Hey guys Alex here from Top Tennis Training and in this video, we're going
to cover when you should approach the net in tennis. So a lot of my students
for example, they'll struggle to understand when they should be
approaching in either doubles or in a single situation the first thing you
must understand is you must have your body momentum going forward so this
means you have to be behind the ball the ball has to be in front of you and as
you're hitting it your body has to be transferring forwards through the shot
so that you can maintain that momentum and carry on running through the shot
and going forward into the net what you don't want to do is to be going
backwards hitting the shot running back and then having to change your your body
balance your body weight to try and move forward again you'll waste you'll simply
waste too much time in order to come forward effectively so you're looking
for that slightly shorter ball it could be a slightly slower ball if it's a
slower ball it's easier to come forward but as long as it's shorter you can come
into it you can hit the ball move your body weight forward and then follow the
that follow the path of the ball and get into the net
now the best times to do that is when one you have an opponent with their
weakness so perhaps they don't like hitting their backhand if they don't
like hitting their backhand if you approach into that side into their
weakness often it rushes them often it makes them feel like they have no time
or they have to come up with something special because you're forcing play
you're coming forward against them they have to hit something something extra
something good and therefore they are more likely to miss another great way to
approach is against a player who hits the ball flat now if you approach with
especially the slice and you manage to keep that ball low a player hits the
ball flat is unable to dip the ball into your feet so you're always gonna get a
volley that's around kind of hip level it's gonna go high and if they hit it
hard they end up hitting the ball long so players that don't possess a lot of
topspin are very easy targets for you to come forward against those people that
slice the ball are very good targets to come forward against if you see that a
player can own does only has a slice on their backhand if they're not
comfortable hitting a topspin if you hit into that side and come forward the only
shot that they really have is to try and dip the ball into their into your feet
with a slow ball if you anticipate it and you can move forward and closing
that quick enough you can put those balls away with ease if they end up
hitting their normal shot if they end up just hitting a slice slice travels
slower through the air than the topspin or a flat shot so a slicer is very
vulnerable to a player that's coming forward they're unable to pass the great
speed
so because that ball floats it stays in there for a little bit longer it gives
you the opportunity to get in to get closer into the net and put that ball
away that sly simply doesn't have the dipping power that a topspin has so use
it to great effect
another great chance to come forward against a player that you're playing
against in the matches is when you serve so the return often doesn't come deep
enough so serve third shot and come forward you can run in because your body
weight is moving forward but you can also use it as a serve and volley tactic
because the serve is an aggressive shot you're hitting an aggressive shot
therefore you can follow an aggressive shot forward and because a serve
naturally has the momentum of your body moving forward into it you can actually
stop moving forward after the shot after the serve into the net
often the players give a little bit of height on their serve so even a slightly
spinning service a slightly more slice serve can also be a great one to
approach because you have more time to reach the net before your opponent hits
it before you have to make that split step soften it's not just the people
that hit the ball really fast balls for those players that can spin the ball and
hit the ball with slice are also good serves to come forward and serve and
volley against a player who who's returning against you sometimes if
you're on a rally you get your opponent out of position a great chance to come
forward is if you see that space and you take time away from your opponent you
rush that opponent and you come forward against them so approaching into space
is also a great way to win the point
so few things to remember here you've got your bodyweight moving forward into
the shot you want a slightly easier ball you want a ball that you can come
forward and run through and get closer than there and as closer than that as
possible you can play an opponent who's doesn't like to either pass or has a
weakness on that side perhaps they're only using the slice and that slice is
not it's not an effective shot to pass with therefore you can also expose that
weakness of the opponent so use their approach shot to great advantage and I
hope it helps you in your matches I hope some of these tips have helped you and
you're going to be starting to approach the net a lot more often surprise your
opponent perhaps in your next doubles match thank you guys for watching if you
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