Court positioning for the baseline game

[dlam]

Originally Posted by Ash_Smith

As a general rule...

From the baseline position yourself slightly on the opposite side of the court to the ball (i.e. ball on opponent deuce side, you recover slightly to your deuce side and vice versa).

At the net you position yourself slightly to the same side of the court to the ball (i.e. ball on opponent deuce side, you recover slightly to your ad side and vice versa).

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[dominikk1985]

the correct answer is the bisector of the angle between his best possible shots (short cross and DTL-well at least the likely best shots since you are probably not covering a marcelo rios super angle).

that means on a CC shot you stay slightly on the side of the court you hit from and on a DTL you have to go over a little more.

but this depends on your strategy and the opponent too. if you are running around a lot of your opponent is hitting 80% to one side you might consider shifting your position a little.

[IsnerFan]

Originally Posted by Say Chi Sin Lo

When I get bored, I like to punk my opponent by standing in no-man's land, and half-volley everything.

basically ideal positioning, no?

[Fuji]

Man you guys over think it sometimes!

Nawh, all I do is attempt to get as close to centre as possible. I hit an okay backhand and a pretty good forehand for my level, so I know roughly 60% of shots are going to my backhand (even more if I'm playing a good opponent) so I keep grinding the backhand until I get an opening to hit a forehand. It's not optimal of course, but it definitely works.

-Fuji

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

then you can drive those 200s through the ball and end it!!

I can't get those strings for a reasonable price, btw, he is gonna have to rethink if he wants to sell them in any quantity

[Fuji]

Originally Posted by Timbo's hopeless slice

then you can drive those 200s through the ball and end it!!

I can't get those strings for a reasonable price, btw, he is gonna have to rethink if he wants to sell them in any quantity

Haha exactly!

I somehow deleted your email and was meaning to message you back! Yeah, I can't see a lot of people switching to them unless they offer better pricing. I'll still probably end up trying some eventually, but I would want to do a gut/poly hybrid and that ain't cheap! Hahahahaah!

-Fuji

[Cheetah]

Originally Posted by Fuji

Man you guys over think it sometimes!

Nawh, all I do is attempt to get as close to centre as possible. I hit an okay backhand and a pretty good forehand for my level, so I know roughly 60% of shots are going to my backhand (even more if I'm playing a good opponent) so I keep grinding the backhand until I get an opening to hit a forehand. It's not optimal of course, but it definitely works.

-Fuji

I don't know what level you are but this is not good tennis for anything above 3.5. If you're in the center of the court after hitting cross court or dtl a decent player's eyes will light up at the huge hole you are leaving. If someone is playing me and they do this the point is over or at the very least they are in trouble for sure. That extra step you are leaving open is enough. Not bragging but I would be able to win every point (barring unforced errors) against you by hitting at 40% pace if you do this. If I were you I'd consider tuning up your positioning sense because if you do what you say here then most likely you have other positional problems in other situations too.

[Vlad_C]

Originally Posted by Say Chi Sin Lo

Maybe it's a habit for me. I used to run around most of my backhand, and hit forehands instead. I used to have an abysmal backhand.

The problem was, if my inside-out/in forehand wasn't good enough, the entire deuce court would open and I'd have to make a mad dash to cover any down the line shots.

Since those days, I keep telling myself to not give away the court easily.

It reminded me of this video I saw a while ago, it talks about court positioning in more detail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQWw8I9sBE

It's a bit long, but if you have time watch it, it's useful.