What shot would you hit and why?

Cindysphinx · Mar 20, 2013

Nope, left the day before they played. I saw Sharapova v. Errani.

Sharapova is a huge sandbagger. *Huge.* Throws games to manager her rating. And for what? If she would learn to hit a proper overhead like the folks at TT, she probably could be competitive at the next highest level.

Errani showed a lot of heart by playing up like that.

OrangePower · Mar 20, 2013

Sharapova is shameless; she doesn't just throw games, she throws the entire match every time she plays Serena. Plus, I heard she tried to self-rate lower after she came back from the shoulder injury.

floridatennisdude · Mar 20, 2013

Good topic Cindy.

My response pends on what kind of situation my feet are in.

- If I have time to step in and go for a shot, I'd probably try to put some pace on a DTL BH. I'd want my partner to have the middle covered as the reply volley would probably float back to the middle of our court.

- If I'm scrambling just to get a racquet on the ball, I'm lobbing it deep and middle. At the same time, I'm telling my partner to get back in case they get an OH.

goran_ace · Mar 20, 2013

In ladies' 4.0 you still respect the lobs. In men's 4.5 you respect the overheads.

sovertennis · Mar 21, 2013

goran_ace said:
In ladies' 4.0 you still respect the lobs. In men's 4.5 you respect the overheads.

Excellent point. At the camp where I teach, we get a lot of womens' 3.5/4.0 teams. I've found that, in doubles at least, the lob is the most dangerous and effective shot. This is why, for the original question on this thread, I suggest a xc lob. (And if they hit an overhead, hit them another lob).

Chelsie1 · Mar 21, 2013

sovertennis said:
Excellent point. At the camp where I teach, we get a lot of womens' 3.5/4.0 teams. I've found that, in doubles at least, the lob is the most dangerous and effective shot. This is why, for the original question on this thread, I suggest a xc lob. (And if they hit an overhead, hit them another lob).

Thank you! Stop hating on the lob, people!

Played women's doubles against two aggressive net rushers. Things were looking bad for us until we decided to see how many overheads they could hit in a row. (Our coach has us hit 10 in a row to different spots.) Well, they weren't used to hitting a lot of them. The third was usually an error. Quite the turnaround!

Cindysphinx · Mar 21, 2013

Chelsie1 said:
Thank you! Stop hating on the lob, people!
Played women's doubles against two aggressive net rushers. Things were looking bad for us until we decided to see how many overheads they could hit in a row. (Our coach has us hit 10 in a row to different spots.) Well, they weren't used to hitting a lot of them. The third was usually an error. Quite the turnaround!

+1.

It's not just women who struggle with overhead consistency, though.

I remember a 7.0 mixed team practice where we worked on lobs. Two at baseline, two at net. The baseliners were allowed to hit only lobs, and we kept score to 21.

The baseliners won every game. Interestingly, the women seemed to have the most trouble with high lobs, but men had more trouble with low ones.

LeeD · Mar 21, 2013

You always gotta test every shot against each player, as you can't generalize and say much until you specify WHICH player you're talking about.
Deep high lobs slightly CC are best, as the court is longer, high clears the netperson, and you're looking to neutralize the point.

Govnor · Mar 21, 2013

Having done a clinic with some 3.5 women I wholeheartedly concur. The lob is the go to winner for that level of tennis. It's very dangerous.

LuckyR · Mar 21, 2013

Well, there are lobs and there are lobs. As others have answered the OP, in this situation sometimes you are running top speed and you are lucky to get your racquet on the ball with enough on it to even get it back over the net and other times you are somewhat set and you can pick and choose your target.

Since I S&V a lot (and have a 1HBH), I rarely hit the latter type of shot. Thus I never hit offense lobs but most often hit a defensive lob. My problem is getting them deep enough, since short ones are "point over".

Since Cindy worded the OP as she did, I am assuming that she is often in the position to set up before making her shot. If so, if the lob is in the alley I would go DTL back up the alley, since being wide myself I would not have to worry about the sideline. OTOH if the shot is not in the alley, I would try to drive a dipper down the middle since the other team has backed up towards the service line likely in anticipation of a lob return.

