The short ball.....

You know i have been taught and have been on courses whereby tutors have taught many aspects in tennis of attacking a short ball.
I was even lead to believe that a short ball is anything that lands in a certain area of the court and this should be attacked at all costs being an attacking baseline player. For many years this was the case for me until i eventually worked it out myself! If only my coaches when i was younger had taught me this simple application then i may have won more trophies!

The trouble with this scenario was whilst playing matches i always found it difficult to get into the net or up the court on certain short balls! Perhaps you have had the same problem?

Now as a player, instinct told me to stay back or attack/approach on these balls but how do we teach this to our students?

Take a look at the diagram below. This was designed by a great coach Ray Brown who amongst many accolades is a tour coach in the USA.

This explains it all. I had been on countless courses in the UK whereby coach education tutors where teaching nothing like this, except ''for your standard anything short should be attacked''. By looking at the diagram above you can understand why many shots hit by the top players land short but keep many players back! The amount of driven spin on these shots make approaching or attacking a little more difficult.

Here are my 3 top tips on attacking short balls

1. Be alert and  be ready for when you get that short ball you jump on it straight away
2. Take it on the rise
3. Throw your body into the shot and carry on moving through the shot

If you want more advice on any of these articles then please feel free to email me enquiries@andytennis.co.uk