Two backhands crosscourt, one down line

The decision

Decision: Two deep crosscourts, then a shorter reply. Which direction now?

You are inside the baseline. The defender is toward your left, deep in court.

• Keep crosscourt — Stretch the diagonal — FAIR OPTION: Your shot gives the defender a target they can reach without a long sideways run. The ball lands 1.3 m inside the sideline. The defender travels 1.5 m across court and returns deep in this example.
• Backhand down line — Change direction — GOOD READ: Your shot targets the opponent’s right, away from where the defender started. The ball lands 0.7 m inside the sideline. The defender travels 4.9 m across court and returns deep in this example.

What to take into the next point

Changing direction trades diagonal margin for a different reply.

What a good read looks like

The read this lesson trains: Choose when to redirect the backhand down the line. Rallies and attacks played along the crosscourt diagonal — the longest path across the court, with the most room over the net. In the interactive lesson you play the rally, make the call, and then read why it worked or did not. The coaching grades the decision, not just the point outcome — a good read can still lose the rally, and the lesson says why.

Part of the Crosscourt diagonal pattern

Every lesson that trains this pattern is collected on the Crosscourt diagonal pattern page.

Related lessons in this pattern

• Hit behind a recovering opponent — SIMULATION-BUILT LESSON · lesson 3 of 50
• Hold the crosscourt rally — SIMULATION-BUILT LESSON · lesson 4 of 50
• Backhand crosscourt endurance — ORIGINAL LESSON · lesson 16 of 50

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