 
|
The Main Uses of the Slice: To Vary Pace on Your Opponent by Mixing it with a Drive
Navigation
 Almost all players like to get in a groove and play along mechanically. Even great players are like that, and unless their groove is broken they are almost unbeatable. Ellswort Vines, Donald Budge, Welby Van Horn, Frank Parker, Carl Earn,Jack Kramer, Billy Talbert, Gardnar Mulloy, Pancho Gonzales, and Ted Schroeder all could hit a groove and, unless they could be broken out of it, would play flawless tennis. Yet, if they were once stopped, they often were unable ever again to find their groove during that particular match.
The men who are the best upsetters of a groove player by cleverly mixing their game are Fred J. Perry and Bobby Riggs, both of whom stood supreme at their respective peaks. The insidious way that Riggs spoiled Budge's timing by alternating speed with slow, low ground strokes and amazing lobs so broke Budge's game that he could do nothing against Riggs from that time on. There is no one shot that can play so conspicuous a part in upsetting a man's game as the skillfully used slice when employed as a variation to the drive. Do not get me wrong. The slice alone, or even a topheavy proportion of slices over the drive, is not good. It is too slow and defensive, but mixed in the proper proportion with the drive it is a fine error producer. Its value also varies according to the court surface.
It is most valuable on day, where its twist is very effective. The drag is great, the bound lower and shorter. It is next most effective on grass. It is worth little on concrete, asphalt, or cement, where it bounds too high and is easy to hit, while on wood it is useless. However, since most of the important tennis is played on clay and grass, one must consider its value from those standpoints.
The chop should be used for somewhere between 20 and 40 per cent of ground strokes hit. Conversely, the drive will make up the other 80 to 60 per cent. If you are playing against a very hard hitter, increase your percentage of chops so as to slow up the pace. You can almost go to 50-50 per cent if your opponent finds trouble controlling his drive against the changing pace. Do not fall into the habit so many players have, of using just one type of shot throughout a point, even if you change the type on the next point. That is not mixing up your strokes. If you drive twice in a row in a point, slide in a chop, or if you start chopping, after two or three shift to a drive for a shot or two.
Every time you change the spin and pace on your shots, you force your opponent to be very careful, and if his concentration has slackened, the change of spin and pace will make him miss. Nothing is more wearing on a player than having to wait out a spin shot and play it with care. It puts a great mental pressure on him which is just as tiring as his physical exertions. The longer a player is forced to dig up a deep slice into the corners, and then rouse himself to meet a solid offensive drive, the more he will feel the load of pressure. The effects of the chop or slice are cumulative. By that I mean it is easy to hit back in the first set, but it becomes a whale of an effort to dig it and ladle it back in the fourth. When mixing up a drive and a chop in the same point, keep a definite gap between the pace of the two. Hit the drive with full average pace, and then hit the chop with little power but plenty of depth and spin.
In some cases, your opponent is supplying the driving power. It is almost axiomatic that speed begets speed. Therefore, if you are playing a very hard hitter, he will thrive on your speed. The average hard hitter likes to exert his power off a solidly hit ball. On the other hand, he finds difficulty in starting speed against soft fluff. To slow up the tempo and reduce the pace whenever your opponent pastes a shot and stays back, hit a high floating chop, with a lot of backspin, that will hang in the air, drag off the ground, and bound low. The tendency of the hitter is to get over anxious and hit too soon, usually causing him to net his return. I found this method of slow chopped floaters particularly effective against such terrific drivers as Little Bill Johnston, Ellsworth Vines, Donald Budge, and players of that type. Naturally, if your opponent follows his driving attack with an advance to the net, the chop must be abandoned, since it is too slow and has too high a trajectory for a successful passing shot. But just so long as the hard driver stays back, the chop or slice is the ideal defence to break him up.
1. To vary pace on your opponent, mixing it in with a drive, and to take pace out of great speed and slow up the tempo of a point (defence).
2. To return great speed on service (defence).
3. To handle shots that catch you out of position, particularly shots that bound too high to drive (defence).
4. As an advancing shot behind which to go to the net (attack).
 Next Page: The Net Game: The Volley; The Overhead Smash |
RSS Feed XML Sitemap HTML Sitemap Privacy Policy