Ghosting in to the net- TENNIS MASTERCLASS by Patrick Mouratoglou, EPISODE 2.

If you are tired to attack and struggle to finish the point, or even worse, if you feel bad against players who just defend with wound balls, I have a great solution for you. You are going to ghost in to the net. You see it isn't true, then you go. If it's not in trouble, you don't go. I love this one! Thank you! Follow me and I will show you how and when you can do it, and I'll give you the tips to make it successful. Ghosting in to the net is an extremely important move in tennis. It is very much used by professionals and not enough by recreational players. It is a deadly tactic. It consists in running to the net after a good attacking shot while the opponent is not looking at you because he's focused on the ball. To ghost in is come to the net in a second intention. You didn't plan to go to the net, but you decide not on the moment. One second after or a few seconds after. It brings two advantages. First, it offers the best solution to finish up the points with the minimal risk of mistake. And at the same time, it puts huge pressure on the opponent who will be more stressed every time he will be in a defensive situation. He knows that you are closing the net. And when you play, sometimes you play guys that play very deep, play high, and you attack, you attack, you attack, and you end up making a mistake. If you can ghost in, you're going to have a lot of ways to finish up the point without taking risks. So we're going to work on that. When you are in an offensive situation, sometimes you hit a shot that puts the opponent far from the ball. While he's running, you envisage that he will be in a situation in which the only solution for him will be to play a defensive shot. He doesn't see you moving up because he has to run fast and his eyes are focused on the ball that is on his side. The fact that he needs to run to the ball gives you a bit of time. Instead of staying behind the baseline, you decide to rush to the net to close the point. This is why it's called to ghost in. Let's say that Pagin hits a great forehand down the line and he sees that you're far from the ball and he sees you run and he sees that you will be in a defensive situation. When he sees that, he decides to rush to the net because he will have probably an easy shot to finish up. First, you'll have to run forward. Then you split step, then run forward again to execute a volley or set yourself if you have to execute an overhead or a swing volley. Don't forget to split step. It is tremendously important because if you have to change direction or move backwards, this stop is key. Without it, you will lose much too much time in your direction change and would be put in a difficult situation to play a good shot. So imagine, again, the opponent is on the other side. I hit a forehand down the line and then I see the opponent far and I see the opponent running and I know he will be in a very difficult situation. Then I decide, okay, I'm going to close the net. So the first thing you do is a sprint. Come with me, with sprint. Okay, we sprint and we're going to have to split step at the moment because when the opponent kills the ball, we have to split step. We have to stop for a millisecond. We do that because you don't know where he's going to hit. Once you split step, it's very easy and fast to change direction. So that's why it's important and also in the game. Here is the major reason why your ghosting will be successful or not. It depends on where you stand and make your split step while the opponent hits the shot. If you stand between the baseline and the service line, you are in the worst situation. If the opponent does not hit a lob, you can easily be passed or put in a very difficult position to hit a winner. If you split step here, which is between the service line and the baseline, you are too far. You are too far because imagine the opponent finds a way to hit a flat ball here. You're going to be caught, there are spaces everywhere. If you split step here, you can close the net very easily. Okay, and then you have also less distance to do after the split step. So the less distance you have to cover to hit the volley, the better. In this case, Anastasia made it, but she ran extremely well and was able to hit an incredible shot. Believe me, nine times out of ten, it won't work. The most important thing to put yourself in the best possible position is the moment you decide to run forward and execute the ghosting. If you decide early enough, you will have time to position yourself inside the service lines. Where do you run? Imagine I hit the forehand down the line. Do I run to the center? Exactly. You always follow your ball. Once the opponent hits the ball in defense, there are two options. If the ball goes up, you have more time and this time you will use to position yourself as perfectly as you can. Either under the ball if you decide to hit an overhead or under and on the side of the ball if you decide to hit a swing volley. The choice you will make is based on the shot you feel more comfortable with. The one you master the best. Two, if the opponent hits a straight ball or a ball that falls short, then you have to run very fast after your split step in order to hit the ball as close to the net as possible. The first reason is because you take time away from your opponent and you won't have time to cover the empty space where you will probably hit your shot. The second reason is because the closer you are to the net, the easier it is to hit a winning shot. Many players have the tendency to slice their shot when they are moved to the side or to play high. If you notice that, they are the perfect opponents for ghosting in. Check them and when you see a slice preparation, it is time to run forward. You clear? Shall we do some? Allez, let's go. Take care of your head that you're going to go to the net. Take it out, obviously, okay? Tell yourself I'm going to hit down the line the best possible shot. He's in trouble, I go. He's not in trouble, I don't go. Okay? Why did you get caught on this one? So if it's too short, you don't come to the net. This is ghosting. You hit your shot, you see he's in trouble, then you go. If he's not in trouble, you don't go. Okay? Do it for real. Joue ton coup. Parfait. Thank you very much. Amazing. Merci beaucoup. Now, it's your turn. If you like that video and you want to see more of them, subscribe to my YouTube channel.