Clay Court Tennis: Playing Depth

Did you ever notice how deep Rafael Nadal and other good clay-courters often play? It's reminiscent of Bjorn Borg on clay.

On hardcourts and other fast courts, you can force the issue of how shallow you'll play. In fact, it's good strategy on these surfaces to simply refuse to be forced to play deep behind the baseline.

You cut down on the shot angle that way. So, you don't chase angle shots as far and are hard to pass. You also deny your opponent something in short supply to begin with = time.

But on clay, you often see good clay courters constantly adjusting the depth at which they play. One moment you'll see Nadal way behind the baseline. Then look again, and he's right up on the baseline.

I'm no expert on clay-court singles, but it seems to me that there's something to this. I think you have to be more realistic about your depth on clay.

Besides, there are advantages in positioning deep. It's a trade-off, like anything in tennis, and on clay sometimes that trade-off is worth it.

For example, playing deep not only gives you additional time to take a big swing at the ball, it also enables you to hit the ball on the descent of its bounce. It's much easier to impart topspin then. Which is why heavy topspin artists love to hit the ball on the descent of its bounce. It's spinning slower then, so it takes less counterspin to get it to roll over for you, and the ball is falling into your rising racket face. That's ideal for topspin. In short, you'll get less topspin from hitting a rising ball than from hitting a falling one.

This heavy topspin can be hard to overtop. result? Your opponent's shot comes off his racket flat or with underspin, instead of with topspin. Out. Long.

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