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Everyone loves to see tennis players hitting winners all over the court. However, most matches at nearly every level are won by playing intelligently and having a strong defensive strategy. In every sport especially at the highest levels you will hear the phrase, “Defense wins championships!”
Most of the great football teams that won Super Bowls had great defenses such as the ‘Steel Curtain’ with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The NY Knicks in the early 70s started a tradition where their fans would chant “Defense, Defense!” when the opponents had the ball.
So how does this apply to tennis?
One of the most important statistics in a tennis match is unforced errors. This is when you make a mistake when you are not forced or on the run. Some of the toughest players to play are the ones that just do not miss and are like human backboards.
Shot selection is crucial when you are playing sound defensive tennis. Too often players will go for a big shot or a winner when it is not necessary. At every level the players that hit the right shot that is the percentage shot will make the least mistakes.
Keeping the ball in play will many times force your opponent to try for winners because they will get impatient from seeing so many balls coming back to them. If you are playing from the baseline and you are forced to run hard for a shot the safe play to hit is a medium high ball over the net and hit crosscourt. This is the strategy if your opponent is staying back and not coming to the net.
Hitting the ball crosscourt is the percentage play from the baseline because you have fewer recovery steps to take. If you hit the ball down the line then you have to move and recover opposite of where you hit the ball. I call this the compass theory. For example if you hit the ball in the opponent’s backhand corner the needle of the compass would point to the Southwest. So in order to recover properly you would have to move to the Northeast or opposite of the compass’ needle.
The percentage play for an opponent coming to the net is to hit a shot that is low so that they will have a difficult volley or half volley. This does not have to be hit with a lot of pace to be effective. Often a slow backspin or topspin shot that is very low will cause more problems because your opponent has to produce the pace on the ball. A low ball dying ball many times is hit weakly upward setting you up for an easy pass or lob for a winner.
Playing your return of serve defensively can drive your opponent crazy.
Learn to hit a block return with a little backspin. Roger Federer uses this return often. Just make contact with the ball with a very short follow through. Point the racquet’s strings facing in the direction where you want it to go toward the target. Keep it very compact and simple. This type of return can be used to handle any serve. This is especially good when your opponent serves and volleys. Just block it at their feet and drive them nuts.
Play defensively and hit it higher over the net to keep it in play. Everyone has played a pusher in tennis that just gets everything back. Use this strategy to make your opponent try to hit winners and make more mistakes.
A great defensive play is the lob.
Too many times you will see a player running wide for a shot and try to hit a hard winner. Most of the time they will miss the shot into the net or wide. If you hit a high and deep lob most of the time your opponent will not be able to put it away. The key word here is deep. This tactic keeps you into the point instead of just trying for an impossible shot for a winner. Many times by keeping it in play you will win a good percentage of these points. Also it will frustrate your opponent because he had you on the run only to have you neutralize the situation with a deep shot.
Using these strategies will give you an upper hand and make your opponent hit that extra shot that he thought was a winner. By playing defensive tennis you will make your opponent work harder and eventually you will wear him down.