What are your favorite patterns to use, and how do you practice them?

[Rally]

I want to add more patterns to my game, but the hard part is being able to practice them without paying an arm and a leg to a coach to feed balls to me. A pattern I implement a lot is a low net clearance skidding slice cross court with the following followups: if a) returned to the deuce side with low speed, then a short angled forehand crosscourt to the deuce side and approach, or if b) returned to the ad side, an inside out forehand or flat crosscourt backhand. These are easy to practice in offense v defense drilling so I can use them reliably in matches, but I have a hard time practicing my 1 2 punch because my hitting partners don't like doing drills where we have to pick up balls about as often as we hit them. Which patterns do you like to use in point play, and how do you practice them without a dedicated ball feeder?

 

[tjanev]

Through rallies with buddies. Dont tell them you're doing it but, try a few and see if they work. I would say dont go for a hard finish though so you stop the rally, but go through the motion of the last hit as if you were putting away a winner and return it a bit softer for them to return. the tough one is if you're trying serve and volleys. That motion is meant to finish a point.

 

[eah123]

I agree with you OP that those are good basic patterns that everyone should practice. I also agree with @tjanev that you can usually find ample opportunity to practice them during free hitting/rally practice and point play (eg. play to 10 points with no serving).

 

[Rally]

Through rallies with buddies. Dont tell them you're doing it but, try a few and see if they work. I would say dont go for a hard finish though so you stop the rally, but go through the motion of the last hit as if you were putting away a winner and return it a bit softer for them to return. the tough one is if you're trying serve and volleys. That motion is meant to finish a point.

Yeah my hitting partners aren't very happy with me practicing S&V... I end up pulling out out in point play, but lack of practice makes it pretty easy of me to get burned unless my serve is so good that the volley is more of a formality than actual practice.

 

[Rally]

I agree with you OP that those are good basic patterns that everyone should practice. I also agree with @tjanev that you can usually find ample opportunity to practice them during free hitting/rally practice and point play (eg. play to 10 points with no serving).

I always forget that's an option. I always do 30 - 40 minutes of warmup plus drilling and then straight into games. I'll have to remember to incorporate 10 point games with no serving the next time I hit.

 

[tjanev]

here's also another way to practice. play best of 3 games with your practice buddies. the mini games go fast, and it allows you to practice in real play, and it sets expectations with your buddies.

 

[FuzzyYellowBalls]

I'm lazy about pattern, but need to learn more. The only one I have is a game in a match where I try to see how many drop shots then lobs then drop shots I can do in a row. Kind of requires a more athletic pusher type as an opponent as they won't put it away really and they will also get to the balls, maybe 8 drop shot/lobs is my record before something goes wrong.

 

[ChaelAZ]

I have some really good players I like to practice with and they love running patterns, working strokes, etc.

As far as favorite patterns, I love hitting an inside out forehand to the backhand (ad side) corner and closing the net to finish. Another we practice for footwork, fitness, and as a pattern is two cross court and one down the line. For footwork and fitness it is just at pace, but as a pattern the DTL is hit offensively.

Stuff like that.

 

[Rally]

I have some really good players I like to practice with and they love running patterns, working strokes, etc.

As far as favorite patterns, I love hitting an inside out forehand to the backhand (ad side) corner and closing the net to finish. Another we practice for footwork, fitness, and as a pattern is two cross court and one down the line. For footwork and fitness it is just at pace, but as a pattern the DTL is hit offensively.

Stuff like that.

I like the 2 cross court 1 down the line a lot. Very simple and easy to implement. I'm guessing the first CC is to get them to move to the side, the second CC to plant them at that side and maybe hit a little more aggressively to the side lines, and the DTL to capitalize on their surrendered court position? I'm thinking back to "The Point" from the 2017 AO Final.

For the inside out forehand to the ad side corner do you have any prep shot for it? Maybe I'm not imagining it properly, but given that an inside out forehand is sort of an overcommit and a surrendering of court position, I feel like you would have to pin your opponent to the deuce side on the shot before the inside out forehand to give yourself enough time to catch up at the net. If you go for an inside out when he's camped at the hash mark or even the ad court, I think your opponent would have an easy DTL pass.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

C&C every so often just to keep them on their toes.

