You’ve done countless shot drills at practice sessions.
You’ve gone through physical conditioning for a few months.
You’ve trained your mindset and adopted some of your own rituals.
When you play, you notice that your shots are a lot more predictable (we’ll talk about that later), you have enough fuel in the tank for the whole match and you don’t let emotions ruin your game.
You already feel like you have improved significantly, but there seems to be something missing still – like there’s another level yet to conquer.
And you’re absolutely right.
Up until now we haven’t discussed tennis tactics.
The reason for that is simple – to use tactics effectively you first need to have reliable shots, enough stamina and a winning mindset.
Common Approach: No Tactics
Most people know (either intuitively or logically) that tennis is about placing the ball away from their opponent.
However, they can’t do this consistently due to lack of practice, understanding of position and placement, and not accounting for simple probability.
A lot of people simply don’t play attacking shots and their game just looks like they’re doing rallies with a mate.
So when they come across an opponent that can use even the most basic of tactics, the outcome is usually obvious.
For a long while I played tennis “intuitively”, without thinking where to put the ball because it kind of worked out anyway.
That was enough at the intermediate level, however when I started facing advanced players, I could not keep up with what they were doing.
I made more mistakes due to the pressure and I didn’t know why – they seemed to just keep the pressure on.
I was frustrated and started looking into basic tactics and soon realised that these advanced players (club level still, not pros) were using simple tactics that were very effective against me (who didn’t know they existed and how to use them).
Once I started consciously adding them one by one to my game, I noticed that I could not only keep up, but even beat the more advanced players.
Suddenly I wasn’t the only one running around chasing shots, and was able to put the pressure back on my opponents.
Simple Tactics That Win Matches
The pros train and use a huge number of different tactics and it is mind boggling to learn them all.
The good news is that you don’t have to, at a recreational level.
With a good understanding of basic tactics you can improve your game significantly in a short amount of time, and win more matches.
Let me repeat that: an understanding of basics will make you play better than most players in your club.
In my experience, you will need as little as a few training sessions to start using what you have learned in your matches.
If you don’t have a coach or ball machine to practise this – that’s OK, just find a friend who plays at the same level and agree to use these tactics on each other during your practice rallies.
So, let’s get stuck in.
The Basics
The overarching goal is to win the match (and have fun while doing it).
At this level, tennis is a game of mistakes because nobody has pro-level fitness and consistency.
So, your strategy is to make your opponent make more mistakes (offence) while keeping your mistakes to a minimum (defence).
Best offence tactic is to place the ball inside the court and away from your opponent.
Best defence tactic is to be consistent with your returns.
Let’s explore the easiest ways you can do this on court.
Tactic 1: Counter Movement (Easy)
Place a deep shot to your right, so your opponent runs to return it (they will run further if they return with backhand as most players at this level use a two handed backhand which has less reach than forehand).
Then your opponent will run back to the centre position, and you place another deep shot to your right, as they are already running left.
This is SUPER effective because only a good athlete will have the training to suddenly change direction and reach that ball.
It might take a few rallies to set up, but generally this is easy to do with deep crosscourt shots.
Tactic 2: Change of Pace (Easy)
Most recreational players (especially the older ones) are good at consistent baseline rallies but hate shots that break the rhythm.
Change the pace of the game with slower shots.
Use slice, lob or drop shot because most recreational players can’t hit a good smash or pick up a low ball.
If your opponent is comfortable and consistent with topspin forehand (for example), try feeding them a few low slices that are tricky to hit hard with a top spin.
Tactic 3: Serve, Setup, Attack (Medium)
After a strong serve (first you need a good serve, hence “medium”), hit a deep ball to either corner of the court.
Your opponent will return a weaker shot to your service line and you can put away that ball easily.
This is where shot drills come in – you need to have a 100% success rate with these.
Once you hit that nice serve of yours, come forward to stand between back line and service line.
This way you don’t need to rush forward when your opponent makes a weak return from your serve.
Hitting the ball on the run is never a good idea for a number of reasons, including extra momentum, loss of balance and wrong foot placement.
To make a great shot you need to have a great foundation – your feet should be firmly planted to allow the rest of the kinetic chain to work coherently and give you power.
Every good shot has a lot of footwork preparation – you would have seen the pros do lots of tiny steps, trying to find that perfect position, before hitting the ball.
To recap:
- Make a strong serve
- Come forward a few steps
- Hit either corner
- Come forward to service line
- Finish the point
Tactic 4: Aim For Weaknesses (Advanced)
I’ve marked this one as “advanced” only because it is tricky to monitor your opponent’s game while under pressure.
If your opponent struggles with their backhand but hammers every forehand, you don’t need to be Djokovic to figure out where to place your shots for the best chance of winning them.
In case you can’t spot a weakness, or don’t have time to do so, just use one of the easier tactics we talked about earlier.
My Tried & Tested Tips On Attacking
- Don’t attack from the back line – you will be trying to play powerful winners that you haven’t practised
- Remember from the previous article that at recreational level placement always wins over power
- The best attacking position is from the service line onwards because you have more angle to play with, and then you can hit the ball higher above the net = better probability of successful shot
- When attacking, consciously switch to “attack mode” and don’t use your normal back line ground strokes (you will hit out)
- You need to practise attacking volleys, slice and a good topspin (all medium strength, as discussed)
- Bonus tip: check out Elevate Your Tennis With This Proven 1-Hour Drill
Tips from Patric Mouratoglou (coach of Tsitsipas, Gauff and Rune)
- Play cross court most of the time (higher success probability)
- Play deep to keep your opponent from attacking
- Position yourself between two widest possible angles that your opponent can play the ball, instead of standing on the centre line
- Play short only if your opponent is not comfortable at the net or picking up short low balls, and only use slice when playing short
- Play down the line only if your opponent is slow or if you want to change direction to their backhand, and use deep topspin when playing down the line
Here’s the full video.
Wrapping Up
Today we learned four basic tactics that you can start practising straight away and deploy in real matches shortly after.
With these tactics, basic as they seem, you will have a big advantage over most recreational players who just go with the flow of the game.
Keep the tips from Patrick and myself in mind when playing tennis, and you will soon notice that you’re winning more matches!
What tactics have been working for you? Can you share some tips on attack and defence? Do players at your club talk about tactics at all?