How can I be more aggressive?

[danieltennis3]

I want to be able to hit more powerful shots, which is something I was never able to do.

Problem 1:
When I hit the ball regularly, the speed and strength are decent, and my angle/placement of the ball is excellent.

However, when I want to do the same, but using more power, the ball always goes way out of bounds.

Problem 2:
I also need help volleying, because my volleys are pretty decent, but I always hesitate when a ball comes within my reach. I can't tell which balls I should hit and which ones I should let my partner take.

Problem 3:
The last thing that is a major problem for me is hitting against weak shots.
For me to hit a nice shot back, I need the opponent to hit a strong shot against me. If they send me a dinker, I just cannot hit the ball back hard. If I try to, it'll fly out of bounds, but if I hit it softly, I feel frustrated.


Anyone have a solution for me?

 

[Sim]

Problem 1 - This sounds like you aren't hitting the ball with spin. With a proper grip and/or stroke, the harder you hit, the more spin you should generate (assuming you aren't flattening the ball)

Problem 2 - If you have good volleys but can't decide what balls to get, fix your footwork. Have active feet at the net, so you react faster to incoming shots. Anticipation comes with more experience really. Also, having a partner that can set up floaters makes it that much easier.

Problem 3 - If you can't hit no pace shots with pace of your own, you probably aren't setting up properly. Always be early to the ball, which lets you set up your stroke. From there you can "rip it"
With that being said, having confidence in your strokes really helps too.
This problem is most likely related to problem 1 as well.

 

[fuzz nation]

I'll start with your 2nd issue, since it's close to my heart.

I coach high school kids and sometimes it's like pulling teeth to convince the doubles teams to do more warm-up/practice work on volleys. Tell them to start a warm-up and they'll camp on the baseline, hammer away at strokes they rarely use in a doubles setting, and stay there until someone tells them otherwise. Then when the action starts on match day, they can't figure out why they're so rusty at the net when they're playing every day...

The thing with volleys is that you need to have those snap reactions already loaded into your muscle memory so that as soon as an incoming ball is on the way, you can both recognize it and jump on it without having to figure anything out. With practice, you'll recognize volleys that are within your reach in the same way that you immediately see a ball as coming at your forehand or backhand when you're at the baseline.

As for your mindset in doubles - or even singles when you crash the net - set up with the assumption that every ball is coming at you. That way, you'll repeat a deliberate setup and split-step so that you can jump on anything that actually is in range. Aggression at the net includes learning to "reset" for every shot so that you're ready to pop out of the blocks and get your racquet behind the ball in an instant. If you can reach it, it's yours! If you're closer to the net than your partner and you can jump on the ball, it's yours!

Just remember to call your partner off with a quick "Mine!" when you pounce on the balls that are in the middle. That single syllable tells your partner that you're on the case and that he/she needs to stay out of your way. You'll find much better chemistry with some doub's partners over others and there's no predicting a good match-up (or a horrible one) until you have a go of it on the courts, but you'll know it when you've got a good fit with someone. When it's especially good, you may actually wonder whether you were separated at birth or if one of you is a mind reader.

 

[5263]

I want to be able to hit more powerful shots, which is something I was never able to do.

Problem 1:
When I hit the ball regularly, the speed and strength are decent, and my angle/placement of the ball is excellent.

However, when I want to do the same, but using more power, the ball always goes way out of bounds.

Problem 3:
The last thing that is a major problem for me is hitting against weak shots.
For me to hit a nice shot back, I need the opponent to hit a strong shot against me. If they send me a dinker, I just cannot hit the ball back hard. If I try to, it'll fly out of bounds, but if I hit it softly, I feel frustrated.


Anyone have a solution for me?

Learn modern stokes for the above. Your problems are shared by all to one degree or another, who use traditional strokes.

 

[LeeD]

Pretty common problems for players who have played a couple of years, hoping to advance to a competition level.
Hit more, play more. Your inexperience is showing on your problems.

 

[1HBH Rocks]

Pretty common problems for players who have played a couple of years, hoping to advance to a competition level.
Hit more, play more. Your inexperience is showing on your problems.

