How are they on short balls?

1. What type of grips do they use?
2. What type of shots do they prefer?
3. Is their forehand or backhand stronger?
4. What types of spin did they use?
5. How effective is their footwork?
6. What height do they prefer on the forehand & backhand?
7. How well do they volley and recover?
8. Do they look comfortable on short balls?
9. Are they comfortable with their overheads?
10. How did they serve? How much spin or speed?

While knowing your own game is important when you enter a match, learning all you can about your opponent can give you confidence and help you know how to use your game to defeat them.

Ken DeHart

www.kendeharttennis.com
kendehart@aol.com

Photo Credits: nsaplayer

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Win the warm up.

1. Introduce yourselves to your opponents.
2. Spin the racquet before beginning the warm up so you will be on the correct side when warming up and know the serving order as to who will serve first, second and so on.
3. Immediately be the one who “spins” the racquet to decides who will have 1 of the 4 options (don’t spin the racquet on the ground as it often takes too long, scratches the end of the grip when it falls to the ground and depending upon how it is picked up the racquet you can control the be “up” or “down” call. Just spin the racquet in your hand with the butt of the racquet toward your waist until they make their call, “up” or “down” then show them the butt of the racquet to see who won the spin.
4. If the opponents win the “spin” and choose to serve, make them serve from the sunny side of the court first and prepare to lob them a lot during the first game of the match.
5. In the warm up, the first server for each team will take a lot of practice serves as they will begin the offense for their teams initially. The third and fourth servers will take a lot of overheads, a few serves and focus on returning the servers as the first two servers warm up. This is important as the third and fourth servers will play several games before serving and have opportunities to be warmed up before actually being called upon to serve. However they can play an important part of their teams success by focusing on returning well early in the match.

You and your partner need to have a plan before the match starts. This gives you confidence and a purpose for what happens early in the match.

Photo Credits: GeoNando

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