Master the Art of Attack in Tennis! | Pro Tips for Advancing to the Net with Coach Ben Zink

So, we're going to work on some attacking balls moving forward. All right, what I want you looking for is the ball that's a little bit off pace, but not necessarily completely short. And I want you to make sure that when you step in, you're kind of doing our step down, right, where you're getting your left foot in front, moving forward through the ball, right? So you're going to kind of rotate, bring your body through. The one thing that I want you to make sure of, right, is there's enough space for you here, okay, that you're able to shift your weight into the ball, right? I think sometimes when we attack the ball, we come in and we're trying to attack, but we're a little bit too close. So you need to have what, like I say, have you ever done this yet with your car where you pull into a spot and it's too small for your car, right? You need to make sure there's enough space between you and that ball that you're able to shift your weight forward into the ball. And if we hit it well enough and we recognize we hit it well enough, we're going to move forward into it, okay? All right, so Luke is going to feed you a few balls. I want you right now to just focus on really getting that left foot in front, shifting the weight forward and take a step or two to kind of mimic you going forward to the net, all right? Does that sound like a plan? Okay, here we go. Yeah, move up, move up, step in. Good, that's it. Take, give her a little bit of time in between each one. Good, move up, move up, recognize. Good, so what, real quick, so what I'm looking for, like a little shorter, shade shorter, is I also want you to feel like, like you want to have balance, like in control. Like, so I want, so if you feed a little short ball, like I'm going to step, control, hit and move. Like I want it to feel like it's a little bit more controlled, okay? So you're kind of getting that, you're trying to take that left foot, drive it in, shift the weight forward as you hit the ball, okay? All right, here we go. Left foot, shift, forward in, a little bit more space. There it is, that's it, go. That's it, nice. Again, step into the ball, shift. Good, good, nice, nice, very good on you. And again, good, awesome. Hold for a second. Those are fantastic though. Again, so when you want, I don't, again, I don't want to be the example, but when you hit it, like I want you to kind of send the weight and then continue that movement. Like, like see how my body goes right to where I want to hit that ball, right? So I don't want to kind of like, like hit it and rotate my body be going off the wrong direction. I want to make sure it's going towards my target, okay? All right, let's make sure as I finish it, it goes towards the target. Continue two or three steps. Perfect, much better. That's how you're going to kind of train yourself to hit that shot. I'm going to go two, three steps through. Perfect, great work, great work. Step in, beautiful, much better. Good weight transfer into that ball, good spacing. You're coming up, step, outstanding. Well done, well done. Give me three more of those, please. You're going to step, shift and in a little bit more shape. You're not ending the point here. You're putting shape on the ball, okay? That's it. This is our ball to get to the net. One more time on this side. Lots of space, send it forward. Very good. All right, same thing. Let's take it the opposite direction. The key on the backhand side for a lot of people is like making sure that I get those hands extending as I'm moving through, right? So we tend to get a little closer because we got two hands on it. These arms get in tight. Step, reach, extend, same thing. Loads of space. When I'm attacking, I want to attack the ball and move forward. Most people want to attack the ball. I want to have a lot of space with the mindset of attacking, if that makes sense. So I want to keep the spacing open so I have enough room to make sure I'm finishing that shot, okay? All right, here we go. Same thing on the backhand side. Moving in, good, good, good. Take your time, a little shorter. Up, up, up. Good, excellent. Run to the ball first. You're fine, don't worry about where the ball goes. You're practicing the shift of the weight. That's a girl, good. A little bit more spin on the first couple. Feel the spin. It's okay, you're fine. Relaxing, relaxing. Shift it, feel it. Okay, when you're hitting it though, right? The one thing I want you to feel is like when you're making adjustments, right? So say I'm working on something and I'm overcooking. Slow down just a little bit, feel it, right? So take these next two and feel like that ball and then we'll keep going, okay? Just feel that ball, feel it, feel it. That's it. You hit the ball so hard sometimes you got to take a little bit of pace off just to feel. That's it, perfect. Great job, much, much better. Outstanding, smooth. That's great, that's exactly what I want to do, right? Staying low in the legs, smooth, beautiful. Excellent job, excellent job. Good, that's all right. Try to prepare that racket a little earlier. Two more, up, move forward. That a girl, awesome. I love the way you're moving through that, beautiful job. One more time, up. Yes, awesome, okay. Now, so I hit one of these shots. I'm looking for my opponent to reach for the ball and I want to be ready to close in, okay? So I'm looking for that same exact shot and then a medium pace volley, right? This shot's doing the work for you. The next shot is just going to go cross court, nice steady volley on the ball, okay? All right, are we ready? Feel, yes, just steady open court. That's perfect, right? So that's your setup shot, that's the finish shot, right? So it's nice, you've got hit a beautiful approach. You've taken the time away, you're moving forward into the ball. Shift the weight in, outstanding, split. Good job, perfect, excellent work. If, so this right here, right? The one thing we want to make sure we're trying to get our opponent to do is run as far as possible, right? So is the back corner farther or if I hit it short, like kind of where the service line and the singles line meet? Yeah, because now they have to make that line longer, correct? So let's make that happen on this one where that volley just is a little bit shorter in the court, okay? Perfect so far, you're doing fantastic. Yep, love that ball. Just a little shorter, outstanding, good finish. That was a tough feed too. Nice work, excellent job. Move through, smooth, yes. And the whole idea of this is if you do this correctly, I can take pressure off myself and know that this ball doesn't have to be a winner, right? If I'm feeling confident about how I'm finishing that point, which you're doing a great