Cover The Line?

A concept that continues to linger is that a player who approaches the net should "cover the [down the] line". This principle may have been effective when players use to utilize small-headed, heavy wooden rackets where it was difficult to to flip the wrist and hit it cross court. Nowadays, with improvements in technology, I am not sure if blindly following the "cover the line" rule is such a good idea. A player doesn't have to be Nadal in order to squeeze a tight, cross-court passing shot by the attacking player.

I believe that a better strategy would be for the attacking player to think in terms of BISECTING THE ANGLE. That is, position herself in such as way as to cover just as much of the cross-court as well as the down-the line (and possibly the lob). In addition, the player's chest should be directly square to the opponent's shot (i.e. the shoulders should not be parallel to the net but an angle facing the oncoming ball) thereby enabling the player to move equally fast in either direction.

As a matter of fact, I would recommend moving slightly more towards covering the cross-court and thereby tempt the opponent to go for the low percentage down-the line (i.e. over the high part of the net; "short" side of the court; and, perhaps, while being on a fast run). When attacking with a cross-court, it is important to understand that the opponent's movement to cover the approach coupled with aiming for the down-the line will, in a lot of situation, "vector" the ball out wide. In other words, the momentum of the opponent's movement combined with trying to hit down the line will often result in the ball being "dragged" wide (if only slightly, but wide nonetheless). Therefore, it is often a better strategy to tempt the player to hit the down the line passing shots. If he beats you with shots that go in by mere inches (as opposed to feet), then it was simply her day. However, more likely than not, the chips will fall in your favor when you attack the opponent and force him to take chance after chance by going for the line.

Advance and Retreat

Closely related to the inside-out concept, is the advance retreat movement. This is where the player must back up for a deep (maybe high ball) and then move in for a short ball (preferably slightly insideout-ish thereby forcing the player to "circle" slightly around the ball and in). The basic premise is that the player must learn to "move in position". That is, for a forehand, the player should learn to move backwards (and forwards) by keeping the left foot and shoulder in front. This is not a shuffle-back drill, stop, turn, rotate and swing. The coach should emphasize movement while the player is in the position to strike. Similarly, when moving forward, the player should not sprint in, stop, turn, take the racket back and swing. All these components take too much time to execute (time that the player does not have). Instead, the player should master moving in position so that, no matter where in the court she finds herself, she is ready to strike. Lastly, this is a great drill for teaching player not to get stuck playing "from the vineyard" (i.e. 12 ft behind the baseline). Sometimes, it's OK for the player to back up when being pushed by the opponent. However, the player should not remain behind the court. Instead, the player should always look to recover. 

This drill also works for developing the player's approach shots by teaching proper movement and timing. To take the drill to the next level, the player can - instead of an approach shot - hit a swinging volley. This can be practiced either through feeding or with a live-ball rally. To spice things up, add a regular volley after the swinging volley or approach shot. This 3-shot drill starts by having the player RETREAT for a high, heavy topspin, ADVANCE for the shorter ball, and step in for the volley (repeat 3-4 time and seek to cycle through the movement faster and faster). It's important for a player to be fast, but it's more important to be quick. This, after all, is not a 100yard sprint; it's tennis. Therefore, the player should visualize a fencer advancing in for the kill and then retreating when the opponent advances (the epee, shoulder and leading foot is always in front). 

Practice Approaches From Deep In The Court

The game of tennis has changed a lot during the past 20 years. With advances in technology and a physical development, the same concepts that worked 20-30 years ago are not as applicable today (the emphasis being, of course, on "as" since some older concepts have limited application today). 

One such concept is that the player should look to come in on a short ball. Sometimes, this is correct as a short ball allows the approaching player to hit more angles and generate more pace due to her forward-motion. Nevertheless, too many times the short ball come in fast, with a lot of spin or a lot of angle thereby making it unsuitable to approach. I believe that there should be a shift in emphasis from location of the bounce to either (a) timing; or (b) opponent's positioning (vis-a-vis his baseline "T"). As a form of playing and practicing, the rule of thumb should be: (I) when you have an extra half-second to set up and crank it, come in; (II) when the opponent is 10 feet (or other arbitrary location) behind the baseline or outside of the side-lines - come in! Forget about where the ball bounces on your side and focus more on punishing your opponent for either (a) bad positioning on her part or (b) poor shot selection on her part (despite having hit the ball deep). 

Initially, practice this by having balls fed very high and deep into your own court forcing you to move back. The player should back up, "load and explode" after that ball and immediately "bolt" inside of the baseline. Rinse and repeat a set of ten. Follow up by doing this drill where the player has to rush in after the "deep approach" and take the next ball out of the air. In live-ball training, the coach should place certain "markers" (e.g., strips of athletic tape) about 10-12 ft behind the baseline and 1-2 feet outside of the service line. When the player sees the rally-opponent (coach or another player) fall outside of these zones, the player should come in - regardless of where the ball is on the opponent's side. The goal should be for the player to incorporate an additional dimension for "the right time to approach". Come in (or seek to come in) when you have time to set up and belt your shot; come in (or seek to come in) when the opponent's out of position.