How to play the "Spin" shot master.

This players hits all kinds of spin; underspin, sidespin, chop, and topspin. Sometimes he spins the ball so much it bounces back to his side of the court. One look at him and you think you can blow him off the court, yet he has a funny way of winning matches, many matches. He is good at frustrating a player. When you play a spin master you often feel that you're not playing well because he never gives you anything that lets you hit a solid shot. Nevertheless, he can be beaten.

• Get to the net and take all that junk out of the air. Balls with underspin and sidespin hang in the air for a long time and make for an easy volley. Be sure to close into the volley as you will have to supply all your own pace. Use your drop volley and soft wide angle.
• Overpower him (if you have the game) with big shots - Use a big serve and get to the net. Hit a big forehand and come in to the net behind it.
• Spinning balls move out of your hitting zone quickly. Focus on moving up to the ball and taking it waist high or just below your waist. Don't let the ball drop below your knees. You may have to hit with your feet in motion to do this.
• Keep you head on straight and watch the spins carefully. Each shot will almost always spin the same way. If his slice forehand cuts out wide to you, it will almost always cut out wide when he hits it. If his chop dies, it will almost always die. Topspin will almost always jump up. Underspin can bite the ground and stay low or it can sit up. Which one is he hitting? Watch!! After a few games you can pretty well tell which way his spins are going to bounce. All you have to do now is recognize them coming. Generally you'll see a slice coming when the racquet strikes the ball from above or high to low. Topspin shows up when the racquet dips below the ball on the backswing and strikes it from low to high. Sidespin occurs when the racquet looks like it will slice the ball and is then pulled across the body. All the spins have a signature. Look for them.
• Hit him deep with high looping topspin. These shots are often difficult to toy with.
• Play a little inside the baseline so you can step up on the ball quickly and react to the spin. The sooner you can take the ball, the less time the spin has to take effect.
• Move the player around and stretch him. Run the junker constantly, side to side, up and back. Don't let him set up to hit his stuff. Rush him and you'll get lots of weak balls.
• Try not to get into any monotonous cross court rallies. That's usually when he can control the ball. Keep him moving. Make him stretch.
• Be patient and wait for the right ball to put away or go to the net on. There will be many.
• You may have to take some pace off your own shots to wait for the right one.
• Draw him to the net and then pass. Be careful! He may be able to control the approach shot pretty well.
• Stay with him mentally. Spinmasters believe in cracking you and letting you make mistakes. Keep the ball in play and act like you're having the best time of your life.

How to play against the drop shot and lob

This player likes to drop shot, bring you to the net, and then lob over your head. This player is found at almost every club and in practically every league.

• Take the drop shot away from him by going to the net as your normal game plan. You can serve and volley, go in behind your return of serve, or start the point with a stroke and then go in. This way you're going to the net on your terms and not being drawn in by him. The difference is when you're drawn in by the opponent you can be off balance and that's why the lob is so effective as the second shot. Getting to the net on your terms usually puts you in a good balanced position, which also makes it easier to cover any lobs.
• Don't close all the way into the net. Hang back a little bit, closer to the service line. If the next shot is often a lob, there is no reason for you to be on top of the net. Hanging back will give you a little jump on the ball. Balance yourself and move in closer if it is not a lob.
• Look for the player to telegraph the lob. You can often see it before he hits it. The player may be leaning back, or have his weight on his back foot. The racquet face may be a bit open, or the racquet itself may dip unusually low before it hits the ball.
• Drop shot his drop shot. Drop shot-lobbers often hang back after their drop. It's a good play and relatively easy one to drop shot a drop shot. Hit it off to the side of the court instead of straight ahead. If your drop shot isn't that good, you can just push the ball lightly toward the sideline.
• Overpower him. Deep drives to the corners or wide angles side to side. Make the player run and stretch. It is often difficult to drop shot from these positions.
• Loop the balls high and deep. Keep the ball up at his shoulders. It's more difficult to drop a high, deep ball and you'll be able to see it coming anyway.
• Watch for the drop shot. You can see it coming by a change in his swing. Often it will be a slice and the racquet head usually starts well above the ball. It will look different than his normal swing. If he's playing from the midcourt look for his racquet face to be open. If you've left a big opening somewhere, expect a drop.
• Discourage his lobs by angling your overheads for winners. Try not to hit them down the middle of the court. Go for short, wide angles, aiming for the area where the service line and sideline meet.
• Draw him to the net and pass him by being the first one to drop shot. Try it on the first or second hit. These players can often be beaten by their own game. Be careful with this strategy because they may be good at drop shotting your drop shot. Hopefully you'll be keeping them off balance. Drop shot-lobbers are not known for their net games. Outside of blowing them off the court with power, this is the most fun to do.
• As is the case with many other irritating types of play, you must strive to keep your cool. Accept the fact that some of his plays will be winners. The worst thing you can do is get frustrated and beat yourself. Stick to your strategy.

How to play the "Power Player"

This player hits the ball hard. Often times the points are quick with few rallies. The speed and strength of their shots can be intimidating. Nevertheless, they can be beaten.

• Standard rules to follow are use a shorter backswing. Stand further behind the baseline, and quicken your should turn (backswing). But you'll need to do more. Try these:
• Remember to use power and not fight it. Keep your shoulders loose and relaxed so your arms can move quickly. The worst thing you can do is tighten up and try to muscle the ball back. Against big hitters you need to keep your racquet traveling pretty quickly. To keep up your racquet speed, stay loose in your shoulders and quick in your feet.
• Accept the fact that a power player will hit winners. You can't let yourself get mentally down because of that. You can still win. Power hitters are also known to make the most mistakes. Keep that thought in your head and then help the person make as many mistakes as possible.
• Keep the ball deep to give you the greatest amount of time to get set.
• Slow the ball down with deep floating underspin or high looping topspin, again, deep.
• Don't give the power player any power. Force him to generate all his own. Big hitters often feed on pace. Don't give them any food.
• Thwart them even more by hitting low, wide underspin, drop shots, dinks, and deep lobs. Slice and dice as much as you can, hitting balls that are difficult for him to bash.
• Slow the whole play down. Big hitters often like quick points. Use all the time you have available between points and between games. You need to get into their heads and frustrate them. Their whole game is often geared toward speed.
• 3/4 speed your first serve in so you never give them a slow second serve to tee off on.
• Take control of the point as soon as possible. Big hitters like to think they're in control.
• Try coming to the net. Power hitters often hit deep which means their ball hangs in the air for a long time. That makes it an easy volley if you can get your racquet on it. The toughest thing is for you to get over your fear of getting hit. If you watch the ball closely, all you need do is deflect it and you could easily make a winner out of it.
• See what works best. Move the ball corner to corner to prevent the power player from really setting up. If he hits well on the run, try hitting directly at him, wherever he is. Some hitters can't get out of their own way. Hitting right at them also prevents power players from firing angles at you.
• If you like to hit with power, keep up your racquet speed and focus on hitting the ball in front of you. Remember, use power, don't fight it. Don't try to outpower power. Hit at a pace you can control. Try hitting to the open court and also wrongfoot the player.
• Focus on the ball and watch it closely. This often makes the ball appear to slow down.
• Above all, keep the ball in play as best you can. There's nothing a power hitter hates to see more than that big shot coming back over the net, again and again.