Tennis isn't meant to be played in any particular way!

[TeamOB]

I hear it way to much on this forum and even from TV commentators. They say: "That's the way tennis should be played....", "That's not real tennis...", "Tennis is meant to be played....". The problem with all these statements is that tennis isn't meant to be played in any particular way. It is a game that constantly evolves. It went from a 19th century lawn game to the big serving style of Tilden and Kramer, to the all-court style of Laver, to the baseline grinding of Borg, Vilas and Connors, to the aggressive game of Sampras, Becker and Edberg, and finally to the rock solid baseline game of Federer, Hewitt, Nadal and Djokovic. Every era has its own particular style of play. The style of an era is determined by the equipment, conditions, and training methods used. As these things change, the era and preferred style changes. There is no "ultimate style" in tennis. It always changes and evolves. I am sure that in 10 years the current style will have evolved and tennis will be quite different from what we see now. Anyways, there is no such thing as "the way tennis should be played." It is simply a matter of which style is currently dominant. What do you think?

 

[Maximagq]

TeamOB is the Kyrgios of Talk Tennis. Youthful but wise beyond his years and very intelligent.

 

[TeamOB]

TeamOB is the Kyrgios of Talk Tennis. Youthful but wise beyond his years and very intelligent.

Haha, thanks bro! That's sig worthy!

 

[mistik]

I hear it way to much on this forum and even from TV commentators. They say: "That's the way tennis should be played....", "That's not real tennis...", "Tennis is meant to be played....". The problem with all these statements is that tennis isn't meant to be played in any particular way. It is a game that constantly evolves. It went from a 19th century lawn game to the big serving style of Tilden and Kramer, to the all-court style of Laver, to the baseline grinding of Borg, Vilas and Connors, to the aggressive game of Sampras, Becker and Edberg, and finally to the rock solid baseline game of Federer, Hewitt, Nadal and Djokovic. Every era has its own particular style of play. The style of an era is determined by the equipment, conditions, and training methods used. As these things change, the era and preferred style changes. There is no "ultimate style" in tennis. It always changes and evolves. I am sure that in 10 years the current style will have evolved and tennis will be quite different from what we see now. Anyways, there is no such thing as "the way tennis should be played." It is simply a matter of which style is currently dominant. What do you think?

The thing is most people working in tennis media are former middle aged or old players who wants to see similar style of tennis played like in their playing days.So as result all the one handed backhand players automatically talented and gifted.Players with double handed backhands hard workers. Get used to it.

 

[jg153040]

OP, this is deep and smart. Too much for me to handle .

It's an interesting debate. What is art or music meant to be?

If music evolves to yelling out loud, is it still music? Is it relative or nature decides what's meant to be or not?

Is me putting a dot on a blank peace of paper art if we call it art? Or are we deluding ourselves?

Does nature tell us if something is ugly and not meant to be this way or do we decide?

I think there are limits to how subjective we can be. I think it's decided in nature what we like or not. I mean we can pretend and delude ourselves that rotten eggs don't smell bad, but that doesn't mean it's true.

 

[Backspin1183]

Absolutely. I'm interested in seeing different playing styles.