. This way, the other player will have a hard time attacking you.
Defending from the baseline
When defending we’ll consider two situations: when your opponent is at the baseline and when your opponent is charging the net.
1. Opponent at the Baseline
When, during the rally, you give the other player a short ball, he might step inside the baseline and attack it making you run wide or just hit it to your weak side.
At the beginning level, most of the players prefer to stay back to the baseline after they hit an aggressive shot. Your objectives in defending against it are to buy time to get back in position and prevent further attacks.
In doing so, hit the ball high, deep cross-court at a slower pace – that gives you time to get back in balance and ready for the next shot.
Hitting the ball cross-court has many advantages: the court is longer and the net is lower so that makes it a good choice for buying time and using the length for added consistency.
Try to avoid hitting down-the-line when defending. That’s because when you run to the side, your tendency will be to hit the ball in the direction you move – that will push the ball wide most of the time. Other reasons are that the net is higher when going down-the-line and the court is shorter which will force you to recover a lot quicker for the next shot.
So go cross-court every time you are being pushed wide to get to the ball.
2. Opponent is Charging the Net behind a Short Ball
At this level, I recommend that you just hit the balls over the net – make the opposing player volley. Trust me – your opponents are not very happy to be there (at the net). Most beginning players are not comfortable or quick to react at the net. So don’t try to pass them or finish the point right away – make them volley. Eventually, they will try to overhit it and make a mistake.
Another tactic would be to lob. You don’t have to make a great lob – just hit the ball high and have the other player go for an overhead. The overhead is not a confidence shot at the beginning level so most of the time he will try to push it back or if he goes for a hard hit he’ll net it or miss it deeply.
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BEGINNING: Playing at the Net – Tactics and Strategies
Success at the net starts with the ball that brings you there – the approach shot.
Hit your approach down-the-line most of the time. That allows for better court coverage once you get up to the net because you stay behind the ball and close your opponent’s angles.
Once you get to the net, position yourself so that you stay on the same side as your opponent when he is about to return your shot. Your concern is to cover the down-the-line first. Being on the same side with the ball (behind the ball) or/and your opponent (when he is ready to return your shot) means that you are close to the center line but a little off inside the same half of the court with them (see Court Coverage – attacking at the net). How far off the center line should you be is something you will have to figure out because it depends on how close to the lines the ball is on the other side. With more match experience will come the answer to these questions too.
Another way to approach is to hit the ball to the open court or to your opponent’s weakness. It is not enough to approach down-the-line if that implies hitting a medium paced/or slow shot toward the other player’s strong side – you’ll be in trouble.
Ideally, your approach shot and the first volley should be low to make the player hit up – you will love the high volley opportunity.
Once up at the net, the first volley should be a set-up shot – place it away from the opposing player (to the open court) – make him reach or run for it. The result should be a weak return which will allow you a more aggressive volley or even a put-away.
So the first volley should set up the second or even the third volleys where you should be more aggressive or put them away. A put-away volley should not be overhit. Think about winners as balls that cannot be reached or returned by the other player.
Placement - away from the opponent - is key in finishing the point out (hitting a winner). If you will have to hit an overhead, remember that it should be an aggressive shot. Hit it hard to the open court or sometimes it is just enough to aim it in the direction of the player. Be aggressive with it and let the opponent know that you are not afraid to hit overheads… even if you miss…
Just go for it.
