Tour player question

[CraigC]

So I was on court with a tour player today and we had a discussion that led to an unanswered question. Here is the situation and I'm looking for help on how to proceed. He said, "my basic game is to get to the net at every opportunity as my strength is my volley game. Assuming I get a short ball I want to approach as often as possible. My coach says I should always hit an approach shot when I get the short ball, because my opponent will feel the relentless pressure. I believe that I should go for a winner at 40-0 or on "not so big" points, in order to keep my opponent off balance, and not always give him a chance to pass.
My coach says I should let the relentless pressure of approaching wear my opponent down,and must always make the shot when I get a short ball, because my net game is the strength. I feel that going for a winner once in a while will make my opponent fear hitting a short ball and cause more mistakes from his racquet. I also think that the confusion of him not knowing what is coming, might pay some dividends."

So I'm wondering what others would advise? I will give my two cents as to what I advised, after I hear other responses to this one.

[johnyandell]

Well, what happens in both cases? I'll have to say why bother to volley if you can hit a clean winner one ball before. BUT I do think it's situational. Every player can feel when they have the winner in their sites--even if they miss some from time to time. And also that a winner against one player sometimes isn't against another.

Now on the approach how does the particular opponent handle it? Do you feel like you are REALLY pressuring him--even if he comes up with some passes--if so then that relentlessness does usually pay off over time. BUT if you just feel you are lining up another easy pass for him, well, that would argue for the mixed strategy. This is assuming you do hit some winners--not just tee off and make error after error.

So if it's really easy or really hard to win the points--then go for more winners--if the approach is just giving you one dream volley and/or one error from the opponent after another then that's the ticket.

[kenknight]

I know I'm not an expert on these things...but I got confused.

Honestly though, if playing the net is the best part of his game, waiting at the baseline before putting away a short ball doesn't really help accentuate that. It seems he's only playing to his strengths when he gets a short ball, and only really moves to net to be sure the ball is put away.

Putting away short balls should be a part of everyone's game. But this guy just appears to go for broke, and he doesn't even seem to use his volleying skills often.

I'd tell the guy that unless his opponent is far off the court and he can angle it away, on those short balls it'd be best to crack it down the line and put the point away with his strength. He should be making less errors if he sets himself up a little more instead of immediately aiming to put the ball away.

Also, why only wait for a short ball? If volleying is his strength, he should get there sooner! Try some serve and volleying on some points. Or during a normal rally, if he can open up the court and send a ball down the line, approach a bit. Or chip and charge, and try to get on the initiative and get to the net as quickly as possible instead of waiting.

The guy seems to have a lot of flawed logic.