Ok, so i have been slacking the last month on the tips :(. HOwever this tip contains a LOT OF INFO>
Today lets talk about THINKING.
If
you just want to go out and be in the fresh air and get some exercise,
there is no need to think and have a game plan and adjust that game plan
as the match progresses. But if you want to IMPROVE and win more games
it takes more work, expecially brain work.
I once saw
Timothy Nelson put in writing that the ONLY difference between a 4.5 and
a 5.0 is how they think. I would say that 60% of skill comes from
thinking and the rest comes from ability to hit shots. To put it another
way, it is more important to know which shot to hit, than it is to have
the physical ability to hit a great shot.
Thinking starts
before the game. I am mentally thinking what my opponents skills are.
What they do well and what they do not as well. If someone is extremely
agile and tall, lobbing is not a good shot to hit against them. If they
have super quick hands then i know that if i am going to try and
overpower them, i better be hitting down at their feet. If they are a
great dinker, maybe dinking to their partner or in the middle is the
best option. I am trying to put the odds in my favor as to which kind of
shot will give me the best reward.
Shot One. I am
serving. I am trying to decide where is the best serve to hit. Maybe go
for their backhand. If they are giving me a lot of room to hit to their
backhand, they usually WANT me to serve to their backhand. If they like
to crush my serve back, maybe I will try and hit a serve short, just
past the NVZ. Many times they will come running up to the net and still
try and hit it hard and it will go out long. Ninety five percent of the
time i want to make sure above all else that the serve is deep though.
Shot
Two. I return serve. I am thinking BEFORE they serve where i want to
hit the serve return. Down the middle and hope they fight over it. Is
one player giving me a chance to hit to their backhand , even though
their backhand is weak. Does one player have a hard time hitting the
third shot so i want to go to them. Is one player slow on their feet, so
if i hit my return to them, it is hard for them to come up to the net
afterwards. Ninety fiver percent of the time i want to make sure the
return of serve is deep though.
Third shot. Most important
shot in PB. Ninety percent of the time this is soft into the kitchen.
Do i want to hit this shot soft into the middle and hope they fight over
it? Do i want to go to my right side to that players backhand as most
players are not as good with their backhand.
The first
three shots are the easiest to think ahead of time as to what type of
shot you will do. After that you still want to try and hit shots that
take advantage of your opponents weaknesses.
I am a firm
believer that if you have two equally skilled right handed players
together, the player on the left takes balls down the middle as that is
the forehand. If i am playing with a much better partner ( Phil Bagley,
Tim Nelson, Brian Staub, etc) against two top players, my only goal is
to keep the ball low and in play. I let them poach as much as they want .
I am always looking out of the corner of their eye to see if they are
coming over to take "MY Shot". I have no ego problem letting the much
better player take as many shots as they want. This is just smart PB>
Try and use your brain power, not just your athletic abilities as your brain is more important.
jeff shank
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