Dominating Tennis

When to go for a winner in tennis

Build with margin. Finish only when it's short.

Key facts

  1. 1

    In Australian Open tracking data, shot type was strongly associated with winning the point, and the most effective shots clustered in the highest-speed, lowest-net-clearance categories.

    Kovalchik & Reid, Journal of Sports Sciences, 2018

  2. 2

    In a common net-clearance drill, the rally ball crosses the net about 1.5–2 m high. The put-away crosses lower.

  3. 3

    Cross-court is the safer rally direction because the court is longer and the net is lower there.

  4. 4

    A common rule of thumb is to rally cross-court about 70 % of the time and change direction about 30 %, and only with an opening.

  5. 5

    Shot quality is where and how hard the ball lands, and the danger zone for the opponent is deep and fast.

Why it works

A rally ball buys position. It clears the net high, lands deep, and takes your opponent's time and angles away. A put-away spends position. It's flatter, earlier and aimed at space, and it only works when the reply came back short and slow enough to give you the court.

Mix them up and you lose both ways. Hit the put-away off a rally ball and you've taken the low-margin shot without the opening. Hit the rally ball off a sitter and you've handed the opening back.

Depth decides, not the middle. A ball landing a metre inside your baseline still has you hitting from behind it, so you keep building. The trigger is a bounce inside the service line, or a ball slow enough to step in on. On clay the build takes more balls, on grass and fast hard courts fewer.

The line to say on court

“Deep and heavy until it's short. Then step in and flatten.”

Drill: Two modes

15 min · with a partner
  1. Rally cross-court with both of you building. Every ball must land past the service line. Rally to 20.
  2. Your partner throws in one short ball per rally, unannounced. Step in and finish into the open court, two metres inside the line.
  3. Play points. You may finish only off a ball that bounced inside the service line. Your partner calls any early trigger.
Number to beat7 of 10 short balls finished, with no early triggers

More drills like this: point play

Faults and fixes

Finishing off a deep ball
It's a low-margin shot with no opening.
FixBuild until the ball is short.
Going for the line
The open space wins the point, not the placement.
FixAim two metres inside the line.
Building forever
The short ball came and went.
FixName the trigger before the point and step in when you see it.

Questions players ask

What is a put-away in tennis?

It's the finishing shot: flatter, earlier and aimed at open court. It only works off a reply that came back short and slow enough to give you the court.

Should I attack a ball that lands in the middle of the court?

Only if it's short. A ball landing a metre inside the baseline still has you hitting from behind it, so build. Depth decides, not the middle.

Why hit cross-court in a rally?

The court is longer and the net lower, so it's the safer direction. Change direction when you have an opening.

How high should a rally ball clear the net?

A common drill height is about 1.5 to 2 metres over the net. The put-away crosses lower.

What this doesn't cover

Measuring the value of each shot properly needs full ball-tracking data on where and how hard every ball lands. Charted shot codes without coordinates can only approximate it. The 70/30 split is a rule of thumb, not a law, and the right number of rally balls changes with the surface.

Sources

  • Kovalchik & Reid, "A shot taxonomy in the era of tracking data," Journal of Sports Sciences (2018)
  • Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports (2020): shot-by-shot stochastic modelling of points
  • Space-Time VON CRAMM (arXiv 2005.12853)
  • Match Charting Project
  • Brain Game Tennis, O'Shannessy on first-strike tennis

Read next

Play the pointWhat is percentage tennis and how do you play itPercentage tennis means choosing targets and shots so the point ends on your opponent's error more often than on yours. It isn't pushing. It's aggressive with margin: aim through the net window, land past the service line, and go to the bigger half of the court and the weaker wing. About two in three points end on an error.StrikeHow high over the net should you hit in tennisAim at the middle of your net window, not at the line. For a topspin rally ball, that means clearing the net by about 1.5 to 2 metres and still landing deep. Spin makes that possible: it's the only ingredient that pulls the ball down without slowing it, so it widens the range of launch angles that land in.StrikeHow to hit an approach shot in tennisHit your approach shot deep and low rather than hard, then split step at the service line as your opponent strikes. Depth pushes them back and takes away their angles. A low, skidding slice makes them hit up, so the ball reaches you above the net. Then recover to the middle of the passing angles you left open.Play the pointHow to build a point in tennisTo build a point, play it in three acts: open with a ball that makes them move, build by keeping them moving while you read the reply, and finish only when the reply is short, high or hit from off the bisector. Most amateurs only play the finish, from everywhere. The reading is the skill. The finish is the easy part.