I would agree to this generally. When I was younger, I used to play 1-2 m behind the baseline but now at 57 I find it better to stay closer to baseline as I don’t get caught out with shorter/sliced balls. When my timing is off, I do struggle with fast hit deeper balls but overall I cover more balls now.
Haha, was literally thinking about AO17 Federer until you brought it up at 8:00. How do we reconcile that…maybe one of the best sets of tennis ever played, but with an extremely high risk and low percentage strategy? Great video!
For men's 3.0 I almost always play with toes on the baseline because at this level players are too inconsistent (me included) and mis-hit too many balls that then just barely go over the net and drop short. I call this the full swing drop shot. However, their balls are generally slow so you can always back up and take it at a comfortable height. But got to make sure to recover for their next short ball!
When I played tournaments and on tennis teams, my rating varied from 3.5 to 4.5. From 1961-present, I seldom conducted rallies more than a foot behind the baseline*. Some players negatively comment on how I return serve from closer to the service line than other guys do. I don't recall ever criticizing an opponent's positioning or his other choices during a match. I learned to hit balls on the rise a long time ago. Against better topspin serves and groundies, I may move forward a little bit. When I was young, I was reasonably quick and probably could have played further back. Did not want to. *One wintry day, out of 8 outdoor courts, a friend and I found only one not clogged with ice. Both senior players. The one court had a patch of ice about 5 feet behind the baseline, on one end. I took that end and said I would stay there for every game. We played about half of the set that way, when my friend said he could safely play with ice 5 feet behind the baseline. I complied. I should have said, game over. First game on that side, he backed onto the ice during a point and went down like a big sack of potatoes. Pulled hamstring and probably concussion. After a few moments I pulled him to his feet and held on to him. He proudly said he could walk on his own. I let go and he instantly fell again. I got him to a bench, where we sat for 30 minutes. I then told him I was going to drive him to his home and bring his girlfriend back to pick up his car. No, no, he could drive. I increasingly believed he was concussed, but what could I do? He did make it home. Out from tennis for over 2 months because he was too proud. Could have been worse.
It made me smile that you used D1 players and juniors as your example and left out seniors. I am a senior and play tennis with seniors. They hit more like juniors than D1, of course. I have some friends, that because of age-related lack of mobility, mostly stand just behind the service line in doubles, 80%-90% of the time. Maybe a little farther back when returning serves. They are actually pretty skilled at hitting volleys and swinging volleys. The trick for me to learn is how to read and react to mishits, which are often full swings at the ball that turn into drop shots. i also have to be heads up when my doubles partner has a weak serve and our opponents stand right behind the service line and purposefully return serves with angled drop shots. Makes playing anywhere near the baseline challenging. LOL.
Its great advice. As a baseline hugger who never moves back i can never make this work. I recall trying it and was always getting burned short or still finding a way to hit late. Timing was off too… Too slow to cover short angles from back there
Funny, I think I remember some match play of yours where you decided to step back on the return because the extra time allowed you to be more aggressive. I guess it's the same principle here: moving forward isn't always the best choice for aggression.
Yeah, good point. The truth is that in a real match you're gonna be playing all over the court ;) You gotta stay on your toes all the time to be ready to move in any direction. If you get stuck right behind the centre mark at the back you will be hammered by your opponent. Watch your opponent's shots and react/move accordingly,
Several years ago, I played singles for the first time against another old fart, who puts all the force of his serves, ground strokes, and volleys (I'm not making this up) into topspin. The first time he served to me, I had to use an overhead motion to somehow get his serve back. Meanwhile, he was coming into the net behind his serve. I lost the point. To get a return ball I was happy hitting, I would have to either move behind the baseline or move forward. I was going to move forward anyway, but I had another reason to do so. I wanted my service return to make his first volley difficult. I couldn't always do it. His ridiculous topspin serve is horizontally slow enough that he had time to get to the net and take a good position to make a first volley. I won the first match. We played maybe a dozen singles matches in the next couple months. I won all of them. It wasn't easy - some matches went over 3 hours, which most old farts prefer not to experience. We stopped playing singles. I also played doubles against the same guy. He had trouble holding his serve against me in doubles. One of my unsavory tennis practices is to clock the server's partner if possible. When we played as partners in doubles, we generally won. He's a terrifically supportive doubles partner. He hit a lot of winners at the net with his crazy topspin volleys. One set we played, down 1-5, he counseled me to not think about winning the next game but only focus on winning the next point. He was very encouraging, and he demonstrated what to do. We won 6 games in a row. Anyhow, I agree with Nick's court positioning recommendations, but crazy can work, too.
Lengthen Your Baseline Rallies & Improve Consistency With This Drill 👉🏻 ruclips.net/video/nkAPUdYU_tE/видео.html
I would agree to this generally. When I was younger, I used to play 1-2 m behind the baseline but now at 57 I find it better to stay closer to baseline as I don’t get caught out with shorter/sliced balls. When my timing is off, I do struggle with fast hit deeper balls but overall I cover more balls now.
Haha, was literally thinking about AO17 Federer until you brought it up at 8:00. How do we reconcile that…maybe one of the best sets of tennis ever played, but with an extremely high risk and low percentage strategy? Great video!
