I am an intermediate/beginner player & my serve is really gud, best part of my play, in matches i can win many points with my serve but i was talking to 1 of the coaches in 1 of my clubs & he told me about looking at where the reciever is which i kinda do, its obvious that if they r quite far back from the T, to serve short & if they they r very close to the T, 2 try the occassional flick serve. Wat i found i did not do thou was look at the position of their racket, whethers is on the left or right side, their grip etc. Once i did this, i found more weaknesses in players so therefore better chance of getting a better start, more of a chance to attack first. You do not want to hit onto the forehand side of the racket, you want to make it awkward for them such as having 2 change grip etc. I ave seen in the lower levels, players stand in bad positions wit bad racket direction but these get a lot less the higher the level. It also made me tink about my position & if i was giving away a chance due to bad positioning or bad racket direction. Im a relative amateur compared to many players on this forum so if u ave any more advice or tips or comments in this subject, please tell .
There is a spot, about a foot or so in from the mid-line, where the player might be uncertain about whether to use the forehand or backhand. Very useful to slow the opponent down if he attacks your short serves quickly.
wow victor, how did you figure that one out , i'm betting through your physio class and blind spots with something about the brain processing right? lol or just you playing people down at waterloo? lol, oh ya, you comming up for city champs at casselman?
Nah, it's just a basic principle of tactical play. If you play your shot into a location where some decision has to be made and the choice is not obvious, then time must be spent making that decision, leaving less time to act.
Thats right, towards the centreline, at the receivers front foot, the receiver doesnt know whether or not to hit a backhand or forehand. Creating a second of indecision which may lead to a forced error or a bad shot.
You should always return a serve with a forehand shot, even against a drive serve towards the middle line. You do this with an overhead-some called it round the head-shot. Only poor footwork and/or poor overhead hitting ability will force one to reply with a backhand return to a serve.
Never noticed the grip thing, I always looked at where my opponent was, so if he/she was farther from the net, I would do a short serve, and vice versa. I'll try looking at his/her grip next time I play What about Taufik?!
That applies only to flick serves, drive serves, and high serves. Low serve returns may require a forehand or backhand action, hence the usefulness of aiming serves towards the receiver's forward foot: he has trouble deciding whether to play a forehand or backhand reply. The exact point of change from backhand to forehand will vary depending on the receiver. Try to determine exactly where the receiver switches from forehand to backhand returns, and aim for this spot to create the maximum confusion. (This is only one serving tactic; you needn't do this all the time.)
