Tips on How To Play Super-Tiebreakers

Mdubb23 · Jan 1, 2009

Hey, guys---recently, as a thirteen-year-old junior, I've had to play many super-tiebreakers (same rules as a regular tiebreaker, except to ten points, for those that don't know) after splitting sets, and I've lost almost all of them. I believe it's more mental than physical--I have trouble deciding when and when not to play offensive, and I often end up over-thinking some points--and I'll end up losing to some kid I'm much better than. So I'm going to keep this pretty general: what are some tips/strategies/patterns you use when playing supertiebreakers? Any thoughts are much appreciated. Oh, and happy new year!

Headshotterer · Jan 1, 2009

play it safe
dont hit inconsistent, fast flat shots in an attempt to end it quickly
your opponent is also likely nervous, and if you play a safe topspin game and make him force errors, you may win

GeorgeLucas · Jan 1, 2009

Rush the net.

The pressure of both you leering at him from the net and the nerves you get naturally from having 10 points meaning victory of defeat will make him wet himself. Yea. Then he defaults and you win.

Seriously get up to net :/

Djokovicfan4life · Jan 1, 2009

Headshotterer said:
play it safe
dont hit inconsistent, fast flat shots in an attempt to end it quickly
your opponent is also likely nervous, and if you play a safe topspin game and make him force errors, you may win

GeorgeLucas said:
Rush the net.

The pressure of both you leering at him from the net and the nerves you get naturally from having 10 points meaning victory of defeat will make him wet himself. Yea. Then he defaults and you win.

Seriously get up to net :/

Haha, 2 completely opposite posts right next to each other from a tactical standpoint, but they each focus on one crucial element, nerves. You need to find out what your opponent is most uncomfortable with and exploit this while he's feeling the pressure.

certifiedjatt · Jan 1, 2009

play YOUR game. the first time i tried for varsity tennis team in my division 1 HS in ny, i had to play with 2 other guys also competing for the 2nd singles spot. i beat the first guy 6-4, 6-4. i went into the match playing my game, serve and volley. i was confident. and things worked out.

the second guy was known as a pusher around the courts. but it wasn't his "pushing" that caused the problem for me (i lost). the first guy i beat came up to me and said something that i still think about years later. he said "when you played against me, you played to win. when you played against him, you played not to lose."

what happened was that i stopped doing all the things i did that led me to beat the first guy when i played the second guy. i started playing safe shots, and started pushing the ball myself. i started holding back. my palms were sweaty. i had no intensity other than nerves. i was sweating from being nervous.

that's the long winded way of saying, go hard or go home. don't hold back. if going for your shots was working, keep doing that. if playing safe was working and your opponent was screwing up, keep doing that. don't change your tactics if they work.

Djokovicfan4life · Jan 1, 2009

certifiedjatt said:
play YOUR game. the first time i tried for varsity tennis team in my division 1 HS in ny, i had to play with 2 other guys also competing for the 2nd singles spot. i beat the first guy 6-4, 6-4. i went into the match playing my game, serve and volley. i was confident. and things worked out.

the second guy was known as a pusher around the courts. but it wasn't his "pushing" that caused the problem for me (i lost). the first guy i beat came up to me and said something that i still think about years later. he said "when you played against me, you played to win. when you played against him, you played not to lose."

what happened was that i stopped doing all the things i did that led me to beat the first guy when i played the second guy. i started playing safe shots, and started pushing the ball myself. i started holding back. my palms were sweaty. i had no intensity other than nerves. i was sweating from being nervous.

that's the long winded way of saying, go hard or go home. don't hold back. if going for your shots was working, keep doing that. if playing safe was working and your opponent was screwing up, keep doing that. don't change your tactics if they work.

Good post, but I think that in certain situations a player still has to very his tactics a little to achieve success. In your case you were pushing against a pusher, which is the absolute worst thing you could possibly do. But what if you played your serve and volley game against someone with great passing shots? You may have to change things up in situations like this.

