When I’m at the club I see people pounding the ball on almost every shot. There is a lot to be said for hitting the ball easy. Not only does it save your energy, but an easy shot usually causes your opponent to burn lots of extra energy.

How does this happen?

Let’s take the drop shot. . . . When you hit the ball really easy, your opponent has to put out maximum energy to get to the ball. If he/she doesn’t, then you probably shouldn’t have hit the drop shot.

An easy sharp angle passing shot . . . Let’s say your opponent made a great approach shot that got you scrambling and the opponent is poised at the net to kill whatever you can throw at him. What would happen if you did a little flick dipping easy ball that just cleared the net cross court? (Federer does this all the time) Your opponent that was so comfortably waiting to kill your next shot now has to scramble toward the sidelines and get to a dipping ball…..maximum energy spent while doing it.

Opponent is deep in court and so are you. . . . If you know your opponent is not comfortable at the net, hit an easy short ball designed to get them charging forward. If they do get the ball back without overhitting, you now have them at the net where they aren’t comfortable.

Even an easy serve  . . . . can totally throw of an opponent’s timing. This is called a “changeup” in baseball. You see this on the tennis channel all the time when the server puts in a slow first serve and the returner hits it into the side stands because they were so early on the return.

So, don’t be afraid to hit easy and get a load of easy points.