ATTACK - "The Lion Effect" -

For Coaches, Players and Parents!

Recently Miguel Crespo kindly offered to help me with a very interesting E-Book Tennis Tips/Articles project, by sending an email to all tennis coaches in the ITF CSSR and TennisiCoach list.  On the other hand he asked me to contribute with an article to TennisiCoach, of course I felt honoured to oblige but, at the same time was left wondering, what can I write about that has not been written already?  This thought did not occupy my head for 2 seconds because, the answer popped up in a flash, write about something you are absolutely passionate about! 

THE ATTACK!!!

Oh yeah! Just the thought of how thrilling it was for me once to attack my opponents, turned back the clock on me 30 years!

Wow Sergio, you are talking about something from a distant past!  

No, no my friends, I am talking about Rod Laver, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Boris Becker, excitement! Living on the brink! Adrenaline pumping at every second! The crowd constantly on edge and yes, Pete Sampras and even Roger Federer, sometimes they can make it look boring, so easy they portray the attacking game.  And let’s welcome Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to the club, what a marvellous player!

Why am I so passionate about the attacking game?

Let me tell you something, both styles of play are necessary and one should never exclude the other.  Rod Laver, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer embody the perfect balance and John McEnroe and Boris Becker the perfect excitement! As some of the most dominant players  of all time they mastered all aspects of the game (all ATP N#1).  Even Björn Borg, who we all considered to be purely a baseliner, could serve and volley well enough to win Wimbledon 5 times in a row!

Some of you are already saying, “but Sergio, how am I  going to teach my pupils to hit a decent volley with today’s grips?”  And, “anyway, it is so much easier to have immediate gratification for children and their parents by having kids just playing and running around the baseline!” 

The grips? At the net?

You need to keep the discipline of teaching youngsters to use either the continental grips or if you prefer eastern (forehand and backhand) for the volleys,  (continental for the service and overheads too of course!).  Yes, you will have to spend equal amounts of your practice sessions at the baseline and the net. Sometimes you will have to dedicate entire sessions to net play and its variations. 

Here though, the responsibility is yours, you have to supervise those children, you have to encourage, you have to give them positive reinforcement at every sign of progress and or success!  You can not let go until they are able to execute at the net with mastery and confidence.

In addition, if you take the time to teach the attack now, in ten, twenty or even more years, players like the above mentioned will continue to emerge. You will be proud of yourself and we will all be able to enjoy an art of play that should never be forgotten or lost.

Are there other compelling reasons to teach the attacking game?

Only attackers can pose the type of challenges to baseliners that truly test their grit.

Look at the return for example, will two baseliners return the same way they do against each other as when they face a serious attacker?  Of course not!

What happens?  The baseliners perk-up and have to vary their returns much more, they have to be more accurate, they try to get the ball on the attackers shoe laces, stretch them to the sides, jam some hard shots to the body, drive more passing shots up the lines (instead of the usual run-of-the-mill cross courts), they have to be a lot more accurate and play the ball closer to the lines. The excitement just mounts!

What did this little paragraph above do to you?  It immediately aroused the mental level of your attention, just by reading it you felt the threats the attacker imposes on his foes and your heart might have started to pound a little faster.  In match play it takes both players to another level of performance!

Does the attacker have an easy task just because he is aggressive or by pressuring his opponent constantly? Of course not!

By putting his baseline challenger on his toes, the attacker is asking for trouble, big trouble, but that is something that he loves! Attackers are aggressive, quick-minded, ultimate problem-solvers!  They just love to be challenged and to challenge others!

So what happens then? 

The attacker is forced to be versatile, creative, cunning, shrewd and uncompromising.  He will have to mix the speed of his serves, the length, the placement, the spins and during each attack produce quality volleys of the same nature, angles, depth, sharp, drops, punishing, soft and so on.

(In really close matches, both players can barely keep themselves in their skins and they are just about ready to pounce at each other, so strong is the adrenaline surge at these moments!) 

The lion heart has to come out on both sides, from the attacker and the baseliner. At this point of a match the crowds start getting excited and start doing the “WAVE”!

 Now are you excited about the attack? 

I bet you are, I am too! But, there is a lot more to it.

Let’s take for instance the baseliner serving and the opportunities an attacker can create on the return, once again they are exquisite.

For the baseliners just to get the first serve in, with the usual hard kick or mediocre second serves, is just not enough to stop the attackers mischievous determination.

.....and WHY?

Because, baseliners are just going to have their services stepped into, spanked, brutalized with driving or sliced attacks down the line or cross courts flying away from them or straight at their feet, taking away reaction time and leave them with no other option, but to scramble constantly. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga did that to his adversaries in the Australian Open 2008 and concluded points at the net with delicate drop-shots and angle volleys or plainly dismissed floaters with spanking volleys.

Have you ever seen a LION charging someone?  I have! 

What happens? Well, things happen so darn faaast that even the most skilled hunters make the most basic mistakes, such as; not shooting straight, not shooting at all, not reloading the gun and not bending a little for better aim and balance. 

It is FEAR, man's worst enemy! 

When baseliners are faced with a lion at the net, they have the same type of reactions. They make mistakes, many more mistakes then usual, some of them pretty average! If they lose the match, they know very well why!  Fear, fear to fail, fear to execute when threatened, sometimes even panic!

Take a moment to reflect on what Roger Federer’s slice backhand approach shot provokes in the ATP ranks, jitters, frustration, fear and mistakes, yes, easy mistakes!  "THE LION EFFECT" - as I call it!