For men's 3.0 I almost always play with toes on the baseline because at this level players are too inconsistent (me included) and mis-hit too many balls that then just barely go over the net and drop short. I call this the full swing drop shot. However, their balls are generally slow so you can always back up and take it at a comfortable height. But got to make sure to recover for their next short ball!
Ahh the dreaded full swing drop shot...thanks I hate it
WHAT an intro 😂🤝👏🏻
When I played tournaments and on tennis teams, my rating varied from 3.5 to 4.5. From 1961-present, I seldom conducted rallies more than a foot behind the baseline*. Some players negatively comment on how I return serve from closer to the service line than other guys do. I don't recall ever criticizing an opponent's positioning or his other choices during a match.
I learned to hit balls on the rise a long time ago. Against better topspin serves and groundies, I may move forward a little bit. When I was young, I was reasonably quick and probably could have played further back. Did not want to.
*One wintry day, out of 8 outdoor courts, a friend and I found only one not clogged with ice. Both senior players. The one court had a patch of ice about 5 feet behind the baseline, on one end. I took that end and said I would stay there for every game. We played about half of the set that way, when my friend said he could safely play with ice 5 feet behind the baseline.
I complied. I should have said, game over. First game on that side, he backed onto the ice during a point and went down like a big sack of potatoes. Pulled hamstring and probably concussion. After a few moments I pulled him to his feet and held on to him. He proudly said he could walk on his own. I let go and he instantly fell again. I got him to a bench, where we sat for 30 minutes. I then told him I was going to drive him to his home and bring his girlfriend back to pick up his car. No, no, he could drive. I increasingly believed he was concussed, but what could I do? He did make it home. Out from tennis for over 2 months because he was too proud. Could have been worse.
Hello sir...first time I see your video and I impressed..
It made me smile that you used D1 players and juniors as your example and left out seniors. I am a senior and play tennis with seniors. They hit more like juniors than D1, of course. I have some friends, that because of age-related lack of mobility, mostly stand just behind the service line in doubles, 80%-90% of the time. Maybe a little farther back when returning serves. They are actually pretty skilled at hitting volleys and swinging volleys. The trick for me to learn is how to read and react to mishits, which are often full swings at the ball that turn into drop shots. i also have to be heads up when my doubles partner has a weak serve and our opponents stand right behind the service line and purposefully return serves with angled drop shots. Makes playing anywhere near the baseline challenging. LOL.
Hey James, I teach a lot of seniors and it makes sense for them to stand closer bc balls are not being hit hard
@@IntuitiveTennis Hey, I live close to you. I'm down in Pembroke Pines, FlL. How can I get in on that senior training?
Great stuff as always, thanks and Happy Holidays!
Its great advice. As a baseline hugger who never moves back i can never make this work. I recall trying it and was always getting burned short or still finding a way to hit late. Timing was off too…
Too slow to cover short angles from back there
Stop commenting on every single tennis sub
Funny, I think I remember some match play of yours where you decided to step back on the return because the extra time allowed you to be more aggressive. I guess it's the same principle here: moving forward isn't always the best choice for aggression.
Exactly 🙌🙌
Yeah, good point. The truth is that in a real match you're gonna be playing all over the court ;) You gotta stay on your toes all the time to be ready to move in any direction. If you get stuck right behind the centre mark at the back you will be hammered by your opponent. Watch your opponent's shots and react/move accordingly,
How to return a serve with a lot of spin (a lot)
😁
So I guess “no man’s land” is somewhat fluid too.
Other players note I'm in no man's land. I reply, make me not play in no man's land.
Sir
I hit so much topspin, players need to stand 10 feet behind the baseline. 😆
Several years ago, I played singles for the first time against another old fart, who puts all the force of his serves, ground strokes, and volleys (I'm not making this up) into topspin. The first time he served to me, I had to use an overhead motion to somehow get his serve back. Meanwhile, he was coming into the net behind his serve. I lost the point.
To get a return ball I was happy hitting, I would have to either move behind the baseline or move forward. I was going to move forward anyway, but I had another reason to do so. I wanted my service return to make his first volley difficult. I couldn't always do it.
His ridiculous topspin serve is horizontally slow enough that he had time to get to the net and take a good position to make a first volley.
I won the first match. We played maybe a dozen singles matches in the next couple months. I won all of them. It wasn't easy - some matches went over 3 hours, which most old farts prefer not to experience.
We stopped playing singles.
I also played doubles against the same guy. He had trouble holding his serve against me in doubles. One of my unsavory tennis practices is to clock the server's partner if possible.
When we played as partners in doubles, we generally won. He's a terrifically supportive doubles partner. He hit a lot of winners at the net with his crazy topspin volleys. One set we played, down 1-5, he counseled me to not think about winning the next game but only focus on winning the next point. He was very encouraging, and he demonstrated what to do. We won 6 games in a row.
Anyhow, I agree with Nick's court positioning recommendations, but crazy can work, too.
For Americans, 1m is roughly 1 yard. Whenever you hear X meters, think X yards.
I'm confused! What's the take home message?
Don't attach yourself to the baseline :)
Start with a neutral position 1 to 2 meters behind baseline, and then adjust as necessary.