3 Ways To Play Aggressively In Tennis
Hi Tomaz,
I bought your Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia and just wanted to ask you a few questions about aggression in tennis which you mention a few times.
On page 30 of TSE, you say, “You can still be aggressive though, just to send the message of aggression to your opponent.”
On page 32, you say, “Your shots must be aggressive, yet safe and consistent.”
On page, 37, you say, “Don’t be aggressive without precision.”
On page 39, you say, “Play aggressive baseline shots, but at a big target…”
I’m having a little trouble feeling and visualizing an aggressive shot, in particular as it relates to your advice on pages 30 and 32.
My first thought is to hit it harder, but then there’s a greater chance that it will go out or into the net. Could you explain this a little more, please?
There are three ways you can be aggressive:
1. Hitting fast (or moderately fast with lots of topspin)
2. Hitting accurate
3. Playing fast AND accurate
The safest and most common play is #1. It is used by professionals and advanced players when rallying.
Your goal is to hit a fast ball with lots of topspin and away from the lines to have a good margin for error. I teach players to aim for the middle of the second half of the court on each side.
So if you split the court in half perpendicular to the net, and find the middle of each box behind the service line, that’s your target.
Now you have to know yourself and your abilities to decide how fast can you play there with very high consistency. The faster you can play, the more aggressive you are.
Why? The faster the ball, the less time your opponent has and it’s difficult for them to attack especially if you move them around.
#2 is mostly used by good recreational players who are not able to hit fast, but can play pretty accurate.
Again, the goal is to move the opponent around and greater accuracy will force the opponent to move even more and again have little time to adjust and prepare for shots.
#3 is used by Federer. 
The real master of that was Agassi of course.
Ok, joking aside, this is used when you have enough time to set up for the shot and play fast and accurate. That’s the ultimate aggression.
So in summary - try and play faster with lots of topspin and away from the lines. The ball will be safe and it will also kick up because of spin which will make it difficult to attack.
If you are not really the master of spin, focus on accuracy and keep opponent moving all the time.
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