Transcription
All right, Scott. Welcome back to the studio. This is breakthrough episode 8. We've had a long hiatus when I've been injured and now we're back in the studio. We're going to go to the courts today. We're getting me prepped for a tournament at Worlds coming up next week. But how have you been?
I've been good. Just wrapped up an NPL season. Pretty solid for my partners and me. Team couldn't quite get over the hump. Lots of reasons for that, but heading off to APP Mesa next weekend and then USAP Nationals in San Diego. Couple of fun partners. I'm looking forward to that. I'm relatively healthy. So excited to talk about you and your game and and get you ready to break through this coming week.
Yeah, for sure. You staying busy, Scott. I mean, it's not like you have a a business and a indoor pickleball facility to manage while you're doing all this pro stuff as well, right? Yeah. Boulder Pickleball is doing great. You know, enjoying my time there and just trying to keep it going as a ball player as well.
Okay, great. All right. So just an update on my situation. So for those of you that follow regularly, you will be familiar with the story, but those who don't, I ruptured my peroneal tendon, peroneal, people pronounce it different ways, in my foot, which is basically the the main ligament on the side of your foot that controls lateral stability. And I I did that on a pickleball court. It popped when I was, you know, lunging laterally and felt it kind of go straight up my leg. Like it it popped and then it like stretched up side of my leg. It didn't hurt that bad, you know, there's an initial pain and then I actually tried to play a game cuz I didn't know that I'd really injured it and I was like, I don't feel right. So went to the doctor, they did the MRI. It was it was busted and it needed surgery. So I bit the bullet, did the surgery and it was a big recovery. So I was in a cast non-weight bearing for 6 weeks and then I went to a boot for another 4 weeks. And then you can imagine after that couple of months, I had lost a lot of muscle mass. I wasn't able to I tried going to the gym, you know, and just doing seated, you know, upper body stuff and I'd just start one-legged stuff. Not not you can't do that without, you know, a base besides sitting in a seat. So I basically had no strength workouts for 2 months. And thankfully, Scott, you referred me to your physical therapist, Dr. Charlotte Robinson at Alpine Fit here in Boulder, Colorado and she was fantastic. And I've been going to her after I had the cast off and right about the boot time of the boot and we started doing physical therapy and I've been going ever since. And she's really rehabilitated me. So right now I feel like I'm about 90%. I feel like it when I'm on the court, but, you know, when I went back and watched tape, I'm still not moving at 90%. That was my one of my main things that I had to work on was my mobility and you know, being at Defcon 1 and cat-like and, you know, I tend to stand stand straight up. So there needs to be some work there. So we can jump into that in in our analyzing tape segment, but but yeah. We'll be competing in men's 4.0 at Worlds next week and I'll be competing with another paddle reviewer, JJ Gresco, who I played with last year. So we're running it back this year. We got bronze last year in men's 4.0. We're going to do the same division Which age group? this year. So JJ is in his 20s and that puts us in the 8 to 34-year-old bracket. Yeah, well, yeah, just 8 to yeah. So I'll be, you know, playing down age-wise. Playing the role of a 34-year-old. Or an 8-year-old, we'll see. I don't know if we'll go up against any, you know, pre-teens, but that's possible. Yeah, right. Exactly. So yeah, there there are actually 3,500 players registered at amateur players registered for this tournament, which the largest I've ever been a part of, for sure. It's got to be one of the largest, you know, in history. And 37 teams in our bracket. So big bracket. Last year we played our bracket all day. We we got put into the back draw on our like third game and we worked our way back to bronze. You can't get to gold or silver if you go into the back draw. That's a nice run, though. Yeah, and that put us like going in the back draw, it was one game one match after the other. I feel like we played at least 10 10 matches that day. So that was I was beat. The goal this time is to stay not not to go to the back draw. Stay in the main draw. But yeah, Scott, so when I've been getting back into competitive play after rehabilitation, uh I was thinking about our old episodes and and what you've taught me personally and I remember a point on the court, you know, a few weeks ago and I was playing and like, I feel like I need to go back and and watch some of the early breakthrough episodes because I'm I have a general concept, but things are getting fuzzy and I feel like I have a kind of paralysis by analysis cuz we've learned so much, you know, I've learned so much from you. But I this was the kind of genesis of this episode like help me prepare for Worlds, but also let's boil everything down into a few key concepts, few key takeaways that we can take with us in a competitive situation, whether or not that's you going to play rec play, a league or a big tournament, right? And in those situations, I feel like it's really important to have a few nuggets, a few clear, crystal clear strategies to focus on, consciously thinking about a few key key points, key takeaways during a tournament situation would be perfect.
Yeah, and I also feel like, you know, thanks for sharing which division you're playing in. So, you know, a little younger than I than I thought and and 4.0. And your intellectual savvy should be a strength in that field. You know, I think maybe if it's 4.5 50 plus, you know, maybe that delta is a little different. But I really feel like even though you've been dinged up for several several months, you're on your way back. May not be physically at 100%. You, you know, eat, sleep and breathe this stuff every day and now we're sharpening up both in the studio and on the court. And I think we should be looking to leverage your your smarts on the court and your focus. You know, like we're heading into a tournament. If you have 37 things to remember, you know, you probably remember zero. So let's pick three or four good ones. Let's get your partner up to speed on those as well so that we've got, you know, the framework of of a plan instead of just kind of winging it.
I like that. Like a lot of I think your opponents, no offense to them, they may be winging it more than you. Okay. That's the plan. So I can tell you kind of what I landed on in terms of those key concepts that have been helping me, you know, prepare and then we'll go into tape analysis and you can give me, you know, kind of the things you think I should specifically work on. And we're going to go to the court later and we'll go do kind of a general assessment of how to get better at 4.0 4.5 tournament, right? So here's the things to focus on. So the main things that have been helping me in terms of, you know, distilling the knowledge that you've given me on the court lately have been mostly having a script for the first two to three points. Having something to focus on. Shots. Right. Two to three shots, thank you. So having the something to focus on when you're serving versus when you're receiving. So on the serving side it is the first, third and fifth shot, receiving side second and fourth mostly and then maybe sixth even. But have a plan, it may go awry, you may have to do something else on the fly, but at least having that plan serve deep to their backhand on the third, if they're back, drive at them, if they are at the kitchen, you drop to the person coming in, etc., right? So all those things you taught me and taught everyone on the show have been very helpful. So um Yeah, once you help me out, though, what what are your key kind of strategies for those scripts as both the serving side and the receiving side?
