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Take it on the Rise and Apply Pressure

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Jim McLennan, Senior Editor, TennisONE

To see the animation of taking ball on rise, click here.

What - Playing the short ball inside the baseline, and hitting it on the rise.

Professional Example - Jimmy Connors was the outstanding example of this punishing style of play. Some of his approaches were outright winners, others were placed so well as to produce killing overheads or putaway volleys, but throughout he was moving forward on all short balls.

Why - taking the ball early increases your power, improves your angles, takes the opponent;s time away, and in all instances applies pressure on the opponent.

Where - generally inside the baseline.

When - whenever there is a reward to taking the ball early.

Prepare early, get the racquet above the line of the rising ball, the grip here is continental or high Eastern.
Leading with the back or right foot, I am positioning my feet to step through the stroke.
Shoulders a bit more sideways, racquet head dropping to the level of the ball.

Shoulders opening, using a flat stroking motion.
I probably could be watching this one a little closer.
Finishing on the front foot, racquet out in front, and moving forward to finish the point.

Ball machine - in order to practice this with a ball machine, place the machine on the baseline, shooting so the ball bounces on the the opposite service line, softly enough that you can step in and take it early, aim the machine so you can practice down the line approaches (rather than playing everything from the center of the court).

Specific practice - attack the opponent's second serve. It is the servers slowest shot and usually the shortest shot hit during an entire rally, but it is generally never attacked. An interesting aside. Jimmy Conners was known to have received the highest percentage of double faults of any player in the modern era. That is, servers made more double faults when facing his aggressive return, than they did against any other player of that time. Why, because as any one of his rivals placed their second serve toss into the air, they already knew they were under the gun, and this pressure had a real and genuine effect on their serve. Attacking your opponents serve will take constant practice, but all the elements are in place - the ball is short, you can play inside the baseline, and you will play it on the rise, long live Jimmy Connors !!!

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