used this strategy this morning (again ) against a much younger and game 3.5 ( I am a 4.0 in my 60's ) saved me in the first set , i played 4hrs yesterday and was moving a bit slow, and helped me dominate him in the second set. Thanks so much
Just found your channel yesterday and subscribed! Awesome content. You really do have to be diligent about your shot selection and this thought process and scoring technique is brilliant. Glad I came across your channel! Great work.
@@StokkeTennis I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong after hitting an approach shot and getting passed again and again and again. Am I too far from the net, was it the wrong ball to come in on, do I need to be taller? How about a list of do's or don'ts when coming in?
If you hit a crosscourt-crosscourt shot late you accidentally end up with a #4 winner and feel like a god. But if you hit the #4 shot late then the sideline audience members better look out! I think the reason noobs go for #4 a lot is because intuitive tennis strategy seems to be "just hit to opposite corners to make them run and miss" without taking net height and available shot distance into account for consistency.
I hit down the line on return of serve. I mostly hit cross court and the middle. I serve out wide, if the return comes back I hit cross court to the back hand. This is an excellent video Coach, thank you for sharing this video.
I started hitting way more cross-court shots and way fewer DTL after watching this video and it worked remarkably well for me. One caveat: don’t disregard his advice to “sprinkle in some 4s” because your opponent will start to anticipate the cross court shot after you do it too much. Occasional 3s also works to mix it up and keep your opponent guessing.
I wish I had the brain to think through shots. For me, it's about footwork to get me into optimal positions. Then, Lord, have mercy on my opponent. I consider the baseline a gamble. I would rather focus on the serve and return n the footwork to get into position for the plus or two. I win more points this way. If my opponent is good n neutralises the I go with what you taught Stokke sensei
Stokke amazing video. I’m trying to transform my nascent game into this style and build more rally tolerance. I like ending points quick but comes with a lot of errors. Drives my coach crazy.
Can i wade in. My take on this is what i term tennis is not a game of errors but a game of spaces. those cross court balls hurt the more wider they go, and the deeper they are, thereby getting your opponent of the court for you to hit into a relatively open safe space for the winner. the same principle goes for the serve plus 1. the high percentage on both sides is the slider out wide on the deuce and the kicker out wide on the ad. this creates immediately the scenario Stokke is presenting. the returns normally are central and your opponent is off the court and there is a 4 opportunity with low risk. the return of the first serve is also like like this return cross court and if you are really hot from the pace of the serve aim for center and immediately start getting the plus one cross cross. you will win more points this way and matches
UTR 12 would never hit and move like that unless you told him to. Other than that good advices. There is also other point of view at least from my experience. Instead of doing things better focus on other player and make them do things worse. Sometimes just by making them run in heat even it’s mixing up cross court and down the line a lot and if I am in trouble going in the middle. Or if they have good cross court forehand let’s see if they can hit so good if I will hit medium pace deep or slice or hit it higher. Keep trying different things until I can find what they don’t like. Sometimes it can be just something as simple as slow hitting. Because some players like to respond and slow ball will make them create. And some players like to create and moving them around or harder hitting in right times will make them respond too much which they don’t like. I will watch your videos about volleys. I working on my net game a lot. In singles.
I like your outlook on tennis and how you do those videos i wish i watch them before i play If you may i wish you do a kind specific howvto beat a much better player, i want to beat my coach once she is 7 utrs better but i think i could steal a set if i my serve day is good. Usually over powers me Thank you
@@fabz1509 you only get to the baseline when players hit short or weak. I have another video about taking balls early, which I recommend, but you need the opportunity for sure
If you can hit the ball earlier with high quality, of cause it will be better and will win more game. But that need more practice. Tennis is a game, to win a game, we need to try and practice some skills most players thought they are wrong and never tried or just tried a bit and gave up. Same thing is for this video. If we are only good at cross shot and play lot of cross court, the opponent will anticipate our line. So we should be good at both angle. We should play according to the opponent's weakness, not only our strength or weakness. If A strategy has 90% no missing rate, but only 40% win rates, you will lose the game , strategy B only has 70% non missing but with 80% win rates, you will win the game.
Nice way of visualising things. Do you consider changing direction if you're given an inside out shot during a cross court rally? Lets say your playing FH to FH cross court and you receive a ball to your BH - would you continue to hit cross court or would this be a fair time to hit to your opponents BH?
