Controlled Aggression

With every point you should play with controlled aggression. What this means is not trying to attack every single shot, and not passively just trying to get the ball in the court. There is a three step progression that was taught to me as ‘control, hurt, finish’.

First you want to gain control of the point, either by hitting a deep ball with heavy topspin, a well-placed shot that gets your opponent out of position, or anything that makes them off-balance.

Next, you want to hurt your opponent a bit. They’re only moderately out of position and off-balance. You want to make them even more off-balance, so hit another slightly more aggressive shot to make them run across the court in whatever direction. They’ll probably pop up a weak return.

Finally, you finish the point either with a volley at the net, or a well placed put-away shot.

Move through the shot

Always Move In

Ideally you always want to be moving into the ball when you hit it. Even if you are being pushed back by a high one, you want to move back, then on your last step (or two) move into the ball. This gets your body weight behind your shot, and uses your momentum for extra power and acceleration during your swing.

Additionally, moving in towards the ball as it approaches you means you can hit the ball at a higher point, allowing you to hit a more aggressive shot.

It also robs your opponent of recovery time.

Finally, moving in towards the ball cuts off the angle, and reduces the distance you have to run to get into position. This becomes very important on the return of serve.