Tennis matches are won by the man who hits the ball to the right place at the right time most of ten. That right place may be determined by the possibility of making a clean winner, but more of ten it’s a place from which an opponent will make an error on his return shot. Nothing is so disconcerting or upsetting to a player as to miss. A magnificent shot, which beats him completely, doesn’t cause him much mental anguish because, if he is a sportsman, he will admire it and then not worry about it any more.
On the other hand, each time he sees an important shot of his own sail out of court or into the net, a player becomes more nervous and less likely to win a match. The more errors he makes, the less likely are his chances of pulling his game together on subsequent points. Remember that in first-class tournament tennis, 7° per cent of all points end in error, a net or an out, and only 30 per cent end in winning placements or service aces. (Of course, the percentage of points ending in an error is even higher in poorer-calibre tennis.)
This fact gives birth to the first great rule in general tactics:
Keep the bal! in play and give your opponent another shot at it, rather than risk an error by taking an unnecessary chance. Notice the word “unnecessary” in that rule. Naturally, if you are presented with a weak shot, be ready to take advantage of it. But the keynote of good tactics is to be content to keep the ball going and move your opponent around his court unless:
1. You see the big opening and decide to hit out for a winner, or
2. You are forced into an almost hopeless position, with little chance to extricate yourself, and you decide that the gamble carries practically no extra risk, and may conceivably turn the tables in your favour.
Let your opponent be the one to take the unnecessary chances, and the one who will pile up the majority of those 70 per cent errors. You are playing the percentage if you do so, and you’ll beat your opponent if you are otherwise evenly matched. However, always be ready for the opening to win outright, while you are keeping the ball going. You are “playing your hooked fish” -getting ready to land him. The best tennis tacticians play a defensive game with an offensive mental attitude.
The first thought that you should have, when you step on to a court for a match, is “What are my opponent’s weaknesses? Where will he miss most?” You should start at once, even during the warm-up, to watch for the signs that point to weaknesses.
The beginning of any tennis match has somewhat the same quality as that shown by two boxers, feeling each other out before risking their respective attacks. Much of that exploration can be achieved during the warm-up period if you are clever about it, and the chances are that your opponent will be quite unaware of the fact that you are doing anything except warming up.
The way to do it is to vary your first shots to him: a drive, a chop-a fast shot, then a slow one. Stick in a mid-court shot and watch what he does with it. Does he walk in and hit hard, and then come into volley, or does he just hit back, and then retire to the baseline again? Did he show any sign of hesitancy in hitting your backspin slice? Did he attempt to meet speed with speed, or did he show timidity in returning your fast drives? What was the form of his ground strokes?
You should be able to get same leading hints about two aspects of your opponent’s tennis game by the end of the warm-up period. They are:
1. The type of game he will probably elect to play against you, which, unless he knows something about you, is undoubtedly his most natural and strongest game.
2. Any weaknesses in stroke production he may have, which are likely to be obvious if the form of his ground strokes is faulty in certain respects.
Let’s take up these two aspects in detail, and see what indications your opponent may give you that will help you determine how to plan your own offence.
1. The Type of Game, etc. If, at the end of the warmup, you are of the opinion that he is going to defend from the baseline and doesn’t like speed, you should attack in the first game, going to the net behind fast drives. If, on the other hand, you think he will turn out to be a slugger (a much more likely thing these days), start your match in slow, soft tempo, using distinct variation of spin and depth.
By so doing you are attempting to upset the hitter at the very outset, by forcing errors from him. In any case, start all matches with a slow enough tempo and pace so that your own energies will be able to build in power and pressure, no matter how long the match continues. The modern “neck or nothing” type of game usually goes off like an explosion, but if the original impetus fails to carry to victory, there is no reserve left for a rally.
You should space every match so that you still have a final physical and mental reserve to call upon, a little unexpended energy to bring up for victory in a final set. Too many players waste valuable energy in rushing a match unnecessarily. The wise player !earns to relax physically between points, games, and sets, even though he can never relax mentally until the match is over.
Walk, don’t run, into position. Don’t stall deliberately, but you are entitled to a reasonable time in which to get ready, so take it, even if your opponent is stewing and fidgeting to get started on a point. Play your own game, not his. If you are playing a rusher, slow up the tempo. If you are up against a staller, keep him moving a shade faster than he likes.
