A Guide to Tennis Strategies

I've already attempted to introduce readers to tennis by telling them about the basics of tennis as well as some of today's players to look out for. Now I will attempt to teach everyone about some of the different tennis strategies that are used by many tennis players. There are four main strategies: aggressive baseliner, defensive baseliner, serve and vollyer, and all-court player.

Aggressive Baseliner
An aggressive baseliner tries to win points by staying at the back of the court and hit winners. An aggressive baseliner won't necessarily go for the big shot immediately. He will hit the ball from side to side until he finds an open spot on the court then he'll use his best shot, usually a forehand, to blast home the point. Because the aggressive baseliner will often use his strength on the final blow he will often hit the ball too hard and lead to errors. The aggressive baseliner is a very popular strategy in the men's game and is often one of the criticisms made about men's tennis. There are a lot of physically talented men on tour but almost all of them are aggressive baseliners so there aren't a variety of styles like in the days of Borg and McEnroe or Sampras and Agassi.

Defensive Baseliner
The aggressive baseliner often uses strength to win while the defensive baseliner is often the strategy used by speedy players. A defensive baseliner is fast and pesky and will use his speed to return nearly every ball. Instead of trying to blast a winner like an aggressive baseliner he'll just defend and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. Defensive baseliners often succeed on clay courts because the clay will slow down the shots, giving the defensive baseliner more time to chase down every shot. The best example of a defensive baseliner today is Rafael Nadal and like defensive baseliners he has his most success on clay courts which is why he has won the French Open the past two years. Clay courts are also where Nadal usually beats Roger Federer. Defensive baseliners are also sometimes called counterpunchers.