Pro Patterns:
Basic Diagonals
Craig CignarelliPage 1
When start to work with a new player,I like to ask a simple question.
"How do you develop a point in order to win?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean what are your patterns?"
"What do you mean patterns? There are patterns of play?"
Many players, including some who have had success at fairly high levels, do not recognize
that control of the patterns in match play is usually the deciding factor. This awareness
(or lack of awareness) seems to be a fundamental difference between people who are playing
tennis and quality tennis players. I believe that understanding the dimensions of the
tennis court and the geometric patterns of ball movement are critical ingredients to
advanced achievement in this game.
Style Versus Style
The bottom line of this game is simple. If we eliminate all of the emotional attachments
and external distractions, it comes down to a style versus style match-up.
What type of game do I have versus what type of game does my opponent have?
Then, what are my inherent strengths and what are my opponent's weaknesses? How can the
strengths of my style prey upon the weaknesses of his style? It's that simple but few
players break it down to what it really is. The style versus style match-up is the
essence of the game.
In this series we are going to explore styles and patterns of baseline
play. Rather than simply theorizing, we are going to look at actual pro points filmed
in live tournament play, starting with backcourt points and in future articles, moving
on to approach and serve and volley.
A Few Simple Themes
Basic baseline strategy can be reduced to a few simple themes:
1. Find the crosscourt rally that either favors your strength or attacks your opponent's weakness.
2. Use your favorable rally to create an angle, which opens the court for your winner.
3. Use the down the line shot to either attack, hit a winner, or change the crosscourt rally to your favor.
4. Create your rally and punish your opponent for trying to change direction.
5. Move a slow opponent using consistency and depth on all shots until you receive a short ball or floater to attack.
Within this basic structure you can also move your opponent up and back or bring him into the net.
But these tactics pretty much cover your options from the baseline.
Crosscourt
Virtually all coaches who study tactics agree that hitting crosscourt is the high
percentage shot. (Click Here for Allen Fox's seminal article on this topic.). The net is lower,
the court is longer, your hips are not restricted by the shot, the shot does not require a risky
change of ball direction, and your recovery distance is minimized.
Mastery of the crosscourt rally wins thousands of matches due to intelligence over ego. Intelligence
dictates the competitor play the high percentage shot, while offering the opponent the lower-percentage
down the line play. Ego tempts the shotmaker to hit down the line to the shorter part of the court,
and over a higher net, believing he can produce great shots often enough to win over the long term.
Rarely is he successful.
In the modern pro game there are three primary crosscourt rallies:
1. Forehand to forehand
2. Backhand to backhand
3. Inside out forehand to backhand
There is also a fourth possible crosscourt exchange: inside-out backhand to forehand that a few players (Daniela Hantuchova and Serena and Venus Williams) use effectively.
When we talk about hitting crosscourt, however, we have to make a further distinction between hitting crosscourt deep, and hitting on shorter, sharper angles. These are actually different shots that play different roles in the way players construct their points.
In working with my players, I use this terminology in describing how to put patterns together:
1. "Cross": a basic deep crosscourt shot which crosses the baseline before it crosses the singles sideline.
2. "Angle": a ball struck on the outside, with spin, to create a shorter angle which drives an opponent outside the singles sidelines before it crosses the baseline.
3. "Line": a shot hit down the line.
To understand a basic example of how pro players use these shots, let's pick one
of Andre Agassi's favorite patterns. Agassi establishes the forehand to forehand rally and then
uses the angled crosscourt to drive the opponent off the court, to open up the
down the line winner.
The pattern is Forehand Cross, Forehand Angle, Forehand Line. Andre will usually attempt
a winner on the last shot. If the opponent tries to change direction Andre exploits it by going crosscourt the other way, driving him outside the singles lines.
An attacking player with a competent volley, might use the same pattern, hitting an approach shot down the line instead of a groundstroke winner.