There is nothing unsporting about this-you are simply taking your rights under the rules. The proper tempo of a match for you is the one you like, and you should make every effort to set it. When two players start a match, it is always a battle to see who will dominate the match, and who will be pushed around. One player or the other will ultimately impress his tennis personality on the other.
The one who does will win, because by so doing he forces the recognition of impending defeat upon his opponent. One of the surest ways to achieve this state of affairs is to set your own tempo and hold it. Do it courteously, with all due regard to your opponent’s rights, but do it.
An attitude of calm confidence goes a long way toward maintaining a mental edge. The more you can make your opponent feel that you expect to win, intend to win, and there’s nothing he can do to shake your confidence and determination, the harder it is for him to hold his own concentration. That old school bromide “A man who won’t be beaten can’t be beaten,” may be ripe corn, but there’s a lot of truth in it.
2. Weaknesses in Stroke Production your opponent may display by the form of his Ground Strokes. During the warm-up period, there are several definite indications of this sort which you can use later to your advantage.
(a) The form of the shot, particularly with respect to the backswing and feet. If you meet a player with a roundhouse backswing, starting high, or a man who faces the net while making a stroke, you will know at once that he is vulnerable to a low, backspin shot into the deep corners. He is also an easy mark for a speedy shot aimed directly at him, since he will be caught with his racquet too high and forced to crowd his return.
Any player who faces the net when he hits his shots can’t get down to the ball and still keep his body out of the way of his swing, on low, short shots. He will also have trouble on shots that keep going away from him and make him reach, since he cannot throw his weight out on a balancing foot, as he could if he stroked from the sideways position. Therefore, the sharply angled cross-court shot will tie this man in knots.
(b) A definite tendency to run around a ball that should be played on the backhand, and to take it on the forehand. The fact that your opponent is so eager to stay away from playing a shot off his backhand means that he is weak off that side, but watch out in trying to exploit that weakness. He has probably built up his greatest strength, his forehand drive made from his backhand court, to cover it.
J. O. Anderson, the Australian Davis Cup star of a quarter of a century ago, was such a player, and only really dangerous when he could pound his pet forehand from the backhand court. The way to play this obvious weakness is to hit once to the side or corner of the forehand court, in order to open up the backhand court, and then attack the latter. Against a man with a backhand weakness, it is also good to go to the net once you have placed the ball solidly on that side, for the return is likely to be a weak one.
(c) A tendency to hang back on the baseline when it is logical to come to the net. This probably means your opponent possesses an uncertain volley or overhead. Try him out early in the match by using short shots, and even a drop shot or two. Then, if he stays in at the net, as he almost must do, hit directly at him once with great speed, try one soft, angled passing shot, and toss up a Iob. His method of playing these shots will confirm your suspicions if he is poor at certain aspects of net play. If he is, draw him in whenever possible, and then give him every chance to make errors by playing to his weakness.
(d) A continuous net attack. This is likely to me an uncertain ground strokes. You should use every method, including lobbing, to force your opponent away from the net during the early games. If unsuccessful in doing so, go in a good deal on your own service, so that at least he is forced to play every second game from the back court. That will offer enough of a chance for his weakness to show up, if he has it.
All of the above can be summed up in another important tactical rule: Never give your opponent a shot he likes to play if you can avoid it. (There is an exception to this rule, which will be discussed a little later on, but the rule is an excellent one under most circumstances.) No one, not even the greatest tactician in the world, can lay down specific rules of tactics for any given point, or series of points, and have them work every time.
You may start a point with a definite idea of just how you will play it to win, have things seem to be going well, and then any one of several occurrences may take place and force you to change your plans. You may play a weaker or shorter shot than you intended, and your opponent will take the attack away from you. Or you may start out to exploit your opponent’s weakness only to have him make a lucky shot off it, or even an unexpectedly good shot, which leaves him in a favourable position if you continue the attack you planned. Or you may have guessed wrong on what your opponent himself planned to do. He may come in when you thought he was going to stay back, with the result that carrying through your original plan would now be fatal. In all of these circumstances, and others like them, you must discard your original ideas and bring up fresh ones to meet the new situation.
