Back by Popular Demand! Tennis Lesson #2
Last month we discussed how putting a spin on your serve can make it more difficult for your opponent to return your serve. Today, We discuss how to return a lefty's spin serve, a headache for most right-handed players. Last year I played my friend Tom over at Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He has a wicked lefty serve, and it gave me inspiration for this blog! If a lefty puts a lot of spin on the ball, it will bounce to the receiver's left. A lefty can send the ball off the court with an evil spin, making it nearly impossible to return.
Getting Ready for the Lefty Serve: AD Court
You can do a few things to improve your chances of returning a left spin serve, which requires footwork and movement before and during your opponent's service motion. If you are receiving on the ad court, stay on the balls of your feet and keep your knees bent. When the service motion begins, sidestep to your left. If the ball is served wide, you have a better chance of getting to it. When your opponent places the ball down the middle, the chances are the ball will still move towards you but not so much that it will jump into your chest.
Getting Ready for the Lefty Serve: Deuce Court
On the deuce court, stay on your toes and move to your left. When the ball is served down the middle and bounces away, you reduce the distance to get to the ball. If your opponent places the ball wide, the chances that it jumps into you are also reduced.
My Go-To Strategy
Another option you have is to move forward and catch the ball early because the longer the ball is in the air after the bounce, the further it will move to the left. The early return will also catch the server off guard because the ball will be coming back sooner, and he or she has less time to react.
When the Market Starts Serving Lefty
I could say more about dealing with a lefty on the tennis court, but let's talk about coping with a lefty in the world of investing. Imagine you have a doubles partner who is your investment advisor. He knows, through education and experience, that markets cycle up and down, but mostly up. Everyone hates down markets, and, many times we react emotionally when they occur and sell out. Then we anxiously watch the market move back up while we debate when to get back in.
When the lefty spin serve shows up (down market), you and your partner already have a plan in place on how to deal with it. Your partner can remind you what you need to do, which may be nothing. Maybe he or she advises you to move stage left and not dwell on the market's gyrations. Your partner had recommended you have an intelligently diversified portfolio and reserved some cash to weather the strangely spinning balls coming at you. Hopefully, your next match will be against a right-handed player, and you can go on your winning ways.
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