Why Avoid Recovering to the Middle in Tennis

There is one final element of successful baseline play that we need to cover especially at recreational levels. Players all around the world have the idea that they must hit and always get back to the middle of the court no matter where they just hit the ball. The truth is actually just the opposite. Baseliners should seldom, that's right, seldom recover to the middle of the court, take a look.

Yes you heard me right. Seldom recover to the middle. In fact, the only time you should recover to the middle is when you hit up the middle as Collindy (ph) is now showing us. The logic is that you should recover to the place midway between the two possible extreme directions your opponent can hit.

If Collindy (ph) hits a forehand crosscourt, I can return the ball either down the line or crosscourt to the side T. When she splits those extremes in half, she will be slightly off-center, but on the opposite side of the baseline center hash mark from where I am hitting the ball. The same holds true on the other side. If she hits across court backhand she should also recover to the opposite side of the baseline to have her best chance of moving properly into position to hit my possible returns.