Here are ten defensive tactics and strategies to get back into a match, reverse a losing score and offset an aggressive, offensive team.

1. Keep the ball in play. The cornerstone of any defensive strategy is to keep the ball in play. Make your opponent hit one more shot. No mistakes are good but particularly try to avoid mistakes in the net and out wide of the doubles sidelines.
2. Vary your starting position when receiving. Stay back with your partner at the baseline to start each return point (particularly if you are struggling to get into the point with the return) for the first serve (and second serve as necessary). Defend from the baseline and look to move in together with your partner if given the opportunity.  Have your partner crowd the middle of the court in a more aggressive position. Move inside the baseline to return serve. Move further back to return serve. Move left or right with the serve to favor your forehand or backhand. Give the serving teams different looks to take them out of rhythm. Do whatever you can (within the rules) to disrupt the server and serving team.
3. Vary your starting position when serving. There are several options. Position your partner tight into the net or back off the net (more towards the service line). Serve from more of a singles starting position and have your partner straddle the center service line or stand on your side of the court (“Australian shift”). Have your partner fall back with you to the baseline or stand behind you in an “I formation”. In all cases, it’s important to quickly move and adjust from your starting positions (usually by signal or prior communication) to ensure full coverage of the court. The intent with any variation in positioning is to disrupt the receiving team and get them out of their comfort zone.
4. Look to do different things with the serve. Vary your serve location (down the middle, at the body, angled out wide). Vary the pace and spin of your serve. Vary your movement pattern after putting the serve in play. Stay back, come in immediately with the serve or come in on a delayed response. The objective is to disrupt the return and not give the serve returner a set target.
5. Look to do different things with the return. Do not be predictable. Return the ball cross court deep or angled. Return the ball down-the-line either with a drive or lob. Stay back after hitting the return or close into the net either immediately following the return or in a delayed response.
6. Use the lob to get back into the point, slow things down, regain a more advantageous court position and get your opponents off the net.
7. Sometimes the best defense is a good offence. Charge forward and beat your opponents to the net if your opponents are successfully attacking the net. Take chances and aggressively poach and use crossing patterns if your opponents are beating you with their return game.
8. When losing or when momentum is adversely shifting, look to slow down the flow and tempo of the match by being more deliberate with your partner communications and pre-serve rituals and in retrieving the balls on your side of the court. Slow things down by taking more time to put your serve in play. Likewise, if slow play and tempo are hurting your play, look to speed up play by using signals and more direct and prompt communications with your partner and by taking less time to put your serve in play.
9. Take advantage of the unique tennis scoring system. The nature of scoring in tennis facilitates comebacks and swings in momentum. Place scoreboard pressure on your opponents by continuing to hold serve even when down by one or more breaks of serve. Focus on winning the first two points of each game to apply pressure and make things uncomfortable and unsettling for your opponents. If things are going poorly, change serve rotations and/or return positions at the start of a new set. After losing a set, look to reverse or regain or momentum with an early break of serve at the start of the next set. Things can change quickly in tennis. Fortunately, no one can ride out the clock in tennis so keep doing whatever you can to change a losing score.
10. In conclusion and as an important reminder, never give up. Stay in the match mentally and always give 100% even when things look bleak.

Here are 10 “tried-and –true”, “old-school” tactics guaranteed to produce results.

