How Clay Court Tennis Helped My Game On Hard Courts
Hi Tomaz,
I am back in the US and back to hard courts. Last year when I came back I had a really hard time adjusting from clay to hard courts.
This year it has been less difficult. Hard courts are really fast. Everything seems to happen in fast forward and there is little time to think about what you are going to do. That being said I think all the hard work I did this summer is finally paying off.
1) Opening the court. OMG! I never properly understood how to hit a cross court shot. I would always aim deep in the court as one should when trying to hit a winner through the court.
The short angled cross court shot is a gem. Thank you! Thank you!
It works beautifully on both sides and my adversaries have a really difficult time dealing with it. They either make an error (hitting down the line is the most common which goes out or sets up another cross court which makes them run) or they hit a shot which I can push them around with.
I have caught at least two of my nemesis trying to hit winners off of shots that are pulling them off the court or very deep shots.
2) Closing the court. I am now keenly aware of how to close the court when I am on the run. Today I was on the full run, hit a stab backhand in the corner deep up the middle, ran back to the middle, only to catch my opponent hitting a huge forehand out.
A few times my opponent came to the net but I quickly adjusted and hit the ball at his feet. If I am on defense, I don’t try to hit winners. I just try to minimize the damage by either hitting deep and high or low at their feet. If I get an easy ball then I can be more aggressive.
3) Percentages. I saw the movie 21 on the plane ride back from London. It is regular pop culture movie but it was interesting. The black jack ace understands that it is all about playing the percentages.
You have opened a whole new world for me. If tennis is about percentages then it is simply a question of maximizing those for yourself. Once you do that the rest is out of your hands.
I literally had a set completely lost last Thursday and rallied back by simply focusing on the percentages. Close the court on defense or hit deep cross court, open it on the offense. Sometimes it won’t work and then that is just life.
But, so far, it is working a lot better than anything else I have tried. Mostly, having a system in place has calmed my nerves. I just keep playing the percentages.
All of this has gotten me thinking about how I use to win at all. I have played some very good matches in the past and won some of them.
But I could not tell you how I won them. Now I can spot the errors in other people (and myself) right as they happen.
Again, thank you!
Arturo from USA
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September 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 am
Hey Arturo,
Great story and lots of smart tactical ideas that you pointed out. You are right about the system – it’s so important to have a plan even if it’s not perfect.
Once you have a plan you are totally focused on it and that will greatly decrease the number of unforced errors which happen because of indecision and hesitation.
Thanks for sharing!
September 25th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Good points. Playing the service line T’s is a good strategy to open up the whole court. Only thing its hard to make those severe angle cross court shots on your forehand and backhand. I’ve got to practice that for sometime before I’ll start trying that in a actual match.