Continuing our discussion from the last post regarding as to why we want to move up to net either behind serve and volley, chip and charge return of serve, approach shots, approach volleys, etc., I want to discuss the real strategy behind “court position”.

In many of my responses to your comments regarding this topic, my main focus has been to try to convince you that it’s not always about the quality of the approach, the quality of the volley, or the quality of the overhead.

It’s about quantity, not quality…

The biggest challenge I have in teaching tennis strategy is getting players (especially juniors) to NOT measure the effectiveness of their net approaching attempts by each and every point.

I see it way too often (and I know we saw an example of this by Federer in this year’s 2008 French final), and that is a player coming into net and then deciding after getting passed a couple of times that this net approach thing isn’t working, so let’s forget it.

And the big mistake we make is to evaluate that strategy after only a couple of times of coming into net.

Here’s my philosophy on approaching the net, and I’ve got to give all of the credit to my former coach Tom Stow, and that is, not only is it a helluva lot more fun, but you don’t have to hit perfect approach shots, volleys, etc. each and every time to be successful.

What you do have to do is to realize that you’re going to get passed from time to time, but in the end, there really is a limited number of passing shot winners available to your opponent in any given match.

Your opponent’s available passing shots are a finite number, not an unlimited well of wealth…

And if you can’t handle getting passed, then you need to get over that and understand that this really is simply a numbers game. 

Don’t measure / evaluate success point by point, but instead, be faithful to the big picture which is measured by the entire match.

I figure that whomever I play has a certain number of passing shots available in their “bag” on that day, and my job is simply to empty that bag asap.

And I’ll be honest with you, there are some days when it takes me to have to get to something like 4 all in the 3rd before that “bag” gets emptied.  On those days you just have to believe that you’ll eventually get there and just hold on for the ride.

And other days it seems my opponent’s passing shot bag is emptied really early in the match.  And the residual of that is lots of unforced errors from them in their attempt to not give me approachable shots / opportunities.

And of course, some days it also just doesn’t work out.  You lose a match now and then…

Which gets me to another one of my favorite says, “If you lose this point, where do you want to be on the court”?

I always want to up at net and forcing my opponent to hit a perfect passing shot.  And when they do I never feel that they’ve now added another passing shot for that day to their bag.  I know how hard it is to hit one clean passing shot, let alone a bunch of them over the course of a match.

OK, so blah, blah, blah, what’s the point here?

It’s not a negative to approach the net and get passed…

And if you get either get passed and then stay back for fear of getting passed again OR you get to what you perceive as an important point and also stay back, then you’re missing the point.

And to get back to what Mr. Stow continued to tell me, ending up at net is just a helluva lot more fun. 

The different movements, the different shots, watching your opponent’s passing attempt fail, and just the overall dynamic of applying relentless never ending pressure on your opponent with court position (not necessarily perfect stroke production) is just plain more fun that staying back on the baseline gripped with fear…

Brent

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