the other half of every card in this book

You are playing a person, not a ball

The other side of the net is a person who gets tired, frustrated and predictable. Read them.

Think about hitting against a wall. The wall never gets tired. It never gets annoyed. It never wonders what you are going to do next.

A person does all three, and that changes everything.

So every ball you hit is doing two jobs. It is a shot, and it is a question. The question is always the same one: can you do that again?

Ask it enough times and you get an answer. Sometimes the answer is yes, and they are better than you today. Often it is not.

Here is the bit worth knowing. Nobody gets impatient on the second ball of a rally. They get impatient on the twelfth.

Nobody rushes at 0–0. They rush when they have been made to play for twenty minutes and nothing has worked.

Pressure is not something you say. It is something you build, one ball at a time.

What this does not mean

You have probably heard “play the ball, not the person”. That is good advice and this page does not argue with it.

It is about the seven seconds a point lasts. While the ball is live, watch the ball. Do not watch their face, their racquet-throwing, or the parent on the fence.

This page is about the two hours around that. Between points, across a set, over a whole match.

There is a person over there, and they are getting tired and impatient while you decide what to do next.

Play the ball in the point. Play the person in the match.

It does not mean hoping they miss. That is a miserable way to play and it does not work either. You still have to hit good shots. This is about noticing where they land.

It does not mean playing safe forever. Making somebody uncomfortable is not the same as never taking a risk. Half the cards in this book are about when to go.

And it never, ever means gamesmanship. No stalling. No fake injuries. No trying to upset somebody. Everything on this page is done by hitting tennis balls, and that is the only way it is worth doing.

Watch for it happening to you too. You are a person as well. If you have started rushing, or you are angry at a ball that landed twenty minutes ago, somebody is doing this to you.

Noticing that is most of the fix. Slow down, take your time between points, and make them play one more ball.

Good decisions win points. Understanding the person opposite you wins matches.

This is one page of the reference section.

The rest of Crosscourt IQ is 538 situations — a court diagram, the score, and one question: what would you do here, and why? Your player answers first, then the reasoning opens.

Ten cards are free, with the full answer key on every one.

Read ten cards free

More free guides

What each serve is trying to do to youFlat, slice and kick — what each serve is actually for, and what it does to the returner.What a tennis return is actually forThree jobs on every return, in order. Most juniors have never been told what they are.What a rally is actually forThe five balls in a rally and what each one is doing. Not every ball is trying to win the point.How to hit a defensive ball in tennisHigh, deep and down the middle — why the answer keeps being the same when you are in trouble.Where to recover to after you hitHit, stop, recover. Where to move back to, and why it is not always the middle.How to hit a tennis ball under pressureWhat changes about the stroke itself when you are stretched, late or moving backwards.The split step, and when to do itEvery return starts before the serve does. When to move, when to land, and why timing beats speed.Which points actually decide a tennis matchNot every point is worth the same. Take your risks on the spare ones, not the critical ones.