Tennis Tactics: 4 Easy Singles Strategies for Club Players

It sounds obvious.

You find a weakness in your opponent’s game, you exploit it.

Simple.

…but it’s not that simple. There are two big reasons for that at club level.

The first is that club players tend to underrate predictability. There is a misconception in tennis that your opponent can’t know your next move, that you constantly need to be catching them off-guard to get errors from them.

Let’s say Jerry has one of the worst backhands in the club. If you find his backhand during a point, it’s a given you’re winning that point. Well, Jerry might know fine well that you’re going to target that backhand to the high heavens…

If you pose the question to Jerry and he doesn’t have the answer, don’t change anything! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it as the old adage goes. Put unpredictability aside and go for the percentage means of winning a point over and over.

Yes, you might have to go to the forehand to open up the backhand. If there is a clear weakness in your opponent’s game though, all roads should lead to milking it for all it’s worth.

The second big reason club players struggle to target weaknesses?

I skimmed over something earlier. The actual search for a weakness isn’t so easy. Some players might look like they have zero weaknesses — the more likely reality is you haven’t searched thoroughly enough.

Here are a few common club player weaknesses that you can probe for.

• Struggles with a high contact point. Many club players hate dealing with balls above their shoulders, particularly oldies with one-handed backhands. Try increasing the height of their contact point to see what they respond with.

• Poor at the net. Purposefully giving your opponent low, angled balls or drop shotting them can draw your opponent unwillingly forward. If they are especially uncomfortable at the net, this can often lead to sprayed approach shots i.e. an error before they’ve even got to the net.

• Struggles to generate their own pace. Slow and loopy can be a killer for those without the ability to attack using their own pace. The angled and low tactic is also great for testing this ability.

• Bunted backhand. Players often possess the ability to put their backhand in the court but by a very guided and pushy means. A great way to probe for this weakness is by approaching the net to the backhand. If they can’t keep the ball low, the response will often be a lob. A slice will really challenge them in this situation.

I could go on and on and on.

The point is be thorough with your search for a weakness and, when you find one, be ruthless.