Retrievers tend to drive their opponents crazy, because the essence of their game is to make the other player commit an error. Most players get more frustrated from their own errors than from an opponent's winners. Beating a good retriever takes a careful mix of patience and aggression, and it will test the limits of your skills. Here are some ideas that should work:
- Wait for the right shot. The retriever is counting on you to become impatient. If you try to attack the first ball you get, your percentages won't pay off, but you also don't want to let a good opportunity pass by. As soon as you get a shorter ball that's where you like it, you need to go on the attack, which might mean anything from hitting hard for a deep corner to slicing a low approach shot.
- Get to net. Some retrievers might be fast enough to get almost anything you hit from your baseline, but by moving to the net, you cut by more than half your opponent's time to get to the ball: you're hitting from half as far away, and the ball loses less of its initial speed. At the net, you've also taken away his favorite shot, the slow, high ball right down the middle.
- Pull him to net. Retrievers are typically baseline specialists who aren't sure what to do with a short ball and are even more uncomfortable with volleys. If you get him to the net, you might find him remarkably easy to pass or lob.
- Make him hit short. Most players will tend to hit short if you give them a ball that's out of their power zone. Try hitting a high, deep topspin to his backhand side. If he coughs up a shorty, move in and put it away.
- Wear him out. A tired retriever is in trouble. Try hitting as many angles as you can without undue risk. He might get to enough of them at first that the percentages are in his favor, but if you work him hard enough, you'll have easy going once he runs out of gas.
