Ib
I think you shouldnt break it down so much. "Placement not power", which can mean any of those. Probably depth/spin is the main rally ball one, and when an opportunity arises either an angle or pace to seal the deal
In saying this, my current goto tactic with new balls is to bash it up the middle, slightly crosscourt, and focus on hitting on the rise, until I get a short one. And then drill this one down the line
I'll make a few errors at first as I'm adjusting to getting the rhythm right on the rise. The dtl shots dont feel like they're being hit harder, it's just more timing based and since my general rally ball is pretty fast (hittingthe back fence off one bounce insidethe court as an indicator) - its fast enough.
Maybe that is another thing... dont hit a ball harder than you need to, why risk it if you can win with less risk? Hitting the back fence on one bounce is fast enough. If you're not hitting winners when you're standing inside the baseline with that power, then your opponent is reading you and you need to change up your targets. I.e.if I'm hitting short balls dtl and my opponent is fast and returning them, time to start hitting those cc.
This is sort of "the undercurrent stratergy", because there will be points flying everywhere due to unforced errors and the opponents stratergy etc. And the undercurrent stratergy will change depending on your ability and your opponents ability to counter it
My stratergy will change a lot too, bashing it down the middle on the rise is good when my opponent gives a topspin ball - not so good when they slice half the time or lots of random junk, because that stratergy - while a beautiful clean one - requires some rhythm. In the case of junk ballers, it might be better to just lag up the fh to the max and hit super deep topspin balls with lots of margin as the standard rally ball. Same with older balls that don't give you pace. A dtl winner could be an easily returned shot if the balls are slow because not only is my shot slower, but the pace I have to work with off my opponent is slower too.
Playing with new balls really shuts down the pusher imo
Against tall players with huge reach, it might be better to wrong foot them with short angles as they struggle to change direction well, etc
