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I found this clip from the 2012 Brisbane pro tournament. This match features Bernard Tomic and Matsuma Ito.
Two things we can learn from this one point.
1) When you play a deep groundstroke, anticipate a short ball from your opponent. Don’t be surprised.
2) There are tons of unintended opportunities that present themselves to us all of the time. Take advantage of them.
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Good points brent, The glaring error I see in this point is the golden rule of never never never go cross court on dropshot returns. Your opponent has a open court to hit into everytime (unless youre as fast as sonic) and the point is usually lost.
Hi Steve. I agree.
In Tomic’s defense, he may have anticipated that Ito was going to cover down the line and Bernard simply tried to play his shot where he thought Ito wouldn’t be.
Ito played it smart and didn’t commit too early waiting to see where Tomic was going to play his shot.
Brent
Ito’s split step is what wins the point for him. I emphasize the importance of making it habitual to all my students. I play senior doubles and NEVER see one. I guess that we seniors like to conserve our energy!
And not doing a split step even saves us from going for shots that we could reach!
Very stimulating. Thank you.
Do you think that the far court player would have been caught too far in the court, if the near court player had gotten to that net ball and sent it straight ahead, down the line, deep in the corner?
Hey Mark. Glad you liked this clip.
Possibly Ito would have had a tougher tome dealing with a deep down the line from Tomic.
The point I really want to make is that Tomic never anticipated a short ball off of his deep slice prior to Ito’s let cord.
I think Tomic would have been in control of the point even with the let cord if he’d played his slice deep, recognized it was a tough shot for his opponent, and taken a step or two forward towards or eben inside the baseline in anticipation of a weak shot from Ito.
Brent
I enjoyed how you analyzed that point. Please do some more of that…especially doubles!!
Thanks!!
You got it Karen.
Brent
Hi Brent. Nice video to underline your points about opportunities missed (Tomic) and taken (Ito) during tennis matches. I think we so often don’t take these opportunities because we NEVER want to be passed by our opponent. But we should take them, realising that we will win more than we lose. And its another distraction for our opponent when he sees us moving in as he is trying to hit a very difficult shot. If he passes us, good for him. But over the length of a match the odds will be in our favour. Always playing safe in an attempt to never to lose ANY points will make you too predictable and never put pressure on your opponent. Also, once you win a couple of those opportunities your confidence will increase and your game will improve, thereby giving your opponent even more to think about.
Another point is that when you chase down a short ball (or net cord ball) it is so instinctive to want to hit a winner to the open court like Tomic did. But if the opponent moves in (as Ito did) you will probably lose the point. In this case, a good return is just back over the net in front of you. It may not be an outright winner but if your opponent reaches it he will have to hit UP and you will be in a really good position to knock off his return.
Those are all great observations Jack. Thanks.
The one I really want to drive home is not worrying about being passed.
I’d much rather lose a point forcing my opp to have to come up with a great shot rather than losing it defensively.
It’s just one point. And if you then show your opponent that you want to come in over and over, even after losing a point, you put a ton of pressure on that opponent.
No one wants to be forced to have to hit perfect passing shots on every point.
Brent
Brent,
Is there a good rule of thumb for a percentage of success in coming to the net? I feel like sometimes in my own matches that the times I get passed are magnified in my mind which discourages me a bit from coming in. Thanks.
I enjoyed the analysis. Like Karen says above, I’d like to see more strategy explained/ analyzed too (singles and doubles). It would be great to get some insight into constructing points and playing smart tennis. Most instructors focus on mechanics. I see lots of folks with bad mechanics winning matches.
Hi Steve. Love your comment about lots of players winning matches with lousy strokes.
Playing “smart” tennis is a combination of several things – the most important one for my games is court positioning.
Where’s the best place on the court for me to be right now?
That usually equates to me being able to get onto an opponent’s shot quickly to rob them of the time they want to get back into a neutral position on their side of the court.
Smart tennis is much more about forcing your opponents to have to hit winners over and over again because they fear you’re going to again rob them of that precious time.
Brent
A deep shot can generate a short return or a lob, correct?
Hi Maureen. You’re right, a deep shot old also produce a lob, and if so, I’d prefer to be inside the baseline and play it as an overhead rather than letting it bounce up high if I stay behind the baseline.
Brent
This is a classic example of not staying behind the baseline any longer than absolutely necessary – look at some videos of Andre Agassi playing and you’ll see where you want to stand – inside the baseline.
Perfectly said. Thanks.
Brent
I liked the video, it’s good to learn from real life situations. I think I am a baseline hogger, even if I suspect I have made a good shot.
