Adjust

[GeoffWilliams]

If your shoe blows out or comes off during play

If the shoe blows out, you better have a spare in the bag. If your frame breaks a string or two, same, as you are not allowed to leave the court to go get another one! If the shoe comes off, or blows out, during the point, you better just stop play. The rules allow a stop play once, but not twice, just put up your hand and say, hold it! My shoe came off, and if he challenges this call, get the ref to set him straight. It's like a ball coming out of your pocket: once ok, twice is the point.

[GeoffWilliams]

If a ball rolls into the severs court behind him in between first and second serves

He does not get two serves! If he does not know this rule and insists on two, call the ref, but don't call him a liar if he says,
"He called a let.", as the ref will call you for a sportsmanship violation, even if he is a ********** liar. Just insist calmly on the truth, that there was no out of balance time spent on retrieving and returning the ball, even 30 seconds does not count as too much of an interruption! He still has to hit a second serve, and if he lies, and says it was a first serve or he has not hit a serve yet, ask the court next to him if they saw him. Even if you did call a let, it's still a second serve unless he lies and says the first serve was in and you called a let. It's your call either way, to call the serve in or out, even if a let was called! Guy pulled this on me, and I called him a liar, and the ref gave him the point! A hole. The ref has to go with your last call, either way, unless he has it out for you, which this guy did. Put in a complaint that went nowhere about him, and he got away with it and many other low class attacks.

[GeoffWilliams]

The back hand volley has to be hit a shoulder width more out in front than the fh vol

Your shoulder is out front a full shoulder width on your bh side, so people miss their bh volleys way too often, trying to hit the shot at the same contact point as their fh volley! Esp. on high ball sitters (Roddick against fed tie breaker wimbledon that cost his only chance at that trophy!), the shot has to be contacted way out in front. Shadow swinging pratice can engram this shot, say do it on a dog walk every day. Keep the U in your volleys, and use your body weight into the shot.

[GeoffWilliams]

Adjust your body on low volleys

Low ankle shot volleys require very little wrist movement, and must be hit with the body, not the arm or wrist. Have to be quiet on these, as the margin of error is very low, hitting up with little net clearance, and your shot has to be near the net or it will pop up and make you a target!

[GeoffWilliams]

Low and away is the mantra

You should be hearing this in your mind on all volleys, Low and away, and hit for the shot to make him run, and once he gets there, he's forced to hit up on any pass or lob attempt. No matter what unless it's a total net sitter you can hit an oh on, it's Low and away.

[bottle]

I continue to think this is very good stuff. This morning I tried the doubles advice about camping on the middle line. What a great way to shake up boring patterns.

My partner and I must have won the first seven points on his serve this way. I was using the fakes just as you described.

Then I zagged when I could have zigged-- the only point my partner remembered!

Answer: Get a smarter, more sympathetic partner, right?

[GeoffWilliams]

Partner adjustment doubles

If your partner is upset about you losing a point or two, even after you have won many others, by taking shots away from him back court, it's time to dump that guy! I had a partner say, "Geoff, you are taking all my shots away from me. Stop moving so much at the net!", a 5.0 guy, narcissistic, as hell. I put away three volleys in a row using this very same tactic, and he: who also loved to hit winners, yet got mad at me for my two or three to his 20-30! Prick. Any partner who cannot keep a correct line/running tab on whether you are effective or not, and esp. if he does it in ear shot public, is not partner indeed. Singles player.

[GeoffWilliams]

I continue to think this is very good stuff. This morning I tried the doubles advice about camping on the middle line. What a great way to shake up boring patterns.

My partner and I must have won the first seven points on his serve this way. I was using the fakes just as you described.

Then I zagged when I could have zigged-- the only point my partner remembered!

Answer: Get a smarter, more sympathetic partner, right?

Anybody can do this and shake up returners, esp. if you can read his racquet, whether he's going down the line at you to stop your faking/slashing/moving. That's why a crouch down is effective, allows your server to still hit the slice angle without worrying about taking your head off! Also gets your inertia moving as you pop up out of it, so you can now easily reach those shots you would not have moved on due to your normally slow reactions. Recreational players don't have the accuracy of the pros, that's for sure, and we have all been nailed in the back by these dumb ass guys who can't hit the side of the barn, but sure can nail your head! It's suddenly a lot of fun to now take those sitting returns, you have always watched go by you, and pound them down for ankle winners, leg shiners, chest red marks! You can reach them now, as you pop up out of the crouch, 4' from the center line, and the pros don't even crouch down at that point as they are all over that far normally. Nothing more fun in doubles than nailing sitters at the net, or snapping back on over heads and crash and burning your opponents to death.

