Starting the Rally

[slowfox]

No real point to this thread, but today I played some pickup tennis. Whenever this guy would start the rally (i.e. the first ball) he would hit a rocket at me. I'm on defense right away... haha.

Am I wrong to assume people should start the rally nice?

[5263]

You are right, but it's just a small adjustment, so no big deal usually.
If it bothers me, I usually can blast them off the court till they get the msg.

[Fuji]

I'm honestly horrible at starting rallies. I just hit a softer version of my normal forehand. I love guys that can hit a sweet conti styled squash shot to get it started smoothly. I always feel like an arse when people want me to start a friendly rally...

-Fuji

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by slowfox

No real point to this thread, but today I played some pickup tennis. Whenever this guy would start the rally (i.e. the first ball) he would hit a rocket at me. I'm on defense right away... haha.

Am I wrong to assume people should start the rally nice?

I play alot of pick up game, I always fire to their forehand, back and forth, then once in awhile drill a shot, same with them, don't know if that's standard but that's what I've experienced. If a guy tried to drill me on the first or second shot I'd be like "So you want to play"?

When I play my son, I always fire to his forehand, then slightly to his bh, then short, but nothing radical, just get him moving around. Watch the guys demoing racquets on TW, they hit to each other than finish off a shot, it allows each to just hit but also drill shots.

[LeeD]

I always feed a middle of NML forehand to their forehand side, medium speed.
If they crush one at me, I'll try to get the first few back, but after a few, go for drop shots and short angles. Since they're practicing for the game, so should I.
If they feed to my forehand, I'll reciprocate. After two, go to the backhand, then slowly go wider and wider, and adding pace.

[TomT]

Originally Posted by slowfox

No real point to this thread, but today I played some pickup tennis. Whenever this guy would start the rally (i.e. the first ball) he would hit a rocket at me. I'm on defense right away... haha.

Am I wrong to assume people should start the rally nice?

No, you are, imo, correct. If you look at the way pros start practice or warmup rallies, they don't start them with hard hit shots. People who start rallies with 'rockets' either can't control the way they hit the ball, or don't understand how to build to a rhythm in practice and warmup exchanges.

When confronted with players who start out hitting their hardest, most extreme, shots in a warmup or practice rally I usually just walk to the net and tell them that we will build up to hard hitting, but for the first 20 or so shots it's helpful to just relax, and hit easily down the middle concentrating on technique, control, and hitting a ball that will be easy for the other player to return in a similar manner.

At my level it's often a problem, because at my level most players just don't have very good control.

[Mick3391]

Originally Posted by TomT

No, you are, imo, correct. If you look at the way pros start practice or warmup rallies, they don't start them with hard hit shots. People who start rallies with 'rockets' either can't control the way they hit the ball, or don't understand how to build to a rhythm in practice and warmup exchanges.

When confronted with players who start out hitting their hardest, most extreme, shots in a warmup or practice rally I usually just walk to the net and tell them that we will build up to hard hitting, but for the first 20 or so shots it's helpful to just relax, and hit easily down the middle concentrating on technique, control, and hitting a ball that will be easy for the other player to return in a similar manner.

At my level it's often a problem, because at my level most players just don't have very good control.

Great point, yea watch one of many of Feds practice, they warm up, hit back and forth, kind of do drills at medium speed, then come to the net, the practice overhead shots, the idea is to practice, not hit winners on every shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjBXVQyiwg

[tvu]

Ideally, you want to give medium pace shots within the strike zone of the other player initially, and work your way up in both pace and width of the court.

Funny story, a while back, one guy ask me to rally with him(I was practicing against the wall), which is fine. But off my feed, he was taking a full cut at the ball going for winners on both sidelines. At times when I do retrieve the ball, I would send it back to the center - and again he would blast it to the corners.
I asked him can we just rally down the middle - and he said that's not how he plays and all the other folks that he hits with play with hit the same way. Hmm. I fed him four balls, and he took full cut at it again - #1 - landing wide on the right, #2 landing wide on the right, #3 - wide to the left, #4- center but long.
I didn't need the frustration - told him I'm not here to feed him balls, and retrieve it for him, and started to pack up my stuff. All the while, he's complaining that I have an attitude problem, that I think I'm better than he is, etc.
It's the only time I walked off a court. I guess I'm just getting old and not willing to put up with the BS anymore. I rather hit against the wall then deal with all this drama.

[kopfan]

To start rally against player that has no control of hitting the decent return ball, keep trying to hit winners, angle, etc on first return. Try feeding a moon ball over and shall fixed the issue. Once awhile... you can feed in an underhand serve to shock your opponent and you what you want from the return.