Hey Kate. Gotta take advantage of those times when ou a really forcing ground stroke.
Look for a short ball, play an approach, and force a pass from your opponent.
Tennis is way more fun that way than just staying back all day long.
Brent
Good analysis, but I wonder if it depends upon the opponent. An opponent who can potentially handle such deep shots and hit a more offensive shot from that position, moving in might not be effective.
Hi Larry. Show a few drop shots rather than always approaching so deep.
Keep that opponent guessing.
Brent
Brent!
Where Tomic should have hit that short ball that reflected of the net cord?
The ball was below the net level, so it seems that the only choice would be cross court which he hit. Could he just push it up short and low down the line, like a drop shot? Then Ito would be running forward hit a challenging shot.
Hi Daria. Tomic may have guessed that Ito was going to cover the line so it may have been his only play in his mind.
One thing we don’t know from watching that one point is what were the payers’ tendencies in similar situations from prior points.
Brent
Thank you Brent ! Lives are SO busy and we miss SO much GREAT Tennis ! Those clips were really enjoyable to watch and to analyze ! We have MUCH to learn and you are leading us ! JB
Hi JB.
The Brisbane tournament is posting short clips of some of the matches.
I love it.
Brent
Hi Brent,
Looks to me like Tomic is hitting a more classical style backhand slice drive, which is very nice to see – I guess he’s in touch with his Aussie roots. John Yandell has been analyzing the modern pro slice compared to the classical style and pointing out that currently pros like Federer and Nadal are using a heavier downward motion with more spin than the traditional Rosewall-type slice drive. Looks like Tomic is a bit of a throw back, although in other shots in the highlight reel he uses a more contemporary heavy slice. How does it look to you?
Cheers,
Richard
Hi Richard. Right. I do like Tomic’s slice backhand.
If you’re looking for models to copy, go classic old school.
Brent
Despite losing a doubles match with a new partner today, my recent practicing of low bouncing slices, Federer style, paid off big time – so I was quite happy. In the past a lot of my mid court slices were bouncing too high. It was great to see Clay and Walt drop shot after shot into the net – a big first for me.
When they bounce up they are great shots to attack and I finally made it a point to learn how to do a better job of keeping the bounce low by precalling the height of my bounce in practice so I could get a better feel for immediately knowing what the shot was going to do.
Unfortunately, my partner didn’t have the shot-making to follow my shorting strategy so, smelling blood in the water, they went after him. He could not hit overheads, drop shots, or low bouncing drives (short or long). I could not get him to move back to the service line when he was crosscourt, so unless I was covering the lobs, he usually got passed overhead by the lobs or tried to lob back – unfortunately, lacking spin, 50+% of his lobs went long.
I think it is time now to work again on my overheads as it is an elegant shot.
Today I discussed a doubles play with my partner and successfully initiated it from the deuce court – first point in the match.
I told him I would lob the return of serve down the line, move into the net, and suggested that since he would now be crosscourt in the add court to the shot, he move back behind the serve line to take the return lob as an overhead as the most likely reply. I would be at the net to put it between the players if they hit me at the net.
Everything went like clockwork, except he failed to tell me he can’t hit an overhead and hates lobs. So my play cost us a point as the opponent whose go to shot is lobs, lobbed him twice and he dropped the second lob trying to hit two lobs in a row back.
Best laid plans of mice and men. New partner blues.
Gotta keep bobbing and weaving RS.
Brent
Brent: I believe it is called a net cord, not a let cord which is with a serve. There always has to be some one that is picky!!
Dang. Coud be Paul. Link me to the rule book?
Brent
Well fine. You are talking to an audience who have all kinds of shots and you are making an assumption that every shot one hits was “on purpose.” I keep thinking you (and other web pundits) are missing an audience. How about us recreational players who play a lot and really want to improve but do not have every shot in the book? And who make all-to-many unforced errors? A little lesson like this is for me, irrelevant. Food for thought–how do players like me get better?
Ouch. What’s the #1 challenge you’ve got with your matches? Which shot? What situation? Be specific.
Brent
Hi Anicka,
What I have learned about getting better starts with being frustrated at not getting better. What didn’t work for me is just playing more. Playing more = maintaining ones current skills and knowledge. I’m surrounded by fellow players who want to get better, but don’t because want is spelled with a small w, not a big W = serious commitment to take action, that is then acted on with constant hard work that is not “fun.”
I have gotten better because I actually read a wide variety of tennis training materials, worked with Brent and Jim, go out on the court and drill (ball machine, basket of balls ,and when I can talk a fellow player into drilling with me), and ignore the often misplaced advice of 95% of my fellow players who KNOW what to do to improve (=play more) but their games never improve year after year.
