Driving Force

This technique will be described as if you are a right-hander, since 89 percent of people are. If you are among the 11 percent, you may not find this practical unless you are facing another left-hander. On the other hand, I believe you can modify this technique somewhat to make life really difficult for right-handed players.

Imagine this common scenario: You and your opponent have come to the kitchen line. You are on the right-hand side of the court and are engaged in a soft dink battle. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, you can drive a hard forehand groundstroke directly along the sideline. You might want to apply quite a bit of top spin so it will clear the net, yet land ahead of the baseline. This will zoom past your opponent before s/he can move into a backhand position or switch hands. This works especially well in doubles where your opponent has recently covered the centerline. In intermediate play, your opponent will typically be standing too near the center, thinking to help his partner, leaving the sideline vulnerable. In the event your opponent can return this, one of two things is likely to happen. The ball will come right back to you where you will be in a strong offensive position, or your opponent will have moved so far to her left that you can simply place it in the middle of her court, where it can’t be returned.