James Blake is a perfect example of a player on the pro tour who loses many matches due to the "just play my game" mentality. There is a time and a place for this.

bad_call · Jan 1, 2009

Djokovicfan4life said:
Good post, but I think that in certain situations a player still has to very his tactics a little to achieve success. In your case you were pushing against a pusher, which is the absolute worst thing you could possibly do. But what if you played your serve and volley game against someone with great passing shots? You may have to change things up in situations like this.

James Blake is a perfect example of a player on the pro tour who loses many matches due to the "just play my game" mentality. There is a time and a place for this.

good advice here. know your opponent and vary accordingly.

Ballinbob · Jan 1, 2009

certifiedjatt said:
play YOUR game. the first time i tried for varsity tennis team in my division 1 HS in ny, i had to play with 2 other guys also competing for the 2nd singles spot. i beat the first guy 6-4, 6-4. i went into the match playing my game, serve and volley. i was confident. and things worked out.

the second guy was known as a pusher around the courts.

How did you loose against a pusher playing S&V?? I'm a S&Ver and I have to try HARD to loose to a pusher. It's harder to loose to a pusher than to just beat him, especially playing serve and volley. He's giving you nice soft floaters than you can crush... If he was a counter puncher that actually had descent strokes thats different, but a pusher that lobs everything? Counter punchers are a pain to play though

certifiedjatt · Jan 1, 2009

Ballinbob said:
How did you loose against a pusher playing S&V?? I'm a S&Ver and I have to try HARD to loose to a pusher. It's harder to loose to a pusher than to just beat him, especially playing serve and volley. He's giving you nice soft floaters than you can crush... If he was a counter puncher that actually had descent strokes thats different, but a pusher that lobs everything? Counter punchers are a pain to play though

I STOPPED doing serve and volley because i was afraid of screwing up. i got tight. started throwing in double faults. crappy serves. and this wasn't because he was a pusher, but because i was now afraid of losing because everyone expected me to beat him easily, especially considering i had beaten the guy everyone thought was way better than this this guy.

certifiedjatt · Jan 1, 2009

Djokovicfan4life said:
Good post, but I think that in certain situations a player still has to very his tactics a little to achieve success. In your case you were pushing against a pusher, which is the absolute worst thing you could possibly do. But what if you played your serve and volley game against someone with great passing shots? You may have to change things up in situations like this.

James Blake is a perfect example of a player on the pro tour who loses many matches due to the "just play my game" mentality. There is a time and a place for this.

glad you brought up james blake! his game is just not good. ok, i sound like an arrogant a-hole because who am i? but, i'm obviously judging him as compared to HIS peers. you have to have a good game to begin with. and that all goes back, as donald trump puts it, the genes. you have to have the genes.

and yes, there IS a limit. and the limit comes into effect if what you're doing is NOT working. if you're splitting sets, then you have to ask yourself if you won one of the sets by playing your game or because the opponent was just screwing around and not playing his best. if you won it playing your best, then, you should continue to do that. if you get beaten playing your best, then your opponent is better (at least on that day).

snvplayer · Jan 1, 2009

By the time you get to the super-tiebreaker, hopefully u have figured out what your opponent's strength and weakness are.

This is the time where you strongly stick to your strength and attack your opponent's weakness.

Play percentage instead of going for low-percentage shots.

baseline08thrasher · Jan 1, 2009

Hey
what you should do is:

Go to the net and approach to their weakness
that way
you have DOUBLE nerves on them
hehehehe. =]

Tips on How To Play Super-Tiebreakers

Mdubb23

Hall of Fame

Headshotterer

Professional

GeorgeLucas

Banned

Djokovicfan4life

Legend

certifiedjatt

Banned

Djokovicfan4life

Legend

bad_call

Legend

Ballinbob

Hall of Fame

certifiedjatt

Banned

certifiedjatt

Banned

snvplayer

Hall of Fame

baseline08thrasher

Semi-Pro

Similar threads