Spokewench · Mar 22, 2013

I would hit a lob cross court in most situations, especially if I am playing right handed players they will have a harder time getting a high bouncing lob to their one handed backhand than they will to a forehand.

tennis tom · Mar 22, 2013

You don't have to feel too bad as an amateur about erroneously playing "too tight to the net". I was watching the finals of the WTT team tennis, and Leander Paes took a time out to chat with Venus. Johnny Mac doing commentary, said Paes was telling Venus to move a couple of steps off the net since she'd just been successfully lobbed over. They'd also got a point off her by nailing her with a body-shot, that she may have returned if she'd been a little back from the net.

storypeddler · Mar 23, 2013

Assuming you have a decent lob, I would hit a deep lob DTL. I always vote in favor of playing solid defense in order to force my opponents out of offensive position, and when they have to defend, then I move onto offense. Sometimes it takes a couple shots---sometimes more---but if a patient player with solid strokes can take the momentum away from opponents, he can force them into defensive mode---and then attack.

storypeddler · Mar 23, 2013

I have to say this because probably no one else will---the well-hit lob is one of the most-underrated, best-kept secrets in club tennis. Other than 6.0+ players, virtually no one can consistently run down a well-placed lob and hit it back for a winner---and certainly not 3.5/4.0/4.5 club players. If you aren't trying to win the point outright, but to drive the ball deep into a corner and force your opponents onto defense, you will come out better in the vast majority of cases with this shot. Most players don't have that mindset though, and want to try for completely unrealistic winners they can barely pull off in their dreams. Goes back to the other question Cindy asked about why so many tennis players over-estimate their own abilities. Perfect case in point here. Instead of remaining calm and hitting the smart, higher-percentage shot, they try something they can make maybe 5% of the time. LOL. Lob. LOB. LOB!!!!! Then follow it in and pick off the weak return.

roman40 · Mar 26, 2013

Given that your opponents have a staggered position after a successful lob, tells me they aren't very aggressive, or immobile, so you don't have to worry about deuce court player sneaking up to the net after you've committed to the shot. Hitting a good running backhand lob consistently is not 4.0 (or even 4.5) territory, nor is it a good option. Slice or topspin down the line to the player on the baseline is best shot by far, actually aim at the middle of the service line on deuce side for a high percentage shot. Note that your partner should get back to the baseline with you, since you want to avoid being staggered at all costs. In general, when your opponents are staggered, the recipe is simple, if you're at the net, hit at the net player, if you're at the baseline, hit back to the baseline player. At 4.0+ level, lob only makes sense when both opponents are up and you are not capable of placing topspin or hard-slice down the middle of the court.

roman40 · Mar 26, 2013

Sorry, I just realized that the second opponent is not at the baseline, but at T position. However, I think the same logic still applies, and lob makes even less sense, since the T player has a lot of the lobs covered. Drive or slice down the line, but don't aim in the alley, if you can imagine the court as 4 quadrants, you'd want to aim in the center of rear deuce quadrant.

struggle · Mar 26, 2013

seeing as how the opponent on ad-side is standing near the T, the obvious choice is to set your feet and rip an angled BH crosscourt winner. If it is retrieved it should be a sitter.

pingu · Mar 26, 2013

I'd lob DTL because many times, I watch player in that situation tries to lob to the other side but did not lob deep enough and ends up got kill by the net person.

Timbo's hopeless slice · Mar 27, 2013

I think this is one of those situations where your friend's pro needs to remember who is actually going to be hitting the shot

she knows that, if placed in that situation, the correct shot (for her) is the BH DTL. (I would play the same shot)

However, her 4.0 students are unlikely to be able to consistently pull that off unless they have more time to get 'set' than this scenario allows for.

in which case, I reckon I would advise a lob of some sort, probably CC to buy some time..

so, to answer OP, I would play the DTL BH, Cindy, go for the lob, babe!

What shot would you hit and why?

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.

OrangePower

Legend

floridatennisdude

Hall of Fame

goran_ace

Hall of Fame

sovertennis

Professional

Chelsie1

Rookie

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.

LeeD

Bionic Poster

Govnor

Professional

LuckyR

Legend

Spokewench

Semi-Pro

tennis tom

Legend

storypeddler

Semi-Pro

storypeddler

Semi-Pro

roman40

Rookie

roman40

Rookie

struggle

Legend

pingu

Semi-Pro

Timbo's hopeless slice

Hall of Fame

Similar threads