Hi Tomaz, I am a 4.0 baseliner, and occasionally move into the net.

My volley skill is not that bad but I feel more comfortable in the baseline.

I hit with a semi-western forehand, with a slice back hand. My opponent is an old man, with a continental forehand.

He had no pace on the ball, and I make a lot of errors trying to hit his ball.

My power forehand seems to be very effective sometimes, but most of the time, he had a soft touch and lure me into the net or move me from side to side with short ball.

He used a lot of old-man game, drop and lob and I feel my baseline game is slipping, and eventually I found myself volley with him at the net and he always had the advantage of that.

Unlike other old man, he had a lot of stamina and move very well.

How can I stick to my baseline game when he can always bring me to the net with one stroke?

Should I stick to my game plan, move him side to side with my strokes, and anticipate a short ball to kill or should I develop a better volley skill to counterattack his volley skill?

You mention that your opponent hits a no pace ball and that you make a lot of errors when you hit it.

The most probable reason is that you go for too much. You may underestimate the no pace ball.

Don’t do it. Hitting a ball in tennis is a very challenging task, no matter whether the ball has pace or not.

So take the ball seriously with full concentration and attention and find the speed of your strokes where you can still control the ball.

But there is one advantage of playing a no pace ball: you have more time to set up and pick your target.

This enables you to play more accurate shots.

So when you receive a slower ball, look for placement and try to open up the court with short cross court shots when you can.

Since you say your opponent plays with a continental grip, he will very likely return with a low shot and if he is in trouble (moving to the ball, running) he will very likely play short.

Anticipate that and move in to take the ball on top of the bounce and play to the open court.

If his shots are slow but deep then your goal is to prevent him from playing good shots. Your semi-western forehand can surely produce good top spin so play the ball with higher arc deep to the baseline.

He probably doesn’t play the high ball well with his continental grip so try playing to his forehand and see what happens.

And it will be difficult for him to bring you in with a short stroke if you play very deep and high.

If he does bring you in figure out which of his ground-strokes is weaker. If it’s backhand, play deep to backhand and come to the net.

Also learn his patterns (most players have them).

If he likes to lob from his backhand, anticipate that and don’t come to close to the net. You can almost start backpedalling as soon as he hits the ball.

I also suggest you work on your volley since his no pace shots give you a chance to put them away.

He may actually be your best teacher since he shows you your weaknesses and how to improve.

Here are some more resources on how to beat an experienced player and how to beat a pusher (3rd article on the page).

Related posts:


• Taking The Initiative In Clay Court Tennis
• How Federer Outthought Nadal At The Masters
• Tennis Grips Dilemmas
• How To Avoid Playing Short Balls Under Pressure
• One or Two-Handed Backhand?

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