1. No pace. Take pace off the ball with backspin to disrupt rhythm and timing.  This is particularly effective against a player who hits hard and flat.
2. Chip and charge. Chip (or slice) the approach and then close to finish the point with a volley or overhead.
3. Serve and volley. Serve and close the net to finish the point at the net.  Commit to come in regardless of how well your serve is hit and/or if you hit or miss your service target.
4. High ball and close. Hit the ball high above your opponent’s strike zone.  Sneak into the net (with a delayed close) as your opponent is looking up to hit the ball.
5. Rush and crush. This is all encompassing and takes little imagination.  Come in on everything (returns, serves, groundstrokes, etc.) and make your opponent beat you with passing shots and lobs.  Remember, it’s a numbers game.  You don’t have to perfect or win every point just the last point of each game.
6. Drop shot and lob. Draw your opponent back and up with lobs and drop shots.  Look to close the net whenever your opponent is struggling to reach your shot to finish the point with a volley.
7. Play close to the baseline. Take balls early and on the rise with an abbreviated backswing (as necessary) to take time away from your opponent.
8. Fan the court. Takes balls hit to the middle third of the court and use a backspin/sidespin stroke pattern to angle balls out wide to each corner of the court.  Aim for the service line for the best results and angles.
9. Moon balls. Hit the ball high and deep preferably with heavy topspin to pin your opponent back behind the baseline.
10. Mix it up. Work the point with variety, disguise and multiple spins.  Hit from different court positions, mix pace and basically do everything possible to win the point.

1. Test the footing of your opponents on clay. Assess their ability to slide and change directions on clay by hitting angles, lobs, etc.  If you expose or identify a weakness, use short/deep, angle and lob patterns to force your opponents to move and run down shots.
2. Soft angle and drop volleys are particularly effective on clay even versus opponents with sure clay-court footing. Soft angle and drop volleys, if hit correctly get absorbed by the clay surface.  The shot is best set up by isolating one or both of your opponents back behind the baseline.
3. Be patient and recognize (with the slower bounce) that it may take longer to construct and finish a point. Very often it’s your ability to get one extra shot back in play that defines your success on clay composition courts.
4. Never give up on a shot. The slower and higher bounce on clay makes it easier to track and run down a shot.
5. Don’t feel pressured to serve and volley (or return and volley) to start each point. Serving and staying back is a viable option on clay particularly if you have confidence in your groundstrokes.  Similarly, delaying your approach to the net on serve return points tends to be more effective on clay.  The important thing is to vary your decision to close or not close following the first shot and to not fall into a familiar and predictable pattern.
6. Crossing and switching patterns are just as effective on clay as on hard-based surfaces and should be a mainstay of all doubles play on clay. Training should focus on the first step to the ball which is more difficult to execute efficiently on clay.  Recovery footwork after the shot is another important focus for effective clay-court movement.
7. Spin can be more effective on clay. It’s easier to get the ball up high above your opponent’s strike zone with topspin and then close and/or drift to the middle to finish the point with a volley or overhead.  A hard slice is particularly effective as an approach on clay composition courts.
8. Focus on getting the first serve in play with a 75% pace serve. On clay, it’s more difficult to win the point outright with the first serve and easier for the opposing team to attack the second serve so the high percentage play is to take pace off the first serve to get it in (and not start the point at a disadvantage). Hit the first serve with more topspin to clear the net with a higher margin and to kick the ball up above the strike zone of your opponent.
9. As for specific patterns, I like to close behind sidespin chip shots angled short of the service line. Since there is less risk of getting hurt with a short ball, short and deep patterns (drawing your opponents in and then pushing them back) are good options on clay.  Depending on the inclination and strength of my partner, I like to stay back with my partner when returning serve and either defend with lobs and off pace shots or rip groundstrokes with pace and/or heavy spin.
10. Be creative (and have fun). The extended nature of points on clay creates more shot making opportunities and creative options.  Clay rewards teams with multi-dimensional, all-around skills.

