|
TennisOne Lessons 
Chips, Chops, Lobs, and Everything in Between Philippe Azar
Variety is the spice of life and, while we might bemoan the lack of diversity in playing styles at the top of the game these days, it’s still very much alive and kicking at the club level. Watch any club tournament and you will bear witness to the true joy of tennis, namely that there are very many different ways of hitting a ball and even more ways to defeat an opponent. Club-level matches are a whole salad of chips, chops, lobs, and everything in between. It could almost be argued that club players are the true maestros of the game for their ability to overcome adversity in the face of rather limited and shaky repertoires of shots.
There is not a player in the world who does not have a weakness - or three. The challenges in beating anyone are two-fold: firstly, identifying those weaknesses and secondly, exploiting them. Identification and exploitation go hand in hand as it is of little use to know that Joe Softy doesn’t like balls coming at him hard if you don’t know how to hit the ball hard. Consequently the player who has the ability to confidently create the widest variety of shots is the best equipped to beat the widest spectrum of opponents. This is what has made Federer such a formidable player for the last five years: he did not have any easily exploitable weaknesses and had all the tools to expose those of his opponents. But revealing Federer’s weaknesses is for another time. This article is devoted to mortifying the mortals amongst us: the typical players you are likely to encounter in your local park or club, their strengths, weaknesses and methods of exploiting them. Looking at the array of players out there, one can identify eight distinctive styles of play. Keep in mind that these are based on generalizations and stereotyping. While most players will have the ability to occasionally transcend styles when necessary, they can usually be primarily categorized within one of these eight types.
The Topspin Monster: If you were blind, you could make out a topspinner just by the grunting. They make Monica Seles sound like a twitter in the forest. We know them, we hate them but we have to deal with them. They’re able to generate high and fast bouncing balls and attempt to keep opponents on the back foot as often as possible. Most topspinners have extreme grips and big wind-ups. Those extreme grips limit their strike zone and they prefer to make contact from knee height and above - which means they usually don’t like low balls. Opportunity knocks. What shot stays low? Using backspin is a fabulous way of preventing those topspin monsters from making contact with the ball inside their ideal strike zones. Furthermore, the big wind-ups necessary to generate all that spin also means they don’t like balls coming fast at them as it gives them less time to prepare. This explains why the armada of top clay courters has traditionally struggled on the slick, fast, and low bouncing lawns of Wimbledon. The Moonballer: A remnant from prehistoric times, this player has not yet caught on with the modern game and still relies on a powerless style typified by hitting balls high-into-the-sky-to-the-moon-and-back (hence the derogatory term “Moonballer”). They are dreaded opponents because matches are typically very long, arduous, and unexciting. But, for better or worse, they are part of the tennis landscape and indestructible they are not. Moonballers usually do not possess the ability to overpower their opponents and the key is therefore to put them in situations where they have no alternative but to hit shots they don’t want to or have them hit to your strengths. By coming into the net, you will force them to either hit their weak passing shots or lob you. Furthermore, they are often like ducks out of water when forced to come to the net themselves, so it’s a good idea to play lots of short balls to draw them in. The Slow Baller: This is the leech of tennis players. They suck you of your energy by feeding off the power that is given to them and they don’t give you any back. They are hoping their opponents will either try for a little too much or exhaust themselves in the process. Typified by small backswings, they generally won’t have difficulty bumping hard balls back into play. In other words, there's no point in trying to hit hard. However, they do struggle if given slow balls. And, very similar to the Moonballer, because they lack the power to pass you, charge the net as much as possible. The Big Banger: Usually male, mid-teens to mid-thirties, with an oversized ego and an undersized understanding of the finer points of the game. This is probably the easiest player to face as banging big usually translates into banging out! Kamikaze in style, they rely on power and outright winners to overwhelm their opponents, and they will essentially win big or lose big.
The key to beating these players is, firstly, to not let your own ego get the better of you by trying to hit even bigger than they hit as this will invariably lead to unforced errors. Patience is the key ingredient: don’t get discouraged as they chain off a series of winners – it’s rarely sustainable over the course of a whole match and eventually their game will degenerate into a plethora of unforced errors, frustration, and self-destruction. You will occasionally fall on a player who seems to be able to hit one winner after another, in which case you need to ask yourself if they’re just having a golden day or if you’re just setting them up too easily. If the former, then there will probably not be much you can do apart from hoping that the bubble might burst before match point. If the latter, keep in mind that depth is key in keeping your opponents at bay. The further back in the court they have to hit their winners from, the further they are from hitting their target. Just like a sharp-shooter, misses are far more likely the further back you are.
