Winning Matches:
Winning Baseline Exchanges

By Allen Fox, Ph.D.

When the player goes into the down the line opening too soon, the basic geometry of the tennis court makes him vulnerable to the crosscourt reply.

Just hit the ball into the open court and make your opponent run. You're in a baseline rally, your opponent hits the ball crosscourt, and you whack the ball down the line into the opening.

This strategy has a nice simple ring to it. Your opponent will get tired of running and, if he doesn't run fast enough, your shot will be a winner. But even among experienced players, this is probably the most common and most costly strategic error in tennis.

Hitting the ball into the open court at the wrong time may result in more lost points than any other factor in matches below the pro level. Why? Pro players like Andre Agassi, make attacking from the baseline look easy, because they know how to set it up and when to do it. This is because they understand the geometry of baseline play and how to exploit it.

The Crosscourt Exchange

Hitting the ball into the open court too soon, especially from wide positions, causes more lost points than any factor in most matches.

Let's examine a few of these basic facts about the angles of baseline play and see how they should be affecting your decisions in baseline rallies, so you can start to think more like the top players.

The first is that you should almost always hit the ball crosscourt from wide positions in baseline exchanges. This is particularly true when your opponent has pulled you out near the doubles alley with a good crosscourt of his own. And this is when most players fall for the temptation to go down the line into the open court.

In reality when you are pulled wide and under pressure you have a significantly better chance of staying in the point by hitting the ball crosscourt, directly back to your opponent. How could this be true? To answer, let's examine the basic geometry of the tennis court.

If I'm pulled wide crosscourt to my forehand side, for example, it's true that the whole half of my opponent's court and his backhand side may look wide open. But what happens if I hit my forehand down the line into the opening? Unless I can hit an outright winner or a forcing approach shot, I'll actually create an even greater opening for my opponent.

By working the crosscourt exchange, you can force your opponent to go down the line too soon, opening the court for a forcing crosscourt.

This is because hitting down the line opens up your own court so that your opponent can hurt you on the next shot with a crosscourt reply.

When I hit down the line, I can't run my opponent further than the sideline, but I have created an angle for him to hit the ball much wider crosscourt into my backhand side. With this shot he can force me further wide than I can run him.

His crosscourt may end up being an outright winner, or the added pressure may force me into an error. At the very minimum he is now firmly in control of the point, and I am on the run. In fact, the better my down the line shot, the more open court I give him to work with and the sharper his crosscourt angle can be struck.

So what happens if I don't fall into this initial trap? What if, instead of going down the line into the opening, I reply crosscourt, more or less directly back to my opponent. Now, no matter what he does I have a much shorter distance to cover to reach his next ball.

A second important advantage, since I'm hitting over the low part of the net, my ball has up to six inches more margin of net clearance. And finally, I have more court to hit into. Clearly it's a safer shot.

Hitting crosscourt on both sides is the key to good defense - and to winning offense.

When I make the crosscourt reply, my opponent may then choose to go back crosscourt, or he may choose to go down the line into the opening himself. I hope he goes down the line because now the situation is reversed. Unless he can hit a winner or a powerful forcing shot, he's exposed himself to my crosscourt backhand reply.

In responding to my opponent's down the line, not only do I have less court to cover but I also have the chance to hit a backhand crosscourt myself. So by waiting an extra shot or two for my opponent to hit down the line and open up his court, I get to hit the low risk crosscourt shot myself. It goes into his open court and makes my opponent run the maximum distance.

Although few players ever stop to analyze it, hitting crosscourt actually changes the geometric dimensions of the tennis court.

The further out of position you are, the wider the opening for your opponent becomes if you go down the line. Because of this, a key rule in back court play is "the wider you're pulled off the court crosscourt, the more important it is to go back crosscourt yourself to cut down your opponent's angle".

When you're pulled wide crosscourt, geometry dictates that the best defense is to go crosscourt yourself, right back at your opponent.

As counterintuitive as it may initially seem, the best defense in this situation is actually to go right back to your opponent. This is because when your opponent finds he can't win by trading crosscourts with you, he's forced to hit down the line too often, and then you can run him from corner to corner with low risk crosscourt replies.

Since there are two basic crosscourt exchanges, forehand to forehand and backhand to backhand, you should explore both of these to see which gives you an advantage.

If your opponent is clearly weaker on one side, you may want to exploit it. You can test your strength against his, or you may find that your weaker side is stronger than his weaker side.

In any case, look for a relative advantage and get into these exchanges over and over. If you can do this, eventually you'll force short balls that will allow you to hurt your opponent with very strong down the line or forcing approaches.

Using the crosscourt strategy, you'll set up your ability to hit volley winners.

When you go down the line, your goal is always to attack. You must hit a shot that forces an error or a weak reply so you can run your opponent violently or come to the net and volley for a winner.

If you and your opponent are equally matched in the exchanges, keep hitting crosscourt and try to bluff your opponent into hitting down the line first. One way or another your strategy is to use crosscourt exchanges to gain control of the points.

Crosscourt Rally Game

Here's a rally game you can play to improve your ability to hit crosscourt consistently. Working with a practice partner start in the backcourt on opposite sides. Divide the court in half by extending the service center line. Now play rally points from the back court hitting only into the crosscourt (half). Hit forehand to forehand and then backhand to backhand. Play points.

When you go down the line, your goal is to hit a winner, force an error, or force a weak reply and attack the net.

For example, in the forehand exchanges you lose the point if you hit into the wrong side of the court or hit a backhand. Do this daily for a couple of ten point games against a steady opponent, and you'll quickly improve your accuracy so that you can implement the crosscourt strategy in match play.