I have mixed feelings about scouting before a match. On one
hand, you can come out knowing how your opponent is going to play, already
anticipating something and knowing what the previous player did wrong to lose
to your opponent. Then, there are some special people, me included, that will
let that opponent plant a tiny seed in their brain and let it fester- by the
time you come out onto the court, you’re too burnt out thinking to play. I
think it depends on the person whether you should be scouting or not- your
coach can always scout for you. Or, you can just think for yourself and play
the opponent that day the way they’re playing- again, you never know if they
changed their game that particular day to better suit the player they were
against.
That being said, there are strategies that you want to use
again specific types of players. You have to know your game well enough to be
able to adjust slightly to each player you play against. That being said, always stick with your A-game. If you’re a
grinder, grind. If you’re a hitter, hit. But what sets apart good players from
great players is the ability to read their opponents.
I.e. pushers. Pushers are grinders without aggressiveness.
They are annoying, I know. They might
have the most atrocious technique or/and the most nonathletic body, but boy are
they just tooth and nail when it comes to tennis. They will work their little
(or not so little) butts off to get to every single ball they hit. It’s like
when you accidentally step on an ant pile and all the little ants run around
seemingly aimlessly- this is what a pusher does to a players brain; they’re
everywhere. But no matter how aggravating these players are, they somehow get
the job done- they make even the saner implode. So instead of gossiping about
how awful pushers are, I’ll let you in on a strategy. Unlike what it seems, the
pusher cannot physically get to every single ball if you pull him/her off the
court enough. Because it takes half an eternity for the ball to come over to
your side, the pusher has a chance to come back to neutral (middle of the
court) after every ball. Taking away that time is the most effective way to
play a pusher. As soon as you see the ball going into a lob, step in and rip
the ball out of the air- doesn’t have to be a winner, but an aggressive shot
will set you up for high volley or an overhead. BE READY. Like superman,
sometimes pushers find a way of getting back balls that you would have thought
were long gone. It may take two or three volleys to finally put them back in
their place (I wonder where that would be…)
I.e. hitters. Hitters will blast the cover off of the ball
at any chance they get. Often playing very flat and very hard, they make the
sport look macho. They also are very sporadic. They may hit four flat out
winners, but then hit seven shots into the fence. The quicker the point ends
for a hitter, the better. Thus, your strategy is to drive them bonkers. The
longer you stay in the point, the harder the hitter will try and hit (the
harder the hitter will hit- say that five times fast. I’m obviously making use
of my vast vocabulary.), eventually overhitting and smacking it into the fence
or the bottom of the net. BUT, you won’t get very far if you keep it in their
zone of hittage (lol! Not a word, sorry). If you didn’t quite catch that,
here’s another way of saying it- stay out of their hitting zone, aka hit low or
high. This messes with the contact point and a hitter hates adjusting to low or
high contact points. A deep slice or a heavy spin lob does wonders against
hitters, turning the macho superstars that hit winners left and right into
stupid tennis players who keep making the same mistakes over and over.
