Tennis strategy
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In tennis, a player uses different strategies that both enhance his own strengths and exploit his opponent's weaknesses in order to gain the advantage and win more points. Players commonly specialize in a certain style of play, focusing on what they do best as a means of beating their opponents. Based on their style, players generally fit into one of three types: baseliners, volleyers and all-court players. A baseliner plays from the back of the tennis court, around the baseline, preferring to trade groundstrokes rather than to come up to the net (except in certain situations). A volleyer tries to approach the net and hit volleys, putting pressure on the opponent. All-court players fall somewhere in between.
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[edit] Aggressive baseliner
An aggressive baseliner tries to win the point by hitting winners from the back of the court, attacking with fast balls that the opponent cannot reach or return properly. He may not try to win the point outright with one shot, but instead may hit the ball from side to side until he spots an opening. Aggressive baseliners normally have at least one great groundstroke, often the forehand.
An aggressive baseliner can overpower and overwhelm most opposition. However, when going for winners, he can also produce many errors. Two great old-time players, R. Norris Williams and Ellsworth Vines, were famous for being unbeatable when their strokes were "on"; they played with such little margin for error in making their strokes, however, that they when they were not 100 percent "on" they could be beaten by inferior players.
Some all-time great aggressive baseliners are Bill Johnston, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Steffi Graf. Most players today are aggressive baseliners; a few notable ones are Marat Safin, Fernando Gonzalez, Andy Roddick, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport.
[edit] Defensive baseliner
A defensive baseliner, or counterpuncher or retriever, returns every ball and relies on the opponent making mistakes. He has consistent shots, makes few errors of his own while making it difficult for opponents to hit winners. A counterpuncher must have speed and agility to cover the court. He is a fighter, and has to have willingness to chase down every ball to frustrate opponents. Usually he also has great passing shots to score points when the opponent is at the net.
Counterpunchers often excel on slow courts, such as clay courts. The court gives them extra time to chase down shots and it is harder for opponents to create winners. Counterpunchers are often particularly strong players at low-level play, where opponents can not make winners with regularity.
Great counterpunchers of all time include Mats Wilander, Björn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, Michael Chang, Miloslav Mecir and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario. Active players who employ this strategy are Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Anastasia Myskina.
[edit] Serve and Volleyer
- Main article: Serve and volley
A serve and volleyer has a great net game, is quick around the net, and has fine touch for volleys. Serve and volleyers come up to the net at every opportunity when serving. They are almost always attackers and can hit many winners with varieties of volleys and drop volleys. When not serving, they often employ the "chip-and-charge", chipping back the serve without attempting to hit a winner and rushing the net. The serve and volleyers' strategy is to pressure the opponent to try to hit difficult passing shots.
Serve and volleyers benefit from playing on fast courts, such as grass or fast concrete. The quick bounce and faster pace of play give them an advantage because opponents have less time to set up for a passing shot. The number of serve and volley players is decreasing in today's professional tennis, however, because this strategy requires more experience to master and to defeat other playing styles.
Some of the great ones in history are Jack Kramer, Frank Sedgman, Pancho Gonzales, Lew Hoad, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Greg Rusedski, Jana Novotná, and Martina Navratilova.
Bill Tilden, the dominant player of the 1920s, preferred to play from the backcourt and liked nothing better than to face an opponent who rushed the net — one way or another Tilden would find a way to hit the ball past him. In his book Match Play and the Spin of the Ball, Tilden propounds the theory that by definition a great baseline player will always beat a great serve-and-volleyer. Some of the best matches of all time have pitted great baseliners such as Björn Borg or Andre Agassi against great serve-and-volleyers such as John McEnroe or Pete Sampras.
[edit] All-court player
All-court players lie somewhere in between baseliners and volleyers. They usually have an attacking game, mixing some groundstrokes and volleys to keep the opponent guessing. They are very versatile; when an all-court player's baseline game is not working, he may switch to a net game, and vice versa.
Among the best all-court players of all time are Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Don Budge, Ken Rosewall, and Rod Laver. Pancho Gonzales was seen by most observers as being as a serve-and-volleyer; he considered himself, however, an all-court player. Great all-court players today include Roger Federer, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Martina Hingis, and Amélie Mauresmo.
[edit] Doubles Strategy
Though strategy is important in singles, it is even more important in doubles. The additional width of the alleys on the doubles court has a great effect on the angles possible in doubles play. Consequently, doubles is known as a game of angles.
There are three basic doubles strategies:
- both-up strategy (also called "two-up" strategy)
- up-and-back strategy (also called "one-up/one-back" strategy)
- both-back strategy (also called "two-back" strategy)
[edit] Both-Up Strategy
The ideal is both-up strategy, often called "Attacking Doubles" because the net is the "high ground," and both-up strategy puts both players close to it, in a position to score because of their excellent vantage points and angles. A team in the both-up formation, however, is vulnerable to a good lob from either opponent at any time. So, to be successful with Attacking Doubles, they must have penetrating volleys to prevent good lobs and good overhead shots to kill poor ones.
Teams that play Attacking Doubles try to get into the both-up formation on every point. When serving, their server follows most first serves to the net and some second serves. So, Attacking Doubles is also called serve-and-volley doubles. When receiving, their receiver follows most second-service returns to the net.
At the touring professional level, Attacking Doubles is the strategy of choice.
[edit] Up-and-Back Strategy
At lower levels of the game, not all players have penetrating volleys and strong overhead shots. So, many use up-and-back strategy. The weakness in this formation is the large angular gap it creates between partners, a gap that an opposing net player can easily hit a clean winner through.
Nonetheless, up-and-back strategy is versatile, with both offense and defense in it. In fact, since the server and receiver must begin each point at the baseline, virtually every point in doubles begins with both teams in this formation.
Teams without net games strong enough to play Attacking Doubles can play both-up when they have their opponents on the defensive. So, they patiently play up-and-back for a chance to hit a forcing shot and bring their baseliner to the net.
Australian Doubles and the I-Formation are variations of up-and-back strategy. In Australian doubles, the server's partner at net lines up on the same side of the court, fronting the opposing net player, who serves as a poaching block and blind. The receiver then must return serve down the line and is liable to have that return poached. In the I-Formation, the server's net partner lines up in the center, between the server and receiver so he or she can poach in either direction. Both Australian Doubles and the I-Formation are poaching formations that can also be used to start the point for serve-and-volley doubles.
[edit] Both-Back Strategy
Both-back strategy is strictly defensive. You normally see it only when the opposing team is both-up. From here the defenders can return the most forcing shots till they get a chance to hit a good lob or an offensive shot. If their opponents at net become impatient and try to angle the ball away when a baseliner can reach it, the defender can turn the tables and score outright.
[edit] See also