Volleying behind a quick opponent.

 

[Rally]

C&C every so often just to keep them on their toes.

Volleying behind a quick opponent.

Do you have any 1-2 punches or 3+ shot patterns to set up your volleys behind your opponent, for instance a groundstroke to plant your opponent, an approach shot to set up the volley, and then the volley behind your opponent when you see them scramble?

 

[ubercat]

Moonball to bh
Moonball to fh
Close to T half way up in service.
For younger guys probably T would do.
They just about always return something lame in the service box. I then take zero risk and do medium pace fh slice DTL. And enjoy their depressed look when I do it again.

Worked 3 times against some good players last week in dubs who killed us overall.

 

[socallefty]

Here is my general serving strategy as a lefty server for singles matches. I then customize it for my regular opponents based on their strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully, it will give others ideas for developing their own strategies.

- Serve from wide position on deuce and from near the T on ad to facilitate hitting a FH on serve+1 shot.
- Serve wide at least 50% of the time in singles especially early in games unless someone has a strong weapon like a FH or slice-BH. If someone has a strong weapon, vary spin with some hard kick on 1st
- Ad Court Wide serve - If returned CC to FH, hit cross court angle to BH. Hit DTL only if I can hit a winner off a short, easy ball. If returned to BH, first try to hit inside-out FH wide to their FH. Hit inside-in FH only on short middle ball where I can hit a winner or good approach to BH corner. If I have to hit a BH, hit cross court wide angle to FH - hit the ball early if it is a low ball to my BH. If short and easy, hit a slice BH approach to BH corner.
- Deuce court wide serve - If returned DTL or middle to FH, hit FH crosscourt angle to their BH. If I get a short, easy ball to FH, consider FH winner or approach to FH corner. If returned to my BH, try to hit inside-out FH wide to their FH. Hit to BH corner only if it is an easy ball that I can hit for a winner or a deep approach to the BH corner. If I have to hit a BH, hit a CC-spinny BH deep to FH or middle - if it is against a net-rusher, hit flatter and take it early. Use on 2nd serve also more against lefties
- Body serve - If I jam them and get a short ball, hit next shot into space especially if it is my FH - crosscourt to BH on deuce and inside-out on ad. If I have to hit a BH on ad, hit crosscourt early and flatter to their FH corner.
- DTM serve - Use with a lead or to change point patterns (if they shade and leave space) OR if someone has a weak-BH OR if ball is old and I want to hit to FH to start a baseline rally. Most chance to be chipped short on deuce or to be hit hard to my BH corner on ad - avoid on 2nd serves on ad. Definitely avoid against lefties on ad as they can chip short to BH or take it deep to BH.

Depending on the spin I hit to each location, I know what are the most common returns I will get and already know my pre-planned strategy to handle it. I didn’t get into the nuances of this as I just wanted to give players an idea of an advanced service strategy plan. I also have similar return strategies pre-planned for the various serves I might have to return and especially the most common ones. Also, note that this is for singles and the plan for doubles is completely different. Enjoy!

I’m an all-court player and my game plan for a singles match usually has four elements.

1) Adapt to Playing Style
- If I play an aggressive baseliner, I’ll try to be a consistent, counter-punching baseliner who is patient. I’m likely to amp up my topspin and lower the pace of my rally balls.
- If I play a consistent baseliner or a junkballer, I try to get to the net to finish points and I also try bringing them to net.
- If I play a net player, I am more aggressive with my baseline game and also stand closer during rallies. I’m likely to hit harder and flatter with less topspin and less trajectory. I also serve more wide serves to open up space for a pass on the other side if they try to chip and charge.
- If I play against a flat-hitter, I’ll increase my topspin a lot to give them a high contact zone. I can also change angles more easily and hit DTL more often. Against a heavy topspin hitter, I make too many errors if I try to change the angle often and have to wait for a shorter ball.

