The geometry is extremely helpful! Thank you. More videos like this please!

Great video guys! Thanks for putting together. I can see that a lot of time has been spent doing the video graphics too. Awesome explanation! Happy hitting everyone.

Great presentation. Hitting cross court is more about physic because of the tendency of our body to rotate when hitting the ball and therefore the racket face will be perpendicular with the trajectory of the incoming ball. This will minimize the deflection should one try to hit down the line. But this also depends on the pace and depth of the incoming ball. Statistic shows that the percentage of losing the point is higher for those who changed the direction of the ball during baseline rallies. The high percentage tennis rule is, on outside ball there is no change of direction and inside ball change the direction. This explain why player switch to hit forehand on the backhand side to hit down the line or 90 degrees to the baseline.

This was an amazing concise video. Great technical information presented in a beyond easy to understand format. Great stuff! I like hitting down the line, but this will definitely give me something to think about!!!!

Well done....I've heard this concept explained several times over the years but never with this detail plus the clarity that comes from visually comparing the recovery distances. What has been left out in all other explanations was the actual physics (of the tendency) of a ball to angle away from the direction it came from. Makes sense once you see it.

GREAT vid. Thank you. I'll be sharing this with my students.

awesome video! informative and clearly explained.

Great Florian. It´s a great video and very useful for recreational players. With this tips, me and my team can increase a bit our tennis level of play. Just this little things make the difference in a match. Thanks!

Very good & useful analysis..

Glad number 1 is first. A lot of people hear the other reasons (2-5) but don't understand the geometry. Love this video and share with students frequently.

Fantastic video. Thank you so much

Great visuals and this video is top notch

Well-organized presentation. Jim

Great video, thanks!!

Just for the sake of representing both sides of the argument: Reasons for hitting down the line 1. The opponent gets lesser time to react. Distance is shorter and ball stays in air for less time. 2. If you'r going for a winner, hitting down the line actually gives you a better margin for error than the short angle cross court. 3. When you'r returning serve, hitting down the line doesn't allow the server a serve and volley, or easy put away opportunity. 4. If you hit a down the line shot off a cross court return, you opponent will probably have to hit the ball on the run.

Great advice!!!!

Every players have to watch this video. This video is awesome!

Wow. Fantastic video and I love the software. What software is that?

Damn, you are good Florian!! I have have learned so much from you. You are the best tennis coach period. Your fees are very reasonable..FREE!!! Let me know if you ever come to Long Island..I would definitely pay to get a live lesson with you. Man, do you have physical camps anywhere? But, it sure feels good when you do nail a down the line winner, particularly a backhand!! I love this game...always try to improve, I kick guys asses 1/2 my age..Tennis is the best game.

Wow....so simple...and sooo freakin' accurate...the essence.

Amazing video ...

For all those who did not understand the main point of this video hew never said to never hit down the line. The point of this video is to demonstrated that the cross-court shot is the % shot. So the general principal is your rally shot should be cross court if you don't take account of the others factors. So now I think the best thing to do should be a video pointing out in which situation someone should switch it up and go against that general principle and go down the line. Most of the people who criticizes this video are players who go way to much down the line over cross court and over value the benefit of the down the line vs it's pitfalls.

Very helpful, thanks!!

First, congrats to the video! The best one I´ve seen about the theme! I would add that going down the line beyound the higher net the court is shorter. And add to the #1 that recover is harder and also you get more tired and when recovering is very harder to come back when the opponent goes down the line.

Well it is tough when someone else does your graphics.And gets it wrong. Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection is correct but graphic is wrong. It is always easiest to hit the ball back in the direction it came from (cross court to cross court or down the line to down the line). It is always difficult to CHANGE the angle and re-direct a cross court ball down the line.

There is nothing you do about reason number 2 and 5. But reason 4 is Pretty simple to Fixed the problem. Just think as if it iwas a mini-crosscourt shot, then you don't misshit out wide. Reason 3 is actually in the attacking player's favour, since the distante is shorter, it gives less time for the opponent to react to your shot. Reason 1 is a bit problematic, but you can develop a better timing and recover faster when going down the Line in order to be back in a good position on the court.

hi! very useful video. could you share with me please what programe do you use in this video?