job, that alleviates the pressure on this ball, then that's the setup. And that's where people, they want to get tight, hit that for a winner, and then that's where the error comes in, okay? All right, give me three more on this side. Smooth shift, outstanding, split. Perfect, great job Anya. Two more here. Smooth rotation, outstanding. That's it, that's it, I love it, good job. Very, very nice. Keep using your feet through that volley, you're doing a great job. Shift the weight in, awesome. Split, steady, great job. Let's do the same thing on the backhand side. Same spot with the volley. Remember, the backhand is the setup, volley is the finish, stepping in through the shot, okay? Here we go. Move up, love it off the outside leg, great job Anya. Beautiful, excellent work. Those elbows in front as you're moving in. You're doing an excellent job giving yourself space, nice. Split, keep moving into that volley. You know, that's the thing. So like I get in there, hands are out nice and early, moving forward. But you're doing great, that backhand is perfect. Step in, good, split. Take it forward, that's the way, that's the way. Great job Anya. B-E-A, beautiful. Up, up, up, yep. Split, move in, outstanding. Great execution, great execution. Good, awesome. Two more of those please, great work. Good, good, great hands. Great way to adjust the feet. One more time. Move forward, yep, that's all right. Split, forward movement, great job, awesome. Okay, five things you can adjust about a ball, right? Depth, direction, height, spin, speed, right? So you're going to rally cross-court with Lucas, okay? When you see a ball that's slightly shorter, like what we just practiced, slightly slower, right? Doesn't have quite as much spin. Those are the ones that we're practicing you attacking, right? And having that recognition. So as you're rallying cross-court, as soon as you feel like you have one that you can step into, I would like you to step in and just finish it down the line. He's not going to chase it down. Actually, Lucas, try to chase it down. I'm going to have you, she's going to rally cross-court with you. She's going to attack that ball down the line when she sees the one she wants. And then try to pop it up. She'll come and finish it with a volley, okay? All right. And you're going to look for what our goal is, is to kind of have that right mixture. And every shot you're hitting, you're trying to sense which one of those balls is going to come off, right? And the earlier I pick it up, the earlier I can get set, the earlier I can move through the ball, okay? All right. So we're going to work on rally cross. And then when you see a ball that you like, work on getting those speed in position and move in and take it down the line. What are some things that, one last thing I'd like you to make sure of, when you're rallying cross-court, you want to take note of the shot that you hit over there though. So you hit a hard speed ball, a lot of spin deep in the court. Most likely the return shot of that is going to be a little less. Maybe not short, but just a little less. And that's the ones you're going to be attacking because at that higher level, we don't get lots of short balls up there. We get slower balls back here. And that's what you're looking to make sure you attack and go forward. Okay? All right. Here we go. Good. There it is. Move up. That's the one. Yep. Go. Good control. Perfect. We didn't even make it that time. Awesome. Nice work. Here we go. That was perfect on your way to sense that ball. Good. Adjust your position. There it is. Sense. It's okay. That's all right. It happens. But you recognize the ball, right? Like that's most people's issue is the recognition part. It's not that, like I have to see the situation before I can even try to execute it. So that was good. It's okay. Good. That's the one. Move up. That's okay. Got lucky there. But notice one thing is that ball that you hit, when that leaves your strings, that's your recognizing. Like you have to recognize that too. I hit a really quality forehand deep in the corner. I want to slide up a little bit. Okay. Beautiful. There it is again. Possible. Love it. Steady. Oh, beautiful. Half volley on you. Great job. That's why you're an all-star. Very good. Excellent. Good. Awesome. Could be. That's a good quality shot. He's off the court. Excellent. Hands up. Nice. Good, good, good. Just know like when you hit a quality ball too, and this sometimes like people are like coming, like just come in, like ready to attack and pounce on that volley. Because what is that way? I don't have to hit it as hard, but I can still take time away. If I wait for it to come all the way back to me, then I have to feel like I have to stick it a little bit more. If I can get there with my feet, then it's easier for me to put it away. Right? All right. Good job. Turn the court a little bit more shape. That a girl. That's a good one. Move up a little. Yep. Go. That's it. The one thing, like I wasn't watching him on that one. I was watching you. The sound of his ball sounded different to me. Like that, like, you know, the ball leaving your racket sounded solid. Ball leaving his racket didn't. So that's one of the ways that we can measure. Like if I feel like, man, that sounded really good coming off my strings. I want to listen to the sound of his racket to see what comes off his as well. Okay. All right. Ready? Last one on this side. Good. Beautiful. Good job on you. There it is. Yes. He didn't even move. Nice. Do the same thing. Other side. Couple rounds. Good job. Nice work. Good work. I love it. So you see what's happening is he thinks he's hit an okay ball, but you have the mindset that you're looking for that opportunity. Now all of a sudden he's unsure. And that's where you want to start adding that to your game because now all of a sudden he's not sure if you're going to go cross or you might attack it. And that ball wasn't that bad. Like he didn't hit a bad ball, but you were ready with your feet and ready to attack it. It was beautiful. Yep. Beautiful. Nice on you. No rush. Take your time. Good. Keep moving. Good hands. Ready? Hands up. It's okay. It's all good. It's all about the repetitions, right? They might not all go your way, but if I keep doing reps, I'm going to get better and better. Good. Beautiful. That's a good one. That's good depth. There it is. Moving up. Perfect. Hands up. Good job. One more round. Okay. You're doing fantastic. Let's keep this going. Good. Try to stay up there. When you hit that quality shot, don't feel like you have to go backwards, right? You can stay up on that baseline. You can do that. It's good. Stay there. Good. Shape it up. It's a little bit deeper. Shape it up. Good job. Reset. Beautiful. Looking for it. Let's go. Yep. Hands up. Nice.