1. Use the surface to slide into the shot when pressured in moving left, right, up and back.
2. Maintain active feet (with a number of adjustment steps) to cover potentially difficult bounces (inherent in clay court play).
3. Be patient and recognize that it takes longer to construct a point. Be prepared to “grind” and hit that one extra shot to extend the rally and win the point.
4. Get your first serve in play. It’s difficult to attack with the serve (force a return error).  Use the serve to get into the point and pin your opponent back behind the baseline.
5. Hit with heavier topspin (particularly on your rally ball) to take advantage of the higher bounce on clay.
6. Never quit on a shot. The slower and higher bounce on clay composition courts leads to a better ability to run and track down the ball.
7. Maintain a higher than average net clearance with your groundstrokes. It’s difficult on a clay composition court to hit through the court with groundstrokes (particularly when hitting from a deeper court position).  It’s better to hit higher over the net (with a high margin of error) and wait for the opportunity to attack off a short ball.
8. As part of an overall strategy of high percentage play (which is necessary on clay), hit cross court and for depth to set up the point.
9. Continuing on the strategic front, use guile rather than brawn as the mainstay of your game plan. Work the point with cross-court/down-the-line (redirection), short and deep angle, high/low, varying spin and varying pace patterns of play.  Aggressive “go for the early first strike” and “rush and crush” tactics don’t work for most players and for most situations on clay.
10. On the psychological front, adopt a resilient and tough on-court personality and presence. Clay court tennis requires perseverance, fortitude and tenaciousness.

1. For defensive lobs, drop the racquet head well below the ball. Extend the racquet head up and out toward the sky with an open racquet face and preferably a Continental grip.  Hit a relatively flat shot when managing pace is not a concern.  Use underspin or backspin to manage and control the pace of more difficult oncoming balls.  Hit with a very high net clearance and trajectory to buy time and to effectively get back into the point.
2. For offensive lobs, hit a flat or topspin shot with lower net clearance and trajectory. The goal is to get the ball just barely above the reach of the opposing net player (giving him/her little chance to recover and retrieve the ball after the bounce).  To hit a topspin lob, drop the racquet head well below the ball and accelerate the racquet up, through and past the point of contact in a sharp low-to-high swing path.  The racquet face should be closed at the bottom of the stroke pattern and perpendicular at the point of contact.
3. The best two-shot lob pattern is a low ball hit at the feet of the net player followed by a lob. The objective is to get the player at the net off balance and leaning forward with the first shot which in turn, opens up the court for an effective, difficult to reach second-shot lob.  A similar pattern is to draw the opposing player (or players) into the net with a drop shot followed by a lob.
4. It’s easier to hit a lob in response to another lob or ball that has a higher bounce. Conversely it is more difficult to hit a lob in response to a lower bouncing ball.
5. When hitting a lob from a deeper, more difficult court position, think defense and hit the ball with a higher trajectory and net clearance (as noted in number 1 above).
6. In hitting a lob when positioned inside the baseline, think offense and hit with a lower trajectory and net clearance. Don’t be too cute with your shot selection.  A drive (and not a lob) is generally a better shot choice when hitting from an advantageous court position.  It’s important to go for the shot (hit with aggression) when in a position to finish the point and not go for the shot (hit more defensively) when not in a position to finish the point.
7. Hit cross-court when hitting a defensive lob (as when running back and across to cover a lob hit over your partner’s head). There is more court to hit to and recovery after the shot is easier (in terms of positioning).
8. Hit down-the-line when hitting an offensive lob (particularly if you are closing into the net with the shot). A classic doubles pattern is to redirect the serve return down-the-line and over the net player with an offensive lob, close (to about the service line) and then finish the point with a high volley or overhead.
9. Maintain active feet to get in the best possible position to hit the lob. There are several footwork patterns that work well in hitting lobs.  One of my favorite footwork patterns in hitting a topspin lob from deep in the court (particularly when the ball is hit behind you) is a corkscrew footwork pattern.  It requires a wide drop-back step with the back foot followed by a kick to propel the body and racquet head up and out to the ball.
10. Take advantage of outdoor weather conditions. Use the sun and wind to your advantage.  Hitting a lob up into the sun can temporarily blind your opponent making it difficult to hit not only an overhead but the next shot in sequence.  Hitting a lob into the wind can hang the ball up and buy you more time to get into the point.  And although more difficult to execute, hitting a lob with the wind can make it tough on your opponent to hit the overhead or track down the lob on the bounce.

