Tip of the Week: 105

October 25, 2022 | By Steve Annacone

 

There are a lot of discussions going on about pickleball these days. The sport is definitely growing and if you have been a tennis player in the past, you can likely be very successful on the Pickleball court.

I stumbled across a game a couple of years ago that could give tennis some momentum to grow and increase in popularity as well. 105 is played without a serve (serving is extremely difficult to master and is often the downfall of players even at the professional level). Here is a basic description of how it works: 105 can be played with one person vs one or two vs two. All players start at the baseline. There is no serving. Just feed the ball in-the winner of the point feeds or the pro feeds to the team or player who lost the last point. You get one point if opponent makes mistake, 5 if you hit a clean winner, 10 if you hit a clean volley winner, and 20 if you hit an overhead winner (must be out of the air). A winner means the opponent didn’t touch the ball before the point ended.

Play games to 105. You can get several courts going at the same time and play move up move down. Game ends on all courts when a player or team gets to 105. Some clubs out here are doing this in place of traditional clinics and it has been incredibly successful. Even though it doesn’t sound like much, players who are competitive love it. The game makes the players run after every ball even if they do not think they can make the shot. It also encourages the players to be more aggressive moving forward and swing more aggressively at the ball with less fear of missing the shot since it is only scored as one point on an error. I am not recommending that players abandon the traditional aspects of a tennis match.

However, to get some variety, learn how to be aggressive, and to have less fear of errors, this game is a great alternative-and it is extremely fun and addictive! I encourage you to try it and spread the word.

 


Steve Annacone
Steve Annacone, USPTA Elite Pro, is the Director of Annacone Tennis, www.annaconetennis.com and MyHamptonsPro, www.myhamptonspro.com throughout the Hamptons, NY. In addition, Steve, Phil Lepisto, and Amanda Reller run the ACT (Advanced Competition Team) program at the Tucson Jewish Community Center (Tucson, AZ) for high level players ages 8-18. Please contact Steve at info@annaconetennis.com
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