For best results, study these tips so that you understand them, write these five bold phrases on a card, and review them right before you begin to receive serve:
- Make a Chase - It's essential to make a chase (or two) so you can get off the receiving end of the court. That end is usually the losing end of the court. Five simple ways to make a chase are:
- Hit into the side galleries
- Force hard to the left, low corner of the dedans
- Hit a wide crosscourt cut volley serve return
- Slice your shots under your opponent's side galleries, or
- Hit a very short crosscourt boast that ends up between last gallery and second gallery. To do this from the penthouse side of the hazard end, you should aim to hit the main wall around Hazard the Door.
- Watch the Ball Onto Your Strings - You want to make clean contact with the ball, and the server is trying to use spin to mess up your shots. Watch the ball all the way onto your racquet strings every time and you won't hit the wood so much. It's actually best to continue looking at the point where the ball made contact with your racquet strings for about a quarter of a second after the ball has left the strings. Once you are really watching the ball like this, you will hit every ball over the net, and your opponent will have to hit real winners to win a point.
- Let High Volleys Go Through to the Back Wall - There is no reason to attempt to hit a difficult, high, fast incoming ball with a volley from the receiving end of the court (unless the ball is headed toward the grille). Your success percentages will be better if you let most high, fast balls go through to the solid back wall behind you (there's no dedans at this end!), and bounce off. Then you have the choice of letting them bounce twice on the floor to create a hazard chase, or playing them after they bounce once. By letting the ball bounce, you are also letting it slow down, which makes it much easier to hit while you move forward alongside it.
- Volley the Serve - Since your opponent's serve must hit the penthouse roof on your side of the court in order to be a good serve, you always have the opportunity to volley the serve. This means that you can hit down on the ball and still get it over the net. Volley each serve unless you are sure that it will hit the back wall hard enough to come out and give you an easy groundstroke to force. If you are a beginning player and really don't have a good enough volley to execute this tip, then just let the serves drop to the floor or back wall, and be ready to move your feet as needed to adjust to the serve's spin.
- Hit Serve Returns to the Opponent's Floor - Every bounce of the court tennis ball is an adventure since each ball is somewhat unique. If you add spin to the ball's flight, then every bounce can be unpredictable. Be sure to get the ball onto the floor before it reaches your opponent, and see whether you can also get it to hit a side wall after it has hit the floor. That extra side wall contact makes your opponent's shot much more difficult to control and execute. (The exception to this tip is when you are forcing for the dedans; then, it's preferable not to hit toward the floor -- just hit hard and straight toward the dedans or the appropriate part of the main wall.)
Note: These tips are targeted toward players of handicaps 35 to 80. More advanced players will likely need more advanced ideas, although a review of fundamentals never hurts.