How to play a Blocker???

[texcoug]

I am just returning to the game and have had difficulties with a few matches. The players that hit ts, deeper balls I am fine with. I have had a few matches against friends who are what I call blockers. They have a real stiff frame (like an old Hammer), and just punch the ball back. There is no consistency to their depth, but I get frustrated with my groundies. I have a dearth of people to play with and will likely see many more of these matches in the future -- does anyone have any suggestions?

For some of the people, I really don't want to try to put them away quickly (like off their dinky second serve). I want the match to be fun for both but it is ending up not being that fun for me. I just find it difficult to sustain rallies baseline to baseline against some of these people.

Thanks for the help.

[serveit]

bring him into the net and pass or lob

[donnyz89]

u go to that short ball and blast their faces with it. why trying to make the match fun? just win. dont play them if they suck.

[golden chicken]

well, i consider myself more of an advanced "blocker" in that i utilize different spins...mostly slices... to disrupt a baseliner's rhythm. opponents who have drilled me have excellent placement (i.e. depth, pace, and change of direction) which almost always comes from sound footwork. you must be hyper-aware of how i struck the ball and move yourself into the correct position to hit offensively. use the extra time to get your feet aligned and your weight into the shot and have a couple targets in mind. take advantage of short balls and make sure all your shots land within 4 feet of the baseline.

[Kathy]

The spin could account for your problem. Golden Chicken said a lot.

If I understand right, the players you're talking about aren't making the ball roll over for them (with topspin) much, if at all. This means YOUR topspin might come off their racket flat, or even with underspin (= your topspin when the ball reverses direction). That makes a big difference in their shots' trajectory, depth and bounce. Like Golden Chicken said, you've really gotta pay close attention to what the ball is doing. Are they hitting it on the rise, while it's spinning fastest? Or on the descent of bounce?

We get so used to moderate topspin that underspin often causes "unforced" errors. Even the pros do it: send them two or three shots with moderate topspin and then one with heavy topspin or underspin, and they hit it out.

We get so used to moderate topspin that, even if you consciously say to yourself, "Here comes a shot with underspin -- watch it, because it will plane and bounce straight up," you still don't judge it as well as usual and set up just a few inches too far this way or that to play it comfortably.

Also, if it has even a little underspin on it, and you swing upward as much as usual, your racket face and the side of the ball you're hitting are both moving up. The result can be that your strings don't get a good bite into the ball's fuzz. Oops -- out, because you got no topspin on your shot.

[That's how McEnroe and, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Conners handled Bjorn Borg's heavy topspin. They didn't even try to get the ball to roll over them on the way back. They were thus the only players who could make Borg hit long...sometimes. This "spin warfare" made for thrilling matches.]

The good news is that you do get used to it when a player does this constantly.

One way to nullify much of spin's effect is to step inside the baseline, playing shallow, and hitting the ball on the rise. Then, what it would do after the bounce doesn't matter. You'll often find yourself having to follow your return to net, because you're halfway there already. But that's good.

Kathy K
www.operationdoubles.com (http://www.operationdoubles.com/)

[texcoug]

Great stuff. Thanks.