Last week during play I counted the number of times I saw a point being scored by a player hitting the ball into the net. What I saw was about 30-40 percent of points scored were when a player hit the ball into the net. Reducing the number of times you hit a ball into the net will greatly improve your overall game. So what can you do to reduce hitting the ball into the net. I want to mention three things to work on. First try to position yourself for your return where you are hitting the ball after the bounce on the upward arch. Hitting the ball on the downward arch will many times result in the ball having a flat return trajectory and an increased likelihood of going into the net. Second is the position of your paddle when hitting the return. When we are trying to hit a hard return we frequently hit the ball with a flat angle or a downward angle on our paddle. This mistake may not be as bad when hitting near the net but shots from deeper in the court need some rise on the ball. Finally how many times have we been at the kitchen line and have one of our opportunities for a winning slam go into the net??!!! This happens many times because we are unconsciously bending at the waist to get extra power into the shot. This gives our return an exaggerated downward motion and lead to a net ball. Try to get your power on this shot from your arm and not bending at the waist.