@@StokkeTennis My FH is fairly ordinary but I have a fairly decent BH so I'm keen to move away from long FH rallies. Actually, having reached 60, I'm quite keen to avoid any type of long rally :)
Interesting. I’m almost always hitting 1 & 2s until I can hit a setup 4 but almost never under the parameters here or for a winner. My 4s are often behind/at the baseline but hit with lots of margin meant more to draw an error or short shot from my opponent so I can move in. Forehand 4 is high and loopy to there backhand. Backhand 4 is low slice to their forehand. Not to say this isn’t more viable but has me thinking certainly.
That makes sense. I know there is always room for subtlety but appreciate your approach of simplifying and high percentages. More than enough for the rec level. Thanks for the reply and clarification.
Lovely tips. Everytime I play with just 1,2 (mostly cross courts), it feels like I’m being overly defensive and not taking chances to be more attacking. Does anyone else feel this way and thoughts around this?
Hey love the advice! Will definitely choose more 1 and 2 shots. A lot of times I find myself hitting lots of 3 shots off of my backhand. As a lefty I am trying to get the rally back to the AD cross court rally, and if I'm not on the stretch when my opponent hits down the line I usually just try to go back down the line. Is this a reasonable use of a type 3 shot or am I better off just going cross court?
I do all of this but the question is what do you do against a good volleyer who pulls you off the court wide and comes to net? If you hit cross court, they just volley it into the open court if they have decent hands. Is the play to cross court lob?
I'm a lefty, do these rules change a bit when I'm playing a righty? For instance, I'd rather be hitting crosscourt forehands to my opponents backhand than the other way round. Hence I'll try and change direction to get on my forehand. Does that make sense?
Changing the direction of the rally is totally fine if you do it with margin. Lots of height and closer to the middle line. Get the cross court you want, and then hammer it with depth
Doesn't Otto watch your videos:) Or is he just demonstrating less effective shot selection for the purposes of the video :) I like your system but it may fall apart a bit w/ approach shots and net play where approaches are more often DTL. Even that one passing shot you missed DTL intuitively didn't feel like a reckless shot decision.
Haha he doesn’t. These are the dumb choices players tend to make. It’s true, my down the line pass doesn’t seem like THAT bad an option. But guess what? It wasn’t optimal. Low middle was the play but I’m a rat and took the cheese.
@@StokkeTennis Interesting. Flipping it to the perspective of the netplayer, I've always been told to cover the line, but perhaps I should tempt them to hit there. BTW, for shot #3, sometimes as a lefty, I want to get out of crosscourt rallies on a deuce court and will hit a soft feathery BH slice DTL. Not going for a winner but just trying to change the rally to my FH. Watching a tournament it was interesting seeing these errors/tactics come into play.
You’re leaving out a large percentage of shots. Balls hit from the middle third to the middle third. Unless the ball is short enough to be able to create an angle you are probably better off going to your opponent’s backhand.
assuming most exchanges are among righty to righty, there is an indeed contradiction between hit-cross-court and hit-to-opponent-backhand. I like to hear people's opinions on this. there is another video talking about hitting more through the middle (the ball should go through opponent's baseline before going through the sideline). Given a standard deviation of aiming error, should shot #1 and #2 aimed at middle of the right half of opponent's right side baseline?
@@yili9725 Not really a contradiction. You are generally better off going cross court against a cross court shot. However, a lot of balls are up the middle and then it is often better to go after your opponent’s weakness with pace or spin rather than an angle, since you can’t create as sharp an angle from baseline middle and you just give them a ball that they can hit a sharper angle off of.
Even balls “through the middle” are coming in on a slight angle. And of course, depends on opponent. But generally speaking people try number 4 shots for no reason. Hitting 1s and 2s are almost always great decisions, it’s just sometimes, a 3 or 4 could be a better decision based on certain situations
I have really enjoyed your videos, your camps in indian wells sound fun. Where can i get more info? Also do you really have to grunt like that to hit a rally ball? 😂😂😂. Sharapova ?
