Tuesday Tennis Tip: Smaggressive Strategy

TTT #2: Smaggressive Strategy
It's the third set against Fairfield, and you have the 5-4 lead. It's your serve and you lead the game 40-30. You have one point to seal the match, and in so doing an epic victory for the Bruins! (I love upping the corniness.) You serve and the rally begins. How do you play this point?

a. Keep the ball back to the middle of the court, hope they make a mistake.
b. Fire for the lines, win with a powerful forehand winner with the hardest swing you've taken all match long.
c. Bloop the ball back over because you're too nervous to swing through.
d. Swing aggressively and be prepared to attack, while minimizing risks by playing high percentage shots.

If your answer was "d," then you've picked the smaggressive play. And the correct play according to this coach.

Smaggressive was a word that the team made up two years ago to describe one of the four core values of Bethany Christian tennis play. It is a smashed together form of smart and aggressive. Through the past two years, this value has defined what we strive for on the court. In our best moments and matches we achieved it, in our worst moments we often found that we were either lacking the smart or the aggressive.

In all the talking though, we've really only given a general sense to this strategy. We say that we want to play this way and then I never really go into detail on what types of shots and skills are needed to play this way. Over the course of the winter, I want to "unpack" some of the shots and strategies that make a smaggressive game.

The first strategy that is crucial to smaggression is the crosscourt shot. Either the crosscourt forehand or the crosscourt backhand. When you talk about a high percentage shot, the crosscourt shot is always the highest percentage shot available. First of all, to hit a crosscourt shot the path of the ball will travel over the center of the net. The center of the net is the lowest part of the net, therefore you are less likely to hit the ball in the net. Also, the ball can travel a greater distance in the air when hit crosscourt. See the diagram below:

Cool graphics aside, it's easy to see that crosscourt is a safer shot in several ways.

But it is not inherently aggressive. In fact, it is often considered the safe play. But the type of shot that you hit can make it more aggressive. All season long, here at Bethany we practiced a crosscourt drill where I would say, "Go for more!" What this meant is that we attempted to increase the velocity of our shots by 10% and hit a more biting, more pacey, in short, a bigger shot. We tried to hit the ball hard.

This harder shot gives your opponent less time to react, less time to think, more room to make an error. It also puts you in an attacking mindset, hopefully ready to move forward on any weak return provided.

Getting control of this pounded crosscourt shot can provide us with a go-to shot for pressure situations. It takes a high percentage shot and goes after it with no fear, ready to follow it up with more smaggressive shots if needed. This is one of the biggest priorities for Bethany tennis this offseason, to continue to work on our smaggressive tennis. Here's a shot to start with.