Forehand Mastery Machine Serve and Shade Playbook

Having a game plan when you walk on the court is so important. All professional athletes have plays they run to take advantage of situations against their opponents. To take it a step further after a team or athlete has evaluated their opponents strength and weakness they reach into their bag of plays and run plays they know that will specifically match up well against that particular opponent.

The good news about having a playbook is it actually makes the game more simple not more complicated. You are not racking your brain thinking what to do next. The more simple the plan the better. Also, be careful not to be running too many plays, this can cause confusion on your side of the court and inconsistent play. A prime example is when Federer plays Nadal. Nadal plays his serve about 90% to the backhand and then pounds Fed’s backhand on the rally balls.

So as a rule of thumb after you have evaluated your opponents game and also know the shots you like to hit, pick 1 to 3 plays per match.

Here are 6 serve and shade plays you can run. This is an interactive written and video playbook you can enjoy online or print out to take to your next match.

Play # 1. Serve and Shade Deuce Outwide:

There are 6 combinations of the serve and shade I like to run. I think the first two plays I go over are my favorite and you will have the highest level of success in executing.

Serve and Shade 1 Description: Federer is a master at this one. You want to use this play especially on big points, which I believe are your first point of the game, 30-30, and Duece points.

Here is what you do. Serve out wide with lots of slice, shade over to get a forehand and hit to the open court.

Key Points:

1. Lots of slice that spins off the court and hits short in the box

2. Make sure footwork balance and split step are well timed

3. Hit the inside part of the ball

4. Aim the ball on the ad side of the court. If you hit the ball in the middle or duece side of the court on your side aim deep and straight. If you are really shading over and hitting in the ad side of the court, aim shorter to create more angle, this will make the ball trail even further away from the opponent.

Seve and Shade 2 Description: Love the way Djokovic and Roddick run this play. The idea is to hit a big kicker off the court with a high bounce. This gets your opponent in panic mode where they will be running frantically to the other side because they are anticipating your open court forehand.

You then shade over and hit a forehand inside out back behind them.

Again I love this on big points, 0-15, 30-40, 40-30, Ad in and Ad out

Key Points:

1. Use a kick serve for this play. Try and hit the serve high over the net to create the high bounce, but short in the box to create the angle off the court.

2. Make sure footwork balance and split step are well timed

3. Hit the inside part of the ball

4. Aim shorter to create more angle, this will make the ball trail even further away from the opponent.

5. If the return comes back in the middle or down the line it is probably best to play a cross court to the open court. The reason for this is you will not have the angle to work with and this will become a low percentage shot.

6. Also sometimes play this shot inside in so your opponent is always guessing what you will do