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Peter
Nichol's Top 10 Tips
| Tip
6
Match
Day
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Tip
7
Having
a game plan
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Tip
8
The
T is the key
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Tip
9
Looking
to attack
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Tip
10
Variations
and deception
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a)
Straight volley drop: I play this off both the crosscourt
and straight drive. At the top level, taking the ball on the
volley is very important. Pros can cover most things but volleying
cuts down their time.
b) Drop
off the boast: A boast, especially a forced one, can provide a
major attacking opportunity to drop or to hold and drive again to
put more pressure on. Sometimes we get involved in drop exchanges
where we are angling the drop to cling onto the side wall and it
is difficult to get a full swing at them.
c)
Interceptions from the front: After the drop I look to pick up
the volley and punch it away straight for dying length. Often, all
an opponent will be able to do with a tight drop is to hit it up
straight or crosscourt.
d) Kills:
One of the things you are trying to do when pressurising an
opponent in the back is to force weak mid-court or three-quarter
court balls that you can kill. An opponent has to stay behind to
avoid being stroked and you have the opportunity to straight kill,
fading it into the side so that it doesn’t rebound. If it is not
a winner, it often forces a weak ball that can be hit away.
e)
Short variations: Pushing an opponent deep can frustrate them
so that they play short from the back corners. This can allow you
to pounce from the T onto a short ball with a counter drop and
then follow up looking for the intercept; or hold and hit deep
again, perhaps with some deception, letting them come back to the
T and then send them deep again.
f) Wrong-footing
boast: Sometimes when I’m forced behind an opponent on my
backhand and I can sense that they are hanging in looking for the
volley because they have got in front of me I will throw in a
surprise boast, if I can get the ball before the back. When they
are committed to volley this is a difficult change of direction.
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