The Chopper: Fabrice Santoro is the scourge of countless top players. For what he lacks in power, he more than makes up in artistry, and his backspin is a true masterpiece. Similarly to topspinners, the key to understanding the weakness of this kind of player is to look at their typical grip and the strike zone this limits them to. A Chopper usually uses continental grips for both the forehand and backhand and likes to strike the ball from hip-height downwards. They rely on hitting low balls to opponents and outmaneuvering them rather than overpowering them. To neutralize this style, the key is to force them to hit balls above that hip area. So a topspinner is actually perfectly equipped to counter a Chopper and vice versa. Go figure. Another effective tactic is to come into the net because their passing shots will be few and far between. Last but not least, be aware that, with their ability to keep the balls low, you may be forced to hit a lot of low volleys which are awkward and difficult to put away.
The Big Server: Ivo Karlovich typifies this kind of player, namely a big serve but little else to back it up. Matches are characterized by a plethora of aces and winning serves but if you can somehow block the ball back into play, your chances of winning the rally rise exponentially, as the rest of their game is often not up to the standard of their serve. If you land on their once-a-year golden day, you’ll be a spectator as the balls whiz past you. But more often than not, they are similar to the Big Bangers mentioned earlier in that they will tend to over hit and make more mistakes than winners. Sit back and enjoy the ride. The Serve’n’Volleyer or Net Rusher: On the endangered list, this player used to dominate all levels of the game when the game was still slow enough to favor a net-rushing style. By storming the net, players of the Stefan Edberg creed are hoping one of two things will happen: either they will have the opportunity to put the volley or lob away or the opponent will be forced to take risks in the form of passing shots.
Keep in mind that there are many ways of torturing a net player: you can hit with a lot of topspin or backspin, you can hit hard, you can hit straight at the net player, you can hit low and at the feet. So if your passing shots are not on or your lobs aren’t hurting them, try some of the other options. And, at the risk of stating the obvious, to prevent them storming the net in the first place, keep the balls deep. Feeling most comfortable at the net, they will feel uncomfortable having to hit lots of groundstrokes. The Retriever: When the tennis gods created the sport, they invented Big Bangers to make everyone else’s lives easier and, on the second day they hired Retrievers from Mt. Hell to remind us how difficult tennis can actually be. Indeed, this is the most difficult species of them all. This player goes out on court with the attitude “you might beat me but you'll have to kill me first.” This is the ultimate competitor as they’ve figured out that tennis is essentially a game of errors. Unforced errors nearly always outnumber outright winners at all levels of the game and the Retriever knows full well that if they can strive to never miss and get every single ball back into court, the opponent will likely make the first mistake. Expect a protracted match. Expect to go through a roller coaster ride both emotionally and physically. Expect to be forced to take more risks then you’d normally have to and therefore make more mistakes than you’d like to. Think of all the epic matches that players like Michael Chang and Lleyton Hewitt have been involved in. There is no easy way of beating Retrievers but, very often, while they are confident in hitting balls on the run, they are less comfortable when the ball comes straight at them. Furthermore, they generally aren’t particularly comfortable at the net. The key is to do your homework on this player and find out as much as you can in advance about their strengths and weaknesses.
I would be remiss without mentioning one final species of player, the Lefty. The trick here is to first become aware that you’re even playing one. Players will often go through a whole match without even noticing their opponent is hitting “strangely.” What makes playing a lefty tricky is that everything that you’ve trained for needs to be reversed. So, assuming your big weapon is to hit all your groundies to a right-handers backhand, if you don’t make the adjustment, you’ll be hitting them to a lefty’s forehand instead. In his book “Tennis For Life”, Peter Burwash introduced the concept of “‘the two opposites:” if a player likes high balls, they are likely to dislike low balls. If they like fast balls, they’ll struggle with slow balls. If they choose to serve first, they probably don’t feel too good about their returns. And so on. This is a fantastic way of quickly dissecting someone’s game during the warm-up which – remember – is not to warm yourself or your opponent up (you should have done that before you got out on court for your match) but to test all your opponent’s strokes and devise a game plan. And, just when you thought your opponent doesn’t have a weakness, look closer. They do. Believe me. Ultimately, if you have the right attitude, win or lose you stand to benefit. In winning, you have the satisfaction that comes with knowing you were better on that day than your opponent and in losing, you have an opportunity to identify the reasons and improve as a result. As a final thought, think of it this way, “you never really lose a match, you only run out of time solving problems.” Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Philippe Azar's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
Philippe Azar is a professional with Peter Burwash International (PBI) and has been teaching tennis internationally for more than 15 years. He is presently based at Tokyo Lawn Tennis Club in Japan. PBI contracts with resorts, hotels and clubs all over the world to direct tennis programs.The company presently has professionals working at 62 facilities in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean. During its 30 years in business, PBI tennis professionals have taught tennis to over three million students in more than 135 countries. For more information visit: pbitennis.com |