Something Every Player Needs

By: Rob Smith

In the book "Tennis For Life", Peter Burwash outlines a very helpful concept, that "Tennis is a Game of Emergencies"

    Burwash writes, "To understand tennis, then, is not to learn form, but instead to understand what to do in a match and when to do it. It's the ability to use common sense, to do what's practical under fire - not to memorize a textbook. … Most pros show you the accelerator … They've forgotten all about the brakes!"
    Most players love to make contact with the ball at a height between their knees and their waist. From this position most of us are naturally stronger and have more shot options. The first 5 pictures in our sequence below show this.
    Professional players are quick enough to position themselves to re-create this hitting area often, and they also have expanded hitting zones that allow them to play offense when the ball is outside that perfect area. But no matter how quick we may be, on certain days with certain opponents or in certain points, we'll find ourselves out of position and in varying degrees of trouble. So when we encounter emergencies, we'll need to do some things differently.
    Take the case of current World #1 Rafael Nadal. One of the quickest and best defensive players on tour, Nadal manages to keep balls in play no matter how much trouble he's in. Regardless of his foot speed, however, opponents will still put him in trouble. He understands his options extremely well as you'll see in the two sequences.
    A little over 75% of the current ATP Top 30 players use two-handed backhands, but they all know how to hit with one hand if the circumstance dictates. Hitting with only one hand on the racquet gives you up to 3 feet / 1 meter of extra reach, reach we all need at times.
    But first, let's see what Nadal does in a "normal" situation with his two-handed backhand, as here he's got the right ball to hit aggressively. We'll let the pictures tell the story.








Any good player using a two-handed backhand actually alternates between two and one handed backhands. When you can't reach the ball with two hands, you'll have to hit with one.









No matter how good you are, you'll need a one-handed backhand at least for defensive purposes. If the World #1 has to do this, so will all the rest of us.
    So what does every player need? Every player needs a way to get out of trouble, to handle emergencies, to stay in a point, to get back in a point. If we copy even this part of what Nadal does, we'll all be doing pretty well.

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