How players use the space behind the baseline to reset a point

What retreating actually buys

A ball hit hard and deep arrives at a player standing on the baseline before he can complete a full swing, which is what produces the rushed defensive reply. Stepping back adds distance, and distance adds time, so the same ball can be met with a controlled stroke rather than a block. The cost is that the player is now further from the net, which lengthens every ball he hits and narrows the angles available to him.

He is also further from the short ball, which means a drop shot or a sharp angle becomes very difficult to reach. The trade is worth taking when the alternative is a defensive shot with no control, and it is a mistake when it becomes a default position.

The high ball that buys time

A player who has been pushed deep cannot hit through his opponent, so the productive reply is a ball hit high and deep with heavy spin. The height keeps the ball in the air longer, which is the only mechanism available for recovering court position while the point continues. The depth prevents the opponent from stepping in, and the spin makes the bounce awkward enough that an aggressive reply carries risk.

This shot looks passive and is doing precise work, since it simultaneously buys seconds and denies the opponent an easy finish. Players who reply to pressure with a flat low ball instead are handing over a short reply and remaining out of position when it arrives.

Recovering forward is the hard part

Getting back is straightforward because the player is moving away from the ball, and returning to the baseline is difficult because he is moving into it. The recovery has to begin during the opponent's swing rather than after the ball is struck, or there is no time to cover the distance. It also has to stop before contact, since a player still moving forward when the ball arrives cannot change direction if it is hit behind him.

This is why good defenders take small quick steps forward and then split, rather than making one long stride and arriving unbalanced. The failure mode is drifting back a little further after each shot until the player is defending from a position no shot can be hit from.

The court is not symmetrical when you are deep

A player standing well behind the baseline is a long way from both corners, and the diagonal distance across the court grows sharply with depth. That is why an opponent who has pushed a player back will usually change direction rather than hit harder, since movement is now the cheaper weapon. The defender's counter is to hit down the middle, which reduces the angles available for the next shot and shortens the distance he must cover.

Hitting to a corner from deep is the most common error, because it opens the opposite side and the defender cannot reach it from where he is. The middle ball is unglamorous and it is the shot that most often converts a defensive position back into a neutral one.

Deciding when defence has failed

There is a point at which retreating stops working, usually when the player is so deep that his own shots can no longer reach the baseline. At that stage the only remaining options are a change of pace, such as a slice or a drop shot, or an attempt to move forward through the next ball. The drop shot from deep is a low-percentage shot that becomes reasonable when the alternative is a rally the player cannot win from where he stands.

The forward option requires a ball that is short enough to attack, which means waiting for it while continuing to buy time with height. Players who recognise the failed defensive position early tend to change something; those who do not simply run further back until the point ends.