I'm this posting this because I'm curious to how different people's styles handle different kinds of players. Any replies are much appreciated.
As seen in the "Why consistency works." thread I made, I'm a sort of aggressive counter puncher, with a game built around consistency, variety, and attacking other people's styles from the ground up. If it helps you to think of it this way, I try to destroy people's confidence in their weapons or weaknesses, and force errors or easy putaways.
What I say is based around 4.5 and under players, usually 3.5-4. At higher levels of play, I'm willing to bet that almost every player will be able to adapt their game. I haven't really played them much anyway, although it would be extremely fun to do so.
"Boomers":
As commonly called. These are general high school boys with "power games". Their play is built around high risk winners, heavy topspin, and...power. Most use Western grips, and often Semiwestern as well.
Smarter boomers (4-4.5 players, maybe) will not attempt risky shots right away, and will wait they may have a short ball, where it simply becomes irresistible. If you can produce an effective drop shot, their usually extreme grips will have difficulty picking up the low ball (if they can get to it, most, if not all boomers tend to go for power baseline play, and will have to run). They are used to topspin, and it will be extreme hard to get it over the net. If it comes over, it's going to be easy for you to put away.
So take them out of their comfort zone. While high balls may be easy for them on the FH side (western, semiwestern), I'm willing to bet topspin on backhands will destroy them. You can try alternating between backspin on FHs, topspin on BHs.
And...keeping balls deep makes the job even easier. If you can keep the ball deep for two or three shots with the same spin or pace, they'll probably have already screwed up. If they haven't yet, suddenly change your shot. Throwing off their established rhythm will almost always give you the point, and the boomer will be even more frustrated that he "had an error in his stroke".
"Retrievers":
Yeah, I'm still using the names tennis.about.com gave to general boy's HS players. Retrievers base their game around running balls down, and simply getting it back in play. Most, while focusing on consistency, will not aim shots or vary balls, and are just adept at getting the ball over the net.
Often, people tell others to deal with these players by drawing them to the net with a drop shot or short ball, and attacking this usually fatal weakness. This is great, most retrievers have not had much practice at the net, and will finally produce errors. However, if they CAN volley, I wouldn't want them up at the net, they'll do even better at forcing you to attempt high-risk shots. In this case, I'd move up to the net myself -their balls are usually too weak to be hard to volley, and you can take away the time they seem to have so much of. Put the balls away.
Note: Both retrievers and boomers are usually the easiest people to play, because they are generally easily countered and have to rely completely on their power or consistency. Take it away and they have nothing.
Serve-and-Volleyers:
Usually rare, but I've been lucky enough to play several in SoCal. Their best games involve a powerful or spin heavy serve to draw you off the court or force a weak, cross-court return, and immediately move in behind it to angle a volley to the other side (or generally down the line).
When they're serving, the most crucial shot is your return. If you're bad at returning fast serves, it's likely you'll be destroyed. If the ball simply curves to the side, you get more angles. You can try hitting a moderate-to-high pace ball directly at the S+Vers body, or use your new angles to aim behind him.
Even if you are good with returns, it's still extremely unlikely you'll be able to pull off a good down the line shot, especially with fast serves. Because with slices you can take the ball a little later, I usually slice the ball low (if possible) so it'll be hard to volley. Chipping the ball is great. Since you don't have time for an extended backswing, chipping will make returning much easier. The serves pace will carry into your ball, and the chip will also produce backspin. It's worth practicing at least.
Playing them is HARD. Most coaches have little experience teaching how to counter them, and it's highly probably these players will win almost every single one of their service games. Which is why you have to make yours count.
Even when they're returning, S+Vers will take every chance possible to rush up to the net. Expect a low, angled backspin drive, or even sidespin. You MUST keep your balls deep. From the ones I played (three total, they were all good), they produced little to no short balls. They don't want you up at the net, they want you pushed back as far away as possible so they can volley effectively. I'd recommend staying about a foot behind the baseline, and trying to angle deep, skidding slices yourself.
Nothing throws off their game by suddenly seeing you attack the net yourself. Because of S+Ving's rarity, it's unlikely they have much experience against net players themselves. By doing this, out of the three I've played, I was finally able to beat one of them. While I lost the first two (I'd never seen them before, plus...they're good), I won the last in a tiebreaker.
However, in all these extremes of players, it's fun because each forces you to play a little differently. Against boomers, sometimes you're forced to play a more conservative game so you won't screw up first. Against retrievers, it's necessary to move in and attack the net to produce shots that they can't run down. Against S+Vers...I'm still varying my game and trying to figure out how to beat their service games.
