ASU women’s tennis junior Kelley Anderson knows what works best for her on match-day: dictating the point with a powerful serve and strong forehand.
After not getting the results she wanted this fall, Anderson said she realized that the strength of her game needed more work if she wanted to play higher in the lineup.
“Players get a little smarter, they would play out to my forehand side and it was not very consistent, I wasn’t having the greatest results this fall,” Anderson said. “I’m self-motivated and I did not want to keep losing, so I knew I needed to improve.”
Anderson’s dad watched her fall matches and noticed a frequent amount of balls missed coming to her forehand side. Over the holiday break and before the start of the regular season, the Baylor University transfer spent three hours each day on her forehand and court movement with private coaches.
“The coach I was working with said ‘you need to be in rhythm, not just when hitting the ball, but also your footwork,’” Anderson said. “I was getting fed hand-tossed balls and then move back, and I would get fed balls.”
For Anderson, it was a process of moving closer the net, then moving onto different parts of the baseline in order to set up more forehands. As a result, her opponents can not rely on beating her solely from the backhand side.
Anderson takes the first set, 6-2, on court 3! #FlickaThaWrist pic.twitter.com/OCcv4MC92P
— Sun Devil Tennis (@sundeviltennis) January 22, 2017
Because her court movement has gotten better, Anderson has produced more winners with the inside-out and inside-in forehand — though her backhand still generates more points.
All of this has allowed the Roanoke, Texas native to go into each match with more patience.
“My confidence has gone up and now I am hitting forehands more,” Anderson said. “I used to go for shots when they weren’t necessarily there, but now I am waiting for the right time, and it usually means hitting my serve, getting a forehand and controlling the point from there.”
Twice a week, Anderson meets with head coach Sheila McInerney, assistant coach Matt Langley and graduate assistant Ebony Panoho to work on specific parts of her forehand and court movement.
On top of practicing what she learned over the break, Anderson works on mixing the placement of her forehand. Anderson also wanted to add spin and loft to her forehand, instead of relying on a flat shot.
Anderson’s improvements have also translated into doubles matches with freshman partner Savannah Slaysman, who also noticed a significant difference from fall to spring matches.
"She (Kelley) works so hard and her forehand has gotten more consistent," Slaysman said. "She sets me up a lot so I can poach and put away volleys."
She said the movement makes it harder for the opponent to pick up Anderson's forehand, and that helps in doubles.
"It pushes them farther behind the baseline and it's easier to be more aggressive," Slaysman said.
In the eyes of McInerney, Anderson’s hard work paid dividends last weekend against South Carolina and Texas Tech.
“When she came here she would hit all of her forehands to the same spot on the court, and now she is mixing up her spots, opening up her court and she is getting more forehands,” McInerney said. “She played really well this weekend, probably some of the best tennis she has ever played.
Anderson, who won her opening dual match against UC Davis on Jan. 22, won both of her matches last weekend in Lubbock, Texas.
Moving forward, Anderson said continuing her winning ways is her main focus.
“When any athlete can improve, that makes the game more fun,” McInerney said.
Reach the reporter at jpjacqu1@asu.edu or follow @joejacquezaz on Twitter.
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