Copy This Singles Strategy And You’ll Win A Lot More Matches (Easy Tennis Tips)

What you say here about wrong footing is very important.

As tennis players we need to be more empathic and be in the opponents shoes.

When you get a ball, the reflex is to be quick to cover the open court. That means, you're mentally prepared to run like hell and hit whatever wing it is that will be on.

Wrong footing however means two things:

1. You break his stride and physical momentum
2. You catch him off guard, unprepared for the shot.

You can see nr. 2 happening. Then when he plays the short volley which is the biggest distance to the opponent, the guy gives up and doesn't even chase, because he knows its too good.

You sent the opponent around the court, frightened him a bit, caught him off guard and broke him a tiny bit.

These things add up 😁

Sorry but no strategy is offered here, really. It's just playing better tennis (during this point at least) than the opponent. This point was won because of a solid serve, a good shot and a good volley, while also the other guy responded weakly to the serve. That's like Stephen Curry saying "here is a simple strategy to be a great point guard, just hit 8 threes in each game"

A little issue is that if you hit a weaker approach shot, or if in any way the opponent is able to hit a great shot when you’re at the net, hitting it short will be much harder as to hit a short ball you’ll have to decelerate it, which will be in opposition to the high speed of the ball and to your momentum that’s going forward. So a deep volley will be easier to hit. In this case the ball was floaty, so hitting it short is better. Must keep that in mind. (Comes from my coach)

I have a tournament today under 12 and I’m paying with my own money that I was saving up 😭

i might put these into account on my tournament in a few days!

Thanks

You mentioned that it's always best to "wrong-foot" the opponent on that approach shot. I feel like, yes, that is a good insight for sure. But I feel like the other option is good, too. Yes, you are "wrong-footing" the opponent, but he is also closer to the ball than if you were to have hit it crosscourt into the open court. So both of the options are somewhat even, in a way. If you hit it to the open court, yes, they are headed that direction, but they are also further away from the ball. And if you "wrong foot" them and hit it into the corner where they already are, it does, in fact, wrong foot them, and surprise them, but they are closer to the ball. But I would say that all in all, the wrong-foot option might be a little better in this situation because you have the added bonus of that shot being to their backhand (asssuming their backhand is weaker than their forehand). So I feel that of course it's always best to hit to the opponent's weaker side when you are coming for an approach shot.

This is great. I am 11. I play in Florida. I really need this instruction and analysis. Thanks!

GOOD JOB RYAN!!!!! I will be winning everything with this knowledge, AYE!!!

I used to try to attack short balls and go to volley but against players with good top spin lobs I kept losing the point. I find that going back to baseline puts me in a better position to hit a winner off a weaker return by the opponent

Great video, as always Ryan. Any chance of a follow-up - I can't hit short volleys!!

Got it, great tips !!
Time to try this in my next match

probem is that if you don't hit a godd shot, they got you

That's not 3.5

Thanx I saw lots of clips but this is very clear and simple many thanks.

😂😂😂😂 The receiver made a shocking return and even worse footwork. He was still splitting after the the servers approach shot was made. If he split earlier he would have made a much better defensive shot. Seen 10 year old with better footwork and movement

Good point on wrong footing your opponent, there is never an always though in tennis. It depends how short the reply is between going up the line or cross court. Generally the farther back you're hitting the more you want to go up the line as you won't have time to get closed in correctly on a crosscourt approach, a nice bonus with that is you end up wrong footing them sometimes. The larger point is when you're farther back and you hit it up the line, as you're coming in you already have that side showing covered physically to your opponents eyes. If you hit crosscourt while too far back, you now have 2 openings to cover because in order to cover the down the line passing shot you now end up opening the crosscourt passing shot. If you hit approach close enough to net it's okay to hit crosscourt approach because you'll be able to show the line covered to your opponent in time for him to only see the crosscourt open which also allows you more time to cover the crosscourt pass. Furthermore If you try to go behind them every single time they will catch on eventually and adapt if they are anything decent at the game. Variety is key and hitting the correct shot for the specific part of court you're making contact from along with the height of ball you're working with is more important than trying to wrong foot them every time.

Never heard anyone in all my days playing and teaching saying to split step after they make contact. It's always been just before or right at the time of contact. You can split step later however if you know you have them in a really week defensive position (such as shown in the clip example), this allows for getting up to ball quicker and getting it at a higher contact point which is important. The problem with split stepping after they hit it is you won't have time to stop and retrieve a decent lob or any quality passing shot for that matter. The ball will already be past you unless you're doctor evo and have a 10 foot wingspan 😄. Which brings up another point. The timing of the split step depends on ones physicial ability and age. If you're older and slower you'll need to stop sooner than someone younger quicker who has a longer wing span and is more agile.

Just came across your channel today, fascinating stuff!

Good job giving Matt some credit for the video and recognizing how the short volley was so important, but no, it isn't always a good idea to try to wrong foot the opponent, as you later admit about the short volley to the open court. It is good on this initial attack because it is an attack shot, Inside/out to the Backhand, not a mere approach shot. Yes he approaches here since his "mid-court attack" was so effective, but he didn't have to approach off of this.

