Fire a shot or two at net man at start of match?

I think I will do this to send a message that I am going for the line, and it might keep him from poaching. The never fire at the net again, if need be
 

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
I coach high school teams and often remind my doubles players to hit at the alley early in their matches when returning serve. This keeps the server's partner at the net from cheating too far toward the middle and that can take a little heat off if you or your partner has a less than awesome return. But it's different from hitting at the net player.

Hitting right at the net man can be good if that player isn't too confident in the volley department. If the server gives you let's say an absolute sitter of a second serve, you may want to go right at the guy at the net, but only if that's going to help your cause. You may be able to take over the net right away by doing that and even force him to start back at the baseline with his partner. But if you either go for a killer shot and miss or that guy at the net has quick hands and puts away your shot, that's probably not so good.

Be aggressive early and you may be rewarded by making the other guys more defensive more often. If they use adjustments to counter you, so be it. Make your own adjustments as necessary.
 

esgee48

G.O.A.T.
Do it throughout the match randomly rather than just at the beginning. They may not be completely warmed up at the start. Other thing is to lob the return to back the person off the net. Personally, I prefer to back them off with lobs before trying for DTL drives.
 
D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
I think I will do this to send a message that I am going for the line, and it might keep him from poaching. The never fire at the net again, if need be
i'm a big fan of this... and do it often, especially if i get a juicy first serve...
similarly i'm also a big fan of poaching the first point (no matter what) even if i never poach the rest of the match (sometimes i'll tell a weak-net-playing-partner to poach, just to make the team think he's going to be a threat throughout the match).
 

RetroSpin

Hall of Fame
For the vast majority of serves at this level, you should be standing in so close on the return that poaching is next to impossible. If you're hitting your returns from NML, all you have to do is chip them back firmly and take the net.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
For the vast majority of serves at this level, you should be standing in so close on the return that poaching is next to impossible. If you're hitting your returns from NML, all you have to do is chip them back firmly and take the net.

That only makes sense if you are significantly above the level you're playing at, such that standing close is trivial. Assuming you're not sandbagging and are at your correct level, standing close won't be so easy.
 
At 3.5, there are many slow 2nd serves, that are mostly spin, not pace.
You can easily run around to FH and slam it back.
Low odds, but it will scare the net man into protecting the line and losing easy future poaches
 
Hit it crosscourt, McEnroe. At 3.5, nobody's sweating the divine retribution of your fearsome drive DTL. You want to put the fear of God into low level doubles opponents? Be the first guy in the history of the world to actually work on his overhead before 4.0.

A 3.5 can easily take someone's head off at the net.
Do you remember why 3.5's are 3.5?
They obliterate the ball any time they can and have a massive error rate.
It's the 4.0 and 4.5 who hit with moderate 75% pace and win games.
You want to see batshit insane SMASHING of groundies? Go to 3.5

Do it throughout the match randomly rather than just at the beginning. They may not be completely warmed up at the start. Other thing is to lob the return to back the person off the net. Personally, I prefer to back them off with lobs before trying for DTL drives.

I don't like the lob as a ROS.
Way too easy to lob it short and give them a easy slam.
The only lobs I like are slow moving angled shots that I've run down.

i'm a big fan of this... and do it often, especially if i get a juicy first serve...
similarly i'm also a big fan of poaching the first point (no matter what) even if i never poach the rest of the match (sometimes i'll tell a weak-net-playing-partner to poach, just to make the team think he's going to be a threat throughout the match).

Yes, once I poach, they try to go DTL and make many errors. Free points.
Or, they get flustered and are very careful about extreme cross court, to avoid net net.
Poaching really does get inside the returner's head.
But, I don't need to fake poaching, I try to poach the entire match.

For the vast majority of serves at this level, you should be standing in so close on the return that poaching is next to impossible. If you're hitting your returns from NML, all you have to do is chip them back firmly and take the net.

