Can You Learn to Play Tennis Backwards?

[jimlosaltos]

Interesting question asked by this article and more substantially by this player and her coaches:. Can you learn tennis by bum-rushing the net THEN build a ground game?

" Can a tennis star learn to play the sport backwards { starting at the net} ? A rising U.S. teenager may have the answer"
Gift link to article at The Athletic here.

Lede: "Jermaine Jenkins, a former hitting partner for Venus Williams who has been a national development coach at the U.S. Tennis Association since 2019, has seen a lot of young, promising talent the past seven years. ... {then he saw this 15 year old} She had one of the stranger approaches to modern tennis that Jenkins had seen in a long, long time.

“I just remember watching her from a distance and being like: ‘Damn, she’s coming in on everything,’” Jenkins recalled during a recent interview.

“Like … You’re not even trying to build a point! Just a little patience, you know? But, she was having legit chances at making volleys as she’s coming in. I was like: ‘Man, that’s going to be tough to play on clay, coming in on everything.’”

Turns out her father was a huge fan of Pete Sampras and got her started in his mold.

~~~~~~~

"Has it ever. Urhobo finished last year as the world No. 432. She has climbed nearly 250 spots since then. For five weeks between the end of March and the start of May, she won more rankings points on clay than any other U.S. player outside the top 100. That made her the winner of the organization’s “wild card challenge” for the French Open, and she will play her first Grand Slam main-draw match against Katie Boulter of Great Britain."

[stotty]

I am not sure about learning tennis backwards, but in my day players spent just as much time practicing at the net as they did from the baseline. This more equal method of training was also the way players discovered their true calling - whether they were naturally baseliners or net players, or somewhere in the middle. They are probably dozens of players out there on the tour today that would have been better off playing at the net than on baseline but they have never had the chance to make that discovery, due to the lopsided method of training that has developed over recent years.

I spoke to a former tour player from the 80's recently who was quite adamant the game has 'gone to shit' (his words not mine), citing no one playing today can 'really' volley. He's probably right.

[doctorhl]

If players learn approach drop volleys and approach drop shots to go along with a net game, they may be able to turn a horizontal game back to a vertical game. Most current players are not very comfortable with vertical footwork or vertical shotmaking, or how to work the pont vertically.

[jimlosaltos]

I am not sure about learning tennis backwards, but in my day players spent just as much time practicing at the net as they did from the baseline. This more equal method of training was also the way players discovered their true calling - whether they were naturally baseliners or net players, or somewhere in the middle. They are probably dozens of players out there on the tour today that would have been better off playing at the net than on baseline but they have never had the chance to make that discovery, due to the lopsided method of training that has developed over recent years.

I spoke to a former tour player from the 80's recently who was quite adamant the game has 'gone to shit' (his words not mine), citing no one playing today can 'really' volley. He's probably right.

It would be interesting to hear a panel of former players discuss volleying -- let's say Pat Rafter, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, maybe Tony Roche and Rod Laver (I'm getting greedy now) discuss what a "real volley is".

I remember a good video on volleying with Pat Rafter where he said, "Pete {Sampras} didn't really volley. He just did this { gestures at hitting a half volley behind the service line}. " What's the emoji for snark?

Perhaps the bar has been lowered, but I think Alcaraz is quite a good volleyer {Fed was his idol, after all}. And, while Sinner might not be quick twitch enough for some, he can certainly cover the net, between his reach and his tremendous overhead.