Inexperience, no... these are technical issues. He could be able to do that without having ever entered a single competitive event or even played a single match. He could be as well very early in his playing development, not very old and still make it right... it's not experience he needs, it's theoretical knowledge: he's obviously brilliant enough to realize that troubleshooting when you have no idea what you're doing is totally pointless since trial and errors is a rather boring, inefficient and lengthy method to do the same job a knowledgeable person would do in instants.

Seeing commonalities in his first and third issues, I would venture into saying that he doesn't have top quality footwork. If you set up properly and put yourself into position, hitting hard is about as hard as warming up: in short, it isn't. Life gets more complicated when you mess up with the preparation. So, my advise would be simple: the first thing you should be learning is how top pros move their feet to enable themselves to hit big shots.

 

[LeeD]

Case of reality overcoming all your theories on correct technique.
NOBODY get's the correct technique without the experience. Yes, it's possible, with poor technique, to never get past a 3.0 tournament.
However, for sure, without experience playing and hitting, you can never get past a 3.0 tournament.
So maybe the two go hand in hand. You can talk all the theory you want, but he needs the experience to apply them.

 

[DeShaun]

Pay more attention to your feet.

 

[sportsfan1]

Qualifying with the "Obviously, I am not a coach, here's my 2cents:":
1) Ball out of bounds when hit with power: Same here, except only in match situations. I can hit with power when rallying, but have to ramp it down during matches because of inconsistency. That little bit of hesitation probably throws off the timing as well. Need to practice.

2) Volleys: If you are an infrequent visitor up at the net, you won't be comfortable. Federer frequently uses this strategy against baseliners, drawing them in with short balls and then either passing them or hitting dipping shots. I always find that I volley better when I practice during warm up. Need to practice (this is becoming a pattern... ;-) ).

3) Hitting dink balls hard: If there were a silver bullet to get this, then pushers wouldn't be driving all of us over the cliff . Again, practice.

TLDR: Practice and more practice, with the right technique. Do drills for each of these and it should work. Hopefully you have the time for this.

 

[martini1]

I think change of angle > pure power when you wanna talk about being aggressive. You don't need to pound yourself into UEs. More spin and more angle to keep your opponent on the run, then come to the net if the short ball is made. This kind of play is very aggressive to me because you are on the offense a lot more.

 

[boramiNYC]

Lower power of your racquet. Get low power racquet, headlight, up the tension, change strings, or all the above. But, you must increase your average swing speed. This will allow you to hit harder with more confidence.

1. Try to move your feet fast so you hit the ball at the apex of the bounce. This is not effective if you try to do it once in a while when you get a chance. You need a mindset to do this every single time except the exceptions. This will give more clearance above the net and give you bigger target. You can gain confidence hitting harder.

2. Try to take away as much as needless movements for your volley. Simple and effective leads to fewer error.

3. All these changes will help you with this as well. Lower power of your racquet and increase your own swing speed with more spin. And raise the contact point and make it as a habit.

Just make sure you are committed to improvement so your legs don't get too tired. And lose weight if needed.

 

[1HBH Rocks]

Case of reality overcoming all your theories on correct technique. You can talk all the theory you want, but he needs the experience to apply them.

Let's be more specific, would you, as I am afraid this is an issue created by equivocal terms. The theory exposes without failure what must be done, what are the results when we vary this or that variable... To be able to play it, he needs to apply the theory repeatedly. Whether a model made about ground strokes or volleys or tactics, he needs to follow the theoretical model and apply it.

But here's the thing: if you consider applying the appropriate advises, experience, then yes he needs it; if you consider that you learn these advises by playing, then no he doesn't need it. Concrete knowledge is built incidentally; theoretical knowledge is built systematically -- what I was saying is that he doesn't need to actually live every situation of play possible to react properly in them. He just needs to know what to do and train in consequence (his execution, play reading, footwork, etc.). He does need the skills, but he can't just learn them by trial and error... he needs to be systematic, efficient. In short, I'm simply saying we can know in advance what he'd need to do; the practice is about grooving those good advises into behavior and movements.

 

[LeeD]

Let's see....
Can't hit harder than normal without flying long....
Can't figure out which ball to volley, which to let pass...
Can't add power off slow weak incoming balls....
Does that sound like OP needs to play more? Especially #2, can't figure out which balls to go for or to let go?
1. Aim lower, add topspin.
2. Hit anything you can reach in balance.
3. Feet into position, turn shoulders, swing fast.