2) Rally basics (apart from Wardlaw directionals)
- I always try to open up space or take away time during rallies. Every rally ball hopefully helps a little bit to be able to do one or the other later in the rally. For example, pushing someone closer and closer to one sideline to open up space on the other corner or hitting body shots repeatedly.
- If someone is quick, I try to take away time by serving/hitting right at them or wrongfooting (hitting behind) them. I’ll probably vary pace/depth more to try to disrupt their rhythm.
- If someone is slow, I move them around more and try to open up space to potentially get a chance to hit winners. I’ll likely hit harder and flatter with less topspin.
- I’ll test if someone moves up/down as well as they move laterally. If not, I’ll use short slices and lobs more.
- I’m always looking for weaknesses (like BH in many cases) and will attack it relentlessly.
- If someone has a strong weapon on one wing, I’ll avoid it. If it is not a weapon where they can outhit me consistently, I might still hit there a lot with my strength. For instance, I’ll keep hitting inside-out lefty FHs which is a strength of mine to the righty FH if their FH is not strong enough to overpower me.
- If someone has a very good BH slice where they force me to hit a lot of angled low balls, I’ll either avoid it and try their FH or if the FH is too strong, I’ll hit more deep to the middle to prevent them from hitting wide angles.

3) Serve location
- Try to find the serve patterns (location/spin) that set up point patterns I like or lead to more return errors.
- My base strategy is to serve wide a lot and in particular on ad where I have my lefty slice as I like to open up court for a serve+1 shot into open space. So, often this is my initial strategy against a new opponent on 1st serves.
- If it looks like they have a weak BH, I might attack it more. If they have a strong BH slice, I might avoid it or try to serve only heavier spin to that wing as slices work better against my flatter serves.
- I’ll likely start off serving second serves more to the BH and body. I also serve more to the body when it is cold.
- Serve patterns that work with new balls might stop working as the ball gets old and I’m always waiting to see if it is time to change serve strategy. For instance, guys that crush FH returns with new balls might give me FH returns that I can handle with slower balls and I might no longer need to avoid the FH late in a match. Others might not like a slower slice that stays low when the ball gets old especially if it is cold.
- I’ll stick with the same serve patterns that are working if I’m holding serve easily. Then they start shading to cover that frequent serve and I can serve into the gap or change my spin on a big point later in the match when I need it. For instance, I’ll keep serving my lefty slice wide on ad 1st serves till they start shading over and then on a break point, I’ll serve flat down the middle into the gap. Or use a body 1st serve on a big point.

4) Return location
- I’ll change where I stand on deuce and ad returns depending on what kind of serves the opponent is serving frequently and how good their location/pace is. If someone serves a lot to one side, it makes sense to shade over a bit. It might be a different position on 1st and 2nd serves both laterally and in terms of how close to the baseline (or inside) I stand.
- Again, I’ll look out for whether I can be more aggressive and stand closer once the balls start getting old.
- If I don’t want to go to the net because an opponent’s passes/lobs are too good and I would rather beat them from the baseline, then I won’t stand too close on returns even if their serve is slow as they might be doing It on purpose to bait me to come to the net.
- With new balls, I might have to block or slice BH returns more due to the extra pace/bounce, whereas I might be able to hit more topspin drives with old balls. If so, I have to change where I stand as I need a bit more spacing to hit topspin BH returns.

I‘m a big believer in sticking with what’s working and also playing to my strengths rather than focusing too much on an opponent‘s weakness when I’m playing against players at my own level. Only when I play down do opponents have glaring weaknesses that I’ll look to exploit more relentlessly. If I lost the first set badly or lost the first set close and am down a break in the 2nd, I’ll be wracking my brain hard to figure out what I can change - usually it means that I have to increase my risk level on serve location/pace, rally ball speed, changing angles more often, using finesse shots etc. as staying in my comfort zone as a power baseliner is not working. Some opponents adapt fast when I adapt and then I have to adjust again - those are the fun matches and it is usually the most skilled opponents who do that. I’ve found that ex-college players or former top-ranked juniors are very quick at adapting strategy, serving to get to their optimal point patterns, finding my weaknesses quickly etc. as you can tell that they have been coached in college or in the juniors to think all the time and play accordingly. It is rare to find players that haven’t been coached a lot who are great tacticians on the court otherwise. I would say that most players have no clue on what an advanced opponent is doing to make them hit more errors or what serve/point patterns the opponent is exploiting as they never adjust to it.

