Playing to the level of your opponent

[Tennis_Fever]

This summer has been full of growing pains for me, tennis-wise. This past spring I joined my first league ("B"/3.5) and went 9-1 (with my only loss being in a 3rd set tiebreak) which was encouraging. For the summer swing I switched to the "A"/4.0 league and am currently 0-9 in this league I can say it has definitely been a learning experience, and for that I am grateful. However, I have noticed a huge hole in my game is that I almost always play to the level of my opponent, for better or for worse. For example, when my opponent is an aggressive baseliner, I am challenged to raise my game and battle with them, which has yielded impressive results (I took a set off the 2nd best player in the league). However, the downside of this is that when I play pushers, dinkers, and or junkballers, I find myself pushing, dinking, or junkballing back, which drives me mad. How can I avoid this? What do you do to not get sucked into playing to the level and/or style of your opponent? Thanks you guys.

 

[anubis]

At the 3.5 level, you only need one reliable weapon to get the job done. And, that one reliable weapon can make up for other weaknesses and liabilities. For me, I just serve to the person's backhand and get weak returns. During rallies, I keep them going greater than 8 or 9 shots and their whole game breaks down. If they give me a short ball, I hit a good approach shot and follow it up with a volley winner. Easy.

But at the 4.0 level, that's not good enough. Not only do you need a solid, reliable weapon, but you also need to have less liabilities. If they see that you've got a weak backhand, then they have the skills to completely avoid your forehand. And, at the 4.0 level, your primary "weapon" needs to be able to be executed from anywhere on the court.

In short, 4.0s play the same game against you, that you play against other 3.5s. Both games are successful in their own ways, but they don't work against each other.

You need to raise your game to beat 4.0s. I suggest playing more of them for practice. And, as a fun challenge to yourself, try to raise your own standards when playing against 3.5s. Don't just settle for a "W" in your column. Really destroy them! Last two 3.5 singles matches I won 2-2 and 2-3. I'm trying to really knock them out quickly. The better you do against other 3.5s, the better you'll do against 4.0s.


And another thing: when you play 4.0s, set goals for yourself OTHER than simply winning. Set goals like:

1. "I'll maintain a 10+ shot rally twice per set and win both of them."
2. "I'll try for no more than 10 unforced errors per set."
3. "I will not resort to dinking the shot over: I will maintain my level of aggression for the whole game."

Little goals like that can leave you feeling like you've accomplished something, even if you didn't win. It shows you that you can feel good about a loss if you played a really good game.

 

[mightyrick]

This summer has been full of growing pains for me, tennis-wise. This past spring I joined my first league ("B"/3.5) and went 9-1 (with my only loss being in a 3rd set tiebreak) which was encouraging. For the summer swing I switched to the "A"/4.0 league and am currently 0-9 in this league I can say it has definitely been a learning experience, and for that I am grateful. However, I have noticed a huge hole in my game is that I almost always play to the level of my opponent, for better or for worse. For example, when my opponent is an aggressive baseliner, I am challenged to raise my game and battle with them, which has yielded impressive results (I took a set off the 2nd best player in the league). However, the downside of this is that when I play pushers, dinkers, and or junkballers, I find myself pushing, dinking, or junkballing back, which drives me mad. How can I avoid this? What do you do to not get sucked into playing to the level and/or style of your opponent? Thanks you guys.

Is the "B" league only one step below the "A" league? If so, you should not have went from 9-1 to 0-9. That is a huge disparity. It doesn't sound like a USTA ladder. In the "A" league, if you are losing this badly to pushers/dinkers/junkballers, then this would probably be more of a true USTA 3.5 league.

Pushers, junkballers, and dinkers generally don't have flashy strokes. However, they are highly consistent players. The reason you find yourself regressing to their style of play is because you are unable to be consistent using an aggressive baselining approach.

Most times, aggressive recreational players lack patience. If they get a slow ball, they want to instantly hit a winner. You need to work on patience. Work on proper directionals. Improve your shot selection. Don't go for winners on a ball that lands near the baseline. Hit crosscourt-to-crosscourt more often. Allow yourself to be okay with rallying for a few shots while you wait for a ball to hit an aggressive shot.

In general, you should wait for a short ball before you "make your move". And when you "make your move", don't have the mindset of going for a winner. Merely look to place the ball with moderate pace at a sharp angle. If your opponent gets the ball back deep, then reset yourself and rally some more. With patience and good shot selection, you will beat these players. Good luck.

 

[Tennis_Fever]

At the 3.5 level, you only need one reliable weapon to get the job done. And, that one reliable weapon can make up for other weaknesses and liabilities. For me, I just serve to the person's backhand and get weak returns. During rallies, I keep them going greater than 8 or 9 shots and their whole game breaks down. If they give me a short ball, I hit a good approach shot and follow it up with a volley winner. Easy.