HAHA, I'm out of shape! Unfortunately my Indian Wells doubles camp sold out quickly...I still have spots in my Charleston Doubles camp and I'll be running another camp in NYC the weekend before the US Open
@ wow. Congratulations on your camps. I live in Carlsbad. CA. 5.0 LEVEL 65 yr old coming back to tennis. Played at USC and some pro in Europe. Many moons ago. I wanna win a gold ball next year in 65s . Keep those awesome videos rolling. Well done
I have a question. Around 9:12 you hit an approach shot cross court. I would think you would want to go down the line on that. Is there a reason you went cross? Is it because it’s in the middle 3rd? Or because you keep with the same theme of cross even on short balls?Of course it worked, great volley! Just curious, thanks!!
used this strategy this morning (again ) against a much younger and game 3.5 ( I am a 4.0 in my 60's ) saved me in the first set , i played 4hrs yesterday and was moving a bit slow, and helped me dominate him in the second set. Thanks so much
Love it!!
Came here for the tennis, stayed for your smooth verbal communication. After all -Clarity precedes mastery.
haha thank you!
Just found your channel yesterday and subscribed! Awesome content. You really do have to be diligent about your shot selection and this thought process and scoring technique is brilliant. Glad I came across your channel! Great work.
So glad you're following!
I love your videos. Advice and format. Best tennis instruction. More.
What topics would you like me to cover?
@@StokkeTennis I'd love to know what I'm doing wrong after hitting an approach shot and getting passed again and again and again. Am I too far from the net, was it the wrong ball to come in on, do I need to be taller? How about a list of do's or don'ts when coming in?
@@vubot1 I already have one video out now on coming in!
This was so good I watched it twice. For that behaviour, I give myself 8 points.
This is a great way to incentivize the high probability shots. I like it, nice job!.
So glad to see your channel growing. I love your content and need these clear reminders to play straightforward effective tennis.
It’s growing slowly! Thanks for following
Great pointers. I'm usually trying to hit a winner off everything I see! Need to build the point more with 1 and 2S
If you hit a crosscourt-crosscourt shot late you accidentally end up with a #4 winner and feel like a god. But if you hit the #4 shot late then the sideline audience members better look out!
I think the reason noobs go for #4 a lot is because intuitive tennis strategy seems to be "just hit to opposite corners to make them run and miss" without taking net height and available shot distance into account for consistency.
I hit down the line on return of serve. I mostly hit cross court and the middle. I serve out wide, if the return comes back I hit cross court to the back hand. This is an excellent video Coach, thank you for sharing this video.
Love to hear you’re using simple strategy!!
I started hitting way more cross-court shots and way fewer DTL after watching this video and it worked remarkably well for me. One caveat: don’t disregard his advice to “sprinkle in some 4s” because your opponent will start to anticipate the cross court shot after you do it too much. Occasional 3s also works to mix it up and keep your opponent guessing.
Love to hear you’re playing smarter!!
I wish I had the brain to think through shots. For me, it's about footwork to get me into optimal positions. Then, Lord, have mercy on my opponent. I consider the baseline a gamble. I would rather focus on the serve and return n the footwork to get into position for the plus or two. I win more points this way. If my opponent is good n neutralises the I go with what you taught Stokke sensei
Great insights
Stokke amazing video. I’m trying to transform my nascent game into this style and build more rally tolerance. I like ending points quick but comes with a lot of errors. Drives my coach crazy.
I would love to see a video on how this strategy can coexist with the serve +1/Return+1 ideas from Craig O'Shannessy.
Yes to this.
Can i wade in. My take on this is what i term tennis is not a game of errors but a game of spaces. those cross court balls hurt the more wider they go, and the deeper they are, thereby getting your opponent of the court for you to hit into a relatively open safe space for the winner. the same principle goes for the serve plus 1. the high percentage on both sides is the slider out wide on the deuce and the kicker out wide on the ad. this creates immediately the scenario Stokke is presenting. the returns normally are central and your opponent is off the court and there is a 4 opportunity with low risk. the return of the first serve is also like like this return cross court and if you are really hot from the pace of the serve aim for center and immediately start getting the plus one cross cross. you will win more points this way and matches
The Stokke 6! 👍🏽
I believe option #3 is tactically ideal when your opponent has a particularly weak backhand
UTR 12 would never hit and move like that unless you told him to.
Other than that good advices.