A couple of old posts talking about match tactics and preferred point patterns. I used to write a lot of posts about match strategy a couple of years ago before I realized that very few players here seem interested in them.

 

[LuckyR]

Directionals from the baseline, DTL approaches for finishing in an all-court game. KISS.

 

[Jonesy]

Power bomb to right, power bomb to left, power bomb to right, approach to left, volley to right, smash finish to left and celebrate to right.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Do you have any 1-2 punches or 3+ shot patterns to set up your volleys behind your opponent, for instance a groundstroke to plant your opponent, an approach shot to set up the volley, and then the volley behind your opponent when you see them scramble?

Hitting anything away from them [either CC or DTL] that forces them to move more than a couple of steps means all of their momentum is going in that direction. To recover, they have to slam on the brakes, stop, and immediately push off in the opposite direction. That's a great time to volley behind them. The quicker they are, the better. If someone is slow to recover, hitting behind them simply means you're hitting it TO them.

Say, for example, a slice wide serve [Deuce if you're a righty; Ad if you're a lefty].

Another scenario is when there is a lot of open court to volley in to: they will be leaning in that direction, which will make it tougher to move back in the opposite direction.

 

[Rally]

Hitting anything away from them [either CC or DTL] that forces them to move more than a couple of steps means all of their momentum is going in that direction. To recover, they have to slam on the brakes, stop, and immediately push off in the opposite direction. That's a great time to volley behind them. The quicker they are, the better. If someone is slow to recover, hitting behind them simply means you're hitting it TO them.

Say, for example, a slice wide serve [Deuce if you're a righty; Ad if you're a lefty].

Another scenario is when there is a lot of open court to volley in to: they will be leaning in that direction, which will make it tougher to move back in the opposite direction.

I see what you're saying, but I think I'm having trouble imagining how to incorporate it into my game because I'm not as natural at net as you are. I enjoy charging the net nowadays considerably more than I used to in my junior days where I was a baseline camper who was highly allergic to the service line, but I still have a lot of deer in headlight moments that I'm trying to work through. It sounds like you're so competent at net that you don't have to make your opponent as uncomfortable as I have to to still hit a solid volley. Unless I hit my groundstrokes well enough to force a lame return shot from my opponent that is a free putaway, I have a pretty high shank rate on my volleys. This is detracting from the purpose of this thread, but did you at any point struggle with the hand/eye coordination up at net, and do you have any tips or suggestions for adapting to the short reaction time for volleying incoming medium to high intensity rally balls? For context I'm currently hitting with a 12.85 ounce Pro Staff 85 with 6 grams of lead at 3 and 9.

 

[tennisfan2166]

My pattern is to hit one more ball than my opponent. Not get bummed if they hit a winner. Repeat.

 

[Rally]

A couple of old posts talking about match tactics and preferred point patterns. I used to write a lot of posts about match strategy a couple of years ago before I realized that very few players here seem interested in them.

Excellent posts, thanks for linking them. The second one especially has some great information that I'm going to try to incorporate into my practice sessions.

 

[Rally]

My pattern is to hit one more ball than my opponent. Not get bummed if they hit a winner. Repeat.

I tried that when I was a junior. Great when I had unlimited stamina. Not so great anymore or when I do hit one more ball than my opponent, but it doesn't stay in the court.

 

[Funbun]

I have some really good players I like to practice with and they love running patterns, working strokes, etc.

I do this a lot with my coach in a lot of practice sessions.

A pattern I do is where I'm starting outside the tramline where my partner feeds CC so I'd have to hit a running shot to start it off, then play out the point.

