December 22, 2010
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Holiday Gifts for HimHolding Your Ground – Court Position and Shot Selection Jim McLennan There are many darn ways to play this game, and many styles to choose from. Patient retrievers (and they are often the club champs), bold serve and volleyers, two-fisted bangers, drop-shot lob artists, and more. But often, when players at our club practice their tennis using the ball machine, nearly all strokes are played from well behind the baseline – the incoming ball descends comfortably into the contact zone to be met with a long flowing stroke.
But there is another alternative. One could practice those same shots from on, if not inside, the baseline. Agassi played the ball early, McEnroe played the ball early, and the majestic Roger Federer will often take incredibly deep shots from the opponent with deft half-volleys – playing the ball on the short-hop, and making the difficult appear routine. Hold Your Ground Think of this as holding your ground – preparing early, taking the ball either on the rise, or sooner than that, playing it on the short-hop. The art lies in the simplicity and in the timing. No huge windmill backswings. No massive topspin hits. No preplanned winners. Rather allow the depth of the incoming shot and your court position along the baseline to dictate the tone and tempo of the shot. Jazz musicians improvise and you can learn to do the same. But for this you must step out of “the box” and beyond the normal (playing well behind the baseline as the ball descends with long and flowing strokes) point of view. Court position may be as important if not more important than the nuts and bolts of your forehands and backhands. Crafting a Half-Volley Playing the half-volley is no mean feat, but you probably already know this. In fact, it may be that the term “no man’s land” simply arose to describe a player’s inability to time and execute a half-volley. Unfortunately the solution, avoiding this area of the court, obscures the need to convert these same shots if you are a net-rusher. And at the end of the day, there is little difference between this shot on the short-hop from the service line or from the baseline.
When it comes to the actual stroke, you must simplify, simplify, and simplify yet again. From the waiting position (Tom Stow used the terms this way and it is a refreshing change), once you determine if the incoming ball is a forehand or backhand – turn to that side with dead hands (no herky-jerky movement) to assume the ready (to hit) position. But the art to this ready-to-hit-position lies in keeping your hands low and near to the contact zone. Further, the turn to this ready-to-hit-position is all about placing the weight on the back foot, and the waiting/weighting is now about timing a quick step-and-hit. Too often players struggle with this shot by stepping in to assume the ready position, but truly preparation and stepping in are two completely different issues. Turn to the ready-to-hit-position, and now wait and let the ball enter the contact zone. The stroke will be short and firm, more a block than a blow, but the power will occur from the momentum of the incoming ball. These shots can be hit firmly, but they will require timing. So what is the big deal about court positioning anyway?
Good question. Borg played well behind the baseline. Rafa plays well behind the baseline. And there are 18 Grand Slam titles between them that attest to this particular style of play. But (as always there lurks a “but”) when playing deep and well behind the baseline, if you do not possess the legs of a Borg or the will power of a Nadal, you will be running back and forth, giving your opponent more time to react, and you will be playing to a smaller and smaller hitting angle. In short, you will be working much too hard (remember how early Borg retired!). Moving forward reduces the opponent’s reaction time and increases your angle of play, but that only occurs if in fact you can and do move forward. And to my eye, players who routinely practice from behind the baseline on descending incoming balls, rarely move forward with skill, confidence, or with winning results. The half volley, improvised on the short-hop from on or inside the baseline, will never be an approach shot, but by holding your ground from this position, you will much more easily move forward if and when your opponent plays short. At the end of the day, we are simply playing a game within a box. And the more you know about the nuances of this box (rather than just the nuances of the swing) the better you will play.
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