There is also other point of view at least from my experience. Instead of doing things better focus on other player and make them do things worse. Sometimes just by making them run in heat even it’s mixing up cross court and down the line a lot and if I am in trouble going in the middle. Or if they have good cross court forehand let’s see if they can hit so good if I will hit medium pace deep or slice or hit it higher. Keep trying different things until I can find what they don’t like.
Sometimes it can be just something as simple as slow hitting. Because some players like to respond and slow ball will make them create. And some players like to create and moving them around or harder hitting in right times will make them respond too much which they don’t like.
I will watch your videos about volleys. I working on my net game a lot. In singles.
He's now an 11 UTR, but players come in all shapes and sizes! They move and hit differently, etc.
I like your outlook on tennis and how you do those videos i wish i watch them before i play
If you may i wish you do a kind specific howvto beat a much better player, i want to beat my coach once she is 7 utrs better but i think i could steal a set if i my serve day is good. Usually over powers me
Thank you
Very logical points on when to hit number 4 shot. My criticism is why you're so far behind the baseline?
@@fabz1509 just where I set the camera up
@@StokkeTennis I mean during the rallies, I thought we should own the baseline & try to hit it on the rise? Thanks
@@fabz1509 you only get to the baseline when players hit short or weak. I have another video about taking balls early, which I recommend, but you need the opportunity for sure
If you can hit the ball earlier with high quality, of cause it will be better and will win more game. But that need more practice. Tennis is a game, to win a game, we need to try and practice some skills most players thought they are wrong and never tried or just tried a bit and gave up.
Same thing is for this video. If we are only good at cross shot and play lot of cross court, the opponent will anticipate our line. So we should be good at both angle. We should play according to the opponent's weakness, not only our strength or weakness. If A strategy has 90% no missing rate, but only 40% win rates, you will lose the game , strategy B only has 70% non missing but with 80% win rates, you will win the game.
Nice way of visualising things. Do you consider changing direction if you're given an inside out shot during a cross court rally? Lets say your playing FH to FH cross court and you receive a ball to your BH - would you continue to hit cross court or would this be a fair time to hit to your opponents BH?
Inside shots like that make it easier to hit a number 4. But I would only try it if line is open or you want to change the angle of the rally
@@StokkeTennis My FH is fairly ordinary but I have a fairly decent BH so I'm keen to move away from long FH rallies. Actually, having reached 60, I'm quite keen to avoid any type of long rally :)
Interesting. I’m almost always hitting 1 & 2s until I can hit a setup 4 but almost never under the parameters here or for a winner. My 4s are often behind/at the baseline but hit with lots of margin meant more to draw an error or short shot from my opponent so I can move in. Forehand 4 is high and loopy to there backhand. Backhand 4 is low slice to their forehand. Not to say this isn’t more viable but has me thinking certainly.
It certainly depends, but remember, I said an “offensive” number 4. You can change with height and margin whenever you’d like!
That makes sense. I know there is always room for subtlety but appreciate your approach of simplifying and high percentages. More than enough for the rec level. Thanks for the reply and clarification.
Lovely tips. Everytime I play with just 1,2 (mostly cross courts), it feels like I’m being overly defensive and not taking chances to be more attacking. Does anyone else feel this way and thoughts around this?
You can still be aggressive hitting 1s and 2s. You can hit fast, you can hit angles, you can hit drop shots, etc
Hey love the advice! Will definitely choose more 1 and 2 shots.
A lot of times I find myself hitting lots of 3 shots off of my backhand. As a lefty I am trying to get the rally back to the AD cross court rally, and if I'm not on the stretch when my opponent hits down the line I usually just try to go back down the line. Is this a reasonable use of a type 3 shot or am I better off just going cross court?
Going down the line there is a solid play, but you could have an opening for a strong number 2 if THEIR down the line isn’t that strong
You use Number 4 ti change the side of play as well
Correct
I do all of this but the question is what do you do against a good volleyer who pulls you off the court wide and comes to net? If you hit cross court, they just volley it into the open court if they have decent hands. Is the play to cross court lob?
If they cover the net really well you have to lob, but the real improvement is keeping it deeper so they don’t come in
I'm a lefty, do these rules change a bit when I'm playing a righty? For instance, I'd rather be hitting crosscourt forehands to my opponents backhand than the other way round. Hence I'll try and change direction to get on my forehand. Does that make sense?
