In tennis, my opponent keeps hitting slow, high, moon balls back. What should I do to win?

Question

I never have the patience to play out the point, I just try to end the point in a hurry.

Answer 1

I feel your pain. I also have a lack of patience and sometimes struggle with moonballers. There are many good suggestions here. Here are mine.

1. Use the multiple moon balls to see if you can find a weakness. Hit to the forehand and backhand, see if your moon baller does not like a shot. Hit drop shots, see if he can play the net. Hit to the corners and down the middle. Hit even right at his feet. See if you can find a tendency to take advantage of it. I would even position yourself on the court to force obvious shot. I once played a moonballer who could not hit a backhand well down the line. I would hit to his back hand and then postion my self in the ad-cout to force him to hit it there. You are going to see a lot of shots, might as well learn what the guy can do.

2. If you can, serve and volley. Most moonballer do not hit real sharp returns. It is difficult to hit a decent lob off a good serve. Don't just limit it to first serves, I would also come in on 25-50% of second serves. See if this pressure thwarts his passive game.

3. Make sure you are in shape. You are probably going to be out there a while. Have water, even a snack for the third set.

4. I hate to break this to you, but you will never be a really good singles player until you develop patience. Take it from someone who learned the hard way. I am a much better doubles player, because I can go for the kill very often. Singles you have accept a 75% shot most of the time. Forcing the issue usually results in disaster.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Trust me on this one. I am a high school varsity player and I play a lot of different players. Many times they ARE moonballers because their coach wants them to play steady and conservative.

To beat a moonballer,

1) Try to get to the net somehow. Either move them around and wait for a short ball for an approach or winner. Or just make a good angled shot and run up behind it for a winning volley. Especially since you said that they have slow moonballs, which makes it easier for a put away.

2) You could also try to bring them up to the net, if you can hit a good short ball consistently. By doing this, you are taking them out of their comfort zone and making them hit volleys and overheads. Now, you can either lob them or pass them. (You might encounter this: if you hit a short ball and they hit it and then run back to the baseline, let them do that. They're just gonna get tired running up and down (even more tiring than running laterally) eventually they will stay there at the net or run out of energy and make some mistakes)

Answer 3

Moon Balls

Answer 4

Looks like you arnt a good player yet. Moondrops on the forehand can be killed.

To kill the moondrop, spet in to meet the ball, let the ball bounce, and while it is bouncing up, and near your waist level, hit it with a rolling forehand shot.

If you are a good player, you will hit a topspin shot, and be in the center of the court. If your opponent replies with a moondrop, you can take it on the full for a smash, or continue to kill it.

On the back hand, if you have a double-handed back-hand, you can continue to kill the moon-drop. If you have a single handed backhand, you may be in a spot of bother. One solution is to return a moondrop, from the baseline yourself, or try a back-hand top-spin from way back at the baseline (but you leave all of your forehand court open, thats a risk)

Answer 5

it's consider in, this happened at this years French Open where Maria Sharapova was playing and the tennis ball hit the tip of her shoe and bounced in, she was standing behind the baseline. She thought it was as an out, but the point was given to her opponent.

Answer 6

it's difficult to play these type of players if you're not used to it. your options depend on how good of a player you are. practice moving in and hitting the ball on the rise, preferably with your forehand. drop shots are hard to hit off of moonballs so i wouldn't suggest trying that. try to keep the ball lower for them to hit b/c this will make it more difficult for them to get the height and topspin on it. most importantly, practice the shot a lot during practice so you are ready for it in a match. also, be patient and don't show that you are frustrated b/c this will only show them that it is working.

Answer 7

lol i do that. anyways,
when a player hits moon balls to u, u do the same thing til they get bored of it, then they will hit it low. they;re gona think that you're gona hit another moon ball, but u decide if it's a good chance to hit a killer ball. :-)
and try being patient when u hit! works with me! ;-)
hope this helps.

Answer 8

Roll a heavy topspin ball to a corner and move in for a volley when they're way off the court. Hope that helps! :)

Answer 9

Hit the ball back just like they do. Eventually they will make a mistake.

Answer 10

Hit her with some very heavy first serves and then you dont need a rally to win the point