The Six Playing Styles Described

[ubermeyer]

Here are the categories I use

1. Ace Machine: A huge serve with no other game to speak of. The only example I can think of is Ivo Karlovic.

2. Net Rusher: Likes to come in to the net. Rare nowadays.

3. Aggressive Baseliner: By far the most common type of player now. Hits hard.
Example: Williams sisters, indeed most other pros

4. Spin Master: Hits crazy, weird spin shots. Likes to mess with your head. Example: Fabrice Santoro.

5. Counter-Puncher: Very fast on court. Play defensive until they get an easy ball, then BAM! Smack it for a winner. Example: Gael Monfils

6. Pusher: No offensive game to speak of. Hits ball back with little technique and usually a slow pace, but utilizes different spins and super-accurate placement

7. All Court Player: Good everywhere on the court. Good footwork, good groundstrokes, good volleys, usually hits with topspin, sometimes slices to stay in the point, sometimes flat. Takes some risks, but not too many. Example: Federer

8. The Risk Taker: Inconsistent, either hits ridiculous winners or embarrassingly shanks or misses outright relatively easy balls. Double faults more common than other categories. Example: Simon Greul

[Kaptain Karl]

Originally Posted by coriafan

I use lot of topspin ball that jump shoulder high to push opponent back and then combine it with dropshots. Should i be ashamed of my style of play, is it lame? Cause some people don`t enjoy playing me.

Do you win more than you lose? (Don't change.)

Do you lose more than you win? (Change ... or go take some lessons.)

- KK

[plasma]

there are only emotional styles at my level, any player can change physical tactics. I will beat you, not jut beat you but let your emotions and "you" beat yourself, overhitting yourself out of position and then screaming like a macho man as if you could have made those shots any other day.
You always yell, I always win.

[RunningBeagle]

I am a very emotional player. I like to yell when I miss a shot so that everybody knows I could have made it any other day.

[fruitytennis1]

Great sticky thread i have to say.
Very interesting. I would have to say im an all court player though. I like to keep my opponent guessing. One time ill rush the net the next time ill smash from the baseline.

[rlamb101]

That is one of my favorite posts ever! Very good breakdown of the player (and sub-player) types.

Junk Ball and pushers can be beat consistently, with the right weapons. Take away the pace they have to work with....and force them to produce pace with a quality shot by pressing in. Close all the way in on very low, biting slices and await the junk lob on everything else.

I have used this effectively with those types of players many times. Also, sneak into net behind moderate paced body serves and don't kill their weak returns...simply touch them into death angles....to **** them off!

[wyutani]

is that all? no more other playing styles?

[Fay]

well I think there are three:

baseliner
serve and volleyer
all court player

and many many players move between these styles

McEnroe is a true serve and volleyer ... I watched him in person last year and just about *every* first serve he went forward. Usually not on second serves.

What seems to be the problem nowadays is that when someone pulls someone off the court and give themselves the opportunity to go to the net, I see a lot of hesitation. Wasted opportunities because they don't trust their net play, don't know where to go, or who knows what. But easy for me to see sitting at home in front of the television and quite another to do on court with high stakes.

Commentators from years ago who played a lot of serve and volley are tearing their hair out when announcing.

When some of the top 10 players are beginning to lose and they have the presence of mind to go in on the first good opportunity, and they can play the net well, usually do much better than waiting on the baseline for their opponent to make a mistake or hit a short ball.

I cannot count the number of time I have seen top-level women players get a shortish ball and then *not* step in and punish their opponent with a blistering sharp angle.

[Fay]

as far as pushers, then the subcategories are
Bangers
and
Pushers
LOL

[Falloutjr]

Originally Posted by FiveO

I would opt to breakdown Attacking or Offensive vs. Defensive baseliners and then add the subs under those headings. I also think the sub-category, Heavy Topspin Baseliner needs to be added and perhaps to each. I feel that a Borg and now Nadal hit the ball so uniquely that it deserves its own label. While generally recognized as a devout defensive hitting-style, Borg and Nadal, raise it to a different level and in doing so present such a dilemna for opponents that it morphs into another attacking baseline sub-category. I recall Borg opponent's describing the experience of playing against his high bounding shots from the baseline as "feeling like I was combing my hair for two hours". I see Nadal presenting a very similar problem for the current crop. I also view this quasi-offensive baseline style as so different than the pure ball-striker (Agassi, Davenport) and big fh attackers (Lendl, Graf) that it qualifies as it's own thing.

