Modern professional tennis is dominated by the ground strokes and in fact the
ground strokes are so powerful that it makes it very difficult
to win points at the net. However, at the recreational level where ground strokes
are not as powerful coming to the net is a really good
strategy to apply. And one of the ways that you can come to the net is
by chipping and charging your return. This is something that you
rarely see at the professional level these days and I encourage you
to employ this tactic and here's how it's going to work so when you decide to
chip and charge on the return of serve you want to do this on a second serving
ideally you want to do this when the ball
is a little bit higher at least above your waist. And the decision to chip and
charge must be made prior to your opponent's serve. You can't spontaneously
decide to chip and charge once the ball is already in play.
You're not going to be able to time it correctly. It's very important that when
you decide to chip and charge is not to play the chip and charge from
behind the baseline because the distance to the net is going to be too big to
cover and you're going to have a difficult
time with the volley. So what you must do is sneak in
a little bit and the best timing for the sneak-in is when the opponent is about
to strike the ball at that particular moment your opponent
cannot change the serve anymore and this is when you start sneaking in
and closing in so that you're closer to the service line and it gives
you an easier time to strike the chip and charge
and cover the net.
It's important to understand that you don't want to chip and charge on a hard
flat serve. You might be able to do a chip but this
is more of a defensive shot where you just get the ball back in play
it's very difficult to come to the net of that type of shot. So on a second
serve for example you will be able to take a bigger swing
and the chip is going to be more powerful so what you want to do on a
chip and charge is take a full backswing like you would
on a slice and also set with a full shoulder turn
that you can then hit all the way across the body and put
some power on your return.
It's important to hit a quality return so that you can be in a favorable
position at the net and hopefully put the volley away for a winner.
As far as the technique it's going to be exactly the same as the backhand slice
approach shot and if you're interested you can check out my backhand slice
approach video where i explain in detail how to strike this particular shot.
Another way to come to the net off the return is the bunt and charge
and this is something that john mcenroe used to do
a lot back in the day. The difference to a chip and charge
is that you're going to be deflecting the ball back and the swing is going to
be very short so this is something that you
can do even on a flat hard first serve
Now because of the speed of the incoming ball the timing is going to be very
difficult and you need to make a very explosive quick move up to the ball
so you can take it early bunt it and then continue your way
onto the net.
The fascinating thing about a bunt return whether
you're coming to the net off of it or not is that you're taking
the entire pace out of the serve and this was used
a lot back in the day by players such as boris becker michael stich and john
mcenroe. And it was amazing to see that they could
hit the bunt return with almost the same speed as the
incoming serve. Now both of these returns require you to get a head start in other
words you have to get up into the court before striking
the ball but the one in particular is an extreme
version of that and that is the SABR which stands for
sneak attack by roger and is often copied by nick kyrgios and this is a
really insane return that's almost impossible
to pull off and these guys do it even on the first
serve where they're basically running up to the return of serve and taking the ball
literally right off the ground.
And guys the chip and charge the bunt and charge and the sabr
are in a specialty shot category and just like any other specialty shot
you have to keep these at a minimum so you don't lose the surprise factor. So if
you're returning maybe apply this particular return once a return
game and you pick the situation where it can
benefit you the most. And I don't recommend that you do the sabr at all
simply because it's almost impossible to pull off and you're going to lose
a ton of points that way. When it comes to the bunt and charge
you can do it but it's also a low percentage shot.
However, the chip and charge is a high percentage play
if you do it at the right time and the right time is on a
second serve. How about the forehand side? Should you hit a
forehand chip and charge or a forehand bunt and charge or even a forehand sabr
I don't recommend that you do any of those on the forehand wing
and simply because it's a more complex movement on the forehand side
to begin with but also you don't use your forehand slice too much so then
that one time a game when you decide to chip and charge
and do it on the forehand side because there's not a lot of confidence on that side
there's a higher chance that you're going to miss it. So I encourage you to
practice coming to the net off your backhand return this might be a nice
addition to your game and might help you win more points at the net.