It’s common to want to go for the passing shot at the first possible opportunity–after all, if you hit it well you win the point. However in today’s lesson, Brady is cautioning you from falling into this common trap.
Published on 10/14/2016 by Brady
I think this had to be one of the more “cerebral” tips you have ever presented in your excellent teaching series. I want to add something that seems pertinent: When you have received a crosscourt ball into your forehand side, I think that your attempted passing shot Crosscourt has one unmentioned advantage over attempting a passing shot Down-The-Line: Any Crosscourt passing shot’s “flight vector” has a substantial lateral component if the ball has been well struck with good topsin — in other words, it will continuously be moving farther and farther laterally (aka “sideways”) as the ball proceeds rapidly into enemy territory. Your opponent will be forced to deal with this added issue (ball not only moving fast, but *both* laterally and straight ahead). This is never the case for any passing shot hit down the line because every down-the-line shot that lands inbounds has (by definition !) somewhere between zero and a birdseed amount of lateral velocity component — and that’s true no matter how fast you hit it. The phenomenon here must apply just the same to both forehand and backhand passing shots you generate (a moving ball has no way of knowing whether you hit it with your forehand or backhand stroke). This is not some original idea either, because it is based on the same physics principles that explain why a well-struck crosscourt *groundstroke* (whether from your backhand or forehand) can be nasty when it “pulls your opponent off the court”.
Yes, my HS tennis coach used to preach this constantly, make your opponent hit at least one volley before trying to pass them. You’ll get a bunch of free points and have a better chance of passing off of a volley than an approach shot.
Great insight and strategy