hey guys, Alex here from top tennis training, and in today's video we're going to cover
when should you go for a winner in a tennis rally
well it's important to note that not every winner is the same
some people associate a winner by hitting a powerful shot that's a winner with power
there are also other types of winners you can have a winner with precision you
can have a winner by taking the time away from your opponent by not risking too much
now before we get any deeper into the lesson if you're serious about improving your game
then make sure you have subscribed to the channel but you also turn on that notification bell
so that youtube will let you know whenever we release a new lesson so it all depends on where
your opponent is on the court where you are on the court and how much time you have on the ball
so when i have a lot of time and i'm inside the court the ball is nice and high
over the net i can go for a power winner this is the winner that feels the best
this is the winner we associate with like actually going for it
it's a shot that we should go for because we've earned the right to do so if you don't take the
opportunity if you don't go for a win in that situation you're wasting the chance to win the
point quicker you may perhaps have to hit another three or four maybe five shots after that and
perhaps you may even miss the ball by going for a win in that situation you give yourself the best
chance to win the point of course we have to practice hitting winners from inside the court
the second winner is going for winner with precision this is when you get the opponent
out of position by moving them around perhaps by using angles
so going side to side to side and then hitting into the open space
you can hit a winner by wrong footing your opponent so perhaps
you're going left to right to left to right and then back right again
and this works particularly well with players who are a little bit faster
so the fast player will start to recover back to the middle and by wrong footing them and
hitting a precise shot angle you will actually hit a winner without having to do so with power
another type of winner is by bringing the player in with a shorter ball
and then hitting a lob again a lob can be a winner it's not hit with a lot of power
it's a precise shot because it's high and deep but it can be a winner if you've hit
it with enough spin and actually made made it high enough for the player not to reach you with their
smash
now if you see a space when they come forward you can also use a passing shot
to go either cross court or down a line
another type of winner is by going deep playing against a player perhaps who's a retriever who
stands very far behind the baseline you come inside the court and you play a precision shot but
this time it's a drop shot a drop shot is also a winner because the ball may bounce more than once
before the player reaches the ball so by hitting a drop shot you're also hitting a winner
when you are hitting that drop shot you don't want to be too far behind the baseline you want to be
inside the court not only do you have to disguise the shot so that the player doesn't start running
for it but also you don't want to be behind the baseline because the ball will take a long time to
reach the other side and the other player will have a chance to get it so make sure
that you're giving back spin so the ball doesn't bounce forward you're giving it enough height
where you have to be inside the court so that the ball takes less time to get
to the other side and hopefully wrong foot your opponent who's not expecting for you to do that
coming forward and taking the ball on can also give you a winner so the player won't be able to
reach it because perhaps they're out of the court they've played a slightly slower ball you see the
opportunity to come forward you take the ball early and you play into the opposite direction
it doesn't need to have a lot of power it doesn't particularly need to be very precise but you can
still hit a winner that way because they're not quick enough to recover and to retrieve that ball
so all of those are winners that you can practice that you can hit in rallies
and you should become confident in doing and you should certainly go for them because by going
for them you give yourself the opportunity to win the point easier but also you become a more
aggressive player you become a player that's tougher to read and tougher to play against
if you're not going for winners if you're not going for that shot the player on the other side
may become comfortable a retriever can get you into those long rallies where you're not able
to break him down and win the point a player who's a little bit more aggressive may start taking the
ball on and actually because they're able to hit a few more shots they're gonna they're gonna take
over in that rally so if you ever get the chance to hit a winner because you're inside the court
and your body's moving forward you got behind the ball nice and early you should definitely do so
often in a rally an opportunity presents itself and we know exactly when to hit that winner
but often we're not sure when we shouldn't go for one so now we're going to go through some examples
perhaps you're being pushed back uh deep so you're behind the baseline you're being pushed far
and back behind the baseline you don't have a lot of angle to play with
therefore it's not a good idea for to go for a winner
so you can wait for the right opportunity you can be back
rallying high to high not going for that winner too early
earn the right by them dropping the ball short and then you can execute and go for it
again you could be being pushed side to side with angles you're on the run
sometimes good players will go for a win as a counter attack option because they
push simply too far out of the court to make it back in time if they make a normal shot
but most of the time you should play a defensive shot buying you some time to recover or a
neutralizing shot making it difficult for your opponent to attack the next shot a neutralizing
shot could mean a low slice where the ball stays low and forces your opponent to hit up
it could be a spinny lob that makes the the ball bounce up
off the court and doesn't give you your opponent the chance to
attack the next ball because the ball bounces outside of their comfort zone
you shouldn't go for a winner when the ball is outside of your own comfort zone
if for example you're trying to get to the ball and you haven't quite perfectly set up for it
it's not a good idea to go for a winner you're risking too much
if for example the ball is too low so often we approach the net and we think
oh the ball is close inside the court we have to hit a winner here no it's okay to
make the opponent try and come up with a pass so often just by
applying the pressure and coming forward behind the shot when the ball is short
if they come up with a great passing shot you say well done and you play the next point
but at least you've played the percentages by going for a winner too quickly
and going for a win and with the ball is below the height of the net you're
you're not able to hit the ball with power so you have to be very precise with what you do
you could play if you have enough angle you could play a nice top spin angle but again if you're
just going for that win and you're not covering the next shot it will be quite a risky option
you want to be behind the ball you want to be in position and you want to be in control
of the rally if you feel like your partner your opponent is in control of the rally is probably
not the right time to go for a winner unless you feel like you just you're not able to stay within
the rally anymore perhaps you're not fit enough because you're not able to sustain the temper that
your opponent has imposed in the rally then you may have may be forced to go for something extra
but the better option is to stay in the rally and look for the better opportunity when you're
behind the ball and a better opportunity when you've actually pushed your opponent
outside of their comfort zone and you're able to expose the space that they've created on the court
often in a rally i see players going for the winner without actually wearing their opponent
down a little bit more sometimes just by not going for that shot and making them chase a few
more balls down makes them so desperate that they go for a crazy shot and end up missing it anyway
so sometimes you win in the long run by making the player move around a lot and not
not hitting that winner too early if you see that the opponent is getting tired it's okay to keep
moving them around not having to risk too much you don't have to go for crazy shots if you're seeing
that your opponent one is not hurting you so if they're not hitting shot big shots against you
and you're comfortable within the rally and you're able to make them move side to side there will
come a time when they're not able to sustain that running anymore and then they end up going for
bigger shots themselves and if they start missing it it can spiral downwards in their game and you
can win it very you can win very easily without actually having to play good tennis yourself
another thing to note is a lot of the times you'll be playing against a big hitter
these are players that go for a lot of their shots and the tendency sometimes for us is to receive a
fast ball and when we're receiving a fastball we want to send the faster ball back you have
to resist that temptation and you have to try and catch the ball catch the power absorb the power
try and make them play another tough shot because i bet that by hitting a few shots with their and
if they're really going for it they will miss within the next few shots anyway so if you can
if you can make the move if you can keep the ball if you can neutralize that ball neutralize
their power you're in a much better position than trying to counter attack off their attacking shot
to hit a winner yourself from a fast attacking shot to counter attack from a fast attacking shot
requires a lot of skill even for a professional tennis player you need to have the ability to jab
that ball back to absorb the power and actually give some power back and it's a it's a very high
skill shot which not many players a go for or should even attempt
if you want to learn more about the tactics of playing matches
tactics of winning tennis rallies with different strategies you can join our vip
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you