Like a lot of these things, it depends. It's going to depend on who's standing next to you and what are your team's strengths and weaknesses. And then ideally and heading into a tournament, we need to do whatever we can in advance, including 30 seconds in advance, to assess the strengths and weaknesses and and the comfort level of your opponents. So if you have a chance to scout that team, you know, in advance, please do so. If you have 5 minutes to warm up, we need to keep a half an eye on those guys and try to make an assessment for you and JJ. Is it JJ? Versus these guys, what is our ideal rally construction? You know, are we looking for short, fast, powerful points less than five or six shots? Great. If it favors you guys to get into long drawn out molasses traditional 15 20 dinks, look for an opportunity from there. What is it going to take in those first few shots to craft the early stages of a rally that favors you guys and puts those guys in an uncomfortable position. And then first, third and fifth should likely play out as follows, you know, according to the script that you and JJ commit to unless you're presented with evidence to the contrary. You know, something that that could change. You know, they do something a little bit different than you expect. You know, we'll get into that especially, you know, I think fourths are a huge opportunity for us, for example. If you've decided that these guys are just bigger bangers, more powerful players, they want short, fast rallies, our fourth shot goals may not be to keep them back, which everyone watching right now is like four shots keep them back. But boy, if they're taking those out of the air, shaking and baking and you know, returning and and driving balls out of the air, we may need to prioritize a lower shorter fourth ball that invites them to either put it in the fence or you know, equally almost just as good invites them into the non-volley zone and now we're into our preferred rally construction from there.
Yeah, that's kind of a a banger's kryptonite, right? A short low ball. Right. I like that. So, I can tell you a little bit about JJ my his his play style. He's he's younger. Uh long lanky like myself um and he's got a great slice serve, you know, he slices it deep into the back corner of the of the court on the ad side. So, going the serving on the left side to the person on the left. Uh that alone, you know, sets up a lot of good points. His his deep slice serve. Um yeah, and otherwise it's just a well-rounded player, you know, not a not overly aggressive, not a defensive player. We're both kind of right right in the middle between aggressive and defensive. Let me ask you a challenging question. We've not pre-scripted this. Um so, JJ hits that inside out slice ball to the ad court. Can you anticipate what type of return frequently comes back off of that type of serve?
Yeah, it's good good question. So, if they're right-handed, they are hitting a a backhand and it's moving away from them. You know, I imagine it's kind of a short loopy cross court is kind of what what I would imagine would happen. Yeah, one of the things I'm thinking about a lot of times cuz I like that serve as well is often they'll slide left and slice a forehand back. Okay. Uh or a slice backhand. And as we start connecting first, third, and fifth uh in our head, if I provide a slice serve first and I can anticipate a slice return back, that's the pre-spin that I want for a heavy topspin drip drive. Right. And I can anticipate that. I get that ball back pretty regularly and it just gives me the extra the extra RPMs to be able to get that ball to to dip. And if that favors our style of play, then that's a great serve. Okay. So, um pay attention to that when you get on the court with JJ. You may be getting back just the right second ball um to hit an even, you know, more effective drip drive. I like it. So, use use the slice as your topspin or at least that knuckle ball as it bounces, right? For topspin. Good stuff. Okay. Uh so, we've got the yeah, we've got both scripts. Why don't we move on, Scott, to analyzing tape?
Let's do it. So, we did things a little differently this time. Normally, I go through and kind of review a game or two and I pull out some key learning moments. This time I just sent you a link to uh PB Vision. Are you a member of PB Vision yet? Uh if I'm not, I I should be cuz having reviewed this, I really like the interface. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's fantastic. I've I've I just joined a couple weeks ago and I already have 30 games in there. And they give you your rating and it sits lining up really close to MyDupar and I'm like, "Wow." And it tells you what to work on. So, shout out to the creators. I don't know them personally, but uh PB Vision. Uh but I sent that to you and you sent back some timestamps that of some points that you wanted to uh take a look at. So, we're going to do that. All right. So, uh this was a couple days ago at our local courts, Relish. Up, let's go back real quick to the names. I'll pause them there. Uh so, I was playing with um three friends. Uh we've got Clayton receiving, another John on the court besides me, and then Zach as my partner. I I feel like you know at least one of them, right? I know Zach. Okay. And I'm impressed with uh Clayton and John's game from having reviewed the tape. Okay. Yeah, he's fantastic. All right. Well, let's go then. This is something we've talked a a lot about, John. I like that you've not overly turned towards Zach hit this ball. But uh you could even use a little more peripheral vision here. Um you do a good job of keeping an eye on the players directly in front of you to learn what you can. Um so, if there's a little thought bubble voice bubble over your head right now, you're like, "Gee, Zach, that dink looks to be up a little bit and from what I know about the guy in front of me, who's also John, um he's probably going to redirect that ball directly at me." Mhm. And what I really love is before the ball even gets to his paddle, you've anticipated his likely attack. You've slid 10 15 in to the right. You've prepared backhand shield and you are ready to to play the defense on that ball. Not ideal balance uh but yeah, that ball is coming at you quick and if you had [clears throat] stayed where you were, that would have gotten you squarely in the chest. Uh-huh. So, what I like to say here is you've replaced your right shoulder by sliding it to the right with the backhand side of your paddle. Yeah. Uh which is just, you know, a great play uh right there. Uh and a lot of that is the anticipation. We hear the term fast hands all the time. I like to think, you know, fast processor speed Yeah. here. You you know, read the flow of the rally. Uh Zach's dink was up just a little bit. You anticipated what was going to happen next and prepared uh the backhand side of your paddle where John wanted to speed up. Yeah. And that the little sloppy on the counter there, but it it worked out. It worked out great. Good leave. Yeah. I'd like to say today intentionally left it. I did, but after it was behind me. So, yeah, I would like to say that it's in the heat of the moment, I'm not thinking, "Okay, slide right to protect my right shoulder, bring it to my left." It's just after you train it so much, it becomes kind of second nature. And that's where you want to get to on on the court. But certainly there's an intentionality of after I got body bagged a few times at the 3.5 level, "Okay, people are targeting my chest, my shoulders. I'm going to, you know, play some I'm going to drill with a friend or I'm going to put set up a ball machine and and practice that particular movement." And after you do it, you know, thousands of times, then it becomes second nature, right? Yeah, there's no time for for conscious decision here. This has to be subconscious and trained. Mhm. Uh [clears throat] and so, for the benefit of our of our viewers, uh I know that we've prescribed the two versus one drill regularly, where in this case Zach would be the designated dinker, John on the other side is the designated instigator or attacker, and you are in the designated defender position. Defcon 1 hyper aware of John's potential speed up. And you have trained that when you see that dink is up a little bit, you go ahead and move your right shoulder out of the way and in this case replace it with a backhand shield, but I've also seen you effectively stay where you are, crouch down, and and hold up a pancake uh type of uh [snorts] uh you know, forehand shield you know, defensive play there. You