1. In preparation for the shot, set the feet by dropping back with your right foot (left foot if you’re left-handed). Position the feet about shoulder width apart in a closed 3/4 stance (in relation to the net).  Use small adjustment steps to get underneath the ball.  Coil and get into a “set” position with your racquet.  Extend the racquet up and back.  Close the racquet face and set the racquet back behind your head (as if you were using the racquet to brush the hair on the back of your head). Reach up with your non-hitting to track the ball.  A great drill is to practice catching the ball with your extended non-hitting hand.
2. To hit the overhead, coil with your legs, hips and shoulders and drop the racquet head to a power position just below or even with your shoulder blades. In a kinetic chain, uncoil your legs, hips and shoulders, drop your non-hitting hand bringing the elbow into your rib cage and then loop the racquet up and out, pronating the forearm to make contact with the ball at the top of your reach.  Hit up and out and follow through across your body bringing your hitting hand to your opposite hip pocket.  Your weight should transfer into your left foot (right foot for left-handed players) at the conclusion of the shot.
3. To move back in response to a deeper lob, use a gravity drop-step to get a quick start to the ball. Then use a series of crossover steps (and adjustment shuffle steps) to position your body underneath the shot.  Use a scissors kick to elevate your body up to make contact as necessary.  Turn and run back if you find you cannot catch up to the ball in the air and need to take the lob on the bounce.
4. When positioned on or inside the service line, flatten the racquet head at the point of contact and attack the overhead. Don’t be tentative and accelerate the racquet head through the point of contact.  Aim for the service line and “pop” the ball off the court and out-of-reach of your opponent(s).
5. When hitting the overhead from a deeper, more defensive court position, still accelerate the racquet head but hit with spin and aim up and over the net with higher net clearance and depth.
6. For doubles, hit to an opening or at the player who has less time to defend (the players closest to the net) when attacking with the overhead and back to the player deepest in the court if hitting a more defensive overhead. If you’re the partner of the player hitting the overhead, look to end the point by moving/drifting in and to the middle of the court to finish the point with a volley or overhead.
7. For singles, prepare and set early to freeze your opponent or to make your opponent guess prematurely to one side or the other. Go inside out aiming over the middle or low part of the court when hitting a difficult overhead from the ad court (or deuce court for left-handed players).  Conversely hit cross court when hitting from the ad court (or deuce court for left-handed players).
8. In recovery after the shot, remember to close, split in timing with your opponent’s next shot (if there is one) and look to finish the shot with a volley or second overhead. Be decisive, hold your advantage and don’t let your opponent back into the point.
9. As an important focal point, keep your head up with your eyes focused up at the point contact through the finish or follow through.
10. As a second important focal point or reminder, be decisive and bold. This is one shot where it pays to be aggressive.

Here are ten exercises, games and drills to improve your ability to manipulate the ball with your hands and racquet.

1. Do racquet ups, downs and up-bounce-ups.
2. Establish a two-bounce baseline-to-baseline rally (ball must bounce twice inside the court boundary).
3. Hit volleys and groundstrokes with one hand behind your back. If you hit with a two-handed backhand, hit forehand groundstrokes and/or volleys with your non-dominant hand.
4. Hit volley and one-bounce (two bounce) groundstroke rallies against a backboard.
5. Hit volleys and/or groundstrokes over an established mid-court barrier target (e.g. court bench).
6. Play a slice (or topspin) war – all slice (or topspin).
7. Hit with Quick Start red, orange and green dot balls.
8. Establish and maintain a two-touch volley and/or groundstroke rally. Catch (or stop)/set the ball with the first touch and then hit the ball over the net and back into play with the second touch.
9. Play mini tennis. Establish service box or boxes as court boundary. Work the point with finesse and angles only (no pace).
10. Mirror the shots of your hitting partner (e.g. high trajectory to high trajectory, low trajectory to low trajectory, topspin to topspin, etc.). Another option is to change and/or counter the shots of your hitting partner.  Examples include taking pace off the ball in response to pace, adding pace to the ball in response to no pace, hitting slice in response topspin and hitting topspin in response to slice.

