Copy This Singles Strategy And You’ll Win A Lot More Matches (Easy Tennis Tips)

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Copy This Singles Strategy And You’ll Win A Lot More Matches (Easy Tennis Tips)
1. When you get a short ball approach the net
2. Wrong foot your opponent with your approach shot when possible
3. Split step when they hit so you’re balanced and able to move in any direction
4. Volley short into open court to keep the ball away from opponent
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You got this!

[leandromedrano]

Ryan, please more of the "plays" video analysis. Would be ideal to have 5 or 10 prepared plays to execute in a match

[qudjy]

I think this was less about strategy.and more about hitting 3 VERY good shots in a row. Solid to very good serve draws short return. 2nd shot approach could have been hit nearly anywhere but ripped to opponent backhand is always good lol. Flawless drop. Good strategy or execution of good shots?

[saeedafsharpour]

Thanx I saw lots of clips but this is very clear and simple many thanks.

[breal]

Thanks. Good stuff. Been using the volley short tip for about 6 weeks now and it has been killer. It doesn’t have to be a drop volley. Just short.

[Georgiz]

i might put these into account on my tournament in a few days!

[Nill]

Great explanation. In addition to the tactics laid out here, I add the critical athletic skill necessary to a great approach, which is balance. Anyone can split step. The difficulty lies with moving very quickly to that point and then arriving perfectly balanced to go fwd, back, left, right w no weight shift correction. Same goes w coming out of the serve and landing balanced in that 1st foot fall. At least half the guys on the ATP tour are taking a balance correction half step out of their serve.

The balance required of a perfect approach means hours of drills on one foot, etc (eg see Fed training), and many players would like to baseline drill w that time instead .

[ale]

Got it, great tips !!
Time to try this in my next match

[agentbrown]

Good point on wrong footing your opponent, there is never an always though in tennis. It depends how short the reply is between going up the line or cross court. Generally the farther back you're hitting the more you want to go up the line as you won't have time to get closed in correctly on a crosscourt approach, a nice bonus with that is you end up wrong footing them sometimes. The larger point is when you're farther back and you hit it up the line, as you're coming in you already have that side showing covered physically to your opponents eyes. If you hit crosscourt while too far back, you now have 2 openings to cover because in order to cover the down the line passing shot you now end up opening the crosscourt passing shot. If you hit approach close enough to net it's okay to hit crosscourt approach because you'll be able to show the line covered to your opponent in time for him to only see the crosscourt open which also allows you more time to cover the crosscourt pass. Furthermore If you try to go behind them every single time they will catch on eventually and adapt if they are anything decent at the game. Variety is key and hitting the correct shot for the specific part of court you're making contact from along with the height of ball you're working with is more important than trying to wrong foot them every time.

Never heard anyone in all my days playing and teaching saying to split step after they make contact. It's always been just before or right at the time of contact. You can split step later however if you know you have them in a really week defensive position (such as shown in the clip example), this allows for getting up to ball quicker and getting it at a higher contact point which is important. The problem with split stepping after they hit it is you won't have time to stop and retrieve a decent lob or any quality passing shot for that matter. The ball will already be past you unless you're doctor evo and have a 10 foot wingspan 😄. Which brings up another point. The timing of the split step depends on ones physicial ability and age. If you're older and slower you'll need to stop sooner than someone younger quicker who has a longer wing span and is more agile.

[joaodenilli]

rly great analysis.. tks, bro! cheers from brazil

[soolee]

Thank you so much!! Good thing to know Saturday morning! Could you let us know about poaching? How to and when? It’s really hard to do that for me!!! Thanks again. :)

[WivoRN]

Just came across your channel today, fascinating stuff!

[chtomlin]

Good job giving Matt some credit for the video and recognizing how the short volley was so important, but no, it isn't always a good idea to try to wrong foot the opponent, as you later admit about the short volley to the open court. It is good on this initial attack because it is an attack shot, Inside/out to the Backhand, not a mere approach shot. Yes he approaches here since his "mid-court attack" was so effective, but he didn't have to approach off of this.

[pakchu]

Ryan, do you have any tips on hitting volleys from the service line? Specifically, when do we want to hit a swinging volley and when to hit a regular volley?

[andrewtaylor]

Great video, as always Ryan. Any chance of a follow-up - I can't hit short volleys!!

[bobstravels]

At drills sessions I keep telling myself to split step every time, but I can't seem to convince my body to do it.

[Nill]

Another critical point for higher level play on that first short ball play is a neutral position. Arriving to far in front of the ball telegraphs the line, arriving behind allows only cross court and telegraphs same.

[theusachad]

This is great. I am 11. I play in Florida. I really need this instruction and analysis. Thanks!

[DF-xsov]

great video. thank you so much. it's on like Donkey Kong!

[mdougf]

You mentioned that it's always best to "wrong-foot" the opponent on that approach shot. I feel like, yes, that is a good insight for sure. But I feel like the other option is good, too. Yes, you are "wrong-footing" the opponent, but he is also closer to the ball than if you were to have hit it crosscourt into the open court. So both of the options are somewhat even, in a way. If you hit it to the open court, yes, they are headed that direction, but they are also further away from the ball. And if you "wrong foot" them and hit it into the corner where they already are, it does, in fact, wrong foot them, and surprise them, but they are closer to the ball. But I would say that all in all, the wrong-foot option might be a little better in this situation because you have the added bonus of that shot being to their backhand (asssuming their backhand is weaker than their forehand). So I feel that of course it's always best to hit to the opponent's weaker side when you are coming for an approach shot.

[amircraft]

Useful strategy I will test it out on my couch Sunday