One thing Florian is missing out is that often the FH is the best shot of most players. So playing to the best weapon of your opponent is not a good thing. The BH is not the best shot of most players, so it is necessary to take advantage of that when the oppurtunity presents itself.

There are many good reasons to hit down the line. The most obvious is to follow up a good wide serve with a high margin approach shot down the line when your opponent coughs up a weak cc return. The next most common is to punish your opponents weak backhand especially if they have a strong forehand. You don't want to be in cross court rally's to your opponents strong side even if you violate the court geometries. The last good reason is to pounce on weak second serves down the line and come in behind them. The bonus is being able to hit DTL with the backhand. It's a huge advantage at every level since so many players camp in their bh corner hitting inside out forehands.

Nice demonstration. It proves why pro players go down the line for in a normal rally: metagame.

nice vid for beginners....

Can you do something like this with a Doubles game? Thanks!

top video

Wonderful video. Seriously bravo! This has helped me immensely. I just want to point out an extremely minor math correction. The height of the net is 3ft 0in in the center and 3ft 6in at the ends. However since there are 12 inches in a foot, the height of the net at an end is actually 3.5ft or ~106.5cm. @6:43 you have it labeled as 3.6in/109.5cm.

Well I'm not totally agree with that cause I won't hit a down the line stroke if the ball is deep on my corner, but if the ball is short and I have enough time to go and hit it I certainly would make the attempt to hit down the line, so it's a matter of choosing the right opportunity. Thanks a lot.

The shot down the line gets to the baseline quicker than cross court , therefore giving the opponent less time to get to the ball and more time for you to back it up with a winner . Always play to your strongest ground stroke

While everything he said is true, if you can master the down the line shot you will have a big advantage over your opponent. I just learned that the hard way in a tournament. I would hit it cross-court and my opponent could crush the down the line shot for an outright winner and leave me gasping for air. If I could get to his ball and hit it back it was usually a poor shot and he would be waiting at the net or near the service line for an easy put away.

love the video. What software do you use to show this?

When you intend to approach, the best choice is down the line. Jim

Yes but you can hit to a weaker backhand down the line, and he needs to move more if he is already in a cross-court position so sometimes down the line is the best placement

#3 - the distance is shorter, that means that the ball is in the air for a shorter period of time. While you could say it gives you less time to recover, when you hit down the line recovery is not the first thing on your mind, you go for the winner, and in that case, you would say it gives your opponent less time to react to your shot, not the other way around - I think a few others already mentioned this though. Good analysis otherwise!

very good.. so when exactly should we hit down the line? there's few exception: ball with a lot of lift down the line on the backhand (at a club level) are as good as cross court.

Go

If you are facing a good volleyer then I would guess that hitting down the line might be the better option ? But these days I admit good volleyers are rare and seldom...

#3- You mention how it's a longer shot to go cross court giving you more time to React & Recover, but you forgot to mention the important, obvious reason of how it gives you almost 4 more feet of court to work with (for those of you who usually miss long)...(This is all from an offensive point of view).

Wardlaw

I am sorry to disagree! Playing to opponent's backhand vs forehand are completely different offensive plays ... Your philosophy presented in this video is merely defensive! If you hit to your opponent's backhand you are taking him directed out of the court with turned hips.. The recovery is much slower from his backhand! Inside out play to his backhand side is a very offensive shot if aggressive !

All nice and clear geometry lesson, but when i'm pulled really wide, i have no chance to recover anyway and have to go for a winner down the line

It is nice seeing someone try to use physics and geometry when discussing tennis (or other sports). Unfortunately, you really got almost everything wrong. One problem is you left TIME out of the analysis. It is not just about distance, but time to cover the distance, both for the ball AND the player (as well as acceleration for the player, which takes a great deal of energy). A ball hit short can't be hit with the same velocity (or for that matter even speed). It is probably possible to hit the ball cross court and have it arrive in the same amount of time even though it must travel further. The angle of incidence problem, I see someone else already corrected. If you want to talk about the "errors" in the return, then it gets into probability as well. That brings in factors such as the direction of the face of the racquet, the racquet head speed and well as the direction the racquet and ball are moving at contact and the spin of the ball at contact.

Well there's a fact, most of the winners strokes in a pro tennis game are down the line

its not nessesarilly a lefty

accent....

so be a pusher. play it safe and wear a dress.