There are a number of extraneous factors, beyond the control of a player or his opponent, which can upset a star performer considerably, and can wreak havoc with the game of an ordinary player. A man who really understands how to take full advantage of unusual conditions has a big edge over one who doesn’t.
Nevertheless, it’s the rare player who ever takes the trouble to study out what to do when up against such conditions as a strong wind or a bad court surface. Most players are so busy cursing the things that are bothering them, or crying in self-pity, that they forget to play tennis. One thing that few people realize is that bad conditions are great levellers of form.
Most people think that bad conditions aid the better tennis player, if anything. Actually, the reverse is true, because the better player plays to a narrower margin of safety, normally. So it takes fewer and less severe unexpected difficulties to make him miss than it does the poorer player, who is not trying to do much more than merely hit the hall hack over the net. However, the acute player who takes full cognizance of bad conditions, and then consciously plays to offset them or even to take advantage of them, can turn wind, slippery courts, or a torn-up court surface into assets rather than liabilities.
Wind. Because it is the most uncertain of the outside conditions, the wind is, perhaps, the most difficult one to offset. High wind invariably lowers the standard of play and presents the most difficult problems over and above the normal ones that exist under normal circumstances.
I believe there are more upsets due to high wind than to any other single factor. There are no sure ways to offset a gale, but here are a few general things to remember when you’re playing on a windy court.
1. Even greater concentration is required than at any other time.
2. Although it requires the earliest possible preparation of the racquet, you must hold your actual shot until the last moment.
3. It calls for a very short backswing, so the ball will not blow away while your racquet is coming forward on the stroke.
4. You must hit the ball solidly and decisively and use a long follow-through, or the ball will be blown all over the place.
5. Service should be hit with rather reduced backswing, and hit flat.
6. Ground strokes: The drive should carry little spin, but should be hit flat and with plenty of power, so that the wind will have little chance to take hold of the ball.
Always drive with the wind if possible; the spin on a slice or chop makes the ball soar too much. On the other hand, when playing against the wind, the chop is the more effective shot, although the drive may often be used.
7. The net game: When playing with the wind, go in whenever possible behind a drive, but do not try to use too much speed either on your advancing shot or on your volley or smash. All the advantage is with a net player in this situation, since an opponent’s passing shot probably will be slowed down enough to enable the net player to reach it, and his lob may often be ,100 short and allow the net player a kill. Conversely, don’t try to go to the net very often when playing against the wind yourself. If the wind is blowing cross-court, advance on the cross-court shot that goes with the wind and close off the straight-shot return.
8. Against a net player: Drive for a passing shot when the wind is with you. Lob very little with the wind, but use the Iob a lot against the wind, and keep it deep. If you try a passing shot when playing into the wind, a slow, soft cross-court drive is your best selection. If the wind is blowing cross-court, pass with a straight shot on the up-wind side, so the wind will tend to blow your shot into court.
9. Against the wind, the slice shot should be employed frequently, mixed in with the drive, and the drop shot should be tried fairly often as well.
Once more, let me emphasize that the constant keeping in mind of all of these points requires complete concentration on what you are doing at all times. When playing under windy conditions, force yourself to concentrate no matter what else you do.
The Slippery Court. The attacking game is handicapped tremendously on a slippery court because attack depends upon perfect footwork, which, on a slippery court, is almost impossible. Therefore, the net game can be used only sparingly. The ground game is the only solution to the problem, and since your feet may slide under you, you seldom can get set for great speed.
Now is the time when control and mixed spin and direction really come into their own. The greatest attack on a slippery court is varied depth-alternate short and deep shots. The most consistent winner is a sudden shot back to the place a player has just left, since to stop and turn on a slippery court is extremely difficult. However, to make this winner effective, you must use the corner-to-corner placement first to get your opponent moving. Mixed spin shots are also very tough to handle on a slippery court, since proper preparation is hard to achieve, and proper preparation is the only way to meet mixed spin successfully.
The Rough, Uneven Court Surface. This will produce bad bounces in such numbers that it makes impossible the usual method of judging the bound. Playing on this type of court, once again you must take the racquet head back and have it ready at the earliest possible moment, but hold the actual shot until the last second, in order to be ready in case of a bad bound. The backswing should be short, and the same sort of intense concentration is required as is the case when playing in the wind.
However, the best solution for beating the problems offered by a really rough court surface is to go to the net at every opportunity. Follow service in consistently, and also, whenever possible, go in on your return of your opponent’s service. In other words, play the ball in the air, before it has a chance to bounce, as often as you can. Certainly, it is taking chances to go into the net so much, but you are taking at least equal risks in staying back and having to face the bad bounces that will surely annoy you. Don’t let bad conditions upset you and ruin your game. Realize that they are just as bad for your opponent, and if you can combat them intelligently and effectively, you can make them assets in a match.
The Entire Tournament Programme. A wise player always takes a look at the draw, in a tournament, and figures out whom he will probably meet in each round, if he wins. This is not conceit, but merely common-sense preparation. However, once you have looked over the possibilities, then play each match at a time without thinking about the future ones, except as they fit into the whole picture.
Often a player has his mind so intent up on how he will play some star in the semifinal that he gets licked by some comparative dub in the second round, just because he forgot that he had to beat him first. He could have won if his mind had been on his match, but he was two days ahead of time, thinking of the star. It only takes one defeat to put you out of a tournament, no matter who you are, so keep your mind on the match at hand until it is over and won, and then begin to think about your next opponent.
With that word of warning, I will go on to the real point of this particular section, which, at first glance, may seem a little contradictory. But it isn’t. If you don’t lose sight of the fact that each individual match must be won before you can play the next one, you can start thinking generally in terms of the entire tournament programme.
You should always try to so pace yourself, time your game, and prime your condition, that you play your best tennis when you need it, in the important matches of the biggest tournaments. Don’t waste your very best on pushovers in early rounds of small tournaments. You don’t need an elephant gun to kill a squirrel. I remember Jack Dempsey once saying that the stamp of the champion was his ability to be right at ten o’clock on the night of September 8th in Madison Square Garden, when the championship fight started. Not at nine o’clock or eleven o’clock, but at ten o’clock. That may be an oversimplification, but it’s a deeply searching exposition of the quality that makes a champion in any sport.
It’s the ability to be right at the moment when the stakes are highest, the pressure greatest with a title itself at stake. That is what a player must try to learn to do all through a season. By learning it in each tournament, you gradually learn to do it all the time, bringing your game to a peak at the great tournaments, and letting down a bit in between. One reason why I believe that Pancho Gonzales will be a great performer for years to come is that, in 1948 and 1949, although his record was marred by many minor losses, he produced when he had to, and won all the important United States championships, on every type of court surface. That shows true championship quality to a remarkable degree.
You must play every match with enough concentration on it alone to win, even if you think it’s going to be easy for you. But you must save your peak of physical condition and your ultimate tennis talents for the times when you are going to need them most.