Oh! by the way,  high clearance hard hit crosscourt topsin balls, which are the baseliners bread and butter, are just not going to do the trick.

....and again, WHY?

Because, punishing volleys will make them pay the price on high cross court balls!  So, they may try to keep the ball tight above the net, which they do not like to do to begin with and there again the errors creep up! Once more, they will have to shift patterns and go down the lines more often, with uncomfortable direction changes, which result in inaccurate shots or easy mistakes. 

Now, if you don’t know yet, you will ask me, “but why don’t you tell us how to develop the attacking skills, step by step?” My friends, it is up to you to do the research now, it’s all out there from A to Z, remember though:

• Create a solid base around your players game and skills, where all aspects are included.  

• Drills are just drills, hollow mechanical repetitions,  so create your practices, games and match-play, around challenging creative ideas.

You will have a lot more fun watching your pupils develop, execute what you’ve planned and even surprise you with some outstandingly creative plays of their own!

One very important factor is to always keep in mind, that all practices should stay just a tad above the skills of your pupils, nevertheless, always within reach of success.

Examples of all time great attackers:

*”

Pancho Gonzales - "Although his high-speed serve, so effortlessly delivered, was a trademark, Gonzalez, a 6-foot-2, 180-pounder, was a splendid athlete and tactician who excelled at defense, too. "My legs, retrieving, lobs and change-of-pace service returns meant as much or more to me than my power," he once said, "but people overlooked that because of the reputation of my serve."

Althea Gibson - "Gibson was a big hitter with an awesome serve. She liked to attack, but developed consistency at the baseline"

Margaret Court - "Court was primarily an attacker, basing her game on a heavy serve and volley, and relying on athleticism and endurance. She could conquer with groundstrokes, though.."

Maria Ester Bueno - " As the São Paulo Swallow, she was slim, tall (5-foot-7) and quick, swooping to the net to conquer with piercing volleys. She was a blend of power and touch, a woman of superb movement and rhythms."

Billy Jean King - "An aggressive, emotional player who has often said, "You have to love to guts it out to win," Billie Jean specialized in serve-and-volley tactics, aided by quickness and a highly competitive nature."

Evonne Goolagong - "She was a natural, a free-flowing right-hander blessed with speed, lightning reflexes and a carefree temperament."

Martina Navratilova - "Despite her upbringing on slow clay in the small town of Revnice, outside of Prague, she has always been a tornado-like attacker, a net-rusher"

 
Lew Hoad - " Hoad, a strapping 5-foot-8, 175-pounder with a gorilla chest and iron wrists, may have been the strongest man to play tennis in the world class. He blistered the ball and became impatient with rallying, preferring to hit for winners. It was a flamboyant style, and made for some bad errors when he wasn't in tune. But when his power was focused along with his concentration, Hoad came on like a tidal wave. He was strong enough to use topspin as an offensive drive. He was assault minded, but had enough control to win the French title on slow clay in 1956."

Roy Emersom - " Fitness was his hallmark. He trained hard and was always ready for strenuous matches and tournaments. Although primarily a serve-and volleyer, he could adapt to the rigors of slow courts"

Rod Laver - "Few champions have been as devastating and dominant as Laver was as amateur and pro during the 1960s. An incessant attacker, he was nevertheless a complete player who glowed in backcourt and at the net. Laver's 5-foot-81/2, 145 pound body seemed to dangle from a massive left arm that belonged to a gorilla, an arm with which he bludgeoned the ball and was able to impart ferocious topspin. Although others had used topspin, Laver may have inspired a wave of heavy-hitting topspin practitioners of the 1970s such as Bjorn Borg and Guillermo Vilas. The stroke became basic after Laver. "

John Newcombe - " Newcombe's serve, forehand and volley were the backbone of his attacking game, was at its best on grass. His heavy serve was possibly the best of his era. Grass was the setting for his foremost singles wins, the three Wimbledon plus two U.S. Championships at Forest Hi 1967 and 1973. "You're only as good as: second serve and first volley," was the motto of this intelligent, fun-loving Aussie, and he lived up to it. "

"Although Ashe was always a winner, a man of strong character, poised and able to overcome racial blocks, it took him a while to harness his power, groove, his groundstrokes and become a thoughtful player, comfortable on all surfaces."

John McEnroe - "A 5-foot-11, 170-pound left-hander, McEnroe stands as perhaps the most skilled--and controversial--of all players. Brilliant in doubles and singles, he was distinguished by shotmaking artistry, competitive fire and a volatile temper..... A magnificent volleyer with a feathery touch, he was an attacker whose fast court style netted four U.S. Open and three Wimbledon singles. But he had the baselining strength to have done well on clay at the French, a title he might have won at his zenith in 1984. In the final he led Ivan Lendl, 2-0 in sets only to be distracted by temperamental outbursts, and was beaten, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5."

Boris Becker - "Becker's game featured a big serve, heavy groundstrokes and penetrating volleys. A crowd favorite at Wimbledon, he reached the finals seven times in 10 years"

....and Pat Cash, Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Pete Sampras, Tim Henman and Roger Federer to name a few.

*You can find these biographies at http://www.tennisfame.com/enshrinees_atoz.html

The intention of this article is to excite and motivate you (and parents to allow you) to plunge into the world of the attacker, I hope I made you a fan!  If you are a teacher, your pupils will thank you forever!

Wish you all the best and much success, with

 !!"THE LION EFFECT"!!

Please feel free to leave your questions, comments and opinions.

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