Half Court Challenge

by Martin Buursen
(Utrecht, The Netherlands)

As a fairly good trained tennis player in my youth, I decided to take up tennis again this summer. A very good choice! I'm enjoying myself more than I did as a kid ;-)

I've already played a few matches. While playing them, I discovered that my opponent isn't winning these matches, but that I lose these matches from myself!

My 'problem' is that my serve is pretty good. My opponents can barely return them. All these returns are landing half-court, bouncing high.

Now the trouble starts, because my return always lands 1 meter (approx. 3 feet) inside of the opponent's baseline, even when I play the return cross-court.

I can't seem to get enough topspin in to make the ball go deep and in! When I play the ball softer, I'm giving my opponent the opportunity to play a passing shot or lob. On both occasions I lose the point.

This is costing me matches! 50 % of my errors come from this situation. Do you have a tip on how to deal with this?