I've noticed the best players I've hit with, particularly former D1s, are ridiculously good at returning rallies to neutral or even converting a defensive, on-the-run position into offense.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

I see what you're saying, but I think I'm having trouble imagining how to incorporate it into my game because I'm not as natural at net as you are. I enjoy charging the net nowadays considerably more than I used to in my junior days where I was a baseline camper who was highly allergic to the service line, but I still have a lot of deer in headlight moments that I'm trying to work through. It sounds like you're so competent at net that you don't have to make your opponent as uncomfortable as I have to to still hit a solid volley. Unless I hit my groundstrokes well enough to force a lame return shot from my opponent that is a free putaway, I have a pretty high shank rate on my volleys. This is detracting from the purpose of this thread, but did you at any point struggle with the hand/eye coordination up at net, and do you have any tips or suggestions for adapting to the short reaction time for volleying incoming medium to high intensity rally balls? For context I'm currently hitting with a 12.85 ounce Pro Staff 85 with 6 grams of lead at 3 and 9.

I'm the last person you want to ask about racquets because I don't pay much attention. I once had several Wilson Pro Staffs and one was 383g while the lightest was 330g and I played with them all [OK, the 383g was noticeably heavier but I still played with it].

As you can tell by my username, I'm a net-crasher. I'm not necessarily more successful than someone who is more selective but I do put a lot of pressure on my opponent to pass me. As long as I can hit a decent approach and make them move or back up or get low, etc., I'm happy with my chances.

But you mentioned shank rate: that means you aren't making clean contact on your volleys, which could be due to taking your eye off of the ball, being too tense, not having fast enough reaction time, etc. Try actually watching the contact point when you volley: you can't actually see the ball hit the strings [it happens in 4ms] but you can force yourself to keep looking at that spot for a split second longer than what you're accustomed to. Maybe try it out in practice first. You might think you don't have enough time but you have more than you think.

Look at Gasquet volleying and how, especially on the BH, he's still looking to the side after he contacts the volley. This might help you.

I've always had very quick reaction time so that's never been a problem for me. I suggest you set up a practice session with someone consistent to feed you: start from the SL and tell him to hit medium-slow feeds. Concentrate on your form. Video yourself and review every minute or so to make sure you're dialed in.

If you're comfortable, have him increase the speed and still try to maintain good form and hit solid volleys [not spectacular winners]. Start trying to move the ball around a hit: go for sharper angles, straight down the middle right back at him, and the occasional drop volley. If your form ever breaks down consistently, have him slow down again. You can also start at the SL and move in with each subsequent volleys [I see 3 volleys then an OH; rinse and repeat].

Also, I play a fair amount of doubles and you are always having to hit reaction volleys where the opposing net man poaches and drills it at you and you just have to react as best as you can. I enjoy the challenge.

 

[Rally]

I'm the last person you want to ask about racquets because I don't pay much attention. I once had several Wilson Pro Staffs and one was 383g while the lightest was 330g and I played with them all [OK, the 383g was noticeably heavier but I still played with it].

As you can tell by my username, I'm a net-crasher. I'm not necessarily more successful than someone who is more selective but I do put a lot of pressure on my opponent to pass me. As long as I can hit a decent approach and make them move or back up or get low, etc., I'm happy with my chances.

But you mentioned shank rate: that means you aren't making clean contact on your volleys, which could be due to taking your eye off of the ball, being too tense, not having fast enough reaction time, etc. Try actually watching the contact point when you volley: you can't actually see the ball hit the strings [it happens in 4ms] but you can force yourself to keep looking at that spot for a split second longer than what you're accustomed to. Maybe try it out in practice first. You might think you don't have enough time but you have more than you think.

Look at Gasquet volleying and how, especially on the BH, he's still looking to the side after he contacts the volley. This might help you.

I've always had very quick reaction time so that's never been a problem for me. I suggest you set up a practice session with someone consistent to feed you: start from the SL and tell him to hit medium-slow feeds. Concentrate on your form. Video yourself and review every minute or so to make sure you're dialed in.

If you're comfortable, have him increase the speed and still try to maintain good form and hit solid volleys [not spectacular winners]. Start trying to move the ball around a hit: go for sharper angles, straight down the middle right back at him, and the occasional drop volley. If your form ever breaks down consistently, have him slow down again. You can also start at the SL and move in with each subsequent volleys [I see 3 volleys then an OH; rinse and repeat].

