You have to find a way to hit the ball to the center of your opponents court.
In singles, hitting to the center of the court buys you time. There’s no angles from the center. If you hit to the center, you know that the ball will come back near the center of your court.
In doubles, there’s a saying that’s true a large percentage of the time, “down the middle, solves the riddle.” When you aim for the empty space between your opponents, they have to figure out how to communicate and get to the ball in time.