QFT. Topspin is the flavor of the month, and there's a reason everyone is using it nowadays. Topspin is both offensive and defensive in that topspin is a very safe shot in that it will drop in play, but the height that it bounces with, the ability to hit the ball hard with topspin, and the fact that the ball speeds up so much after it bounces EASILY make up for the small difference in pace. It is 100% practical to hit 99% of balls in a rally with topspin and in that, combined with its increase in popularity, is deserving of its on category.

[Falloutjr]

Originally Posted by SageOfDeath

Question, might be a little off topic.

Doesn't any good player need to be able to change their style if they are losing? They can't continue with a losing strategy can they? So is it possible for a player to really be any of these styles because more than likely they are going to change it anyways depending on their opponent?

Or is this just me and that's my own style to change up my game?

Not everyone has to change their style. If you miss a couple shots from the baseline when you're going all or nothing, doesn't mean you should give up on it and play at the net all day, you have to do what got you where you are. With that being said, everyone can benefit from being able to play the court. But just because you can doesn't mean you should.

[Yuuzuki]

I know I probably haven't been playing long enough to have a "style" yet.

But, reading through them I think I fit into the Pusher/Retriever style so far ^^;;

I love the descriptions by the way, they're great!!! XD

[Kaptain Karl]

Thanks for the feedback, people. I'm glad this is a provocative thread.

Originally Posted by fruitytennis1

I like to keep my opponent guessing. One time ill rush the net the next time ill smash from the baseline.

I'd say I am an All-Courter-with-a-big-emphasis-on-Attack-the-Net.

What is your style on the "big" points? When it's Your Ad, what's the opponent most likely to see from you? (I think this answer reveals one's preferred style.)

Originally Posted by rlamb101

That is one of my favorite posts ever! Very good breakdown of the player (and sub-player) types.

Junk Ball and pushers can be beat consistently, with the right weapons.

Thanks. And I agree with your presentation of the best way to handle those nasty Junk Ballers and Pushers.

Originally Posted by Falloutjr

Not everyone has to change their style. If you miss a couple shots from the baseline when you're going all or nothing, doesn't mean you should give up on it and play at the net all day, you have to do what got you where you are. With that being said, everyone can benefit from being able to play the court. But just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Yup. Kriese is fond of saying "you are the best in the world at YOUR style of play." (Assumes a player knows what "his style" is....)

Also, "match ups" can make things interesting. I've spent the last two years of my tennis life working on confidently *attacking* with my Returns of Serve. All because of a buddy whose S&V game matched up so well against me. (My Singles Return *was* the weakest part of my game.) I cannot wait to meet him on the court again...!

Originally Posted by Yuuzuki

I know I probably haven't been playing long enough to have a "style" yet.

But, reading through them I think I fit into the Pusher/Retriever style so far ^^;;

I love the descriptions by the way, they're great!!! XD

You're also not "stuck" in a style. Experiment. Have fun!

- KK

[makenakai]

Originally Posted by FiveO

Very nice job KK,

You beat me to the punch, I was about to post the game-styles as described in "Serious Tennis" when I saw this thread. (I knew I should have checked w/ you first).



