A singles point can be boiled down to five phases: serving, returning, rallying, you coming to the net, and the opponent coming to the net.
Serving – increase your successful first serve percentage by dropping speed and adding spin. Vary the location of the serve – not only serve wide (most often), but also serve down the centre line and at the opponent’s body jamming them.
Return of serve – pre-plan where you are going to hit your return. Imagine the baseline is divided into thirds – plan to hit your return into the centre third. This may potentially jam your opponent while they are landing into the court following the serve, and provides less angles for them to hit against you.
Rallying from behind the baseline – don’t skim the net; arc the ball a little higher over the net than you think you should. This will reduce your errors hitting the net and the ball will land deeper in the court keeping your opponent back behind the baseline.
When you come to the net – do not volley hard and deep. Instead hit short shots softly into the service box furthest away from the opponent. If they are at the baseline, they won’t have the time to run up and pick it up, and if they do get it on the run, they will be popping it up for an easy put away for you.
When your opponent comes to the net – think of the two shot passing shot. As your opponent comes forward and hits a deep shot to the corner moving you to the side, do not go for the hero shot – either the down the line or the cross court lob. Instead hit a low tough volley landing short in the middle of the court. They will typically be only able to pop it up, at which point you can run in and hit a much more effective passing shot.
The following is a video explaining these strategies
Some common mistakes people do in singles and what you should do instead:
1. Against a fast server, don’t stand at the baseline. Move back two steps to buy time. For serves with difficult to handle spin, the spin rate will be slowing down as the ball comes down in its arc – position yourself to take the ball at a comfortable waist height.
2. When returning the ball over the net, hit the ball slightly higher than what your opponent is hitting. You will hit the net less often (the most common error recreational players make), and the ball will land deeper promoting an error from your opponent.
3. Do not hit the ball down the line too often; hit mostly cross court. Stand opposite your opponent bisecting the distance between the two extreme shots your opponent could hit. If the shot is to the side, do not move laterally across, but forward perpendicular to the trajectory of the ball (shortest distance) instead. Hitting cross court makes it easier to stay in position, you are hitting over the lower part of the net, and you have the longest trajectory for the ball to stay in (up to 1.4 m [4.5 feet] longer than down the line).
4. When you are going to the net, forgetting to split step as the opponent is hitting the ball. You don’t know where the opponent is going to hit the ball, so split stepping is like hitting the brakes, which will give you balance and make changing directions easier and more direct (going right/left/back).
5. When the opponent goes to the net and you choose to hit a passing shot, hitting cross court. Most opponents will stand in the middle of the court when they come to the net. Cross court in this situation is the shortest distance you can hit and is closest to your opponent. Instead hit your passing shot down the line. Not only is this the furthest distance for the opponent to get to, it also gives you added distance to land your shot deep in the court. As the opponent moves directly up the middle toward the net, they will be better positioned to volley a cross court shot, but they will not be getting any closer to the down the line passing shot. The down the line passing shot is also very effective if your opponent does not split step – the down the line passing shot gives them the least amount of time to change direction.
Wishing you the best of luck in your game as you take it to the next level!
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