Yesterday was a good example. My partner asked me if I was following the ball. Well, NO I’m not following the ball. I have worked hard to look at the ball when I hit it in the contact zone and then CONTINUE to hold my head and eyes in the contact zone for another second, rather than immediately follow the ball with my eyes. I do that by (in practice) saying one, one thousand. The first one is as I hit the ball.
Choosing whom to take advice from and what advice to follow is really tough. Getting the right customized advice for each of us is even tougher.
Best of luck, stay with us.
Ok, I forget to mention. Brent’s archives are a brilliant way to hunt for the customized advice one needs to improve. My 2012 new years resolution: I’m spending about 1/2 an hour to an hour every evening reviewing the old archives of Brent and Jim M. Just brilliant stuff that is even more valuable going through it a second time or in some cases the first time for the older archives.
I discover some issues before I even knew they were issues as I pour though the materials. Both Brent and Jim are way to humble regarding their treasure trove of accessible materials. Yeah, I’m a bit of shill here as this stuff has worked for me.
Thanks for the props RS.
What would be cool if you’d check in from time to time with whatever you’re watching from the archives so I can make a couple of comments about that specific video.
Thanks Rodger.
Brent
Hi Brent,
Tomic should have plyed a short one back in the center or a deep one, also in the center of the court, which reduces Itos angles?
Cheers,
Sigurd
Hello Sigurd.
That would have been a good choice for Tomic to play his shot directly back to Ito’s feet IF he knew exactly where Ito was going to end up.
I still believe that Tomic was guessing where Ito was anticipating that Tomic was going to play his shot.
Again, we don’t know what led up to this point. We don’t know what tendencies each player had shown earlier in the match, so it may have been that Tomic’s shot choice was based on earlier points.
Brent
Hi Brent,
I like the idea of highlighting some form of expectation or usage of anticipation as you`ve done here.
I`d like to help you out with Anicka`s request. Recreational players should pay close attention to what Tomic did or perhaps should have done regardless of poor anticipation. As we all know the common chain is `ready ., read , react …….now run!! Look closely at how Tomic wasn`t really pumping is hands forwards!
I can see that looking at the tip of his racket. The tip was pointing towards the left way too long and not towards his opponent during the forward launch(locomotion)!! Tomic lost valuable nano seconds to execute
any shot when arriving as I tell the kids at the `front of the house`. Brent , you already pointed out that he wasn`t even in the house standing too far behind the baseline (watering the garden)!!
Hope this can help someone
Thanks Brent
Andreas
Yes, it helped me! Thanks and as Brent says, it makes for a more interesting/fun game of tennis when better equipped. The 4 Rs; I’ll remember this, thanks again
Hi Kate. Ah yes, the 4 R’s from Andrea!
Ready
Read
React
Run
The key R in this video is “Read” as Tomic didn’t do as good a job as he could have with “Reading” that his slice backhand was a great shot about to produce a short ball from Ito.
It applies to all of us. We all need to do a better job of reading what’s most likely going to happen with our opponent’s next shot and anticipate the “React”.
Too often we stay back and simply wait and see. That’s pure “React”.
Someone help me out here with a word starting with “R” that would apply to anticipating rather than just purely ‘reacting’.
Brent
Brent
Hmm, how about recognize – if you’ve read your opponent correctly then you would be properly prepared for the correct return.
Ready
Read
Recognize
Run – but not so far, as I have now learnt to step in
Morning Andreas. Always good stuff from you. Thanks …
Right, the key point I wanted to make with this video was how Tomic didn’t anticipate that his deep slice backhand just might produce something short from Ito.
Whether on the pro tour or at the rec level, it’s all relative, and the same theory applies.
When you hit a tough shot to your opponent, even if it’s unintended, don’t be surprised if your opponent has a tough time with it and plays their next shot short.
Brent
option 1 – drop shot in front of Tomic
option 2- slice deep down the line
Hi Stan.
Good choices.
Again, since we don’t know exactly what took place during the points prior to this one, in defense of Tomic, he may have played one or two of those shots you suggest earlier in the match already, and he’s now guessing that Ito’s thinking he might go there again.
Brent
Brent, Nice teaching point. I love it! Keep it coming!
Hello Poh.
Glad you enjoyed this video.
These are fun to do and another good teaching tool.
Brent
Once more a really helpfull tip on how alarmed we should stay in the game!!!!!!
Thanks, Brent. I really appreciate your helping us out like this.
this video willsurely help me