How to combat this

[ark_28]

So I play this guy at my club every week. I used to be able to give him a good game but lately he’s really got my number and I don’t seem to be able to change things up.

Hes a great shot maker quite tall decent volleys lovely one handed backhand and good at the net, doesn’t have the biggest serve but had a great slice serve.

I am a lefty, not the most powerful although a decent forehand, serve and good touch at net. My backhand is solid but not a weapon at all.

Lately he has found this serve out wide to my backhand it’s short and angled taking me out the court. It pushes me so far wide that all I can do is push the ball back on my backhand into the middle of the court, he then smacks a forehand winner down the line into the open court. I don’t know what I can do to change this pattern of play?

On his return I used to serve everything to his backhand and get a few short returns or errors but lately it’s become more predictable and he’s hitting through his backhand and ripping his returns. That I feel is an easier fix as the few times I have mixed it up and gone to the forehand I have had some success so I just need to keep him guessing I think on my serve.

Its on the return I am struggling and it’s frustrating as I can do damage on my forehand but I am not even able to get into the points as he’s taking my forehand out of the equation with those short wide serves.

I would be grateful for any suggestions to help me before I play him again next week.

 

[eah123]

The short slice out wide serve is an effective weapon at all levels of tennis. Some things to consider include how consistent your opponent is with the serve, can he put it to the T if you "camp" out wide, and how good you are at reading the toss to anticipate the out-wide serve.

In addition to the above, something I like to do to players that have a good slice out-wide serve is to vary my receive position (sometimes more out wide, sometimes more toward the center), and also move during the toss.

For example, I would stand very far out-wide to "take away" the serve, but then during the toss, move to a more normal position. Or stand closer to the T, then move very quickly to the out-wide position during the toss. This can be very distracting to your opponent and reduce his serve percentage. And sometimes you will really be in a great position to hit an offensive return.

 

[LuckyR]

So I play this guy at my club every week. I used to be able to give him a good game but lately he’s really got my number and I don’t seem to be able to change things up.

Hes a great shot maker quite tall decent volleys lovely one handed backhand and good at the net, doesn’t have the biggest serve but had a great slice serve.

I am a lefty, not the most powerful although a decent forehand, serve and good touch at net. My backhand is solid but not a weapon at all.

Lately he has found this serve out wide to my backhand it’s short and angled taking me out the court. It pushes me so far wide that all I can do is push the ball back on my backhand into the middle of the court, he then smacks a forehand winner down the line into the open court. I don’t know what I can do to change this pattern of play?

On his return I used to serve everything to his backhand and get a few short returns or errors but lately it’s become more predictable and he’s hitting through his backhand and ripping his returns. That I feel is an easier fix as the few times I have mixed it up and gone to the forehand I have had some success so I just need to keep him guessing I think on my serve.

Its on the return I am struggling and it’s frustrating as I can do damage on my forehand but I am not even able to get into the points as he’s taking my forehand out of the equation with those short wide serves.

I would be grateful for any suggestions to help me before I play him again next week.

In singles, the correct response to a wide serve is to hit it back crosscourt, either an extreme angle if you can pull it off (doesn't need a lot of pace), or into the baseline corner (less extreme) but with pace, or even a deep slow roller into the corner. Anything else and you're on the run.

 

[ey039524]

+1
You need to get your return past the crosscourt sideline so that he has to hit it back into the court, which gives you more of a chance to reach it.

 

[ptuanminh]

Then its about time you improve your backhand.

 

[Jonesy]

Make him pay with the same poison, in other words a short angled CC BH. Or at least make him run for it with a drop shot dtl.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

So I play this guy at my club every week. I used to be able to give him a good game but lately he’s really got my number and I don’t seem to be able to change things up.

Hes a great shot maker quite tall decent volleys lovely one handed backhand and good at the net, doesn’t have the biggest serve but had a great slice serve.

I am a lefty, not the most powerful although a decent forehand, serve and good touch at net. My backhand is solid but not a weapon at all.

Lately he has found this serve out wide to my backhand it’s short and angled taking me out the court. It pushes me so far wide that all I can do is push the ball back on my backhand into the middle of the court, he then smacks a forehand winner down the line into the open court. I don’t know what I can do to change this pattern of play?