can do either one. Yeah. Uh so, this is going to be, you know, one of our uh keys to success for, you know, the 4.0 4.5 is I want to see the returner's partner getting much more active on fourth shots. So, if Zach can return, you know, relatively down the line, which he does here, this allows you, John, to get bigger in the middle and hit one of the shots that you're quite good at. I mean, this ball is on Zach's side. We could say you're taking his forehand, but he's just arrived, you know, at the net. I'd much rather before the rally begins that you decide, "I'm getting everything I can get my paddle on." You know, and in a lot of cases, you can get it chest high, whereas if you let it go, your partner's going to get it knee high. You know, so at this level of play, the pattern of a down the line return or let's just make the player directly in front of the returner hit that ball. In this case, is that John? Uh receiving it? Receiving. That's John, yeah. That's John, okay, black hat. Uh so, that allows you with that down the line return, that allows you to crunch middle and go ahead and almost straddle the middle line or at least reach over to that side. If Zach had returned to who's John's partner? Clayton. Clayton, you would not be able to slide middle Right. and I see that all the time. And this is a huge I mean, you and JJ are long. Let's take advantage of that. Let's return down the line most of the time. You have a strong backhand in the middle. I don't know JJ's skills there, but let's not abandon the returner to have to deal with the fourth. This is a really, you know, a fourth shot in the transition zone or three or four steps away from the non-volley zone line in tournament play uh is is a difficult shot with a little bit of extra nerves. I'd much rather you take a chest high volley here than Zach have to hit something on the run. Even with his great forehand, yeah, sometimes it makes more sense for the person who's established with a steady base to step in with a a backhand and slice it or I could have even done some topspin on that, but the slice was the safer bet there. Yeah, it worked out really well and that ball goes into the net. Um there. So, uh you know, I think that needs to be the the proactive play that unless you're presented with evidence to the contrary, including you know, let's say we've got a big server on the other side and Zach says to you, "I'm struggling with a down the line return." Um which affords less margin. Down the line is a little more difficult. Cross court has a little more margin to it. You know, Zach may say, "Keep an eye out. I may not be able to get this ball down the line. Don't sell to the middle too hard. Um I may need to have uh a little extra room, you know, by going cross court." And then you're going to have to hold your spot a little bit more. Okay. Kudos to Clayton for getting super low on that and getting it just over the net. Yeah, really good play. I'd like to show some opportunity here on this ball. This ball's coming right to the middle. Uh-huh. And especially in tournament play or, you know, just in general. I mean, Zach's got a pretty big forehand, right? Uh-huh. So, my thinking here is uh a coaching tip, is JJ right-handed as well? He's right-handed, yeah. Okay. I I might like to see John you here proactively slide and get out of the way. Right. Like as this ball is floating there, you're like, you know, my partner's got one of the biggest forehands in the building right now. Mhm. I think why don't I Get out of his way. Yeah. Get out of his peripheral vision. I've been the Zach and I I sort of assert myself in there and I'd like my partner to be a little further out of the way. Yeah. So, as right side player uh let let's clear out. It's a pretty tiny court and maybe let if that's JJ, let him take that ball and if it's you, let's encourage JJ to get out of the way. Yeah, that's just a little bit more. Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't take that volley at as the other option. Uh you know, cuz you can I could have reached in. It's hard to see from this angle. Yeah, it didn't feel quite comfortable doing that obviously, but uh yeah, I think the number one choice would have been sliding right. Let Zach take a big forehand there. Number two should have been me volleying with a with a top spin. Yeah. Volley. Yeah, I think so. Otherwise, this is just great great play across the board. [snorts] So, I love the way you play this rally, but I feel like you missed an opportunity uh to end the rally. Now, again, it comes back to, you know, what are you and Zach deciding is the optimal rally construction here? Mhm. And from watching Zach, I mean, I know he he's a big hitter and generally I wouldn't be advising him to play long drawn out rallies when he gets the opportunity to to end a rally. Um same with you here. Um I am loving in tournament play let's step in and hit a big serve. Nice big deep serve, relatively short return. All right, Zach's got himself a pretty big forehand here. That might have been an opportunity for him to take this ball, but your two-handed job done. Looking good. Couple of mid court resets here. No need to drive that ball. I like that you make this a half volley here. Mhm. And now here's the opportunity. Good split step. You get this ball waist high Uh-huh. and I'd like to see that um right in Clayton's chest. Here. I mean, you got to wait Okay. Yeah, he's he's basically he's directly across from me. So, it's not really speeding up at the cross court. It's not Yeah, here's the key is look you know, look where this ball is. It's on the T. Mhm. So, you know, we don't like to speed this ball up cross court, but neither of them are cross court. They're equidistant from you. And the beauty here is if you speed up back behind you at John, nobody's covering your line. Yeah. So, that's not the right way to go. Yeah, he just has to Let let's go ahead and put this one in Clayton's chest and then you and Zach can triangulate in on him. It's just two versus one Mhm. at this point. Uh you know, a good ball right at his chest, he's going to pop it up and then Zach's going to hit it 100 miles an hour. That's what I was looking for. Okay. Yeah. Uh here. And instead, we kind of reset that ball. Clayton should have ended the rally uh in that case. And I think we end it right there. Yeah. Yeah. So There's a big big opportunity missed there and yeah, ended up in defense and then dumping it to the net, you know, three hits later. Sure. And you know, I'm going to belabor this point as you head into the into tournament mode and it's going to depend on who you're playing against. Uh but my feeling is if I'm coaching you and Zach here uh that you don't need 15, 20 dinks against these guys. You know, they're quick, they're agile, their dinks are just as good if not better. [clears throat] If either of you get the opportunity to stir the pot, to instigate Mhm. I think we should take it. Okay. You know, and we missed that opportunity there. We went for a kind of a half reset. I don't know what it was, but Clayton should have put it away. Uh-huh. Um so, that's your mission. Now, you can focus. Um we only need as many dinks as it takes to get an instigatable ball Right. and then let's go ahead and game on. Okay. You know, from there. Let's take a look at this terrific third shot from John. All right, look at the body language from John across from you. That's the body language that's all the body language Zach needs to go. Zach's what? 6'2"? Yeah. [clears throat] You know, now Zach should be on his way in John's face. Okay. All right, I mean, how much more body language do we need? And Zach is stable and late uh to the dance. So, one of the keys that I'm going to ask you guys to be thinking about um uh and and everyone who's watching for 4045 play is better compliment your partner's thirds. I mean, that's a heck of a third at the feet of the advancing returner. And I'd like to see all 6'2" of Zach in John's face forcing a pop up, an error, a ball in the net cuz he doesn't want to get it creamed. Uh-huh. And this is not your job, you know, to get in. This is your partner's job. And the fact that this ball bounces is a big mistake. You know, big mistake. I mean, good play from John, but he should have felt much more pressure, heard footsteps Yeah, yeah. from from Zach. So, Zach should run right to the center of the kitchen and definitely after after seeing the body language trajectory of the take a look at it in in full in regular speed and see if you see what I'm seeing. Yeah. Really delayed. Really delayed there. All