Normally in tennis, the person who does the most running is going to lose. This is because they’re being dictated to, and during most rallies you cannot possibly play successfully by waiting to see what your opponent does. Instead, you must move around the court according to what you anticipate, based on prior experience and the current score. You should always try to play so your opponent has to cover more space while you have to cover less.
Know where you stand
You may find that you and your opponent are holding each other in a cross-court trading rally a lot of the time. Changing direction to send a ball down the line is a big effort, so good players do not do it every shot or they’d make a lot of mistakes. If you find yourself in a cross-court forehand rally, don’t just routinely run back to the centre of the court after each shot. Return roughly to where you would serve from, about one metre from the centre mark, because you know that if you’ve sent the ball cross-court, it is most likely to come back cross-court.
If you have hit a slow, short-ball cross-court, however, you should indeed return to the centre mark, because you should anticipate having to cover a reply from your opponent down the line.
How deep you stand will also depend upon what you expect from your opponent’s next shot. If you’ve just sent them a very deep ball loaded with topspin, recover your position near the centre, but you could also step inside the baseline, anticipating a weaker reply. If you sent a ball that was deep but lacked pace, however, your opponent might give you a very heavy shot in reply, so you should position yourself a couple of steps deeper, behind the baseline.
When to approach
The best time to build up and move in is when you’ve got your opponent in trouble and you have the chance to press home your advantage. Perhaps they have returned the ball too short or too slowly, or maybe you take the initiative after playing a strong shot yourself.
Whatever the circumstances, your approach shot should be taken well inside the baseline. That way, you can either make them move around the court by controlling the angles, or take the ball early, giving them little time to play their reply as you rush towards the net.
Now try this …
Play a few games, but shout out after each shot what impact you think it had. Shout “plus”, “minus” or “neutral” to describe whether the shot has put you in a stronger situation, a weaker one, or left it unchanged. This will determine what position you take for the next shot. In a neutral situation you might stand half a metre behind the baseline, but if you shout “plus” it will remind you that you need to be further in. You will see whether what you thought was going to happen actually happened, and whether you were in the right position to take advantage.
What am I doing wrong?
Probably either over-recovering when you run back towards the centre mark, or not recovering at all. Remember, you can’t cover the whole court the whole time, so could you anticipate that your opponent is not going to change direction? Or are you hitting your shot and then standing there admiring it instead of thinking about where you need to go next? Both mentally and tactically there has to be a link from shot to shot.
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