Pro Patterns: The Inside Out Diagonal

Playing inside forehands is basic at the world class level. Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf. Some of the greatest champions in tennis history. You might think their games are completely different, and in many ways you'd be right. But they have one thing in common underlying their success: Mastery of the Inside Out position. To a greater or lesser extent every top player plays from this position. You can see that by looking at the number of files in the Stroke Archive. Of 150 Federer forehands in the archive, Roger hits over 30% from the inside position, more than from any other position on the court. It's the same for Rafael Nadal. More than 30% of his forehands are inside out or inside in, the highest percentage of any player in the archive. Even players like Agassi or David Nalbandian who play more from the center of the court still hit 20% or more of their forehands from the inside position. (Click Here.) Even if they tend to play from the center, top players like Agassi still hit 20% of their forehands from an inside position. Why is the inside game so critical in professional tennis? What is it...