The key is your read, as they will always try to stop you by going down the line on your movements. Read his dtl return, just as he starts his frame forward, and pop back to cover the line! He won't know how to deal with you at all anymore. They will often start to lob the returns.

[GeoffWilliams]

Moving at net will cause errors on returners

Faking/moving/slashing movements will cause them to miss, esp. if you learn how to time your move, just before he starts his forward frame momentum. It's a skill to time that perfectly, and the faking, with your hips, and head, darting forward, then staying/covering the dtl return, will often cause them to miss trying to hit too good a shot they normally would not miss, but now are distracted by your great movement, helping your partner hold easily, and reaping the benefits of many sitters now in reach.

[GeoffWilliams]

Adjust to a moving net man

The key is to be able to go dtl right by him on his moves, so you have to be able to hit that shot, esp. easy if his server does not have a great serve, or a second serve that just lays up and sits there. It also is nec., against better players who are adept at reading your moves, your frame, to disguise the dtl shot return as if it's a normal cc away from net man return, and then to burn him dtl! Burn him off early or it will be a steady diet of poaching off even good returns. Early and often if he does not stay home. Doubles is more about first strike tennis, than singles is, as the serve is not as important, due to the net man moving/faking/poaching makes it more difficult to break if they know what they are doing.

[GeoffWilliams]

Return and volley, not just serve and volley

Esp. effective in doubles. If the server does not have a good serve, play way inside the base line, and attack the return, even if the server is coming into net, you can dominate him by putting intense pressure by putting the return at his ankles, while you come into pick off his volley now coming up. Your partner can also fake poaches or go if you put it at his feet. So now they won't be able to hold at all. The anacone style of doubles is deadly if you can control your returns down with top spin at the servers ankles. Takes fast reflexes and someone who enjoys the net and is good at topspinning bh returns.

[bottle]

Fake Poaches from Center Line that Put You all the way in the Alley

Keep cards on your opponents: why you won, why you lost, what their fav. shots are, which sequences worked, which didn't and why. Which shot you have to add to beat them if you lost, and which shots caused them to lose if you won. Lendl kept 3 x 5" cards. Why not you?

Well, I just pasted your posts 41, 49, 50, 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 into a cohesive Word file entitled "Williams for Tomorrow" since tomorrow I will play with the same players who annoyed me yesterday.

While I was doing this, although it takes almost no time, I got an emergency call from the club. A senior had just wrenched his knee and the other three guys wondered if I could fill in. I said I would be there in 12 minutes, and I didn't have to pay any court fee. I camped out four feet from center line every time my partner served and had a very, very good day for me. And had my morning coffee with these guys afterward.

You never know whose words are going to click with you and when. This was when. Thanks.

[GeoffWilliams]

Great to enjoy an adjustment

At least Bottle is listening! You can set up even good returners with this sequence: Esp. if your partner is told where to serve and when. Tell him to serve to the returners fh side. Set up in a crouch 4' from the center line. (Most good returners are good off both sides but are almost always better changing direction on the fh side.) Pop up and fake to poach, then jet back and cover the alley/doubles line the first time you set this up. Then, next time he is returning, tell your partner to serve to his bh side. Pop up off crouch and poach cc. The shot will almost always go away from you as you have set his mind to believe you are going to fake, not go!

[GeoffWilliams]

Adjust your volley

If the returner/passer is putting it at your ankles, in a two or three stage pass sequence, you have to learn one of the hardest things to learn: stop and back up a bit, and take the volley as a ground stroke, that is now a short sitter with you in a dominant court position! Extremely hard to learn as we are conditioned to close on a dropping shot no matter what! To sell this, you have to kamikaze the first one, as if you are a normal non adjusting volley-er.

[GeoffWilliams]

Adjust to their shots response to high ball to their bh

They will either hit a slice, or an answering moon ball, both of which set them up for a delayed net attack, fake like you are not going into net, then go. Very few will hit flat on this shot, only the best can. Most will then try to get it at your feet with a no pace slice. Slice floats though.