Strategies to go up level

[Headshotterer]

Hit angled crosscourt shots
Attack any short balls
Use the drop shot

[LeeD]

Hit where they aren't.
Hit where they don't like it.
Hit the way they don't like.
Hit harder than they can handle.

[5263]

Hit strong, but refuse to miss.

[LeeD]

But if you just hit strong an IN, won't the other guy just groove in and redirect your strong shots back into one of your corners?
Shouldn't variety come into play?

[Migelowsky]

practice your weakness, even if temporary you go down it´s worth it

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by Headshotterer

Hit angled crosscourt shots
Attack any short balls
Use the drop shot

Use visualization.

John Wooden, the famous basketball coach would have his guys come out for practice, they'd shoot free throws, but without a ball. They were instructed to imagine a swish everytime.

After this exercise they would be given balls, and guess what? Their percentage of shots went way up. Then over time, with their emotional, mental weaknesses they'd start to miss more.

Same deal with Tennis. When someone "Hits a wall", that is they can't seem to get any better, best thing is to take a break and practice visualization, imagine making the great shots, imagine everything you want, and when you go to play you will move up a notch.

Ever take a prolonged break from Tennis? When you go back you play awesome, then those mental handups and insecurities come back and you go back to normal play. The break gave your mind and emotions time to visualize great play.

You may think it's nuts, but Wooden did it and it worked.

[Bergboy123]

Play against people better than you on a regular basis..

[HEADfamilydynasty]

Originally Posted by Mick3391

Use visualization.

...
Ever take a prolonged break from Tennis? When you go back you play awesome, then those mental handups and insecurities come back and you go back to normal play. The break gave your mind and emotions time to visualize great play...

This is exactly what happens to me after a long break(>4 wks).
It does work and its permanent if you stay on the ball.

[ShoeShiner]

Match play with pros. After match, note our weakness, our error, and practice again and again. Then go to match play over and over.

[Phonco]

I'm going to agree with attacking short balls. Early recognition and the ability to attack any short ball (slice, low, high etc.) will easily improve ones level. This also has the bonus of putting pressure on your opponent to hit deep/hard on every shot which can result in lots of errors.


In effect, short balls should be free points anyway. At the pro level a short ball is either a straight up winner or at, at a minimum, an easy follow up due to positional advantage.

[5263]

Originally Posted by LeeD

But if you just hit strong an IN, won't the other guy just groove in and redirect your strong shots back into one of your corners?
Shouldn't variety come into play?

Like so much of tennis, "strong" is a relative term, so if it is strong in the context
of a given match, the power should be effective in general....especially if you rarely
miss.
The thread is about going up a level, so if you can learn to hit stronger without
missing, it can help greatly with the idea of the OP.

Of course there are always more things to layer in, and I would layer in the
line of shot next. If you can hit a nice shot line for the situation that is strong,
it should work well to keep the moving and off balance a bit.