help-against-long-pips-players-that-keep-ball-short-or-very-wide-to-backhand
Hi guys,
I’m struggling against some long pips club players that are quite good at keeping the ball short or moving me out wide to backhand. One thing that happens a lot is I give a backspin shot to their long pips so I can attack the next ball but they move me out wide to backhand or keep it short to my forehand and so I can’t seem to get in the right position to attack. If I pop the ball up at all they crush it. What would you advise for my tactics or drills to work on?
Thanks,
Eric
Hey Eric! Yeah these type of players are not easy but a lot comes down to the serve and return areas and getting in the attack. Working on long fast serves can be a really good weapon to get a loose ball against these players to catch them out and surprise them. Also working on being able to attack with your backhand when the ball is forced out wide there, so just practicing serving and getting the ball played out there and then playing a positive topspin shot into the body of the opponents, this will help build confidence and allow you to still attack when forced wide.
When they play it short into the forehand you need to be able to mix it up well, so sometimes pushing long and deep, sometimes touching back short and sometimes flicking, this will keep the opponents guessing and make it hard for them. So you also need to train all those options when someone plays you short into the forehand so you aren’t stuck or limited in what shots you can do.
The last thing that can be really good against these players is serving into their short forehand where they have the normal rubber and then trying to attack quickly into the body, this is good because they have to step in short and then move out quickly so if you can attack the body afterwards it’s really effective!
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions on this. Dan 🙂
Yeah that is well said, thanks Dan. I’ll go back through the academy for videos on those topics