Ken DeHart Tennis » play one

Serve and Volley or Rush and Crush Formations

Ken DeHart — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:43:42 +0000

These players love to get to the net at any cost, hit strong volley winners and overheads. Don’t be afraid of the charging team.

Reasons for the serving team to use this formation:

1. The serving team is both good volleyers.
2. The serving team has good overheads and likes to intimidate the other team.
3. The serving team likes pace or speed and wants the games to be fast with lots of quick action.
4. The serving team has poor ground strokes and does not want to get into long baseline exchanges.

Reasons for the receiving team to use this formation:

1. The receiving team has good chip returns and wants to get into the net before the other team.
2. The receiving team’s returns very strong and puts the serving team on defense – this neutralized the serving team’s advantage.
3. The receiving team does not have consistent ground strokes and has a low level of tolerance for long rallies.
4. The receiving team thinks that is how all good teams play.

How to play teams that play one up one back:

1. Get to your first serve in, it is more difficult to approach off of.
2. Direct your shots between them. Make them decide who will play the ball down the middle. Trying to hit angles is difficult because they close in and leave you little room to angle your shots.
3. If you get pinned back in a one up one back position – Lob the player closest to the net. If the lob is deep and bounces, come in and control the net against them.
4. Take the pace off your shots when they capture the net. Use softer shots with more spins so they cannot use your pace to kill your partner or hit aggressive shots between you.
5. Lob the serving team right away and force them to switch and run down the lob. You move in and now control the net.

What not to do:

1. Avoid getting sucked into their style of play if is not your style.
2. Take the pace off the ball to slow it down and give you more time to spin the next ball or lob them.
3. Never play one up one back formation against this team – they will pick off your partner in most cases.
4. Don’t try to hit hard passing shots, the balls will stay too high and give them speed to volley against.
5. Don’t miss first serves – you can’t get to the net on weak second serves and they love to attack weak 2nd serves.

Photo Credits: 1

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One Up and One Back Formations

Ken DeHart — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:52:05 +0000

When teams play this formation, they can be the easiest to beat – if you play smart. This formation leaves lots of holes in their defense and can make their net player a target for the other team. Don’t be afraid of the net.

Reasons for the serving team to use this formation:

1. The serving team has one player who is “afraid” of the net.
2. The serving team has a player who is “afraid” of getting lobbed.
3. The serving team has a player who thinks they are playing singles and loves to stay back and rally for 30 balls.
4. The serving team has such a weak serve they can’t come in and the receiving team returns deep enough to never hit a short ball they can use to come to the net.

Reasons for the receiving team to use this formation:

1. The receiving team has a player who is “afraid” of the net.
2. The receiving team’s returns are too weak to put the serving team on defense.
3. The receiving team does not know how to chip or drop shot and come into the net to dominate play.
4. The receiving team is “afraid of the other team lobbing and their partner at the net does not know where or how to volley at the net to finish off points.

How to play teams that play one up one back:

1. Get to the net at all costs.
2. Direct your shots between them or past the person closest to the net who will have the least amount of reaction time.
3. If you get pinned back, keep the ball away from their net player with loopy – spinny balls.
4. Lob the net player and come in to an area about 2-3 feet behind the service line to allow you to play overheads, volleys or drop shots. Control the net and keep their team split.
5. Stay back and loop with them for a few shots then come into the net to volley the loopy returns out of the air – short angled shots.
6. Return drop shots to force the player who stayed back to come into the net then lob that player.

What not to do:

1. Avoid getting sucked into their style of play.
2. Do not miss the return. The server is staying back, slow down the return and loop it deep to them so they have no pace to hit back at you. This return is difficult to for the server’s partner to poach against – no pace and high.
3. Avoid easy errors and simple mistakes like trying to kill the volley “at the net person” – find the “valleys” to volley into.

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