Rule #1: Simple suggestion: do anything but what what you're currently doing.

More complicated suggestions:
- Change your return position so you're not so compromised. Maybe move laterally and wider or closer to cut off the angle. Yes, you are sacrificing position elsewhere but remember rule #1.
- Change your return type: can you chip it deep? How about lob? How about short?
- Try and C&C [chip and charge]. it might take him by surprise and cause him to flub the next shot.

On his return I used to serve everything to his backhand and get a few short returns or errors but lately it’s become more predictable and he’s hitting through his backhand and ripping his returns. That I feel is an easier fix as the few times I have mixed it up and gone to the forehand I have had some success so I just need to keep him guessing I think on my serve.

Body serve; it's much harder to get out of the way to create space in which to hit the return than to move towards the contact point.

Slice and try to keep the ball low.

Yes, mixing it up is great if he's sitting on the return.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

I am a lefty...

Lately he has found this serve out wide to my backhand it’s short and angled taking me out the court. It pushes me so far wide that all I can do is push the ball back on my backhand into the middle of the court, he then smacks a forehand winner down the line into the open court. I don’t know what I can do to change this pattern of play?

On his return I used to serve everything to his backhand and get a few short returns or errors but lately it’s become more predictable and he’s hitting through his backhand and ripping his returns. That I feel is an easier fix as the few times I have mixed it up and gone to the forehand I have had some success so I just need to keep him guessing I think on my serve.

As a lefty, you should be taking advantage of your lefty spin, especially on your serves. The serves your opponent is hitting out wide to your Bh is just on the Ad side, correct?

You should be able to do the same to him, with your lefty topspin-slice serve out wide to his Bh, on the Deuce side. If he has learned to neutralize this serve, because it has become too predictable, then you need to mix up more.

Another effective serve for you, especially on the Deuce side, is to spin the serve into his body on his Fh side. I got this jamming serve to be so effective that I used it 50-60% on the Deuce side. Right-handed players found it difficult to shift to their left enough to hit a comfortable Fh return. It was often amusing to see them try to run around the ball to try to hit an effective Fh.

Note that a slice (or topspin-slice) serve with a moderate pace will will bend more (toward the returner's left) than a faster serve with same type & amount of spin.

Its on the return I am struggling and it’s frustrating as I can do damage on my forehand but I am not even able to get into the points as he’s taking my forehand out of the equation with those short wide serves.

Where are you initially standing when receiving serve on the Ad side? You'll be better off shifting your starting position more to right (and maybe a bit more forward as well). Leave to Fh side a bit more open -- daring him to serve to your open Fh side. Start with one or both of your feet behind (or inside) the alley.

If he is able to burn you sometimes when you leave that Fh side more often, then you need to shift your position periodically when he isn't looking at you. Start with the right-shift position I suggested. As he is tossing the ball and looking upward at the toss, prior to contact, shift your position a little bit back to your left. But don't do this every time. Just do it enuff to keep him guessing.

 

[LeeD]

Serve him wide.
Return sharp cc.
Mix in dtl.
Your backhand return needs similar pace as you forehand.
If not, practice more.

 

[socallefty]

Sounds like he improved his BH and you haven’t - it’s an arms race and you should take some lessons to keep up. Things you can do now are:

- Shade very wide on deuce returns and tempt him to serve to your FH. As long as you have quick feet, it might be a better option for you than having him serve everything wide to your BH.
- Try to hit a BH slice return DTL to his BH instead of blocking to the middle of the court for his +1 FH. You need to turn your torso quickly to the BH wing and press down with your front shoulder to hit deep slices DTL. If you don’t have that shot, can you at least try to hit lob/moonball BH returns from a deep position so that you have more time to get back into the court before he hits his +1 FH?
- Try to have active feet and run around your BH more to hit inside-FHs. Practice your inside-FHs a lot as it might be easier than improving your BH.

 

[zaph]

If you meet a lefty with a good slice serve and he burner down the T, you are truly stuffed. Knew a guy who had both and if you went to cover one, you watched the ball fly passed you as he hit the other.