right, so it goes back to one of your key concepts that we hit on on several episodes that if it bounces, you pounce. Yeah, for sure. But I think even before you know, if if we it will bounce then we will pounce. [laughter] Uh but right there, that's John's tell. Uh-huh. That's John's tell that there's no reason to stay back Yeah. at that point. And you can see Zach really hold. He pauses. I think he should be Look look look at that that foot go backward. Yeah. There, he's still pretty much on the baseline. Yeah. And I you know, I get Zach's predicament. We This is the first time we played together in ages. And you know, I don't know he's hit perfect third drops. Third shot drops. Right, but he needs to be looking to read the clues. And at 4045 with that type of uh return of serve, which was not that impactful. I mean, that's where the return lands right there. Yeah. At 4045, this is going to be a good third. Yeah. I mean, Zach may as well get going and unless he sees John's stop sign Mhm. you know, he should go. Okay. Now, here here's another side uh element to this. I don't know JJ's personality. Mhm. Uh but my inclination if I'm playing, you know, here and I'm you, I'm turning to my partner afterwards going, "Was there something wrong with my third, man?" [laughter] Yeah. And I want him to internalize that. Like, "Yeah, you're right. I I should have I should have gone and next time I see that scenario, I'm going to blitz. Okay. I'm I'm I'm going to pressure. I have that relationship with Molly Carter, my mix my mix partner. And somewhat with Chad Shaw, you know, who I play with as well. Right. Um but, you know, I I want you to compliment my third and if you don't compliment my third, I'm going to give you a little grief. Yeah, that's right. And then feel free to do the same back to me. I like to laugh on court and have fun and give each other a little, you know, good-natured ribbing. If that's not JJ's personality, then don't do it. No, no, that sounds Uh but if it is, go for it. Cool. Karma. Karma got Zach back for not not attacking. Right. [laughter] So, there we see it. I uh clearly footwork has never been my thing, but it was it's gone from bad to worse after the injury. And uh man, my my surgeon got in my head. It's got Oh, okay. I'll buy that. And uh he was telling me, "Do not get back on a pickleball court early, which is not too early anymore, but you will re-rupture that peroneal because it is barely tied back on. You got to let it heal. Let it heal. We're well past the healing point, but I'm still in my head at times and not like being explosive and kind of pampering my right foot. That's my excuse and that's what I'm telling myself. Noted. [laughter] Noted. Uh I know for yourself and we've talked about this a lot that I'm looking for a footwork skill here and we call the split step, but but our connection is I want you cat-like. Okay. I want you to find yourself in a cat-like position [snorts] and I'm wondering what 30-lb tabby house [laughter] cat, uh you know, this is here. It's It's more the three-toed three-toed sloth variety. Yeah, something along those lines. Uh but here's the tip for you and for all the other 4.0 4.5s is when we return and run. We've been taught to do what it takes to get to the non-volley zone. I would prefer that we [clears throat] move efficiently, economically, in a composed manner through the transition zone and prioritize the well-balanced, productive, cat-like split step here. Even three or four steps off the line versus blowing through the split step. All right, you're still moving forward. You need to be moving laterally at this point. You've just gathered yourself. You're feeling like I don't want to blow my peroneal again. [laughter] And you know, this shot was a winner. Had you split stepped here, you make that play. Yes, and so Clayton and I were drilling the other day and did one of the drills that you recommended for the timing of the split step where that's serve uh serve return and on the third you are timing your split step for when it hits their paddle, right? So, that that didn't happen here and I clearly yeah. You know, clearly. And it's one of those things going into into tournament mode. Let's prioritize the the chronological uh timing of the split step, not the geographical goal of getting to the non-volley zone. Go forward until the ball's on his paddle. Even if you're 3 ft 4 ft off the line, the ball's still way back on the other side. You can resume forward progress. But in this case, you could you could assume lateral movement to your right if your left spring is loaded, which it's not. Not even close. No. But you didn't rupture your peroneal, so so we'll go with that. Otherwise, this would all be moot. [snorts] Uh Okay, I believe uh that Clayton's about to hit the ball hard. [laughter] Uh but taking a look at your posture uh right here, whereas earlier you processed, "Boy, Zach, that wasn't the best dink. I may as well get myself ready." We ain't so ready uh here. I'm looking for DEFCON 1. I think this is DEFCON 5. I'd say 5. I mean, it's it's bordering on REM deep sleep. [laughter] Yes. Dream state, I think. Unless your name is JW Johnson, this is probably [laughter] not the preferred posture uh to be in right now and Clayton kind of makes us pay, you know, for that. Yeah. I mean, if you would have come at me, I would have been Yes, if he had come at you, you had no chance. So, again, let's go back. So, Zach pops this ball up and you've got to be thinking, "Oh, crap. Here comes Clayton. Good for him." I'm thinking backhand or forehand shield at this point. Maybe slide a little bit right. Give Zach the middle. Hold that paddle up on the backhand shield and get ready to play. Yeah. So, watching back cuz you you know, in my head I'm like, "I'm crouched low." I mean, I don't know what I was doing at that time, but yeah, just watching this back it's just like, "Maybe I'm taking this mindfulness meditation class." [laughter] I'm just observing at that point. Expectating. And yet, this isn't your every time. Like we saw earlier that you were able to read the flow, adjust your body, move your torso out of the way, replace it with the backhand side of your paddle. You're capable of doing it. We just didn't do it in this case. Right. Well, I can provide the insults. I can also provide the compliments. All right, look at this split step timing. I like it. All right, maybe a tad late, but the ball's not on you yet. You make that split step and read and redirect right back at him, which is a really good play. So, let's take a look at that again. You have the time when the ball leaves Zach's paddle until it gets to Clayton's paddle to adjust your court position. You take a look at the shot. You hear the shot off Zach's paddle and you're making an early assessment, "I think I can move forward some." And you do move forward a little bit. Look, Clayton is dropping low. That gives you some confidence that he's going to have to hit up, but if you're if you still move forward, that ball's going to be a problem. So, again, a tad late on the split step, but we achieved it and you are able to use, you know, I was calling it a tabby cat earlier. This is a little bit more leopard-like, you know, so good for you. And you know, great reflexes and and keep that rally going. I like it. Attaboy. Again, I want to credit the split step here with giving you the posture and look at that beautiful split step. And you know what? That's just not really a ball that you want to attack unless you're Anna Leigh Waters. You know, you can't really attack that ball. I think a good soft reset, cup underneath that ball beautifully. It's because of the split step timing that you're able to read the situation. Beautiful split step. Springs are loaded. Well-balanced, level shoulders, great reset. I love everything about that. On that last ball there, I want to just kind of mention the concept of the drive to survive, Okay. which frequently is a third shot concept when they've hit a really impactful return of serve and it's not really a time for a drip or a drop. And we just hit a lukewarm line drive just to stall, just to see if we can get a little bit more appetizing ball on which to drop or drip. Okay. Same thing here. This is a really tough reset, Mhm. you know, from back here. So, if I'm Zach, I may come back and give you a little bit more grace to just drive to survive. Okay. Just hit him a line drive, stall, you know, maybe get, you know, a little bit better ball to drop on the next one because dropping from way back here, that's a tough shot. So, what speed are you looking for for the drive to survive? 