When does One Need an Aggressive Opener
Match Strategy
Ilia Minkin Asked 9 years ago
Hi Alois,
I can play soft and medium-paced opening topspins against backspin from both wings more or less consistently. However, I find full-on open-ups very difficult -- I can do them in training with ~50% chance of success and use them in matches only occasionally. I'm an intermediate player, so does it make sense to work on those aggressive shots, or it is better to concentrate on something else? What is the level at which an aggressive open-up becomes a must have shot?
Alois Rosario Answered 9 years ago
Hi Ilia,
I think working on the whole range of speeds with the topspin is important. If you are feeling confident with the stroke then work on the faster shot. You will find that by increasing the speed you can often win a lot more simple rallies.
Thoughts on this question
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Jean Balthazar Posted 9 years ago
Even if you're not that good at strong openings, try every once in a while in a match, when you're in a good position do to it, just to mix up things for your opponent. If you always do the soft return, he'll get used to it and this will give him an advantage.
Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago
>If you always do the soft return, he'll get used to it and this will give him an advantage.
Yes, I experienced this in a tournament 3 weeks ago when I often had to block counter attacks coming from 10 year old kids :)
>Even if you're not that good at strong openings, try every once in a while in a match, when you're in a good position do to it, just to mix up things for your opponent.
Usually, I play aggressive openers when I am in a very good position or the ball is popped up slightly. The challenge is to get into that position early enough to have time to turn my body, which is critical. Actually, do I have to start rotating my trunk only after I landed into the position, or it makes sense to start rotating simultaneously with the footwork?
Jean Balthazar Posted 9 years ago
> Actually, do I have to start rotating my trunk only after I landed into the position, or it makes sense to start rotating simultaneously with the footwork?
>> I'll leave that one to the experts Alois and Jeff, but I guess if you're talking about a strong top spin, you can start to prepare your shot a bit during your footwork by starting to rotate backwards, but you will have to have your feet gripping the floor correctly before you initiate the following forward rotation in order to be able to translate it into a strong forward momentum of your bat.
Alois Rosario from PingSkills Posted 9 years ago
Yes it is important to make the twisting action backwards as you are moving to the ball. You don’t have time to do all of that when yo actually get to the position you want to hit the ball from.
Ilia Minkin Posted 9 years ago
Thank you, Alois. Actually, I think that it is a really crucial point that I have never thought or read about before. I have to practice this.