| Get Shorty | |
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You'll have another opportunity to make balls jump up uncomfortably high on your short opponent if you learn to hit the topspin and twist serves. If you watched any of the many battles over the years between Steffi Graf and Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, you saw Steffi regularly using this tactic on the shorter Aranxta.
So far, each of the short player's weaknesses I've mentioned is somewhat offset by his quickness. Unfortunately for him, though, quick feet don't do anything for his serve. Short players have a real and unmitigated disadvantage when it comes to serving. Most of them just don't serve very hard, and the few who develop more serving speed, like Michael Chang, usually can't get a high percentage of those faster serves in. The window above the net on serves shrinks significantly for each inch that the point of contact drops. Attack the serve of your short opponent, and if you have any success, it's fairly likely that he'll start trying to hit it harder than he should. If he starts missing most of his first serves, you'll have more chances to attack his second serve. If he tries to hit his second serve too hard, he'll often double-fault. If he starts double-faulting, he'll often get frustrated enough to start missing his other shots, too. You always want to put pressure on your opponent's serve. In the long run, you'll do him a favor by forcing him to develop better spin and placement to make up, as much as possible, for lack of power.
If forcing your little opponent into a double-fault-induced meltdown isn't mean enough for you, try this: Use his speed against him. He probably prides himself on running down every ball, no matter how far away. Pull him wide off one side of the court, then, as he comes flying back toward the expected ball on the opposite side, hit the ball behind him. This tactic is most commonly recommended against the big players, but momentum is the product of mass and velocity. The little guy's speed can give him just as much momentum in the wrong direction as can the big guy's mass.
I should have bought some sort of NetCam recorder and pointed it at myself while writing this, just so you could witness the regretful expression I've maintained throughout. Picking on little folks? I guess it had to be done.
Additional Resources:
Pick on Someone Bigger Than You
Is Your Court Positioning Worth a Million?
Super Shots: High, Deep Topspin
Learning the Twist (Kick) Serve