60% lukewarm line drive, middle. Like rally ball sort of thing. Rally ball. You know, um you know, this is a concept that Jill Braverman shared in a clinic that she and I did together um that you know, she if she were hitting this shot and I was her partner, she would not want me in front of the baseline. Okay. Like come on back and then we'll take our chances with our defense from behind the baseline and if they want to try a, you know, fancy drop volley, let them try it. Maybe they'll miss. You know, Zach's fast. He can go get that ball, you know, if needed, but I just think you need to stall and the percentages of getting a lukewarm line drive in are much higher than an effective drop here that in hindsight may have been the better play. Got you. So, this is a concept we've talked about before called Hydra. Mhm. That uh so, looking directly you here, you can assume a defensive posture based on John is playing the ball directly across from you, which protects your inside shoulder, protects middle, and if he comes to your right shoulder or further to the right, you know that his geometry is poor and you can let that ball go out. So, you can really commit hard to inside shoulder and anticipate that he might drive there and you're ready to do that. I have no idea if you guys win that rally or lose it, but either way, cuz I can't really tell where the ball goes. Maybe it goes out. yeah, it's yeah. But you you are, you know, totally ready for this ball and nine times out of 10 are going to put that thing away. So, I just love the commitment to the middle Okay. there and being willing to let anything to your right shoulder fly. Yeah, and I was going to ask you before you made your comment, like am I pinching middle too hard? Am I Should I have given, you know, Zach that forehand, but I looking back, I think he was anticipating down the line and he was covering his line. So, yes, I should have been taking the middle there. I I love where you both are. So, the the Hydra concept is the is the two-headed monster, you know, mythological monster. So, one head is Zach has to protect 22 ft of vertical court. Right. Um he has to be clearly aware. John should If he speeds up, he should speed up at Zach. You know, that's the smarter play. Zach has less time to be ready for it. And he has to cover 22 ft on this diagonal. If John speeds up at you, you have extra time, and he only has about 16 ft worth of court. Otherwise, it's going to go wide. Okay. So, if we give him anything, let's give him the hard acute roll dink winner. You know, and you can scramble and get that and maybe even ATP. Right. Um but I I love the hard commitment to uh protecting your inside shoulder in the middle here. Okay. Just didn't pan out. I Looks like they Didn't pan out, but I do think nine times out of 10, um you know, it's the right play. Great. Uh of all the forehand drives on the court of the four of you, which one has the best forehand drive? Yeah, Zach. Zach, who's about to hit this weak backhand? Nah. Okay. So, I see no reason why either of you should ever hit a backhand for a third unless you really love your backhand, Matt Wright. [laughter] You know, so I mean Matt Wright's a great example of somebody's got a great third shot backhand slice, but Zach's forehand is really good. So, should he have run around that? Or give it to me or One of those two. Yeah. You know, one of those two. I mean, good for those guys for returning middle, um but I I think given where Zach is right now, John, I need a mine call Okay. out of you. Right. And you come over and take that ball. And then if you're going to come over to the middle and take that ball, John, you need to hit that ball at John in the black hat. Cuz if you hit that ball at Clayton, nobody's covering your side of the court. Got you. So, you need a drop or a drive to the uh left side player on the other side. Okay. All right. So, that didn't work out all that great for you guys. And I think we might have an example of of some something a little bit better right here. So, we'll go back to Okay, so the pre-serve alignment, Zach is still lined up a little neutrally, but maybe favoring forehand. And problem solved. Yeah, he ran around it. That ball hit exactly in the same nearly the same spot. So, I prefer this. Uh here, beautiful drive. And I think you preferred it, too. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's the result. So, that's a classy drive. So, for your 4.0 4.5 tournament play, Mhm. why hit a third shot, either of you, with your lesser wing? Right. Like, let's line up before the serve as server or server's partner to favor your preferred wing. Yep. And let's make sure we hit it with that. I like it. So, that was just lazy with the previous example. And a much better counterpoint right here. [clears throat] And this is actually good cuz I can see Zach and myself struggling cuz we haven't played together in a while. We don't know each other's patterns, and there's some hesitation on key moments here. And this is actually translates well into the tournament because JJ and I have played exactly once together, and we It was a year ago, right? So, there will be that I feel like a lot of people are in that same situation. For tournaments, they do a blind date or they're playing with somebody that they don't know that well. Uh they don't know their play style. And these are the key moments that you really have to shore up and kind of, you know, conceptualize before you get on the court with this person and come up with them a game plan to to shore up those weaknesses. Yeah, and including if the other guys will will play into your hands, like a quick conversation with Zach is of the four wings that we we we have, backhands and forehands, which one do we really want for thirds? Mhm. And I think if the other guys allow it, we want Zach hitting forehands. Sure. You know, and second place, your forehand. Yeah. You know, and then a distant third and fourth. And it's only 20 ft of baseline. Like, you guys should be able to hit forehands. Yeah. You know, as much as you can. So, is this something where you strategize before match, ideally, just like, "Hey, you've got a great forehand. Feel free to run around your backhand." Uh or is it something where it is more we're going to vocalize here and consciously you, me, switch, whatever during the game. What do you have going on there? bit of both, especially with a semi-blind date, you may need to feel it out. And if you guys can get some practice in, you know, before the tournament starts, that'll be helpful as well. What do we prefer for for our thirds? Right. You know, and I again, if JJ's young and long and athletic, uh a great play may be you taking more thirds and releasing JJ into the midcourt to complement your thirds. Okay. And be a a leopard, panther, or whatever it is for fifths. Right. Uh he's probably better at that than you. Yeah. He's half your age. Yeah. You know, so and your thirds are good. So, that I mean, that could be a good style of play. All right, JJ. other guys allow [laughter] you to do it. And they they may decide we're tired of Jay dealing with JJ on fifths. We need to return to him. Uh-huh. And then you switch roles, and we see how that goes. But then you get into your next round, and they may never pick up
on the fact that your best plan is JJ handling fifths. Yeah, I feel like that's deep enough into the rally at that point that most people in a tournament situation are not going to pick up on that pattern.
>> agree. Yeah. I would agree. What are your options here, John? Uh probably drilling it straight at Clayton in front of >> [clears throat] >> in front of me is the best option cuz that's that's right at net level. I could have I could have I could have reached in further and cut it when it was higher and just, you know, volleyed that pretty hard.
>> And and what I would like for you and our our viewers to uh think about when answering this question, what are your options here, is it depends. It depends on our strategy, our preferred rally construction. If you and Zach decided we can out-dink these guys, Mhm. let's let's tone down the aggression, Right. then the shot the shot you choose here is fine. If your preferred rally construction is let's look to instigate the first instigatable ball, then we missed the opportunity Sure. uh here to go right at at Clayton. And I think a little bit of indecision, you know, kind of contributed to that, you know, I not the best reset ever, but John lets it bounce. Right. Good good lateral footwork. Great reset. Good.
