In your mind you might be thinking, 'this Sergio Cruz has no idea, all of those topspin cross court approach shots look great to me!'  Yes, they do and great they look to the opponents at the receiving end who can spank them waist high past the ones dying in beauty at the net!

So what is so bad about hitting a topspin backhand approach shot (especially cross-court)?.

- Speed - most players because they are uncomfortable at the net, tend to hit approaches too hard and too fast for their own good, therefore not giving themselves time to cover the necessary distance to put them into an advantageous volleying position.  The pace of the attacking shot should always allow you to reach a comfortable volleying position.

- Spin - Topspin has its place in many shots in tennis but in the approach it favors the opponent because the forward roll in the ball makes it bounce high (usally waist high), making it easier to get under the ball and pass.

- Cross approach shots - You can approach cross court, but for that you need to have your opponent totally out played and outside the court on a given corner. Otherwise you want to place your approach shots down the line or up the line if you will. The three graphics below can help you better understand:

 - On this graphic, player - A attacks cross court deep and apparently well, but his opponent player - P has a huge gap down the line to pass (Green zone 1).

- If player - A tries to cover the down the line gap, player - P will easily pass him cross court (Green zone 2).

- There still a very good chance that out of desperation player A will try to close in to the net too much and a third opportunity is open for player - P the topspin lob.

- From the geometric and court coverage point of you player - A by attacking cross court (especially if he hit a topspin approach) has put himself in a losing position.

Non percentage play - Player - A put himself in a non percentage play because the odds for him to win the point are around 5 to 10 percent at best.

- Player - A gets the short ball we wants, moves inside the court to position A1 and attacks with a slice up the line to D.

- Because player - A follows the line of the ball to the net and geometrically gives player - P very little place to pass and has him running a great distance to a very low bouncing ball.

- If you compare the size and with of the green passing areas in both graphics you will have a perfect understanding why attacking cross court is such a blunder in most cases and why players like Andy Roddick who have done this in the past against Roger Federer does not have a prayer at winning against Roger.

-  Percentage play - Is this narrowing of possibilities of a passing illustrated in this graphic, which puts the odds of a player winning a point by 90 to 95 percent versus a Non percentage play at 5 to 10 percent.

This last graphic is just to show you that the orange area is the area you control with one or two steps at the net when you attack down the line in the right manner, therefore leaving your opponent with very narrow chances to pass you.

This example is used for the backhand attack but the principle is exactly the same for the forehand side, geometrically the tennis court does not change!

- Why, when and how should we attack with a slice backhand?

- Pressure - Especially on grass where a slice backhand barely bounces ankle high you can get your opponents in the verge of tears if you consistently and relentlessly attack them over and over until you completely break down their passing shots and their confidence.

Back From Wimbledon Tennis Lessons - Backhand Slice! to Tennis Cruz Main Page