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The five-minute warm-up with the other pair. What do you look for?
Scout the warm-up: handedness, backhands, overheads, movement. Four facts decide your first plan.
You are warming up against your opponents before a match. What information should you be collecting?
Scout the warm-up: handedness, backhands, overheads, movement. Four facts decide your first plan.
Why
The pre-match warm-up is the only look you get at the opponents before the points count, and four things are worth noticing. Handedness, because a left-hander changes every target. The backhand, because it decides which side to attack and whether the backhand volley is a target. The overhead, because the player with the weaker bandeja is the one you lob. And movement, because the slower player is the one you make run. Five minutes of hitting is enough to learn all four, and a pair that starts the match with a plan based on them wins the first games while the other pair is still working it out.
What this means at your level
Beginner
In the warm-up, hit a few lobs to each opponent and watch their overheads. Lob the one who looks less comfortable.
Intermediate
Watch the feet during their volleys. A player who volleys from a standing position is one you can chiquita all day.
Advanced
Notice what they do not practise. A pair that never hits a backhand volley in the warm-up is telling you something.
Common questions
You are warming up against your opponents before a match. What information should you be collecting?
Hands, backhands, overheads, movement. Scout the warm-up: handedness, backhands, overheads, movement. Four facts decide your first plan. The pre-match warm-up is the only look you get at the opponents before the points count, and four things are worth noticing. Handedness, because a left-hander changes every target. The backhand, because it decides which side to attack and whether the backhand volley is a target. The overhead, because the player with the weaker bandeja is the one you lob. And movement, because the slower player is the one you make run. Five minutes of hitting is enough to learn all four, and a pair that starts the match with a plan based on them wins the first games while the other pair is still working it out.
Why not nothing, just get your own shots going and warm?
Your shots need three minutes. The other two are free scouting.
What should a beginner do here?
In the warm-up, hit a few lobs to each opponent and watch their overheads. Lob the one who looks less comfortable.
How does this change for an advanced player?
Notice what they do not practise. A pair that never hits a backhand volley in the warm-up is telling you something.
Puzzles like this one
Both of them are at the net. What is the highest-percentage ball?
Only the lob moves a net pair backwards. Everything else invites them forward.
intermediateWhat do you do with the return of serve?
The return lob is how the receiving pair steals the net. Aim over the player who is still moving.
advancedThey are camped at the net and you cannot lob. What now?
If you cannot lift it over them, make them lift it for you. The chiquita is a slow ball at their feet.