So, here's the pattern that I I want to compliment you and then also encourage you to be even more ready. So, again, you're out of the corner of your eye, I love this, using your peripheral vision, you see that Zach is about to stir the pot. Uh-huh. And you I mean, there's lots of of triangle rules, but one of the keys here is if he goes relatively hard at John, it's probably going to come back in your direction. Mhm. So, I want you, you know, in tournament mode to be thinking every time Zach hits the ball, every time JJ hits the ball, I'm expecting a speedup. Okay. And I'm ready for the counter-counter. So, I'm expecting my partner to speed it up, and then I counter. Right.
>> Why not? You know, if he if he dinks, you've got plenty of time to adjust, but if you're ready for him to hit the ball hard, you're kind of anticipating it's going to come back kind of weak sauce from John, and you're ready to put that ball away. So, he starts the fun. Your paddle's down a little bit lower than I would like at this point. You catch up. Uh-huh. You catch up a little late, but at this point, I'd love your paddle right up in front of your right shoulder.
>> Exactly. Yeah. You know, just ready to just clobber this ball.
>> Cuz that is a little late. Yeah. It worked.
>> It Yeah. It worked, but I mean, here's the opportunity. [clears throat] I mean, Zach takes the opportunity to stir the pot. You need to be anticipating it a little bit greater. You get back exactly what you want. Right.
>> And let's just be ready to put that ball
>> If I was here, I would no way anybody's getting their paddle on that ball. And also watching this, there are many times when I'm I have a putaway ball, and I hit it 6 ft out of the baseline, and I "What in the heck happened here? Am I using too much wrist?" But now I see exactly what's happening.
>> there is the problem.
>> a more Defcon 1 readiness position before that person even hits the ball. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So, we we know we've got a defensive version of Defcon 1. If Clayton directly in front of you is about to play the ball, let's get a shield up.
>> Yeah. But when your partner's ready to play the ball, let's anticipate a speedup from your partner every single time.
>> Sure. And be ready for this two-shot combo. Cuz you guys get exactly what you want, and you almost screw it up, but you didn't. [clears throat]
>> [laughter]
>> This is on my list for key 4.0 4.5 strategies. This is right in there where at 4.5 plus, we are, depending upon what our preferred strategy is, Uh-huh. I'm going to speak for myself. I'm going to take what they give us here. And instead of going for the home run, Oops. which I'm going to guess Zach gets about 60% of the time success, Mhm. let's go ahead and take what they give us, which is an easy ball to drop. Easy ball to drip in John's direction, Mhm. you know, right here, and let's neutralize their position advantage, get into a four-person kitchen exchange. Okay. Uh here. Instead, most 4.2's hit this ball as hard as possible.
>> Yeah. You know, and we even see it all the time in in the coaching advice. When do we drive? When they hit a short return. I don't drive when they hit a short return. I take what they give me, and I drop 99% success rate. I mean, all of us have a high success rate of dropping the ball from here.
>> Mhm. At [clears throat] John, who's on the way in. Let's put the ball at his feet. Uh then, John, you can go ahead and smother or maybe get an easy put away.
>> Mhm. So, I'm going to suggest that we resist the temptation to go for the home run here. Take what they give us, drop the ball at the weakest of the four wings on the other side. Neutralize the rally and go from there. Great.
>> All right. So, this is another opportunity in tournament play where there are there are nerves and wind and other things. You know, it's just less precise than when you're just playing at your local club. All right, here. John hits the ball at you in the transition area. What's the correct shot here? Uh reset cross court. Reset cross court. I agree on paper that would be the correct shot. But, especially in a tournament setting, it's a difficult shot. Mhm. John hits it pretty hard at you. Um I like your balance, but I think from a percentage standpoint, the better play is what you chose. Okay.
>> Line drive at the near player. All right. Line drive at the near player. He's a little startled, you know, by that. And it's an easier shot for you than a than a delicate reset cross court.
>> Mhm. So, this sort of fits into the drive to survive concept, you know, a little bit. Let's just go ahead and, you know, if you've got this ball out of the air in the midcourt, let's hit a line drive at the near player, and that kind of sets us up for, well, in this case, to win the rally. Okay. I chose correctly. I I think so. Loving this twee. That, you know, it looks pretty sophisticated.
>> [clears throat]
>> Did you have a question? No, no. I was just Yeah, I was going to comment. I've been So, I had a lesson with James Ignatowich on the two-handed backhand roll volley. No, not a roll volley, but a roll dink. And uh I've been working on the roll volley, as well. It's not It's It's a lower probability shot, but it worked on this one. I think you made an excellent decision for shot selection, and the execution is terrific, as well. Most players uh try to explore the benefits of pace on this shot. And I don't think pace is your friend here. Cuz if you hit this ball relatively hard in Clayton's direction, I think he's going to clubber it.
>> Mhm. So, what you have uh is spin and shape. So, my thinking right here, and I feel like you execute it really well, is you need to provide a heavy ball that bounces at Clayton. And my mindset is I want to get Clayton to foul this thing off. I want it not in his sweet spot because of the bounce.
>> Right. And a lot of players really struggle with this heavy spinning ball here. So, you get some good top spin on it, it bounces, and, you know, Clayton really just does not end up getting this thing in the sweet spot, and he puts it up high, and, you know, we kind of take care of business from there. Yeah. So, good use of of spin and um location and resisting the temptation to go with pace on that shot. Cool. Well, this was a a fun one. Uh quite a few good points and embarrassing points, and yeah, stuff I can definitely Yeah, I used it to help in the tournament. All right, Scott. Um do you want to present sort of these key strategies we're going to talk about on the court in here first, or do we go straight to the court? Which would you prefer?
>> talk about them a little bit, and maybe we'll have some visuals that we can lay this over or see how that goes.
>> do that, then. All right. I think we had a chance to see many of these, you know, in action. Yeah. Uh and then we'll we'll drill down on them a little bit more on court.
>> Okay, great. Uh but the the four key strategies at at 4.0, um you know, heading into tournament play, more proactive fourths. Okay. Let's Let's give a little bit more thought to our fourths plan. Most people wing it when it comes to fourths. And if they have any mindset at all, it's keep them back. And I think playing in the young 4.0's at this tournament, um there's going to be a lot of hard hitting. You know, that's just my my guess in this in this division. So, keep them back is also code for give them a waist-high swinging volley in the midcourt. I don't know that that's necessarily what we want to do. Um so, we've got to give some more thought to it. Okay. We presented earlier, I think a standard pattern that you and your partner should have is a down-the-line return to allow the partner, who's not returning, the net player,
>> Mhm. to straddle the middle line, produce a lot of stress on their third shot. Okay. Where am I going to hit this third with John or JJ straddling the middle line? Right. Give them the heavy spin acute angle cross court. Give them that one. Because they want to hit the ball toward the lower body of the returner. Uh-huh. And you're just coming across saying, "Hey, partner, I'm going to help you out. I'm going to get this ball at chest level. You don't have to get it at ankle level, and maybe you don't even have to hit it because you've produced enough pressure on their third." And that's what we should be doing as returners is return in such a manner your partner sets you up. Let's add stress to their third shot. In a tournament setting, can't pass that up.
