Hard court tennis

The American hard court season is almost over, but here in Europe it is in the starting blocks. Today a few tips to survive on the hard court.

1. No bad bounces

On sand or grass it can always happen that a ball bounces unpredictably. This is not the case on hard courts, so to take advantage of this we have to adapt our footwork. On sand, depending on the quality of the course, it is better to keep a little distance from the ball in order to be prepared for difficult balls. On hard courts we can attack the balls more aggressively; a clear example is, as is often the case, Roger Federer. He has perfected attacking tennis; when he puts pressure on him, he plays every ball rising. This stresses the opponent and steals their time, combined with the speed and bounce of the hard court it's a great strategy to be successful.

2. Serve Key to Success

All serve variations are available on hard courts. You can serve it hard, with a slice or with a spin. In general, the hard court accepts all 3 variations very well. Anyone who manages to serve well will rarely have to give up serve on hard courts.

It is very important to have a good rate on the first serve, it is better to slow down a little bit of speed and placement and the court will do the rest. The hard court will help you much more, especially with slice serves, than on clay, for example. Take the ball early after serving and occasionally serve and volley. Your opponent will despair.

3. Reach out shorter

The balls come faster and flatter than on sand, that doesn't mean you should just block, but it does help to shorten the swings slightly. If you swing like you do on clay, you can have timing issues and hit a lot of frame balls. Get to the ball quickly with a short swing, this will cause the most damage.

4. Building strength in the legs

On hard court you have to stop quickly and push away, which unfortunately puts more strain on your joints. Good hard court preparation always includes a focus on leg strength. Try to emphasize the negative phase of the repetitions, i.e. when doing squats, go down slower than usual (3-5 seconds). This trains your body to slow down better and absorb the enormous forces of a change of direction.

Have fun playing!!!