View Full Version : Resort to dinking to save yourself...

08-23-2004, 07:38 PM
Do any of you ever feel like you hold back during a match? If Im in a match and its close, I usually end up dinking the ball over and just try to place it. I guess its because I dont feel confident in my strokes enough to swing out. I hit hard in practice and a few good shots when I need to, otherwise I just want to make sure I get the ball over.

Do any of you do this? I clearly need to just play as I practice to build confidence.

08-23-2004, 10:32 PM
Yeah I do that once in a while. Just have a bad day where nothing goes my way and I just try to keep things in play to get my confidence going. I try not to 'dink' per se, but more take off enough pace to keep it in while going for better angles to get to the net and build confidence there. It's always the day before or the day after I can crack the ball and do whatever I want, but that one day I can't figure out what went wrong. It depends on the opponent as well. If they're a dinker and I'm dinking I quickly ask myself why and then start to be aggressive and not worry about points as much. I just prefer to work on being confident when I'm not playing so well so when it happens again in a tourney I'm ready to go.

08-24-2004, 09:37 PM
I am a bit different. I only dink the ball (not every point of course)when I am playing against someone weaker. Since they cannot attack much anyway and I can usually run fast enough to retrieve the their slower ball. Playing against someone with similiar skill is different, I can't afford to just dink back, they could hit winners or near winners if I just dink it back.

08-25-2004, 02:57 AM
may work at 4.0 or below but beyond that most of the guys will put the dinks away (at least on the forehand side at 4.5) unless u've placed them very well.

there are days when I'm prone to missing winners from the backcourt.. very often because the timing is just a little off.. in those situations I just hit with a little less pace and a little more spin and aim a little less aggressively.. very often the confidence of hitting these for winners/weak returns to that are even more easily put away leads to greater confidence/better timing and then I find I can hit more aggressively again.

08-25-2004, 05:31 AM
if you dink and win and you get rewarded, you will never have the incentive to improve.

find a 4.5 to play and get your *** kicked and then you will be forced to improve.

08-25-2004, 08:13 AM
Sometimes when I am losing and know that I have no chance of winning with the way I was currently playing, I will resort to no pace slice shots off both wings. This is a big mistake, I know, which I plan on changing. I just need to develop a more consistant ground game, which is happening a lot better on my backhand than forehand. At least when I do that, sometimes my opponent will make more errors, get down on himself, and give me more opportunities. If that happens, I will pick my game back up. I really think it is a bad idea. I am just too competative and will do almost anything to win (short of cheating). It's not possible to have fun when you are losing due to poor play.

08-25-2004, 11:17 AM
I've gotten use to dink balls now.. My feet and eyes will move in to dink balls and place them deep.. I dont try to go for the kill shot yet because chances are dink balls will bounce below the net and you don't really want to go aggressive on those type of shots.

08-25-2004, 12:58 PM
Oh, I'm sorry, I misread the topic... I thought it was "Resort to drinking to save yourself".... for some of us it might be a more appropriate antidote to our tennis dilemnas. Good luck with the dinking!!

08-25-2004, 01:03 PM

LOL!!!! I need to try that sometimes.

IMO, dinker or pusher is just a strategy, like any strategy, using it at the right situation will win you games.

08-26-2004, 12:25 AM
Dinking isn't always a strategy. It sounds crazy for you good players to hear but you can end up dinking without really trying. You can see this happening occasionally in the pros where guys on maybe 1 out of 20 shots just use their opponents pace to push it back over.

If your a guy like me who is just learning the game and doesn't get tons of practice - you can easily end up dinking alot more then you really want too. And the scary thing is against not so great players you can rack up alot of points without even trying. I find that the players I play against would rather have a "nice" solid shot right near them then a soft short ball that they should kill or an easy lob that they should smash.

Anyway it's like a bad habit. It's almost like part of your brain is saying - hey don't try to smack that ball back just get it in. Getting people past the "dink" stage seems really tough sometimes for players and coaches alike. Heck there is one girl in my class who basically only dinks and our coach has evidently given up on her as far as I could tell.