Changing the direction of the rally is totally fine if you do it with margin. Lots of height and closer to the middle line. Get the cross court you want, and then hammer it with depth
Would you define opponent “out of position” as being behind runway A or D? Or wider?
Yes, at least runway A
Shot 3 is because your opponent will be trying to move to the other side to cover the space. It’s hard for him/her to move back
There's a time and a place for all of them...3 is just the most unlikely
@@StokkeTennis Not for no.1 and no.2.
@@CaocaoXI Not sure I follow you
Random question but how did you get those amazing calves? Lol
I walk around in high heels for 30 mins a night 😂
if someone's backhand is weaker, go there all the time, right?
@@daveschellenberg5894 if it’s weak to the point where your consistently winning a majority? Absolutely
Are you western on your forehand?
Eastern/semi western
This even sounds like basic punch selection for boxing.
Doesn't Otto watch your videos:) Or is he just demonstrating less effective shot selection for the purposes of the video :) I like your system but it may fall apart a bit w/ approach shots and net play where approaches are more often DTL. Even that one passing shot you missed DTL intuitively didn't feel like a reckless shot decision.
Haha he doesn’t. These are the dumb choices players tend to make. It’s true, my down the line pass doesn’t seem like THAT bad an option. But guess what? It wasn’t optimal. Low middle was the play but I’m a rat and took the cheese.
@@StokkeTennis Interesting. Flipping it to the perspective of the netplayer, I've always been told to cover the line, but perhaps I should tempt them to hit there. BTW, for shot #3, sometimes as a lefty, I want to get out of crosscourt rallies on a deuce court and will hit a soft feathery BH slice DTL. Not going for a winner but just trying to change the rally to my FH. Watching a tournament it was interesting seeing these errors/tactics come into play.
Otto doesn’t look like a 12 UTR to me…
Highest UTR was an 11.32...so just below
You’re leaving out a large percentage of shots. Balls hit from the middle third to the middle third. Unless the ball is short enough to be able to create an angle you are probably better off going to your opponent’s backhand.
assuming most exchanges are among righty to righty, there is an indeed contradiction between hit-cross-court and hit-to-opponent-backhand. I like to hear people's opinions on this. there is another video talking about hitting more through the middle (the ball should go through opponent's baseline before going through the sideline). Given a standard deviation of aiming error, should shot #1 and #2 aimed at middle of the right half of opponent's right side baseline?
@@yili9725 Not really a contradiction. You are generally better off going cross court against a cross court shot. However, a lot of balls are up the middle and then it is often better to go after your opponent’s weakness with pace or spin rather than an angle, since you can’t create as sharp an angle from baseline middle and you just give them a ball that they can hit a sharper angle off of.
Even balls “through the middle” are coming in on a slight angle. And of course, depends on opponent. But generally speaking people try number 4 shots for no reason. Hitting 1s and 2s are almost always great decisions, it’s just sometimes, a 3 or 4 could be a better decision based on certain situations
@@StokkeTennis good point. simply put: only hit 3 and 4 if there is a good reason.
Going for backhand, and high crosscourt usage are different strategies.
You want to weigh which is more effective to use against the opponent
🎾🏆🥇
Those pickleball lines 🤮🤮
I have really enjoyed your videos, your camps in indian wells sound fun. Where can i get more info? Also do you really have to grunt like that to hit a rally ball? 😂😂😂. Sharapova ?
HAHA, I'm out of shape! Unfortunately my Indian Wells doubles camp sold out quickly...I still have spots in my Charleston Doubles camp and I'll be running another camp in NYC the weekend before the US Open
@ wow. Congratulations on your camps. I live in Carlsbad. CA. 5.0 LEVEL 65 yr old coming back to tennis. Played at USC and some pro in Europe. Many moons ago. I wanna win a gold ball next year in 65s . Keep those awesome videos rolling. Well done
I have a question. Around 9:12 you hit an approach shot cross court. I would think you would want to go down the line on that. Is there a reason you went cross? Is it because it’s in the middle 3rd? Or because you keep with the same theme of cross even on short balls?Of course it worked, great volley! Just curious, thanks!!
@@ktandgt loaded question! Will make a video
@@StokkeTennis thank you!!