These are much broader definitions. Here's how "Serious Tennis" breaks game-styles down:

1. All Courters (Federer, early Sampras, Hingis)

2. Attackers
2a) Big-Serve Attackers (Ivanisevic, Flipper, Roddick)
2b) Net Crushers (s&v/c&c) (Edberg, Navratilova, Rafter, later Sampras)

3. Attacking Baseliners
3a) Big-Forehand Baseliners (Lendl, Graf, early Agassi)
3b) Heavy Topspin Baseliners (Nadal, Mauresmo)
3c) Pure Ball-Strikers (Connors, Evert, Kafelnikov, Davenport, Pierce, later Agassi, Safin, Sharapova)

4. Defensive Baseliners
4a) Counterpunching Baseliners (Hewitt, Chang)
4b) Junkballers (Brasch, Santoro)
4c) Moonballers *Doesn't exist on the pro-level as per the author.

some famous others.
king and young jimbo were snv ( practically everyone was back then); Mac was netrusher; Nasty, allcourt junker; Borg baseline counter; Soloman, Yaeger, mooners; Seles, aggrobase.

[makenakai]

Originally Posted by Falloutjr

QFT. Topspin is the flavor of the month, and there's a reason everyone is using it nowadays. Topspin is both offensive and defensive in that topspin is a very safe shot in that it will drop in play, but the height that it bounces with, the ability to hit the ball hard with topspin, and the fact that the ball speeds up so much after it bounces EASILY make up for the small difference in pace. It is 100% practical to hit 99% of balls in a rally with topspin and in that, combined with its increase in popularity, is deserving of its on category.

Borg said in his autobiography all he tried to do was hit in the middle w "crazy" TS. its an attack on your technique using spin. Its tougher to attack the spin, therefore counterpunching is more effective. Borg could do this forever.

Nadal did the same til he hurt his core. His rally shots do not explode crazily (and leftily!...) as before. That's the point of this type of game.

Technically a windshieldwiper motion causes a slight sideways hop as well as a fwd one A RH TS jumps into a RH FH - but a LH FH jumps away from RH FH. (check it out...) . This makes it diff to hit on the rise and dooms you to duke it out from the back.

I used to play this style (OS reaally helps and also against its draining psychologically to face.

[makenakai]

Originally Posted by Kaptain Karl

You would fit the very definition of an All Court player.

- KK

Tilden, in Match Play and The Spin of The Ball, said an all-court player is one who can vary his game at will in direction, speed, depth and spin so as to give an opponent what he least likes. A sort of "consistent inconsistency"

In other words, according to Big Bill, if you can effectively adapt your game to anyone, you're an all-courter.

[fruitytennis1]

[quote=Kaptain Karl;4093886]
What is your style on the "big" points? When it's Your Ad, what's the opponent most likely to see from you? (I think this answer reveals one's preferred style.)[quote=Kaptain Karl;4093886]

When its my Ad I would 1(slice serve down the middle or 2(if my serve is really on kick wide. Attack the net whether serve 1 or 2 because in the past 2-3 months my volleys and serve have gotten better. If its their Ad im going for the kick wide.

[Davis937]

I'm curious ... but ... before everyone jumps all over me I have to confess that I didn't look at the complete thread ... my question: was wondering if we have a rough breakdown of the percentage of players (not counting pros) who play each of the different styles of play ... that would be interesting to me ... I'm thinking that the "all court" or "counter puncher" style players lead the pack ... what sayeth thou?
______________
"... I don't drink beer often ... but when I do, my friends ... I always drink Dos Seques."
(from The Most Interesting Man in the World)

[AlpineCadet]

KK, how would you beat a 6a and 6b if you were a good 4.0 baseliner?

[Wegner]

Originally Posted by Kaptain Karl

There have been numerous threads addressing different playing styles. But they’ve pitted one style against another ... or deeply analyzed a particular style. Here, we’re going to define all the different styles of play in one location. (At least that’s my goal.)

1 - Define and categorize the styles of play.
2 - Identify some Pros who exemplify the styles in question.
3 - Be prepared to defend your opinion with some logic.

Let’s see if we can arrive at some level of agreement ... and keep the flaming to a minimum.

- KK

Kaptain Karl, this thread you started is one of the best ever. I'd love to discuss with you doing a video together. My personal e-mail is tennisoscar@aol.com
Happy New Year,
Oscar Wegner
TennisTeacher.com