Also, I play a fair amount of doubles and you are always having to hit reaction volleys where the opposing net man poaches and drills it at you and you just have to react as best as you can. I enjoy the challenge.

Wow 383 grams is a beast! My PS85 is "only" 364 grams, but it is quite a bit harder for me to wield quickly at net. I'm hoping I just need to spend a little more time on improving my shoulders and forearm to make the weight manageable. You're spot on with not having fast enough reaction time. I have a hitting session tomorrow so I'll ask my hitting partner to give me some dedicated volley practice. You brought up starting from the service line, and I think that might be the best change I can make. I've been standing inside the front half of the front court for my volley practice, and I've been struggling mightily because of my slow reaction time. Starting at the service line will hopefully give me a little more time to adjust to the ball before I step in deeper for more aggressive court position. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Wow 383 grams is a beast! My PS85 is "only" 364 grams, but it is quite a bit harder for me to wield quickly at net. I'm hoping I just need to spend a little more time on improving my shoulders and forearm to make the weight manageable. You're spot on with not having fast enough reaction time. I have a hitting session tomorrow so I'll ask my hitting partner to give me some dedicated volley practice. You brought up starting from the service line, and I think that might be the best change I can make. I've been standing inside the front half of the front court for my volley practice, and I've been struggling mightily because of my slow reaction time. Starting at the service line will hopefully give me a little more time to adjust to the ball before I step in deeper for more aggressive court position. Thanks for the suggestions.

It's a tradeoff: the closer you stand, the better angles you get but the less reaction time.

The further you stand, the more reaction time but the tougher the volley [more end up at your feet].

Then there's also covering the lob.

There's no point [literally] being close to the net if you can't react in time. Back up until you're in your comfort zone of reaction time and then work your way forwards and with faster feeds. Remember: this is a work-in-progress, not a decision set in stone.

 

[Tennis_Slapper23]

Kick serve out wide on the ad side. I serve about a yard left of the center mark and I take step back from there so I’m a few feet left of the center so I can hit a forehand first ball. I just practice this by playing tiebreaks in practice and serving there.

In the rally I like to go inside out heavy inside out and if they go down the line or the middle I look to step in about the ball away cross. It’s good to look for since your can get your opponent to hit a short ball and if they inside out is good enough you should get a forehand on the next ball.

 

[dlam]

Inside out ball I will get some slow returns that sits and run around my forehands hit inside out by rocking out shoulders first
Then I will try some inside out backhand and run around those balls
rock my back shoulders with my front shoulder so they move well together and start the kinetic change for power

 

[Rally]

Reviving this old thread to add a pattern I was able to use in point play three times successfully without any significant practice beforehand. I'm right handed and playing against a right handed opponent for context.

Setup: Move your opponent to the ad side with rally balls. Pattern starts if the opponent hits back a CC rally ball to your ad side.
Step 1: Backhand DTL with a little more court penetration than a rally ball but not a typical redline backhand where you go for the winner. The goal is to get the opponent to stretch and overrun the court while hitting a lame rally ball that goes to your ad side.
Step 2: Hit a short angled low bouncing but slowish crosscourt backhand slice that isn't an outright winner. The opponent should have just recovered from the overrun on the previous ball and have a little motivation to chase after the slice.
Step 3: If you hit a good enough low bouncing slice, plant yourself on the ad side. The opponent will have to run into the court to retrieve and will probably go for the crosscourt since the DTL will be too hard for net clearance.
Step 4: Go for the DTL. This one ended the point all three times for me.

It's a fair bit more work than a good 1 2 punch, but I did get some residuals from this pattern because my opponent expended so much energy chasing down the balls that I got some free errors in the next 1-2 points as well. Against fitter opponents this pattern may be more difficult than it's worth, but against typical weekend warriors it seems to be pretty effective. I need to test it out a little more to see if I just got lucky or if it's a properly good play, but I like to think it got me out of a 15-40 hole, won me a hold of serve at 30-0, and gave me an easy break at 30-30.