Julie Thu

There is no one tip that will take your game to the next level, but these fundamental singles strategies are some I learned from my coach early on.  Give them a try, and see if they can help you win more singles games!

1. CONSISTENCY!

It’s no surprise that if your opponent makes 5 balls in the point and you make 6, you’ll win the point. The math is simple, but having the mindset to execute this takes discipline and patience.  Often players will overhit, go for winners when they are out of position, and ultimately beat themselves by making too many errors.  It’s important at the start of a match to feel your opponent out.  Resist the urge to force or do more than you have to early on; allow yourself to work into each point and find the threshold of consistency for your opponent.  It may be that you can easily out-rally your opponent and cause their game to break down without having to overplay.

2. Find Your Opponent’s Weakness and Exploit It!

While it’s not always obvious, every player has a weakness that you can exploit.  Finding that weakness may take some investigating, and that starts in the warm-up, e.g.,

• Does it seem that they love balls in their strike zone and drive through their groundstrokes with precision?  Throw in a few loopy or slice balls in the warm-up to see how they handle them.

• Do they run around their backhand?  Think about how to move them wide to their forehand side to open up the backhand. 

• Do they only take a few volleys and skip overheads altogether?  They probably love the baseline, and you need to find ways to draw them forward in the court. 

Don’t wait until you are down 4-0 in the first set to mix up your shots or try to formulate a game plan to capitalize on their weaknesses. Too often players focus on what they do best and ignore figuring out what their opponents do poorly. 

3. Be Smart with Your Shot Selection!

Cross-court shots are higher percentage than down-the-line shots.  A tennis court is 78 feet in length if you aim down the line. But, when you hit corner to corner cross-court, you have an extra 4 ½ feet!  Think about how many groundstrokes you miss by just a foot or two. The net is also lower in the middle, giving you more of a margin for error. Hitting a shot on an angle means that your opponent has to travel farther to get the ball and you have a better chance of opening up the court by getting them on the move.  

This isn’t to say that a down-the-line shot isn’t the answer sometimes as well. If your opponent has a noticeably weaker side, you will want to play down-the-line shots to keep play to that side.  Or, if you’ve angled them off the court and have a good opening, take the ball down-the-line to keep your opponent moving, remembering to give yourself a good margin of error. 

Lastly, when approaching the net on a short ball, a good strategy is to play down-the-line and follow the direction of your ball as you come to the net, reducing the angle that your opponent has to pass you.  When going down-the-line, you have the major advantage of taking time away from your opponent to read and react to your shot.  Just make sure you choose to do it on the right ball, and also that you maintain more control on your down-the-line shot by adding a little more spin to compensate for the shorter court and higher net.

4. Practice Against All Types of Players in Singles!

There’s no question that we all like to play against players who feed into our strengths and keep balls in our strike zone.  Many of us gravitate towards those types of opponents in practice because it helps us get in a groove and feel good.  Consider seeking out players in practice who take you out of your comfort zone and stretch your game both physically and mentally.  Find that player who hits all slice backhands and makes you use your legs to get low. Ask the gentleman at your club with the huge serve and spinny forehand to play a set.  Seek out the pusher who makes you stay consistent and play a million balls to win the point.  Don’t be afraid to ask the high school girl who hits with boundless pace to play practice points.  The more you push yourself to get out of your comfort zone, the better equipped you will be to handle these types of players in a tournament situation, and it will add to your shot selection and mental preparedness in tough matches.

Julie Thu, a former All-American at Stanford University, was ranked top 225 on the WTA tour in singles, has won 8 gold balls in singles playing senior age-level events, and is the Co-President Elect of the NWTO.