🥒🏓 Tip To Hit More ATP`s

Anticipation is the first & most important ingredient towards hitting more ATP`s. Anticipating when your opponent may hit a ball that you can ATP allows for your footwork, timing, and shot execution to fall into place.
As shown here, when my cross court opponent goes to dink a ball out of the air, especially when the opponent is closer to the crosscourt sideline. In this situation, I am responsible for covering middle. At the same time, I know if they decide to hit that ball cross court with topspin, the ball will end up outside the post before it bounces a 2nd time. Thus, I can hit a successful ATP by keeping this in mind and angling & moving my feet to be able to strike the outside of the ball to hit a 🍌ATP. Consider this next time your cross court opponent is in this position 👍🏻
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🥒🏓 Drill To Effectively Use Drop Shots

Too often at the 3.0-4.5 level, I see players hit great drop shots, but either stand at the baseline, which then allows the opponent to keep them there with their next shot, effectively negating the impact of the great drop shot; Or, I see players hit great drop shots, but they then sprint to the kitchen line and get put off balanced by an angled dink, once again negating their great drop shot.

To develop rhythm and maximize your ability to get to the kitchen line effectively, practice the drill above. This will allow you to develop the confidence and muscle memory to execute looking effortless in your next games! 👍🏻

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A Must Do 🥒🏓 Drill For All 🥒🏓 Players

1️⃣ Player A feeds the ball straight ahead and gets set at the kitchen line

2️⃣ Player B at the baseline hits a drive to work on their 3rd shot drives

3️⃣ Player A focuses on hitting a hard volley at their opponents feet to put themselves in an optimal position for their next shot

4️⃣ Player B will split step forward after their previous drive to set themselves up to hit a 5th shot drop aimed at the kitchen line to effectively counter Player A`s volley. This will allow them to move up to the kitchen line to prepare for their next shot

5️⃣ From there, play out the point however you would like! You can get into a long dink rally practicing dinks, play a fast paced style launching speed ups early to practice speed up combos & counters, or anything in between!

🚨 This drill is a great for all players. At the 4.0 & below level, I tend to see many players in tournaments often hitting 3rd shot drives, but either stay back, drive the next ball at their toes, or they put their head down and run forward after their 3rd shot drive leading them to miss or pop up the next ball. This drill will train such players to view their 3rd shot drive as a set up for their 5th shot drop often leading to setting up your team to win more rallies. At the 4.5+ levels, going to the 3rd shot drive into a 5th shot drop during a match can be an X factor when either your drop is off, your opponents have long reach, they are speeding up your drop off of the bounce effectively, or your opponents are hitting effective volleys to prevent a "shake & bake". On the other side of the court, this drill helps the feeder practice handling the fast pace of 3rd shot drives to effectively hit hard volleys that are tough to 5th shot drop. Doing so, will prevent teams from eating you alive!

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Gamechanging 🥒🏓 Tip When You Hit A Good 3rd Shot Drop

⭐️ When you hit a 3rd shot drop that your opponents must strike below the net cord, they must hit up on the ball to get it over the net. However, that does not mean you should simply sprint to the kitchen line. Let`s say you did do that. What if they hit an angled dink in response? Then, you will become off balanced and be out of position for the next shot. Now let`s say your opponent decides to blast the ball hard at your chest / shoulder area, which would clearly be heading out of bounds. How are you going to get out of the way if you are sprinting to the flying ball coming out you? Thus, if you split step when your opponent makes contact, you will be ready for everything - to let an out ball go out, an angled dink to shuffle your feet to get behind the ball to dink, to attack any ball that is high that is not going out of bounds, and to move up to hit a dink for a ball they hit into the kitchen off of your drop.

🚨 This tip only applies when your opponents are making contact below the net cord! I will explain why that is in another video to come!

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🥒🏓 Drill To Master Backhand ATP`s

1️⃣ Have a drilling partner toss you balls that bounce wide, past the post. Shuffle, cross step, and catch the ball on its way down at your ankle level. This will help you get a feel for the timing of striking an ATP. Then, toss the ball around the post into the court, so you can see the ball land in.

2️⃣ Pick up the paddle, use the same footwork & timing, using your non-dominant hand to strike the outside of the ball, applying side spin to the ball to increase your range on your ATPs.

