The tennis court offers us a wide variety of shot selection patterns. Just like in chess, we can give free rein to creativity, but at the same time there are certain basic formulas that can be your guide. To choose a shot we have to access the area of TACTICS and at the same time take into account the orientation on the court: CENTERS and ZONES. Let’s review those basic patterns.
- The first thing to consider when choosing a shot is the possibility that allows you to regain the position of your center (the horizontal or vertical center / height of the court).
- Second, you have to take into account the area you are in, to generate a higher hitting effectiveness percentage.
- And finally, you have to follow the pattern of the construction sequence of the shots (That at the same time depends on the style and personality of the player).
With these 3 ideas clear, we are going to develop some simple patterns of the shot to be chosen depending on a position on court.
Basic shot selection patterns
Open ball that takes you off the court:
- Crosscourt with enough height to get enough time to go back to your center, in addition to forcing the opponent to go back and not be able to continue dominating.
- An aggressive counterattack shot that decreases the quality of the opponent’s next choice and thus you gain the dominant position, in addition to recovery time.
High and deep ball that forces you to go back:
Hit the ball with margin (height) and depth and recover your position.
Neutral ball (Respond with neutral ball with following variants):
- Keep building on your opponent’s weak side.
- Move your opponent to dislodge him from his center.
- Introduce variety in your shots to force the gap with which to gain time or space.
High ball on the half court:
- Crosscourt winner.
- Approach down the line + VOLLEY.
Low ball on half court:
- Approach down the line + VOLLEY.
- Good option for a drop shot.
High volley (Definition zone):
- Winner, getting the ball off the court.
Low volley:
- Drop shot.
- Deep down the line shot and recover to the center at the net.
- Deep shot to the center to limit the opponent’s angle and gain a center.
Those are certain basic patterns for choosing a shot that you can start building plays with a good percentage and good orientation on the court.
Low percentage shots
We are now going to see certain high risk shots or little tactical sense that we must avoid or know the moment when choosing:
- Drop shot with overhead.
- Drop shot in high approach.
- When you are far behind the baseline, choosing drop shot.
- Drop shot on return.
- Inside out forehand playing down the line (It can be down but with low percentage).
- Slice in half volley or live ball.
- Balloon or high topspin in half volley or rising ball.
- Down the line once your opponent takes you of the court (unless you are looking for a winner, previously worked).
- Agresive low margin shot from far behind the baseline, when the opponent forces you to defensive zone.
- A very risky angle looking for a winner from the center.
- Etc.
I repeat that sometimes the subject discussed above has some exceptions and the anti-tactic is one of the sides of the tactic itself.
We can extend this content depending on the levels on which it is played, but with these simple guidelines you can already start an intelligent construction of your game, which I hope will help you on the court, not only to earn more points, but also to enjoy a more intelligent game.
Check related articles: Your Center on the Court / Introduction to Shots & Moves / Zones of the court – General
