Our Clinics in Two Points
I want to visit two points from the 2023 APTA National Championship last winter. The score is very close in the match and the points display some really interesting tactics and shot selections.
The score is 5 serving 6, 0-0, and the pressure is on the serving team to get to the tie-break. I find this first point very interesting particularly because of the score. Both teams spent a long time talking during the change over making sure they were on the same page with their tactics and strategies. The APTA Nationals logo hides some of the action, but the server hits a step-through push serve and rushes the net, the returner hits the return from inside of the baseline and rushes the net!!! This is a very interesting choice for the score with a National Title on the line. This is one of those times where the risk vs reward makes this play worth it. IF she had won the point, the servers would certainly have been questioning their chances of winning the set.
The score is now 5-6, 15-0, and the serving team is ready for another important point. This point starts with the server doing another push serve, and the returner decides to blast it down the line and challenge the server’s partner. After the serve and return, this point settles into a 2-minute repetitive grind. Watch the deuce court player (on the right) move in and out of the point while keeping the ball into the #1 screen (previous posts Ad-side screen). I count 14 overheads hit to the opponent’s backhand and 5 to the forehand in this clip. They shift as a team to cover the middle after every overhead. The opponents are working hard to find space, but a mixture of rollers, slice overheads, and push resets limit their options. I also recommend watching the opponent in the ad court and watching her back away from the side-back screen overhead and recover to the singles line. This is a skill we have worked on quite a bit recently in our ladies’ clinic.
Part 2 is more of the same. This whole minute is probably more boring than part 1. The Law of the Thirds is well understood and the net team has great balance and positioning. Many of the overheads and volleys look simple. The point swings when at the very end a lob is hit deep down the line and the opposing partner blitzes in an attempt to get an easy volley reply. It is starting to get to the end of the point.
The end to this point happens after the overhead is a little too hard into the screen and sits up in the strike zone of the ad court opponent who hits an amazing forehand down the line to get a change in positions. The opponents come into the net and start hitting huge, heavy rollers into the player in the deuce court putting her into a spin cycle. She did a good job surviving the first 5 rollers, but the last one was too intense and she nets a backhand.
This point is ONE of 74 in the first set. It was 3 minutes of very disciplined shot selection and positioning. They all have amazing racquet sports skills and possess the ability to hit heavy topspin and cut slices. These girls are incredible.