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When 🥒🏓 Angles Beat 🥒🏓 Power

⭐️ When players are teeing off on your powerful attacks, especially balls you are making contact at around chest level, consider taking some speed off and angling the ball instead

⭐️ Your opponents will probably over commit to your powerful attack, leading them to be off balanced preventing them to neutralize your angled off speed attack

⭐️ At the very least, they may get the ball over the net with your team being in an even better position to win the rally, as illustrated above

🚨Take speed off the ball by focusing much more on spin then power & aim deeper than a normal aggressive dink, a foot beyond the kitchen on this off speed angled attack, as this will make it much tougher for them to align their feet and balance to return your shot. Without taking off speed, you may strike the ball out of bounds. Without aiming deeper than a usual aggressive dink, your opponents may be able to drop step, get behind the ball, and hit an effective defensive dink.

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🥒🏓 Tournament Prep Tip!

1️⃣ Hit up either your tournament partner, a drilling partner, or a local coach to feed you balls with you at the baseline to get tons of reps hitting aggressive 3rd shot drops & 3rd shot drives w/ 5th shot drops

2️⃣ Keep the end in mind during the session- developing unshakeable confidence in your ability to get your team to the kitchen at the highest rate. Analyze your shots as a 3rd party to quiet down the ego and your emotions. Focus on developing rhythm, make minor tweaks as necessary to increase consistency rate to a point at which you can confidently visualize yourself executing in your tournament games! 👍🏻

Thank you matt.finno brunofaletto & mikaelvoll_pb for taking the time this week to feed a ton of balls for me to get reps on these shots 🙏🏻

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🥒🏓 Drill For Covering The Middle Better

🚨 Often when teams successfully attack down the middle, it comes from the right side player`s forehand. In this situation, the left side player on the team defending, should focus on countering the down-the-line attack, an attack on their body, & an attack to the right of their right shoulder they do not have to move step to the middle for. Any attacks down the middle that the left side player must move to cover for, should be taken by the right side player. This is because the left side player can only cover so much space on a counter in a short period of time. Delegating responsibility to the right side player to counter attacks that are down the middle will lead to a more formidable defense, as the right side player does not have to focus on countering attacks on the right side of their body from this angle, as those attacks will be heading out of bounds. Provided that, it is essential right side players work on countering such middle attacks. For right handed players who don`t stack & play the left side exclusively, drilling the progression above will help your teams play at a higher level. Below are some keys to executing the 2 handed backhand counter showed above.

1️⃣ Bend your left wrist back with your hand facing to the left. This will allow you whip the paddle with more velocity & help generate top spin

2️⃣ Feel stable on your lower half to allow for max power and consistency

3️⃣ Feel loose with the upper half of your body to allow your arms to whip through the ball

4️⃣ Aim for the left side of the ball, focusing on getting on top of the ball, so you counter downwards, which will put your opponent at a disadvantage

Thank you to matt.finno for drilling with me often, providing valuable constructive criticism, and valuing my feedback to him as well! Looking forward to seeing him continue to improve upon his skills & impressive tournament performances on the ppa.challenger ! Thank you egoathletica for prepping me for the summer weather & humidity! Looking forward to more apparel coming out soon! Use code DEAN at checkout for 15% off 👍🏻

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🥒🏓 How To Return The Best Lobs

1️⃣ Recognize the opponent deceived you, hit a lob with optimal pace, height, & depth, as such lobs will prevent you from being able to hit an overhead

2️⃣ Drop step as if you are going for a fly ball in baseball to allow to accelerate quickly to the baseline

3️⃣ Stutter step & position your wrist you are using for the drop shot behind the ball, so you can move forward & hit the ball over the net

4️⃣ At this stage in the rally, you are in the same situation as if you just hit a 3rd shot - you analyze how you hit the ball to determine where you should position yourself next. If you execute a successful drop like I did here, you will be able to move up to the transition zone to set your team up for a drop shot or reset at the transition zone to get your team to the kitchen line OR you will earn a dead dink to speed up like I did here to put pressure on your opposition 👍🏻

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🥒🏓 Tip For When Your Partner Hits A Great Drop Shot

1️⃣ Move into the transition calmly as your partner is striking the ball

2️⃣ When you notice the drop shot will cause your opponent to either reach low or short hop / scoop the return of the drop shot, take 1 more step forward

3️⃣ Push off your outside foot explosively as your opponent is about to make contact

4️⃣ Bury the attack behind your opponent who is striking the ball for an easy winner! 👍🏻

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