• Play just behind or just inside the baseline during rallies, depending on how deep your opponent hits.
• Play inside the baseline to receive serve, but get out of "No Person's Land" (a.k.a. "No Man's Land") before it's time for your next shot.
• Use a shorter backswing if you need to improve the precision of your timing and point of contact.
• Do a split-step as your opponent swings to help you react more quickly.
• Take quick, small steps as you prepare to swing. This will help you with the hurried positioning you'll need.
• Start behind where you hope to meet the ball so that you can step forward and meet the ball out in front.
• Govern the height at which you'll meet the ball by how much you move forward. On a quickly rising ball, for example, moving forward more gives you a lower point of contact.
• Keep looking at the point of contact for half a second after the ball is gone. This will help you see the ball as long as possible and give you a steadier stroke by keeping your head still.
• Realize that the more vertically the ball is bouncing, the harder it is to hit on the rise. If your opponent hits a high, heavy topspin at you, your timing to hit it back on the rise will have to be better than it would be on a lower, flatter ball.

Hitting on the rise is likely to make you a more aggressive player, and it will certainly make you a more complete player. You'll find that giving your opponent less time can put you in control of many more points.