The Secret To Hitting Devastating Angles

Moving your opponent around on the baseline can be one of the best ways to force an air but it can also be the riskiest and on today's lesson I'm going to teach you where you should be standing and how you can hit this shot more effectively. All right so the first thing we have to decide is what does it actually mean to move an opponent where you actually force the air. So from single sideline to single sideline it's 27 feet wide which means from the center of the court to that single sideline is 13 and a half feet. So if you stretch me wide and I go one two three I probably covered nine to ten feet I've got bigger steps maybe even more. This really isn't that tough of a shot for me to make it's really not that big of an effort and in the second or second and a half where I hit that ball back I've got plenty of time to recover back to the middle so I'm not running 27 feet side to side it's really only 13. The other thing to consider is when I'm in the middle of the court and I've got a ground stroke here do you really think you're upping your chance of winning that baseline rally if you get me to hit a ball from here it's only like one step it's really not that big a deal and even more so right if you got me to take two two and a half three steps over here how much do your chances of winning the point increase? I would guess slightly but I would also guess your chance of missing as you aim closer to the alley increases well. So even though I just told you that moving them wider doesn't really help you that much it actually does once you get your opponent moving outside of the singles court. So once they started getting 15 16 maybe even 20 feet away from the center then you have an opening to the other half where you get them running significantly where they could actually miss. All right so how do we get our opponent to move outside of the singles court? Obviously we have to hit a ground stroke that bounces and likely crosses the singles sideline so imagine that I'm hitting a forehand from the middle of the court how difficult of a shot is that going to be to stretch them wide it's going to be almost impossible and I'll demo that later now each step I take wider the shot becomes more and more a possibility and when I get to this outer third it actually becomes a very possible and even borderline high percentage play to hit it cross court but also have it cross that single sideline. All right so the first part of hitting this good angle that crosses the single sideline is we got to be in the outer third if we're in the middle third it's a no-go zone. The second thing is I want you to visualize what that shot looks like so can you rip a ball and have it cross the single sideline it's going to be difficult because you have to hit it shorter you're also trying to get that ball over the net with a little bit more shape so when I visualize running someone side to side I'm obviously seeing myself in that outer third but I'm seeing a ball with more shape I'm seeing a ball with less speed more spin and that helps me want to brush up even more so I just did a video where I was ripping forehand you might want to check that out but I'm definitely going low to high but through the ball this way when I'm trying to spread my opponent wider I'm going to exaggerate that a little bit more I'm going to get the tip of my racket below the ball and I'm going to swing low to high now just so you can get a feel for what this actually looks like I'm going to set my ball machine up to the middle third I'm going to try to pass that single sideline and then I'm going to do the outer third and show you how much easier it is and also some of the technical cues and visual cues that I use to hit good angles. All right so I'm going to hit some angles right from the middle of the court forehand cross and you can see I'm going to try to have these cross a single sideline stationary you know I kind of have that lure to the middle of the court because I'm used to playing so percentage none of those three were able to do it that one right there definitely cross it was almost about the edge of the alley so you can see I have to hit this ball pretty slow from the middle right and it's not really getting outside the doubles alley so if I look at that baseline back there that ball might have been wide this is not an easy shot at all and a lot of times when I'm spreading too wide it's really not getting past that single sideline which like I told you is what I need to actually force the air so that was a good shot right there but you can see in order for me to effectively get this ball wide I've got to hit the ball that's actually a really good shot but I've got to hit that ball a foot from that single sideline that's not really repeatable right I also have to hit the ball pretty stinking slow to accomplish this which gets rid of that advantage because if I hit slow they're going to get there in plenty of time when I hit an angle I open up another angle for my opponent all right so now let's take a look at the outer third and look what these angles look like now that's easily crossing the outside of the doubles alley so right here it's a much more natural angle and I can swing low to high and easily work this off the court so if you were going to hit the ball slower like this from here I'm all about it that wasn't even a good shot and that probably was the best result from one of my middle balls now if I try to overdo it right there that ends up being great I was actually trying to miss that ball so when you're doing this if you're in the outer third it makes a lot more sense now the other thing you can see with my swing is I'm trying to exaggerate that low to high and I'm taking speed off the ball I cannot hit this ball quickly and get this angle so if you find yourself in the outer third practice open stance that's my first miss there we go I'm going to try to take a little speed off and I'm going to try to roll when it doesn't have to be that good but I'm going to try to cross that singles line at a minimum which then allows me to take one down the line safely and still run them as well so you can see just how much easier this is from the outer third all right so three actionable steps I want you to take moving forward number one is pay attention to which third of the court you're in if you are in the middle third angles are no longer an option you're not going to force an error by moving them you can do it with height with depth with spin with speed even but not with angle when you get in the outer third that actually becomes the primary option action step number two I want you to clearly visualize what this shot looks like so you saw my balls they were slower they had a little bit more shape a little bit more spin and because of that visual I was going more low to high and brushing up on that ball and number three please for the love of god video yourself not only playing matches but hitting these shots it is absolutely the feedback you need to accelerate your growth if you'd like my help with that I coach you for free for seven days there's a free trial I get your matches I get your strokes and I give you actionable practice plans so you can improve faster