Neutralize an opponent

Making a play such as this, when your opponent is very much on the attack, is called neutralizing. It’s a strategy far too many club players either don’t know about or choose to ignore.

It may not get a player onto ESPN’s Play of The Day, but it will help them win a lot more points and matches. Plain and simple: it’s just great tennis strategy. And it’s used by the pros. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams play this shot on a regular basis.

Neutralizing becomes even more important when you consider that most matches, especially at the recreational level, are lost on the amount of errors, not winners.

The better a player becomes at recognizing who has the upper hand during points and how to correctly react to the situation, the better their on-court strategy will become and the more matches they will win.