How the Game of Tennis Has Changed

What makes the game of tennis interesting today is the personalities, not so much the style of the game each pro plays. Before the advent of similar surfaces, stronger racket technology and newer string technology, the game seemed to be more interesting in turns of style of play. Personality was exemplified more in the way pros applied their trade.

Style of Play

It used to be players were categorized by their style of play. They seemed to fit into four categories:

1. Offensive base-liner – this type of player stayed mostly on the baseline and created openings by hitting high paced ground strokes and either opening up the court for a winning shot or over powering their opponent with velocity. A player of this nature was Andre Agassi with his aggressive baseline style of play taking the ball early and hitting punishing groundstrokes.
2. Defensive base-liner – this type of player had good foot speed, not overpowering ground strokes, but consistently put the ball back in play until forcing an error. Good strategists, they wear their opponents down by their mental toughness as well. An example of this type of player would be Brad Gilbert.
3. Serve and volley – this type of player had a strong serve and rushed the net at every opportunity as they were very effective volleyers. They exerted pressure on almost every point by the threat of coming to net and finishing the point off. A player of this type in the past array of pros was Stephan Edberg.
4. All-court player – this type of player could either stay back and rally, or come to net and attack, equally well. Their personality could adapt to either, or both styles of play. A player of this nature was Pete Sampras.

Today’s Game

In today’s game with the players staying back and hitting with such power and top spin due the advances in technology and also with the surfaces becoming so similar, the pro’s personalities and different styles of play don’t seem as exciting as they used to be. Matching up an offensive base liner against a serve and volleyer on different surfaces used to be entertaining, to see which one could impose his stye of play on the the other. In today’s game it seems much more dependent on conditioning and mental ‘freshness’ with the players.

Let’s Talk about Your Game

This blog dealt with professional players. Let’s talk about the club level of play. At this level the game can be more interesting as the game isn’t at the most powerful level of play, which allows different styles of play and personality to enter the arena. This makes again for a more interesting match up in terms of the four types of player we discussed.

What type of personality are you? Which category would you fit into? Understanding these four types of players, would this help you to fit your game into a better practice and playing schedule?