Defense Wins Championships

Coach Dan McCain

I watch the NBA. And of course, the NFL. And I hear from Marv Albert and John Madden, amidst their endless verbal montage of color commentary, the same phrase uttered over and over once the playoffs roll around. “Defense wins championships,” they say, and teams with great offenses and average defenses will always falter in the playoffs and never reach their potential.

The same is true in tennis. With racquet and string technology, coupled with greater attention paid to advanced fitness and strength conditioning by athletes, power tennis has become widespread in the game today among both the best players in the world and nearly every level down to beginners. People like to hit the hard, and they are doing it with greater frequency than ever.

But most matches are lost, not won. Still, the numbers speak louder than most anything, and the vast majority of the time, the player who has fewer unforced errors will walk off the court smiling a bit wider than his or her opponent, holding a victory in hand. While having greater control than your opponent can facilitate smarter tennis, it is often how you go about playing defense during points that can make the difference between winning and losing.

When competing against an aggressive player, you will inevitably be forced into situations where you are out of position, on the run, pushed far back behind the baseline, or pulled wide off the court. How you respond to these situations can make all the difference in your ability to stay in the point even when jolted into these difficult circumstances. These situations put you on defense, and your shot selection in these situations will determine if you can neutralize the rally and get back to an even position on the court. Your response can also cause you, once you are out of position - to stay out of position. Your choice of shots will save you energy or cost you energy depending what shot you decide to hit when you are in trouble.

A smart player knows that the majority of defensive situations can be temporary. Being out of position calls for one of two options - both of which accomplish the same thing. A slow heavy slice - hit with enough net clearance to achieve depth, or a topspin lob - both grant you the time needed to recover back to the middle of the court. Because of the slow pace and higher trajectory of these two options, the ball will take longer to travel through the air and therefore will give you to time hustle back to the middle of the baseline or close to it. Also, the increased net clearance of your defensive shot will increase your chances of hitting deep in the court. With a deep shot - even if it is not hit with a great deal of pace - your opponent will not be able to continue his attack. And if your opponent does choose to hit a huge shot on your deep defensive ball - he or she will be making a low percentage choice - which is good for you. If your opponent does not attack your good, deep defensive ball, then you have the renewed opportunity to take control of the point.  In other words - making one smart choice can get you out of trouble pretty quickly.

While there are times when your opponent has hit you so far off the court, that going for a winner is the only thing that can bail you out, having the understanding that this is a last resort will help you achieve the correct mindset about playing defense. Situations like running down a drop shot, or hitting on the run passing shots can also call for creative responses, and hitting lobs or slow high slices may not be the best ideas to execute at all times.

In general though, choosing to hit shots when you are out of position other than a slow heavy higher slice or a topspin lob usually hurt you more than anything. When you are out of position and off the court, a shot with too much pace and too little net clearance will not allow you time enough to move back toward the middle of the court. Hitting shots with too much pace on defensive positions is not playing defense - it may be good hustle and good effort of your part - but choosing to hit with too much pace when you are on the run will actually give your opponent an easier opportunity to keep you on the run.

Imagine your opponent hits a nice inside-out forehand to your backhand corner, pulling you five feet behind the baseline and a bit outside the doubles alley. Here, if you hit hard - your opponent has the whole other side of the court to hit to - and you won’t have any time to get to that shot - and even if you do track it down - you will again be on the run retrieving this ball. You may have even hit a really nice backhand way off the court but if it is not a slow, higher backhand, then you just made a poor decision that probably will cost you the point. You were on defense but did not play defense.

Being on defense is one thing but playing good defense is another. Anybody can be forced into defensive situations. But smart players play defense when they are put into defensive situations. Even the pros make this mistake from time to time but the best ones will usually take more pace off their shots the farther they are off the court unless they are forced into unusual circumstances.

Rafael Nadal has conquered the men’s tour in the past year and much of his success is due to his ability to fight off great shots by his opponents by not just getting these great shots back but by getting them back high and deep. His ability to turn defense into offense by making correct defensive choices is second to none and he applies the concepts in this article better than anyone else in the world right now.

The next time you play a point and find yourself going for a winner when you are standing ten feet behind the baseline ask yourself if a lob or at least a slower shot with a little higher net clearance would have enabled you to stay in the point. Maybe you did not need to go for that winner. Maybe, if you would have just gotten the shot back deep, you could have given yourself another chance to win the rally.

A smart player doesn’t necessarily like to play defense but he is willing to do so because he wants to be aggressive at the right times - when he forces a short return. He knows that being patient and making the right choices in defensive situations will ultimately allow him more chances to be aggressive when the opportunity presents itself.