1. The drop shot is best utilized when you’re positioned inside the baseline and your opponent is positioned off the court behind the baseline.
2. Use backspin (with a high to low stroke pattern) in hitting the drop shot. Take pace off the ball with soft hands.
3. Establish a trajectory and lift to the ball so that the ball drops vertically down and does not carry into the court with the bounce. An effective drop shot should bounce three or more times prior to crossing the service line.
4. Try not to be too “fine” with the shot and not get adequate margin of error clearance over the net. The worst mistake is to hit the ball into the net.  The trajectory necessary to deaden the ball and minimize carry into the court generally requires higher net clearance.
5. Be active with your feet (take a number of adjustment steps) and set early with your racquet and body positioning prior to hitting the drop shot to give yourself options (should you decide to drive the ball) and to freeze your opponent at the baseline.
6. Don’t overdo it. The drop shot is best utilized as a deceptive shot and not as part of an established pattern of play.
7. As a heads up, be alert to another drop shot in response to your drop shot. One of the best replies to a drop shot is another drop shot.
8. One of the best two-shot sequences with the drop shot is a drop shot followed by a lob.
9. Cushion the ball with backspin and soft hands to hit an effective drop volley.
10. The percentage play is to hit the drop volley only in response to a ball that has fallen below the net. There are generally better shot options in responding to balls up in your strike zone (shoulder height).

1. Develop racquet head awareness, feel and control. With racquet head awareness, feel and control, the racquet becomes an extension of your hand. his control is very much influenced by forearm pronation. The process begins with the extension of the racquet face up and out toward your point of contact leading with the butt end of the racquet. The next step is to pronate the forearm (using the continental grip) to position the racquet face through the strike zone. Control of this forearm pronation will allow you to make the subtle adjustments with your hand necessary to hit your service targets.
2. Develop a fluid swing pattern with acceleration up to and through the point of contact. Focus initially on the mechanics of the upper body and the motion of the swing through the backswing, loading phase, extension up to the point of contact, contact and follow through. The goal is to develop elasticity and a lively arm and a swing pattern that will hold up under the pressure of competition.
3. Establish a solid base of support and balance prior to more engagement with the lower body. A good drill to establish balance is to first serve with both feet planted, no lifting of the feet (including heels) off the ground and no knee flexion (bend). This drill develops angular rotation and a loose, upper body coil and motion as well as balance and a solid base of support. With proficiency, step two is to add knee flexion. Step three is to allow the back heel to come off the ground. It is important to maintain balance as you incorporate more knee flexion and ground force drive. One focus is the back leg. When the front leg and foot propels up and into the court, the back leg and foot should kick back for balance and body equilibrium. There are two options with the hitting stance, a platform stance in which the back leg stays back and a pinpoint stance which brings the fee together.  In most cases, the platform stance sacrifices power but provides better balance and support and more accuracy with serve placement.
4. Focus on keeping the tossing arm up and fully extended before dropping into a tuck position with your elbow. At the same time keep your chin up and maintain your eyes focused on the point of contact through the finish. There is a tendency to prematurely drop the tossing arm and head and redirect the focus to the target versus the ball which invariably leads to a mistake into the net. Think tall on your serve. Try to get full reach and extension. The higher your point of contact, the bigger your acceptance window (the window you need to hit to clear the net and get the ball into the service box).
5. Learn to utilize spin for more consistency (particularly for the second serve). Develop a kick and/or topspin serve for higher net clearance and margin for error. The process for a kick serve requires brushing or slicing up and out on the ball. The racquet follows a circular path from behind your head out to the right (for right-handed players) in line with the baseline and then down and around to your belly button. The path to the point of contact is from seven to two o’clock. Draw the butt end of the racquet up first as if throwing a dart into a ceiling as you bring the racquet up from the backswing to the point of contact. Next follows elbow extension, forearm pronation and ulnar deviation through the point of contact. It’s important to lead with the tip of racquet (keeping your elbow up) as you circle the racquet out to the right, down and around to the finish. Spin is facilitated with a toss over your left shoulder (versus your right shoulder) and with a continental grip or a grip that edges more towards the eastern backhand grip. Remember also to load with your legs and keep your chest up as you extend your arm up for the toss.
6. Start serving up close to establish range, accuracy and confidence. Start serving right on top of the net. Progressively work your way back to baseline with success.
7. Establish progressively more narrow and defined targets. As a beginner, the first target is getting the ball over the net into the court and then the service boxes. Next divide the service box to two halves and then by thirds. The final step is to establish three specific and smaller service targets, one down the T, two at the body and three out wide. Your ability to hit each of these three targets determines your ability to be successful holding serve and dictating play with your serve.
8. Have a purpose and identify a service target prior to each time you set up to serve. Establish a plan as part of your service ritual every point.
9. Play points where you only give yourself one serve to start each point. This is a great way to develop a strong, reliable second serve.
10. If possible, track your results in match play. Things to track (or chart) are first serve percentage, first serve points won, second serve points won, doubles faults, aces, first serve velocity, second serve velocity, first serve revolutions per minute (RPM’s), second serve RPM’s, serve target locations (plot diagram), serve target locations for service points won and serve target locations for service points lost and serve target locations for aces. It’s probably not realistic to get tracking information on all these variables but any quantifiable data is helpful in identifying your strengths, weakness and areas to direct you training attention.