But at the 4.0 level, that's not good enough. Not only do you need a solid, reliable weapon, but you also need to have less liabilities. If they see that you've got a weak backhand, then they have the skills to completely avoid your forehand. And, at the 4.0 level, your primary "weapon" needs to be able to be executed from anywhere on the court.

In short, 4.0s play the same game against you, that you play against other 3.5s. Both games are successful in their own ways, but they don't work against each other.

You need to raise your game to beat 4.0s. I suggest playing more of them for practice. And, as a fun challenge to yourself, try to raise your own standards when playing against 3.5s. Don't just settle for a "W" in your column. Really destroy them! Last two 3.5 singles matches I won 2-2 and 2-3. I'm trying to really knock them out quickly. The better you do against other 3.5s, the better you'll do against 4.0s.


And another thing: when you play 4.0s, set goals for yourself OTHER than simply winning. Set goals like:

1. "I'll maintain a 10+ shot rally twice per set and win both of them."
2. "I'll try for no more than 10 unforced errors per set."
3. "I will not resort to dinking the shot over: I will maintain my level of aggression for the whole game."

Little goals like that can leave you feeling like you've accomplished something, even if you didn't win. It shows you that you can feel good about a loss if you played a really good game.

This is really great advice, thanks so much!

 

[Tennis_Fever]

Is the "B" league only one step below the "A" league? If so, you should not have went from 9-1 to 0-9. That is a huge disparity. It doesn't sound like a USTA ladder. In the "A" league, if you are losing this badly to pushers/dinkers/junkballers, then this would probably be more of a true USTA 3.5 league.

Pushers, junkballers, and dinkers generally don't have flashy strokes. However, they are highly consistent players. The reason you find yourself regressing to their style of play is because you are unable to be consistent using an aggressive baselining approach.

Most times, aggressive recreational players lack patience. If they get a slow ball, they want to instantly hit a winner. You need to work on patience. Work on proper directionals. Improve your shot selection. Don't go for winners on a ball that lands near the baseline. Hit crosscourt-to-crosscourt more often. Allow yourself to be okay with rallying for a few shots while you wait for a ball to hit an aggressive shot.

In general, you should wait for a short ball before you "make your move". And when you "make your move", don't have the mindset of going for a winner. Merely look to place the ball with moderate pace at a sharp angle. If your opponent gets the ball back deep, then reset yourself and rally some more. With patience and good shot selection, you will beat these players. Good luck.

It's not a true or actual equivalency (B/3.5, A/4.0) because it is not a USTA league. I stated it as such because virtually all of the players from the "B" league play in 3.5 USTA leagues, just as virtually all of the players in the "A" league play in a 4.0 USTA league in the winter months.

You hit the nail on the head. I am terribly impatient on the tennis court. Part of this is the way I play, wanting to end points quickly. I definitely need to improve my shot selection as well. Thanks for your input!

 

[LuckyR]

This summer has been full of growing pains for me, tennis-wise. This past spring I joined my first league ("B"/3.5) and went 9-1 (with my only loss being in a 3rd set tiebreak) which was encouraging. For the summer swing I switched to the "A"/4.0 league and am currently 0-9 in this league I can say it has definitely been a learning experience, and for that I am grateful. However, I have noticed a huge hole in my game is that I almost always play to the level of my opponent, for better or for worse. For example, when my opponent is an aggressive baseliner, I am challenged to raise my game and battle with them, which has yielded impressive results (I took a set off the 2nd best player in the league). However, the downside of this is that when I play pushers, dinkers, and or junkballers, I find myself pushing, dinking, or junkballing back, which drives me mad. How can I avoid this? What do you do to not get sucked into playing to the level and/or style of your opponent? Thanks you guys.

A couple of things: Firstly, this playing to the level thing is a mislabelling of what is going on. Namely, that you have a fear of losing (as opposed to a desire for winning) which is driving your play. The two sound similar but they are, in fact opposites. Your psyche is comforted by hitting "hard" shots hard since if you make it, you're a Winner and if you miss it, well at least you were hitting a "good" shot. Junkballers take away that crutch. If you take advantage of junk and try for a forcing shot, well... you are supposed to destroy those shots. So if you hit a winner off of junk, so what?, that's normal, but if you miss it... uh oh, what kind of player are you anyway? Easier on the ego to just hit high percetage "junk" back to the guy and shift the Mental/Emotional pressure back to him. Unfortunately for that plan, he has already reconciled being a junkballer, so he is only too happy to continue feeding you junk all day long, that's his game, after all.