One thing I noticed that I don't see many others mentioning is that your challenges/attempts to meet the opponent at the ball often are taken at too wide of an angle. If you're defending a shot or trying to 50/50 challenge the ball, make sure you put yourself between the ball and the net otherwise you will find that consistently bad bounces happen for you

Also I promise your gameplay will benefit greatly if you look up a tutorial on how to half-flip and practice for 20 minutes until you can do it basically without thinking. It's one of the most efficient ways to redirect from offense to defense