>> Yeah. All right, I like it. So, uh return of serve down the line and deep, and person at the kitchen pinching middle. That should be your standard play.
>> Okay. And then, exceptions will be uh big server, and you or your partner say, "I'm struggling with the down the line. I need a little more margin, so I may go cross court or middle." Okay. And what to do with the fourth? It depends, right? But, regardless, like intentionally providing pressure before you even hit that fourth, and then the fourth can either be if it's high enough, yes, hit it hard. Or, like you said earlier, if they're bangers and they want that that third shot drive or fifth shot drive or whatever, you you drop it and bring them invite them to the kitchen. Sure. And and I can see in your imagining that that it's the returner hitting that fourth ball cuz that's the difficult decision. I returned and ran, and then I have to hit the fourth ball.
>> Right. We'll talk about that in a second. But, if the partner can get the fourths, we don't have to think shot selection so much. We're getting that as the net player chest high. Mhm. And we can volley that ball back to their feet and not allow them to come in, Okay. you know, behind their third. It's only if they get past the net player, Yeah. and the returner has to hit the fourth, you know, good for those guys. Yeah. Now, we're going to have to give some thought to, you know, what to do with that fourth.
>> Okay. I like that. So, a secondary thought we presented at some point on this show in the past is the anti-shake and bake. And hopefully, you know, we don't have to see them shake and bake four or five times before we realize that's their strategy.
>> Yeah. And I believe in this in this 4.0 young players, there's going to be a lot of shaking and baking.
>> Mhm. So, a great spot to go if you're the returner and you have to hit the fourth, is not to try to thread the needle back to where the the third shot came from. Let's go right at their partner, who likely is vacating that spot. And even if they just get a paddle on it, they they want it out in front of them. If you go behind them, that's going to be much harder for them to put a lot of pace on that ball. So, that's a a proactive before the rally even starts. If they get a low third, they hit a nice drip back, get my feet for a fourth, I'm going to take it right where that their partner should be. A lot of the times, they're four or five steps toward the middle cuz they're really proactively looking for the shake and bake. I want to, before the rally starts, consider going behind them.
>> Okay. That's That's great. So, going behind the poacher baker, Yes. the anti-shake and bake. So, just just for people that are little fuzzy on this, take us through it from the first serve and and who is doing what until until that shot where you go behind the baker.
>> Uh so, I'll be the returner of serve. You're You're my partner. Um they they serve to me. I return middle. I'm on my way in, and they hit a drive drip, you know, in my direction that you're not able to pick off. So, I'm four or five steps away from the non-volley zone, and uh I've got a low volley. Yeah. Everyone's anticipating I'm going to try to keep the player back who hit the third shot
>> Yeah. uh at me, including their partner, who's hoping to cut that ball off and pound it, you know, in your direction. Right.
>> My mindset is if I see an effective third ball below my waist, I'm anticipating their shake and bake, and I'm going to go behind the poacher, behind the baker. Perfect. Crystal clear. All right. All right. Uh here's a simple one uh that um you know, we got a chance to see just a little bit in in your play earlier. I would love the server and the server's partner to start farther back. You know, in a tournament setting, their returning strategies are going to be, you know, return deep. Mhm. And, you know, I don't want you guys hitting your third shots off your back foot. Yeah. And there's no downside to starting three or four or five steps off the service line off the the baseline. Mhm. Um that gives you two benefits. You can swing more freely uh if you're dealing with some wind, you know, especially hitting into the wind, or if you have a tailwind, let's adjust our starting position. But the biggest key is I just don't want you hitting thirds off your back foot. And a couple of times, I saw both you and Zach stepping into the court before the return came, and you had [clears throat] to hit thirds off your back foot. Let's avoid that in tournament play. All right. All right. Uh we mentioned quite a bit in in the video review is let's better complement your partner's thirds. Mhm. Uh when your partner uh hits a third, and you don't see either of the other players on the other side hold up their stop sign, let's blitz. Let's go. And in tournament play, if you're going to err, let's err on the too aggressive. Okay. Let cuz if you go, or 6'2" Zach, or however tall JJ is, if they go, that opponent getting ready uh to hit the fourth on the other side is going to feel that pressure, and maybe pop up, maybe dump it into the net, or maybe hit it wide cuz they really don't want that ball to get picked off.
>> Yeah. Um so I'd like to see you guys more aggressive in the midcourt, better complementing each other's thirds.
>> Mhm. Only if you see the signs, the stop sign, Yeah. then then split step and stop in the midcourt. But otherwise, especially with a not so fantastic return of serve at the 4.0 plus level, it's probably going to be a good third. Yeah. Let's let's commit and put more pressure on uh the player who's hitting the fourth on the other side. That's great. And and I think there's a nuance here that that people at my level don't necessarily pick up on, especially in a stressful tournament situation. And what you're saying basically is be more aggressive in a tournament situation. But I think a lot of people hear that and they say, "Okay, I'm going to swing for the fences here." And speed up, you know, at my ankles or whatnot. But that's not what you're saying. The nuance here is you're you're saying put yourself in a position to be more aggressive. So prepare to be more aggressive for those third shots, you know, uh if after you hit the third shot, and you think somebody's going to pop it up, you want to be there ready. And that's, you know, Defcon 1 position. Or you want you want to complement your partner's third by being ready to be aggressive instead of "Yes, I'm going to be aggressive on this shot when I hit it, right?" And if you're not in the right spot, and you're hitting from your ankles, it's not the best time to speed up. Yeah, real really great uh explanation of that. So let's say you're hitting the third, you don't need to hit it 80 miles an hour. You could hit a drop Yeah. or a conservative drip. What you're looking What we're looking for from an aggression standpoint is from me, which falls under the heading of off-ball movement. I'm not even hitting the ball. I We could win the rally without me touching the ball. You put the ball at their ankles, I get in their face with my off-ball movement. That produces an error, they hit it into the net or hit it wide. You know, we win the rally, I never even touched the ball. Right. So that's that's more aggressive play, and not necessarily just hitting your thirds 80 miles an hour. Right. I love it. Last idea, and we had some really good visuals of it in video review is is the hydra, or the Defcon 1 concept. Mhm. Um depending upon which player on the other side is getting ready to play the ball, Um let's assume either a neutral defensive strategy like Zach needed to, or the one that I really pointed out how well you committed the middle, protected your inside shoulder, and you were telepathically suggesting to your crosscourt opponent that they do that dumb speed up right at the inside shoulder. Right. Right there. That's what you want. That's what you're sitting on. And you'll make it nine times out of 10. But you also have to be willing to any ball over here, we got to let that fly. And if they hit a Annalee Waters a cute, you know, dripping uh dink topspin, you know, for a winner over there, hey, great shot. Right.
