Are You a Right Side
or Left Side Player?

Nick Wheatley

Making the marginal gains that influence matches is dependent on understanding whether you are a right side player or a left side player. In this article we will show how to use a simple test to determine this based on the shot assessments you have already done from the first article. (Click Here.)

But first let's look at another factor that is fundamental to this: how crosscourt diagonals affect shot percentages. These diagonals include inside out forehands which are hit on a diagonal similar to the backhand crosscourt.

Why Crosscourt?

One obvious reason for hitting crosscourt is the height of the net is lower in the middle. Another reason is the diagonal length of a crosscourt shot is longer than a straight shot down the line, creating more space between you and the opponent's baseline.

Then there is the higher difficulty level of changing the direction of the ball from crosscourt to down the line. When you change to down the line, the ball naturally wants to bounce off your racket and head wide of the side line, so it takes confidence, and an early, strong hit to counteract this.

But the most important reason for hitting crosscourt is that recovery is easier. This is because when you hit crosscourt you position yourself slightly left of middle or slightly right of middle.

How far depends away from the middle depends on how wide an angle you may need to cover from a given opponent. An extreme angle can cross the sideline before reaching the depth of the service line.

The sharper the angle of your own crosscourt the more angle opportunity for your opponent. But that angle is only available to the opponent crosscourt.

This is the reason to position either left or right of the middle in the exchange. By knowing this players can make better decisions when the option to hit down the line appears.

Hopefully after reading the first article you have now chosen a top shot, one or two other fav shots, and a set up shot as well. Your set up shot should be the one that is most appealing to you personally.

If your set up shot happens to also be one of your other 2 fav shots, that is totally fine. If it doesn't, that is totally fine too.

Right and Left Side Patterns

Now let's determine which of the two crosscourt pattern suits your strengths the best. The right side pattern or the left side pattern.

If you have 2 right-handed players on court, the right side pattern would be the one where they are hitting forehands crosscourts to each other. The left side pattern would be backhand crosscourts or forehands inside out.

As the majority of all shots are hit crosscourt, most rallies end up in one of these patterns until someone decides to hit down the line or inside in. Then the rally will likely then switch to the other crosscourt pattern.

There is a simple test to work out whether right side or left side pattern most favours your game using the lists below. Assign 3 points for your top shot. Assign 1 point for your other two favs and 1 point for your set-up shot if it differs from your favs.

To see how this works here are the examples from my own game. My top shot is my forehand inside in. That's 3 points. My set up shot is my forehand inside out. That's 1 point. My two other fav shots are my forehand crosscourt, 1 point. My other fav shot is backhand crosscourt, also 1 point.

So my left side pattern total is 5 points. The only right side shot is my forehand crosscourt so my right side total is 1 point. So the test shows a 5-1 supremacy in favour of playing the rallies in the left side pattern.

If I'm in the right side pattern, my option to change the pattern is best achieved by hitting a forehand down the line when an opportunity presents itself, and I should expect my opponent to play the next shot crosscourt most of the time, which puts me back in the left side pattern.

Luckily my forehand down the line is also a shot I'm comfortable with. My backhand down the line is the shot I'm least comfortable with, but it's also the least important shot to me in terms of playing to my strengths.

So when I play my top shot, my forehand inside in, I'm likely to see the pattern change from my left side preference to the right side. Therefore, I'm normally looking to hit inside in when I feel I can hit it with enough authority that I can win the point or will still be in charge.

If the ball comes back crosscourt I now have the immediate option to hit a forehand down the line and switch the pattern back, or I may prefer to play the right side pattern for a shot or two hitting my forehand crosscourt, which should be no problem if I'm in control.

Secondary Shot

There is one more step to go in understanding your game. This is to pick a secondary shot. This can be anything that isn't covered in the shots we've already discussed, such as drop shots, a wicked slice angle, lobs, or something linked to net play.

The purpose of the secondary shot is to have a skill you can use which will change things up, and make you less predictable as a player. It should be something you like the idea of and are hopefully good at executing, and confident enough to use in matches.

These can also be incorporated to some extent within the crosscourt options. Again to use an example from my own game my choice here is the forehand drop shot.

So far, you know your top shot, your setup shot, your other fav shots, your secondary shot, and your preferred side, based on the nuances in deciding to hit crosscourt or down the line. All this info is what prepares to work out an additional valuable piece of info--your game style. Stay tuned for that next.