Thread: Analyzing PoT Techniques

Hi everybody, i got really bored one day and decided to see if I could actually analyze how to hit all of these wacky shots. This ISN"T a comprehensive guide to using Tezuka Zone in a tournament to all you hoping to do so. This guide also does not take into account the slight fact that PoT actually differentiates between speed and power. A powerful shot is not necessarily very fast, and vice versa. Anyway, I'll try to do these techniques in the order they appear in the series, with regular updates, so here goes.

Twist Serve- An easy one. A really annoying point is that people seem to confuse this with the kick serve. For right handers, when you hit a normal serve, the face of the racket that hits the ball is the left face (as in, the side facing your left hand). To hit a Twist Serve, you have to hit the ball such that the face that makes contact is the fact on the right, pointing away from your body. This puts a reverse spin on the ball. Figure out the form yourself. This is also sometimes known as 'Corkscrew'.

Dunk Smash- Very obvious

Snake- There is some confusion as to which side the Snake can be hit on. I myself am not entirely sure, as Konomi always seems to draw Kaido hitting a forehanded snake. The regular snake shot is very simple, you jsut have to offeset the topsin on the shot. Properly hit, a right-handed forehand snake will travel from right to left as it moves through the air.

Data Tennis- This is actually impossible. It's much more efficient to watch the opponents feet + stance to predict where the shot goes.

Zero Shiki: I wrote this in my thread, but whtever. I can explain it again.
(This is just a theory)

If you are able to make the ball roll on your racket (like fuji does) and remove all power in it, then while hitting the slice at a high speed, with the racket parallel to the ground, it might cause the ball to atleast bounce back. (Note: This isn't the way Ryoma / Tezuka do it, but it MIGHT work)

Drive B- Although the sliding action that Ryoma employs is stupid because no player in their right mind would slide on their butt on hard court, the principal behind the shot itself is really easy. If you bend really low before hitting an approach shot and jump at the same time that you swing upward (more upward than forward at any rate), you'll be able to hit a high topsin approach shot that drops really quickly. Unfortunately you won't be able to make it bounce over your opponents head.

Drive A- Jump and hit.

Spot- Spot is a shot probably created by the author since many top players actually employ something similar in their playing styles. Players don't actually paralyze their opponent's arms, but the change in rhythm and spin caused by throwing in the odd underspin shot can cause an opponent to mishit.

Acrobatics- Only recommended on clay.

Acrobatics can be done on a regular court too, you just need good leg strength, and agility...and also good vision (to see where the ball is gonna go) and also speed.

And acrobatics... you can't forget those when your doing acrobatics, but I guess you could call that agility too.



@Tani: Your twist serve sounds like my reverse slice serve... hit it easier from ad side and it will shoot off to the right if done correctly by a righty.

Originally Posted by darookie

Zero Shiki: I wrote this in my thread, but whtever. I can explain it again.
(This is just a theory)

If you are able to make the ball roll on your racket (like fuji does) and remove all power in it, then while hitting the slice at a high speed, with the racket parallel to the ground, it might cause the ball to atleast bounce back. (Note: This isn't the way Ryoma / Tezuka do it, but it MIGHT work)

The only way to remove the power in the ball is to cradle it, but I don't think that's allowed in real tennis. Even if it was cradling an opponent's shot is practically impossible.

Actually cradling an opponents ball is very possible, and its has been done by one of my friends before.

I think that cradling isn't the only way to take out all power. I'm sure that Higuma Otoshi is not an illegal play. And also super perfect regular dropshots plus that power removing done like in higuma otoshi, maybe the result could be the Zero SHiki

I swear there's already a thread that similar to this. *sigh* Oh well....

Originally Posted by taniquetil

Acrobatics- Only recommended on clay.

Why clay? Wouldn't that be difficult since you slide on clay? I'd personally prefer grass in case I fell or something.

I'm sure that Fuji's whale shot (damn. Can't remember the name.....) is possible to a lesser extent. My friend actually pulled it off.

Marui's shots are possible (mostly by a total fluke of course, but possible nonetheless).

Originally Posted by kawaiikitsune

I swear there's already a thread that similar to this. *sigh* Oh well....

lol the one i made..."help...and SOMETHING AWESOME!"

The whale move you're talking about is Hakugei, where its a backspin shot that hops up, then bounces and returns to fuji. I've never really tried that when the wind is blowing back, but i've practiced it so many times that i can basically do that first part (though cant make the ball hop). I can however put a back spin lob right on the baseline or less than an inch away from it everytime.

Hakugei looks kinda possible, but i know Hakuryu is very possible since you just make the ball bounce sideways. Just put some under side spin to the ball when hitting it and lob it, and it'll bounce sideways. That i've done but it wont bounce like how Fuji's did...off the the court. It was low and bounced like one foot to the side.


Hey you guys know wht else is possible...kentaro (i think thats his name...the freshman captain that played ryoma...and hsi team had those red colored clothes, and that one dude always made stupid puns..), his shot that hits the net and goes over . I'm not sure if that was his specialty or whtever, but yeah. My friend is awesome at those cord ball shots. Him and this one girl were playing, and the girl was at the baseline, running toward the net and he hit the cordball. The girl got it, but then started moving back a bit, and he hit another one. and she got it again. Now she was in the middle at the net. and then He hit it to the side, AGAIN a cordball...it didn't go over, but still awesome!!

@darookie - thinking about it, why would you hit those though? i mean, its not actually too difficult to aim directly at the top. it'll take practice but what in tennis doesn't? the only time you would do that kind of shot is if you were against a baseline player.. and any decent doubles team would totally destroy you if you tried to do that in doubles.

and its almost impossible to take all the power of a shot. Its just not possible. you want to turn all the kinetic energy into nothing, yet when the ball hits the racket face, it all turns into potential energy, since the ball is rubber. unless the shot is VERY light, which is unlikely, or your against a player that puts all topspin and no power, cradling is impossible. the laws of conservation of energy just don't allow it.