1. HIT THROUGH YOUR NERVES
When the score is close, you’ve basically got two ways to play. The first is the style that I preferred—limit your mistakes and try to draw errors from your opponent. The other method— Gonzalez’s bread and butter—is to let it rip. The closer the score, the more it seems Gonzalez goes for his shots. If he’s got a second serve at 4-4, 30- 40, he won’t take anything off the ball. In fact, he hits it bigger and closer to the lines than he does when he has a comfortable lead. That’s how Gonzalez handles pressure, and it works for him. He wins or loses on his own terms. If nerves cause you to struggle at the end of close sets, swinging freely to hit the tension out of your system is an option.

2. PLAY OFFENSE TO AVOID DEFENSE
Gonzalez is by no means slow, but by professional standards his court coverage is not top-shelf. This, along with his massively long strokes, make his retrieval skills somewhat of a liability. But Gonzalez, like many others with this problem, has discovered that the best defense is good offense. If he’s the one dictating action and forcing his opponents to play on their heels, he takes his lack of quickness out of the equation. Although you can work on speed and quickness, they’re difficult to develop. You should always strive to get in the best possible shape and to gain that extra step, but you also have to realize the type of player you are. Some people are just not natural movers. But you don’t need to be particularly fast if you’re forcing your opponents to scramble.

3. PUT PRESSURE ON YOUR OPPONENT’S SERVE
Some players treat the return of serve simply as a means of getting a point going: Put the ball back in play, and work from there. It’s conservative but not a bad strategy. Still, it can be beneficial to take some risks and be more assertive with your returns. Gonzalez, for one, looks at the second-serve return as an opportunity to hurt his opponents. There are times when he’ll even take big cuts when sending back first serves. Sometimes it backfires on him, but when it’s clicking Gonzalez’s return game can wreak havoc. By pummeling the second serve he can draw double faults because opponents are afraid to give him anything soft. So, in an effort to avoid second serves altogether, the server might ease up on the first serve just to get it in. It’s a combination that results in lots of breaks. And at the club level, where players may not have a great deal of confidence in their serves to begin with, boosting your aggressiveness on your returns will do damage.

Article by Brad Gilbert, Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images, Michael Steele/Getty Images – Tennis.com

Above: Venus Williams leaving the stand after her sister Serena Williams‘ win over Italy’s Flavia Pennetta on her way to reach the semi-finals…

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile vs. Guillermo Canas of Argentina in a third round match. Being in Miami, the stadium felt like a soccer match with Argentinian fans chanting “Ole Ole Ole Ole, Willy, Willy” as Gonzo fans waving Chile’s flag rallying support. A match full of winners, Canas defeated Gonzalez 7-6, 7-5!