Match Play and the Spin of the Ball

Two great old-time players, R.

Account Options

Norris Williams and Ellsworth Vines , were famous for being unbeatable when their strokes were "on". However, they played with such little margin for error in making their strokes that when they were making more mistakes they could be beaten by other players. Another advantage of this strategy is that the player can weaken his opponent's confidence by successfully landing difficult shots which in turn may increase his own confidence.

Hard courts are generally considered to be the best surface for an offensive baseliner who often hit higher risk shots. However, offensive baseliners can often excel on both grass and clay courts as well. On grass, they can execute their "winners" and the fast, low bounce makes it harder for opponents to retrieve; whereas on clay courts, some offensive baseliners might like the slow and high bounce because it gives them a longer time to change their grip and foot-positions in order to set up for an offensive shot or winner.

• Tennis strategy.
• Réussir lentretien aux concours de la fonction publique : Catégories A, B et C (Concours fonction publique) (French Edition)!
• Match Play and the Spin of the Ball.

Offensive baseliners with height especially have an advantage on clay courts because the high bounces land in their hitting zones, allowing them to strike the ball cleanly and more powerfully. One great example for this is Maria Sharapova , who is 6'2", and the high bounce of the ball really helps her produce winners and force errors from her opponents.

Match play and the spin of the ball - William Tatem Tilden - Google Книги

She had the hardest hit backhand at the French Open from the women's side, when she punished a first serve from Jelena Jankovic , producing a backhand return winner. Serena Williams has excelled with this playing style for two decades. Rafael Nadal is accomplished at an offensive baseline playstyle, using a variety of high-spin shots and powerful flat strokes to dominate play, most notably on clay, which he is known to be very good at though he usually prefers to play a defensive baseline style. A defensive baseliner, counter-puncher or retriever , tries to return every ball and relies on the opponent making mistakes.

The trademarks of a counterpuncher include consistent shots with low error rate, as well as precise placement that makes it hard for their opponent to execute an aggressive shot.

Counterpunchers also have a tendency to anticipate and are usually equipped with extremely good passing shots, thus enabling them to turn lots of defensive situations into offence. The game of the defensive counter-puncher has more to do with physical endurance and willingness to get every ball back in play as well as mental determination to keep from getting bored or trying for too much. Their game plan often involves moving their opponents back to the court and outmaneuvering their opponents. One example is former world number one Caroline Wozniacki who moves her opponent around the court without going for high risk winners.

While on defence, she gets every ball back and constantly mixes up the pace, to frustrate her opponents. While they tend to make relatively few errors because they do not attempt the complicated and ambitious shots of the aggressive baseliner, the effective counterpuncher must be able to periodically execute an aggressive shot, either using the pace given by their opponent or using precision and angle.

Speed and agility are key for the counterpuncher, as well as a willingness to patiently chase down every ball to frustrate opponents. Returning every aggressive shot that the opponent provides is often the cause of further errors due to the effort required in trying increasingly harder and better shots. At lower levels, the defensive counter-puncher often frustrates their opponent so much that they may try to change their style of play due to ineffective baseline results. At higher levels, the all-court player or aggressive baseliner is usually able to execute winners with higher velocity and better placement, taking the counterpuncher out of the point as early as possible.

Most counter-punchers often excel on slow courts, such as clay. The court gives them extra time to chase down shots and it is harder for opponents to create winners. However, some counter-punchers who have the ability to mix up their game and turn defense into offense, like Lleyton Hewitt, [2] Andy Murray [3] and Agnieszka Radwanska have excelled on faster courts like hard and grass as well as slower courts. Counter-punchers are often particularly strong players at low-level play, where opponents cannot make winners with regularity.

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 put pressure on the opponent to try to hit difficult passing shots. This strategy is extremely effective against pushers. 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.

However, the number of serve-and-volley players is decreasing in today's professional tennis, because this strategy requires more experience to master and defeat other playing styles as well as changes in racquet technology that have improved players' passing shots. In addition to this, there has been a trend toward the slowing down of tennis surfaces over the past few years. The serve-and-volley technique works better on faster surfaces because the volleyer is able to put more balls away without the baseliner being able to chase them down.

Although serve and volleyers may be a dying breed, there are still some great players who employ this tactic. Bill Tilden , the dominant player of the s, preferred to play from the back of the court, 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.

Match Play and The Spin of the Ball, by Bill Tilden,1925 - Signed - COA Vtg Book

Some players, such as Tommy Haas , Roger Federer and Andy Roddick will only employ this strategy on grass courts or as a surprise tactic on any surface. Roger Federer uses this commonly against Rafael Nadal , to break up long rallies and physically taxing games. All-court players, or all-rounders, have aspects of every tennis style, whether that be offensive baseliner, defensive counter-puncher or serve-and-volleyer. All-court players use the best bits from each style and mix it together to create a truly formidable tennis style to play against.

All-court players have the ability to adjust to different opponents that play different styles more easily than pure baseliners or serve and volleyers. All-court players typically have the speed, determination and fitness of a defensive counter-puncher, the confidence, skill and flair of offensive baseliners and have the touch, the agility around the net and tactical thinking of the serve-and-volleyer.

However, just because the all-court player has a combination of skills used by all tennis styles does not necessarily mean that they can beat an offensive baseliner or a defensive counter-puncher or even a serve-and-volleyer. It just means it would be more difficult to read the game of an all-court player. Holding serve is crucial in tennis. To hold serve, serves must be accurately placed, and a high priority should be placed on first serve percentage.

In addition, the velocity of serve is important. A weak serve can be easily attacked by an aggressive returner. The first ball after the serve is also key. Players should serve in order to get a weak return and keep the opponent on the defense with that first shot. For example, following a wide serve, it is ideal to hit the opponent's return to the open court. There are three different types of serves and each one of them can be used in different situations.

One type of serve is the serve with slice. The slice serve works better when the player tosses the ball to the right and immediately hits the outer-right part of the ball.

This serve is best used when you hit it wide so you get your opponent off the court. Another type is the kick serve. How Football Explains America. The Gospel According To John: A Life in Cricket. The World's Greatest Batsman. Full Circle in a Life Cut Short. In a League of their Own: Robert Grey Reynolds Jr. Flying Stumps and Metal Bats.

Turning the Black Sox White. The Jerome Holtzman Baseball Reader. An Indian Cricket Century. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long. At Kobo, we try to ensure that published reviews do not contain rude or profane language, spoilers, or any of our reviewer's personal information.

You submitted the following rating and review. We'll publish them on our site once we've reviewed them. Item s unavailable for purchase. Please review your cart. You can remove the unavailable item s now or we'll automatically remove it at Checkout. Continue shopping Checkout Continue shopping. Chi ama i libri sceglie Kobo e inMondadori. Buy the eBook Price: Available in Russia Shop from Russia to buy this item.

Or, get it for Kobo Super Points! Ratings and Reviews 0 0 star ratings 0 reviews. Overall rating No ratings yet 0. How to write a great review Do Say what you liked best and least Describe the author's style Explain the rating you gave Don't Use rude and profane language Include any personal information Mention spoilers or the book's price Recap the plot.