>> You know, but let's take away middle. Let's have Zach take away straight ahead. Mhm. And just have that two-headed defensive posture based on whether the ball's being played by the guy right in front of you, or being played crosscourt. We have a different posture for each. Right. Uh let's make sure we proactively do that in tournaments. Great. Love that. And that's just a similar concept too in terms of being prepared to to take that shot, you know, you're saying the the hydra position and the Defcon 1 position, just being being ready. And what sets that up in my experience, and clearly I don't always take my own advice, and and uh I know better, but is, you know, timing at the footstep of the split step. So that you you need to be at least you know, presumably you want your feet on the ground after a small hop. Or you can like you told me before, some people can get away with, you know, being a little bit in the air uh before as the paddle as the ball hits the paddle. But regardless, what the foot the footwork is what gets you to be in that position where you're ready, all right? It's not just where your paddle is, or what you're thinking about, you know, "Yeah, I want to put this ball away." And I think we had some really good examples in video review of because of your split step timing, uh your processor speed and accuracy was much greater. Mhm. Uh when you're moving, I feel like there's just a lot to take in. Yeah. And you know, your springs aren't ready, and even if your mind says I need to be going over there, but you're still going that way, you can't go there. Uh So there's a connection between, you know, the mechanics of what to do next Yeah. and the ability for your brain to fire, you know, or send the signals uh to your springs to move left, right, forward, or back. I'm sure. Love it, Scott. Great points. Why don't we go out to the court now and and put them to action? Ready to go? All right. Let's play. We're going to start off with proactive fourth shots. So we'll have you guys serve. Uh we'll start off. I'll be on the right, John will be on the left. And we want to instill the pattern of my down the line return. So I'm just going to return to Mario. My goal is not to paint the sideline, but I want Mario to hit the ball. All right. And that's the key That's the key for John to get big in the middle, straddle the middle, and put pressure on Mario's drop or drip, whatever it's going to be. We'll give Mario that shot. Uh but in general, your your plan is get the ball towards Scott's feet. Scott's on his way in, let's get the ball towards his feet. I want Mario to feel the pressure of John before he hits the ball. And if John can come over and get that ball at eye level, we want that versus Scott getting the ball at ankle level. So just more proactive, force the returner's partner getting big, straddling the middle. But it requires a down the line return. If I return to Eric, then John can't crunch middle. So I think let's get Yeah, he's going to have to hold his line, or you're going to hit a forehand down the line for for a winner. Perfect. Ah, nice shot. All right, good stuff. Good, good pressure. Go again? Yep. You. You. Good. You. All right.
>> That's a little bit of the right side player proactively getting out of the way to let the left side player take that ball.
>> Okay. Good. Uh let's go same thing. I'm going to return to Eric. Okay. Come to the middle and let Eric beat you down the line.
>> Okay. Good play, good play. Yeah. That doesn't work that way. Let's go ahead and uh I'll have Mario serve to John. And I'm going to do the same thing. So John return to Eric.
>> Okay. And I'll get big in the middle. Fine. That worked.
>> [clears throat]
>> Ball.
>> There it is, Mario's shot. Exactly. Yeah.
>> [laughter]
>> Yeah, that's what we needed. And with that deep serve, I was only here. Right. So if you let that come to my forehand,
>> Uh-huh. it's here versus your backhand up eye level. I think that's the key.
>> Yes, finally. Okay. [laughter] So next thing we're going to do is the anti-shake and bake. All right. Anti-shake and bake for John and me. So you guys are going to serve. Um Since we've got the lefty-righty, we could I could return to either one, and you guys are set up well for a shake and bake. The scenario is John and I have been burned by a couple of your shake and bakes, and we know that's something you have. Um so let's say Eric drives at me. I'm on my way in. He drives at me. Mario's moving middle. He's looking for middle. The anti-shake and bake strategy is I want to go back to where Mario should be. Even if he took a step or two to the right, a ball behind him is going to be hard for him to put away. He wants the ball out in front of him. Mhm. So before the rally even starts, hey John, don't forget these guys are shake and baking. Let's use our anti-shake and bake mindset.
>> Uh-huh. All right, whoever gets the fourth, especially if it's me in the midcourt, I got to go right back to where Mario is supposed to be. Okay.
>> Or if Mario drives at me and Eric cutting middle, I got to go back to where Eric was. And does it matter the speed trajectory of going behind, or or Crisp. going to be drive or
>> Crisp. drop, or whatever.
>> I mean I just I want a lukewarm line drive. Okay. If Mario's leaning right, and I can go back behind him, I'm not so worried about him putting the ball away, but if I put it out in front of him, cuz you know, I'm trying to keep Eric back. I'm trying to get that ball to Eric, Mario's pouncing, or I'm trying to keep Mario back and Eric's pouncing. Okay, so they both want to crunch middle, so the safe play is go where they're supposed to be. Okay. You know, especially if we've learned that they're a shake and bake team, either by scouting them in advance, okay, or by getting down 4-1 because they're shaking and baking really well. Now take it. Ooh, that was so good.
>> [laughter]
>> Like all scripted and everything, but I'm returning cross court that doesn't allow John to help me in the middle. Oh, yes, that's good. Good. Let's do it again. Nice. Good shot. That's it. [laughter] Even if he gets a paddle on it, and he's leaning middle.
>> [laughter]
>> I didn't quite work.
>> [laughter]
>> Nice.
>> [snorts]
>> Oh, yeah.
>> That's it. Perfect.
>> All right. All right, same thing. Now let's, you know, Eric sell middle, and John will probably go behind you. Nice. Yeah. Anti shake and bake. There we go. That works, too. Yeah, but so it works for me, too.
>> Yeah. Like if I get it, I'm anticipating Eric coming middle, and I'm I'm proactively thinking go behind him. Okay, great.
>> Not try to go into the empty space. We're going to serve and just show that we need to serve from farther back. Um, you guys just try to return deep, and we'll hit a couple thirds on our back foot, and then we'll serve from farther back.
>> I'll try that. Yeah, perfect. Okay, now we'll back up.
>> All right. You. Good again. Oh, and it is nice blend assist. All right, we want to show better complementing partners thirds. Oh, nice. You. There we go. Nice.
>> Okay. You go. I'll go. Exactly. Nice. Yeah. Anti shake and bake.
>> [music]
>> Yeah, perfect. Okay, now we'll back up. All right. You. Good again. Oh, and it is nice blend assist.
>> [music]
>> You. There we go. Nice.
>> Okay.
>> [music]