Do not be mechanical or pigheaded about your tactics. Always keep an open mind, aware of the whole picture and ready to change plans at any time if it seems wise. Far too many players make up their minds to play a certain point, game, set, or even match in one way, and stick to it even when it’s obvious that they’re getting nowhere with it. That is neither courage nor determination-it is stupidity. There are two generalities of tactics which should be borne in mind in this connection:
Never change a winning game.
Always change a losing game.
The first seems obvious. You would think that anyone would know enough to follow that rule, but for some perverse reason it seems to work the other way with some players. A man will build up a winning lead by staying back and pounding his opponent’s backhand. Then suddenly, for no understandable reason except perhaps a desire to finish in a blaze of glory, he begins to rush the net, starts losing points, and ends by being defeated. Perhaps the reverse takes place. He builds up his lead by going to the net constantly but, just as he should be finishing his man off, suddenly retires to the baseline and eventually loses.
Perhaps he gains his le ad by slow finesse and changes to speed for no reason, or vice versa. In each case he changes a winning game before he has won, and by doing so he gets just what he deserves-a licking.
Conversely, it is stupid to insist upon playing to the end a type of game that is losing badly. If you do, you are certain to lose. You may lose anyway, but you might better try to win with something else. If you can’t win from the baseline, go to the net. If you have been going in, and it hasn’t been working, stay back and see if you can out-steady your opponent. Try out something new, if what you have previously been trying has failed.
There is another approach to this tactical problem, which is that your opponent is never completely beaten until you have broken his morale, and made him conscious of his impending defeat. Pounding a weakness is one way to do it. It is the longest, often the surest, and certainly the most universally used method. A method I frequently prefer is quicker, more exciting, and perhaps more dangerous, but if it’s successful it inflicts the most lasting of all defeats. It is to play your opponent’s strength until you break it.
(This, of course, is the exception to the tactical rule of not giving your opponent a shot he likes to play.) Believe me, once a player finds his favourite shot won’t win for him, his whole game collapses. If he can’t win with his strength, he can’t win at all. Once a player admits defeat to himself he is through, even though he plays on gamely, and tries to hide it. Certainly, the very fact that you attack his strong point with assurance and confidence will shake him, if you get away with it a few times. It makes him aware of your strength of purpose and will to win, and keeps tremendous mental pressure on him that is worth much to you in a long match. It takes courage and determination on your part to attack his strength, but if you do it of your own volition you are prepared for his reply, and you can tune your own game accordingly.
Finally, in sizing up your opponent, be prepared for the deliberate “goat-getter”, the man who consciously sets out to irritate you and destroy your concentration. If you are prepared for him you have the battle half won before it starts. The goat-getter is usually a fresh gent who starts out by telling you, or hinting to you on the way to the court, how easily he will win.
He then is apt to stall around and generally foul up the court so that it’s almost impossible to set a tempo to the match and hold it. He isn’t really trying to set a tempo to the pace of the play, which is what I have advised you to do; he is merely attempting to upset you by his disregard of ordinary tennis court manners. The greatest weapon against the goat-getter is to ignore his verbal or physical “needling” completely. Go your own way, pay no attention to his remarks, play if anything a shade more slowly than he does, and give no show of irritation even if you are burning up inside.
But do not go out on to the court looking for trouble. Most players are good sportsmen, and their occasional lapses from courtesy are due to thoughtlessness or carelessness, and are not intentional. You can always delude yourself into believing you are being cheated or needled, if you start looking for trouble. If you do, you can completely destroy your own concentration, even though the fancied offence that bothered may not really have been present at all. Close calls can always give rise to differences of opinion, but just call them as you see them, without prejudice or favour. Call them as impersonally in your own match as if you were a linesman in a match between strangers.
Only on the shot on which you are really uncertain should you give the benefit of the doubt to your opponent. If you are fair and impartial yourself and believe your opponent to be the same, you are playing the game. You may both make mistakes at times, but they will be honest mistakes and they should be forgotten, with no hard feelings, by the next point. Thinking about past points you have lost, whether because of bad decisions or unlucky breaks, only costs you present points as well, because your mind is not on your job.