The Strategy Zone:
Groundstroke Finishes
Nick Bollettierri with Lance Luciani
The final component in the Strategy Zone system is called "Finish." How do you hit winners in match play against a wide variety of opponents?
I've been very fortunate to work with many of the best players in the world. Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Tommy Haas, and Maria Sharapova, among many others. These players know when to finish. They make up their mind, and that's it. But how do they know when to and how do they execute> Those are the key questions.
3 Components
In previous articles we've looked at how to establish the first two components of winning strategy "Control" and "Hurt." You can learn to create Control with your groundstrokes, with your return, and with your serve. (Click Here.)
Control leads directly to Hurt. Hurt means learning how to hit various shot combinations once you are in control of the point, shot combinations that punish your opponent and/or keep him on the run.
These first two steps--Control and Hurt--set you up to Finish. You can't jump over the steps. I can't stress too strongly that for top players, winners are part of a sequence that you build over the course of the point.
The goal is not to hit a highlight winner. The goal is to use a pattern to illicit a weak reply. The goal to generate that golden opportunity all good players live for: the short ball, and the chance to hit it into the open court for a winner.
The goal of the Finish shot is to hit a winner, but a well placed Finish shot may also force the opponent to make an error. But whichever, these finishing shots don't occur randomly. The key point to understand is that they are the outcome of a strategic pattern or process.
At the Academy we work on hitting the finishing or put away shot everyday. But your understanding of the Control and Hurt phases is what leads to better choices about when to hit the winning shot.
Top players hit a high percentages of winners, and/or shots that force errors. When these shots are totaled they substantially exceed the number of unforced errors. They can do this because they know how to work patterns based on their own capabilities.
Roger Federer for example, hits a wide serve and then moves quickly forward to hit the finish shot into the open court. Andre Agassi hurts the opponent with a drive to the open court, then changes direction for the winning Finish shot.
Both players make the process look effortless because they have mastered the Control and Hurt Phases. That's what we want to help you do as well. Build the point, and create you own unique patterns.
In this article we'll start by exploring the basic finishing shots off the ground. In our Strategy Zone DVD and manual, you'll find dozens of other examples of how to put develop other finishing shots through various combinations of Control and Hurt. (Click Here.) In upcoming articles, we'll also look at the various finishing strategies at the net.
Success Factors
The success of the groundstroke finishes depends on many factors, including ball recognition, footwork and spin.
A fundamental problem at the lower levels of play is ball recognition. Most players only recognize the oncoming shot at the time it bounces on their side of the court. Then they react. The failure to recognize opportunities prevents them from hitting winners that would otherwise be possible and routine.
Higher level players recognize the oncoming shot as it comes off the opponent's racket. But at the top levels of the game, it's a different world. Top players actually base their movement and preparation on how well they hit the previous ball. They choose the correct shot instinctively and without hesitation based on their sense of what is about to happen.
A second factor in finishing points is footwork. Tenniplayer contributor David Bailey has done a brilliant job in analyzing for the first timeall the various combinations of aggressive footwork used by pro players. (Click Here.) You can get more details on the specific patterns in his articles.
Top players recognize what shot they need to hit, move to the ball, and execute the footwork and shot patterns they need to finish the point. A key to this is to the ability to get up inside the court very quickly when they recognize the short ball. The first step has to be explosive and timed to begin as soon as the player reads the oncoming shot.
Speed and Spin
The third factor in successful finishing shots is spin. All groundstrokes are hit with a balance of pace and spin. What combination of pace and spin is ideal in a particular finishing shot? Great players understand how to mix these two factors.
If the opponent is clearly out of position and the court is open, the player can finish with a controlled amount of pace and a higher spin component. When the opponent is in the process of recovering closer to a good neutral position, it's a different situation.
Now you have a smaller target area to hit into in order to finish. Great players sense this and hit with more pace and less spin in order to make sure the winner really gets past the opponent.
But the main point for players at lower levels is this. If you are effective in the first two phases, you don't necessarily have to hit the ball hard to finish. The first two phases are designed to illicit a weak reply so that we can hit the Finish shot into a large target area when possible. Placement is actually much more important than power.
The Test
In order to learn to finish, you must develop the ability to take short balls and hit them into target areas with accuracy and consistency. But, as we saw with the basic patterns in the Control and Hurt phase, most players have surprising difficulty hitting these basic placements with any consistency.
In general players obsess over the minutiae of stroke technique at the expense of the geometric construction of winning points. This may sound harsh but it's true. Unless you can effectively hit the patterns outlined in this series, all the information you believe you have mastered about technique is has very little value--at least if you goal is to win matches.
The animation shows the drills you should use to evaluate the current state of your accuracy in the Finish phase. Can you move up into the court and hit accurately down the line? On the forehand side? On the backhand? Can you do the same thing hitting crosscourt? How about hitting inside out and inside in? Can you do it in high balls? Low Balls?
Set up and targets and test yourself by seeing how many times you can hit the target areas out of 5 balls, or 10 balls. Do it for all the shots and variations above. if you want to win points you should be able very comfortable hitting the targets 8 of 10 times on a regular basis.
Half Court Finish
Now let's look at two other drills that help players learn how to execute the basic groundstroke finish. We've said that when players establish control and then are able to hurt the opponent, they create a large target area to finish.
The reality is this. If you watch pro players you'll see that they can only finish successfully when they have half a court to hit into. This means the opponent has been pushed far enough out of position that they cannot recover to a neutral position near the center of the court.
The first drill helps you feel when you have that target area and allows you to practice finishing into it. As the animation shows, you divide the court down the middle with arrows or cones.
Now play out backcourt points and work to get the player wide and off the court to either side. The key to finishing in this drill is to only attempt the winner when you have half the court to hit into. If your opponent can recover close to the middle, you continue to work to open the court.
Too many players are mesmerized by the spectacular highlight winners. What you are really looking for is a weak reply, usually a short ball, that allows you to strike the finishing shot when half the court is open. Finishing into large target areas of the open court is the bread and butter for winning point after point at all levels, and ultimately, winning matches.
Depth Drill
A second live ball drill to work on this is to place the arrows or cones across the court roughly halfway between the service line and the baseline. This drill helps the player feel when to actually attempt a winner. Basically you should not attempt to finish until you can move forward and end up inside of the line.
Again, players confuse power with winning points and typically try far too many low percentage winners from positions that are too deep in the court. This game teaches you to associate the finishing shot with a ball on which you can come forward.
So that's it for the basics of groundstroke finishes. There are many, many patterns that can lead to winners off the ground. Just remember that they are set up by your ability to control the point, and open the court.
Next we'll start to look at the other possible Finish combinations at the net, including the swinging volleys.