And I've never really played a good allcourt player. Post your experiences.
As seen in the "Why consistency works." thread I made, I'm a sort of aggressive counter puncher, with a game built around consistency, variety, and attacking other people's styles from the ground up. If it helps you to think of it this way, I try to destroy people's confidence in their weapons or weaknesses, and force errors or easy putaways.
What I say is based around 4.5 and under players, usually 3.5-4. At higher levels of play, I'm willing to bet that almost every player will be able to adapt their game. I haven't really played them much anyway, although it would be extremely fun to do so.
"Boomers":
As commonly called. These are general high school boys with "power games". Their play is built around high risk winners, heavy topspin, and...power. Most use Western grips, and often Semiwestern as well.
Smarter boomers (4-4.5 players, maybe) will not attempt risky shots right away, and will wait they may have a short ball, where it simply becomes irresistible. If you can produce an effective drop shot, their usually extreme grips will have difficulty picking up the low ball (if they can get to it, most, if not all boomers tend to go for power baseline play, and will have to run). They are used to topspin, and it will be extreme hard to get it over the net. If it comes over, it's going to be easy for you to put away.
So take them out of their comfort zone. While high balls may be easy for them on the FH side (western, semiwestern), I'm willing to bet topspin on backhands will destroy them. You can try alternating between backspin on FHs, topspin on BHs.
And...keeping balls deep makes the job even easier. If you can keep the ball deep for two or three shots with the same spin or pace, they'll probably have already screwed up. If they haven't yet, suddenly change your shot. Throwing off their established rhythm will almost always give you the point, and the boomer will be even more frustrated that he "had an error in his stroke".
"Retrievers":
Yeah, I'm still using the names tennis.about.com gave to general boy's HS players. Retrievers base their game around running balls down, and simply getting it back in play. Most, while focusing on consistency, will not aim shots or vary balls, and are just adept at getting the ball over the net.
Often, people tell others to deal with these players by drawing them to the net with a drop shot or short ball, and attacking this usually fatal weakness. This is great, most retrievers have not had much practice at the net, and will finally produce errors. However, if they CAN volley, I wouldn't want them up at the net, they'll do even better at forcing you to attempt high-risk shots. In this case, I'd move up to the net myself -their balls are usually too weak to be hard to volley, and you can take away the time they seem to have so much of. Put the balls away.
Note: Both retrievers and boomers are usually the easiest people to play, because they are generally easily countered and have to rely completely on their power or consistency. Take it away and they have nothing.
Serve-and-Volleyers:
Usually rare, but I've been lucky enough to play several in SoCal. Their best games involve a powerful or spin heavy serve to draw you off the court or force a weak, cross-court return, and immediately move in behind it to angle a volley to the other side (or generally down the line).
When they're serving, the most crucial shot is your return. If you're bad at returning fast serves, it's likely you'll be destroyed. If the ball simply curves to the side, you get more angles. You can try hitting a moderate-to-high pace ball directly at the S+Vers body, or use your new angles to aim behind him.
Even if you are good with returns, it's still extremely unlikely you'll be able to pull off a good down the line shot, especially with fast serves. Because with slices you can take the ball a little later, I usually slice the ball low (if possible) so it'll be hard to volley. Chipping the ball is great. Since you don't have time for an extended backswing, chipping will make returning much easier. The serves pace will carry into your ball, and the chip will also produce backspin. It's worth practicing at least.
Playing them is HARD. Most coaches have little experience teaching how to counter them, and it's highly probably these players will win almost every single one of their service games. Which is why you have to make yours count.
Even when they're returning, S+Vers will take every chance possible to rush up to the net. Expect a low, angled backspin drive, or even sidespin. You MUST keep your balls deep. From the ones I played (three total, they were all good), they produced little to no short balls. They don't want you up at the net, they want you pushed back as far away as possible so they can volley effectively. I'd recommend staying about a foot behind the baseline, and trying to angle deep, skidding slices yourself.
Nothing throws off their game by suddenly seeing you attack the net yourself. Because of S+Ving's rarity, it's unlikely they have much experience against net players themselves. By doing this, out of the three I've played, I was finally able to beat one of them. While I lost the first two (I'd never seen them before, plus...they're good), I won the last in a tiebreaker.
However, in all these extremes of players, it's fun because each forces you to play a little differently. Against boomers, sometimes you're forced to play a more conservative game so you won't screw up first. Against retrievers, it's necessary to move in and attack the net to produce shots that they can't run down. Against S+Vers...I'm still varying my game and trying to figure out how to beat their service games.
And I've never really played a good allcourt player. Post your experiences.