I'm sorry, but it's not good advise to copy this strategy. Tennis is about risk management. Which shot after serve is less risky for player in Blue t-shirt: down the line or cross-court? Cross-court, no questions. When you play down the line — more chances that you play Out. There must be very good reasons to use more risky shot (ball is comfortable, you have good time to prepare and execute, opponent is out of reach, you practice this shot and have good rate). In this particular game blue shirt player decided to try if he can capitalise on bad footwork of his opponent and used more risky shot. He was lucky to play In court and his expectations that opponent will be in uncomfortable position were met. Is it a 100% win strategy? No. Then why copy it?

I think this was less about strategy.and more about hitting 3 VERY good shots in a row. Solid to very good serve draws short return. 2nd shot approach could have been hit nearly anywhere but ripped to opponent backhand is always good lol. Flawless drop. Good strategy or execution of good shots?

nice video, but this is basic patter every one should play in match.

The return was poor and the server was great in taking advantage of it

If the aproachshot is not perfect u get the return cross with backhand its more safe to atack In the cross

Another critical point for higher level play on that first short ball play is a neutral position. Arriving to far in front of the ball telegraphs the line, arriving behind allows only cross court and telegraphs same.

Great explanation. In addition to the tactics laid out here, I add the critical athletic skill necessary to a great approach, which is balance. Anyone can split step. The difficulty lies with moving very quickly to that point and then arriving perfectly balanced to go fwd, back, left, right w no weight shift correction. Same goes w coming out of the serve and landing balanced in that 1st foot fall. At least half the guys on the ATP tour are taking a balance correction half step out of their serve.

The balance required of a perfect approach means hours of drills on one foot, etc (eg see Fed training), and many players would like to baseline drill w that time instead .

Like a chess move!!!

Go Gauchos!

If it was a kick at his BH, the aproach should be on the open court ?

Ryan, please more of the "plays" video analysis. Would be ideal to have 5 or 10 prepared plays to execute in a match

rly great analysis.. tks, bro! cheers from brazil

Now we just need the ability to bomb first serves and down the line forehands on the rise and we are good to go 😉

Jerry: Heeeellllllllooooo! La, la, la!
Ryan: Helllllooooo! It's Ryan from 2 Minute Tennis.

Not sure if you take questions but would love your thoughts: what if, on your approach shot, you end up hitting a weaker hit? Would it then be good to retreat, or should you still take the net?
I ask because in this video, everything was ideal — his approach shot was very well placed and had great speed, forcing the opponent to hit the very defensive backhand. But, unfortunately, not all my approach hits are ideal. If I hit an approach shot and it is weak, am I setting myself up by still moving forward?

Great tip - simple and effective

Thank you for this. Very helpful!!

So what happens when they return everyrhing deep? This is useless then.

Great video! What do you mean by "wrong foot"?

I learn so much but then get on the court and forget! I need to take you on the court with me!

Ryan, do you have any tips on hitting volleys from the service line? Specifically, when do we want to hit a swinging volley and when to hit a regular volley?

At drills sessions I keep telling myself to split step every time, but I can't seem to convince my body to do it.

Ryan I think the value you provide to every tennis player is explaining WHAT (strategy) should be done while the HOW (execution) comes from hours of deliberate technical practice. If you don't know WHAT to do in a certain situation then HOW you do that is just shot in the dark. If you don't know HOW to volley then taking over the net is probably a mistake. In fact your opponent may drag you into the net during a rally to expose the lack of ability to volley. You said if you get a short ball continue to come in, I don't want you going backwards to the baseline. The reason players retreat is they know they don't know HOW to volley so rather than rush the net to lose to point quicker maybe continuing to rally is their best strategy.

We had to make our drop shots bounce twice in the service box in order to pass the PTR certification exam so yep that's an example of using the whole court and it's not easy. I teach tennis using the game of chess and grandmasters know WHAT to do and HOW to do it. Beginning chess players don't know WHAT to do and certainly not HOW to do it. I find it's the same in tennis. Do you play chess? Have you seen my work relating the 2 games with PTR? Again... keep up the good work.

Great video again!

great video. thank you so much. it's on like Donkey Kong!

Amazing stuff , helps a lot

Useful strategy I will test it out on my couch Sunday

Thank you so much!! Good thing to know Saturday morning! Could you let us know about poaching? How to and when? It’s really hard to do that for me!!! Thanks again. :)

This video assumes we can serve into the exact desired spot, run in and hit a fast deep, topspin forehand at the precise, selected area - then execute a perfect drop volley.
The problem with Two Minute tennis (excuse the bluntness) is that it thinks we're all budding tennis champions.
I wish that were the case.

Thanks. Good stuff. Been using the volley short tip for about 6 weeks now and it has been killer. It doesn’t have to be a drop volley. Just short.