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TennisOne Lessons 
Shrinking the Court for 50+ Players Kathy and Ron Woods Watch a foursome of veteran tennis players who may be in their 7th or 8th decade and you’ll be amazed at how they barely seem to run any more….yet they cover every shot! How do they do it?
You’ll find as you age that your mobility around the court will decrease; particularly the ability to move either forward or backward. A few steps sideways are less of a problem and if you play doubles, there is relatively little court to cover. But sprinting to the net to get a drop shot and then reversing direction to retrieve a lob over your head is just not going to happen anymore. Veteran tennis players eventually learn to “shrink the court” by learning to play more shots from the mid court. Let’s take a look at the strategy behind this tactic along with some adjustments to technique you’ll need to learn. In doubles play, most net players love to crowd the net which opens up sharp angles for volleys, allows them to hit the ball on a downward path and poach on any weak shot from the opponents. But playing a step or two from the net only works if your opponents agree not to lob over your head. If they do lob, your only hope is that your partner will cover it, but your team will have to give up an offensive net position. (Note: If your opponents don’t lob, then you can play as close to the net as you want and have fun.) If your opponents are savvy players, they will lob you to death until you adjust. You should try moving back to the center of the service box at first, which gives you a chance to cover your own overheads or retrieve the lob. On the chance that the folks on the other side of the net are really, really good at lobbing, you may want to stand on the service line and dare them to put the ball up in the air. From that position, you’ll be able to cover lobs fine, but shots at your feet will become the challenge. More on that soon. Meanwhile, your partner who has started the point near or maybe even behind the baseline has problems too. A short sliced shot or a drop shot will be a real challenge to reach and if it is followed by a lob over his head, your team is in an emergency situation. Plus, a series of sprints to the net is probably not in the cards anyway and you’ll most likely just end up saying “nice shot.”
Once again, we’d advise your partner to consider changing his home base position to one inside the baseline by several feet or close to three-quarters court. Any ball that lands short in the court (inside the service box) is an invitation for the baseline player to move forward. If you can play a forceful deep approach shot, the chances are your teammate at the net can pick off any weak return. If that doesn’t happen, you should move in a few more feet to play the next shot from the mid court. Technique of Mid Court Shots Since you now see the tactical advantages of playing from the mid court, it’s time to focus on the technique of your shots from that position. We’d advise you to enlist the assistance of a certified teaching professional who can speed up your learning curve and point out the key components of each shot. Let’s begin our analysis of technique by considering the objective of your shots from mid court We hope you’ll be able to play a forcing shot that puts your opponents in trouble because of the depth, pace, or placement of your shot. Secondly, the flight of the ball from your racquet should be straight ahead on the same line as your forward swing. In the mid court, you don’t want the flight of the ball to be upward as that ball will go long, or downward since that ball will land in the net. If your opponent has hit a short ball and you can play it on the bounce; make a shoulder or unit turn to prepare and use a backswing that is about half of your normal swing size. The safest shot is relatively flat with a little backspin applied by leading with the lower edge of your racquet. If you are very confident in your topspin forehand, you might use it here but realize that you have to adjust the distance since you are closer to the net than if you were at the baseline.
In case the ball reaches you in the air, simply follow the advice above and play the ball as an approach shot. Once again the safest shot is flat with some backspin but if you want to generate more power in hopes of hitting a winner, we’d advise you to hit the ball flat or with topspin. This shot called a drive volley can best be hit with an Eastern or Semi-Western grip so that it more closely resembles your baseline drives. The key to this shot is not to hit up or down, but straight through the ball. If the ball comes to you below your waist, play it out of the air as a low volley by slightly opening the racquet face to impart backspin and moving the racquet head straight through the hitting zone toward your target. Be sure to follow through to get depth and pin your opponent to the baseline. If you are forced to play the ball on the short hop, simply move your racquet face to either side with no backswing at all and aim to contact the ball just after it hits the court. You’ll probably need to experiment with the racquet face to find the right angle to push the ball over the net without popping it up. Soften your hands as you make impact and be sure to emphasize the follow through to insure depth on your shot. Practice Tips for Mid court Shots
Learning to play effective shots from the mid court will require some practice and possibly adding some new shots to your repertoire. We’d advise you to work with a partner who feeds you a series of balls crosscourt (simulating doubles play) with you positioned at three-quarters court. Start with one shot like approach shots off the bounce and repeat them until you feel comfortable with them. Next, move on to practicing approach shots (a drive volley) out of the air. Then you might ask your partner to feed random approach shots that you must decide to play on the bounce or out of the air more like what happens in a match. Once you’ve had a turn, provide the same feeding service for your partner. It’s likely better to wait till the next day to tackle the low volleys and half-volleys. Use the same pattern of a fed ball to practice both shots individually and then eventually mix them up at random. Give your partner the same practice and then call it a day. By the third time you practice these shots, a quick review of each one will suffice and then you should receive a series of unpredictable balls that require a quick decision as to which shot to play. Now you are finally at the simulated game situation. If you have a strong competitive streak, keep track of how many successful balls you strike out of every ten trials. Don’t forget to return the favor so she gets to enjoy the fully challenge too. By this time, you may be thinking “could I use this same strategy in singles play?” We think you can, based on our observation of many senior players. Although fewer of them play singles, those that do definitely know how to bisect the angle of possible returns to limit their necessary side-to-side movement. Our heroes also like to play inside the baseline to shrink the court lengthwise and play nasty drop shots, angles and dinks that drive each other crazy. And because they are playing the ball earlier, their opponents have even less time to recover. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Kathy and Ron Woods' article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
Kathy and Ron Woods have been a successful mixed doubles team for 30 years. Both were individually awarded the prestigious Tennis Education Merit Award by the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Kathy Woods, a former president of the United States Professional Tennis Association, is manager and director of tennis at the Racquet Club of St. Petersburg, Florida. Ron Woods, PhD, a college coach and professor of sport science, was a senior staff member of the United States Tennis Association for 20 years. Kathy and Ron recently co-authored the book, Playing Tennis After 50, published by Human Kinetics. It is available from the publisher at Humankinetics.com, Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. |