In my 3.5 games there are some big serves. I have to stand 4 feet behind the baseline
 

ONgame

Semi-Pro
A 3.5 can easily take someone's head off at the net.
Do you remember why 3.5's are 3.5?
They obliterate the ball any time they can and have a massive error rate.
It's the 4.0 and 4.5 who hit with moderate 75% pace and win games.
You want to see batshit insane SMASHING of groundies? Go to 3.5

Your description of 3.5 is amazing, take a like.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
Admittedly this works best in mixed doubles where you are trying to deter the man at the net from poaching on his female partner's serve. It's relatively trivial to hit a DTL shot off a 3.5 woman's serve.

In men's doubles I'd always go crosscourt off the first serve and DTL occasionally on a second serve. OF course when I'm the net man I poach any successful first serve and only stay put on second serves.
 

RyanRF

Professional
A 3.5 can easily take someone's head off at the net.
Do you remember why 3.5's are 3.5?
They obliterate the ball any time they can and have a massive error rate.
It's the 4.0 and 4.5 who hit with moderate 75% pace and win games.
You want to see batshit insane SMASHING of groundies? Go to 3.5


Exactly.

The message you're sending is not: "I can pass you at any time". The message is: "I'm a complete madman and will go straight at you with a wild 110% swing".

Sometimes this works and forces the net guy to play back more often than they normally would. Other times the net guy proves he can handle it and you revert to the regular game-plan of cross-court shots. Either way you learn something about your opponents.
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
Whatever you do in tennis is a success if you can execute consistently and win the match. If you can't execute with consistency then you reassess and use the strategy and technique that will achieve your outcome.
 

lwto

Hall of Fame
The only problem with that theory is that it can come around.. all of a sudden he's firing shots at you at the net. You have to ask yourself, do you feel lucky? Do you want to really play that game? How long can you maintain it before you hit a bad shot and then lose confidence?
 

Bender

G.O.A.T.
I hit my first few returns into the net, to keep them on their feet.
That's strange. I hit mine into the air, to bring the netman's head out of the clouds and back down to earth.

That way I remind them that they're not as good as they think they are, and will make them second-guess their ability to volley.

Edit: I also aim at the netman's crotch to make him less ballsy.
 
I have absolutely no problems getting fired at when I'm at net.
In fact, I welcome it. BRING IT.

I just need to adjust back for 2nd serves, esp. if they are weak.
 
At 3.5, any shot in the air will be put away with ease.
It's pace that the 3.5 net man can't handle, not lobs.
Since they do not have the correct form (attacking forward), they are always behind the volley.
Often frame it, or send it long, or into net.
 

mikefl

New User
I often fire right at the net guy a few times early in matches to test them. Sometimes this also causes them to give up the net and go to the baseline on second serves (or all together) against my return if their partner has a weak serve. Most 3.5's and many 4.0's have a joke of a second serve (at-least here in FL). A few weeks ago in a 4.0 league match I hit the net guy right in the chest with a blast on my first return and he never came to the net again when I was returning.
 
At my 3.5 group, I have never seen anyone give up the net. I am going to see if anyone gives up the net after I fire a second serve at them.

Your description of hitting the guy in the chest made me spill my milk from my nose. That's awesome.
 

MathGeek

Hall of Fame
I like to test doubles opponents early at the net to learn their strengths and weaknesses to plan my strategy from there.

There is a wide variation in bh volleys, first step to the alley, ability to handle shots into the body, and ability to put away floaters among the 3.5ish overall skill levels. Diagnosing the mix accurately allows me to avoid the strengths and pick on the weaknesses.

A lot like the 3.5s who you can tempt to waste many, many serves by pretending to be in awe when they get one in for an ace, there are net men with very low success rates on smashes and you can collect a lot of UE points by serving them floaters and pretending to be awed at the smashes they manage to get in. Likewise, there are a lot of terrible bh volleys out there.
 
Top