You’re playing singles and your opponent “takes you wide” on the serve (either deuce court or ad court), where should you try to return the ball?

Former World #1 Fred Drilling has that soft spinner serve that he uses effectively in the ad court. And after one of the (many) times he has beaten me, he suggested I try to return that serve cross court, rather than down the line.

He feels that if you go down the line with your return, you leave too much of the court open for the righty

server’s backhand to go cross court. And he feels the angled forehand cross court return is a tougher shot for the server to control.

My New Hampshire friend and former teaching pro, B. Manning feels just the opposite. He feels that the cross court forehand leaves the open court to the server; and what he recommends is a softer, controlled forehand down the line – and deep in the server’s backhand corner.

He believes this will give you more time to get back onto the court and give the server a high-bouncing backhand that will be tougher to attack.

Opinions?

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