My Favorite Baseline Game — SS #31

I often get the question from my virtual students, “What’s the best baseline game I should play?” In general, I try to steer you away from just mindless baseline games for the sake of baseline games—that is, unless you know how to make them specific and deliberate to the areas of your game you’re working on.

But that being said, if some tennis maniac forced me to cough up an answer, gun to my head, if I had to recommend a baseline game for players to use consistently, it would be Power.

And, lately, I’ve been doing a little bit of thinking on why I think Power is so effective as a game. I don’t think I’m reaching too much, but it actually ties into some of the sports psychology literature we’ve been discussing in previous issues.

(Also, a big shout out to Marco, who introduced me to this game when we used to train together in Brisbane.)

What is Power?

The game is simple:

• Played to 9.

• One player has the power.

• The other player does not.

• It is played out crosscourt.

• Only the player with power can hit the ball down the line

• The player without the power must hit the ball cross-court—unless the player with power changes the direction of the ball.

• Only the player with power can add a point to their score.

• If the player with power loses the point, by hitting it out or losing the point once they change the direction of the ball, power is granted to the other player.

• This point is more of a complementary note: contrary to advice from some of the largest tennis influencers/coaches, I actually recommend you use this game to work on your weakest groundstroke wing.

Why is Power So Effective?

I spent a couple of months playing this game with my friend Marco in Brisbane, and we played it at least twice a week. While the game benefited my forehand, where it really helped was my backhand. Though, technically speaking at the time, it had a lot of issues, working on it in this format really helped to upskill that wing (here, I can hear the ecological dynamics people cheering loudly).

Recall that we’ve been discussing holistic process goals, targeting, and how this plays with the literature on attentional focus (Gabriele Wulf has been a big contributor to this area). Here’s why I think Power is so effective:

From the Player Without the Power’s Perspective

Target-oriented: When you don’t have the power, you have to be extremely target-oriented. If you’re not able to get that ball cross-court, then you automatically lose the point. You’ll find yourself very quickly as the consistent loser if your targeting skills don’t improve.

Additionally, since you are so focused on targets, you will generally have an external focus of attention. As Wulf’s (2013) research highlights, maintaining an external focus—where the player concentrates on the effect of their shot rather than internal thoughts and movements—enhances both performance and learning.

For the defensive player in Power, this means focusing on where the ball needs to land crosscourt, not necessarily how they are hitting it. This improves accuracy and consistency, especially under pressure. There’s also the benefit of improved efficiency: By directing attention externally, players develop automaticity, reducing unnecessary muscle activity and conserving energy. Over time, this builds better patterns without overthinking technique.

Realistic, reading cues, and reacting: The next benefit of being the defensive player in power is that you are constantly on edge-like a real point. What do I mean by this? As the defensive player, you must constantly be aware of where your ball is landing and the probability that your opponent is going to take it down the line. Remember a few weeks ago how we covered what the sports psychology literature has to say about improving your anticipation on the tennis court?

Postural Cue Utilization: In Power, the defensive player is forced to assess their opponent’s body cues, court positioning, and racket preparation to anticipate down-the-line shots. This mirrors what I previously described: the ability to read subtle details in your opponent’s movements—like a quick move inside the court—to predict their intentions. As research by Abernethy (1990) and others has shown, experienced players are great at this skill, which gives them a fraction of a second advantage in preparing their response. By being the defensive player in power, you are actively working on this skill.

Probability Assignment: Beyond reading physical cues, Power challenges you to react probabilistically. If your opponent consistently goes down the line when you land the ball in a particular area, you begin to form a mental model of their tendencies. This aligns with the idea that skilled players rely on contextual information, such as court positioning and prior patterns, to make educated predictions. For example, if you force your opponent back and they hit a defensive slice, the likelihood of them attacking or hurting you from that position is really low. As discussed by Loffing and Hagemann (2014), anticipatory skills like this are critical for higher levels of play.

Target-oriented under score pressure: And keep in mind that you’re doing all of this under score-pressure as well, which makes all of this even more realistic and transferable to when you’re actually playing matches.

From the Player With the Power’s Perspective

Having the power in this game isn’t just about dictating play—it’s about getting good at decision-making, risk management, and execution when changing direction. Here’s why this role is pretty impactful for your baseline skills.

Risk Assessment and decision-making: If you think back on your days of coaching, you were, I’m sure, told how it was riskier to go down the line. Shorter court, higher net, calculation of reflection angle—all that stuff. As the player with power, every time you take the ball down the line, you must be certain that you’re going to be impactful. This constant decision-making mirrors the challenges of match play, where over-aggression or poorly timed changes of direction can cost you points.

Tactical and spatial awareness: once you start understanding your opponent’s positioning, you can start to understand when the appropriate times are to pull the trigger. For example, if you hit a short angle and get your opponent into the tramlines, you can then use this as an opportunity to take the ball down the line. Additionally, the set-up of the game also encourages you to build patience. You’re the one with the power… so, realistically, you needn’t ever take the ball down the line if you don’t want to.

External focus: and, of course, I’m going to take this opportunity to refer this back to Wulf’s (2013) work. Just as with the defensive role, the offensive player benefits from focusing on the target, not their swing mechanics. This frees up cognitive resources and promotes fluid, automatic execution.

Can It Be Improved?

While Power is an amazing game, it is missing the realism of tennis in terms of lacking a serve and return component. You will have heard me rant about this in prior issues so I’m sure that this won’t come as a surprise, but I do think that Power can be improved slightly.

The first way: start with second serves and limit the returner to hitting the ball back cross-court. Here you can also pair having the power with having to hit second serves. This adds an additional layer of pressure, where you must get your second serve into the court to keep winning…

Now if you want to be a real masochist, make it that if you don’t have the power, you are the player who must hit second serves. This turns the screw on your challenge factor; not only are you limited to hitting the ball cross-court, but if you double fault, your opponent racks up free points.

The second way: a more progressed version would be to simply play a set but give power to the server. The returner has to go into “grind” mode, so to speak, to get the ball consistently cross-court.

You Can’t Just Play It Once…

I hope I’ve made a strong enough case, both from personal experience and sports psychology literature, on why you should integrate Power into your training repertoire. But here’s the thing—just playing it once or twice won’t lead to much. If I could (hypothetically, of course) hammer home one message, it’s this: motor programming and consistency matter.

Building the skills we’ve talked about—targeting under pressure, anticipation, and shot selection—requires repetition in challenging, realistic, and variable conditions.

You need to commit to practicing Power regularly and tweaking it as you grow. So why not give it a shot? Play Power this week and let me know how it goes. Better yet, if you’re looking for personalized advice or a way to integrate games like this into a structured plan, let’s chat.

Book a session, and let’s design a personalized training routine tailored to your goals.

Until next time, stay focused and stay intentional.

The holiday season and corresponding tennis sales are here… I hope this gives you a laugh 😉:

References

Abernethy, B. (1990). Expertise, visual search, and information pick-up in squash. Perception, 19(1), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1068/p190063

Loffing, F., & Hagemann, N. (2014). On-court position influences skilled tennis players' anticipation of shot outcome. Journal of sport & exercise psychology, 36(1), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2013-0082

Wulf, G. (2013). Attentional focus and motor learning: A review of 15 years. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2012.723728

Disclaimer: I am not an AASP CMPC, certified sports psychology practitioner, nor am I a licensed mental health counselor or PsyD. My aim is to bring the best information to tennis players around the world so that you can apply it for long-term improvement—but sometimes I will make mistakes. If this is your area of research or expertise, and you feel I’ve misunderstood something, please get in touch with me and if required I will happily issue a correction.