Above all else, get onto a court and hit 1,000’s of balls.  There is no substitute for repetition and hitting a lot of serves in a meaningful, purposeful way.

If you have a court, bucket of balls and some spare time, one of the best ways to work on your game is to hit serves.  Here are ten ways to make best use of your time in practicing your serve.

1. Begin serving from the net and then progressively move back (with success) a couple of steps at a time until you’re serving comfortably from the baseline. (Helps to establish range and control of placement.  Promotes a fluid, relaxed service motion.)
2. Set up and practice hitting three established targets (angled out wide, at the body and middle T). (Promotes accuracy and reinforces the importance of hitting your key targets.)
3. See how many serves you can consecutively hit (with a full motion) into the service box. (Promotes accuracy and consistency.)  If you’re really ambitious, log the number of serves you get in over the course of the summer or year to start your own 1,000, 2,000, 3,000… serve club.
4. Serve with a countdown. Countdown by one with every serve that goes in or meets your defined target and count up with each mistake.  Continue serving until you countdown to zero.  (Promotes accuracy and consistency.  Also helps in dealing with pressure.)
5. Serve from fence to fence (or curtain to curtain). Serve with your back pressed close to the fence and then aim to hit your serve into the far opposite side fence (in the air/without a bounce).  (Helps to establish “pop” and racquet head speed versus hand speed.  Reinforces the need to hit up and out on the serve with full extension and reach at the point of contact.)
6. Alternatively hit first and second serves. Have a purpose and clearly distinguish each serve by pace, spin, etc.  (More realistically simulates match play conditions and requirements.)
7. Play an imaginary game with first and second serves and rotations. (Similar to number 6. above, more realistically simulates match play conditions and requirements.)
8. Hit serves with no bend in the knees and your feet firmly planted on the court. (Develops angular rotation and a loose, upper body coil and motion.)
9. Raise the net with a rope or barrier. Practice hitting up and over the raised net (or barrier).  As an alternative, practice serving from a kneeling or sitting position.  (Both techniques serve to improve your ability to hit with spin and to hit up and out on your serve.)
10. Having grip issues? Practice hitting serves with your middle finger crossed over your index finger to secure and maintain the Continental grip.  Practice hitting with the back of your hand/reverse side of your racquet to establish the Continental grip and to force your elbow up and out to an inverted “V” position.