Tennis Shots: The Drop Shot

For players with anything other than the ultimate level of mobility around the court, one of the recurring nightmares which prevents them getting a night’s sleep must be the thought of facing a player blessed with a good drop shot. This shot may be one of the most frustrating to face when playing an opponent who knows how to hit it. If hit correctly and at the right time, a drop shot is unplayable.

The idea behind the shot is that it is hit with little pace just over the net. On passing over the net, it will literally “drop” just inside the opponent’s court and pretty much stop dead. Even if it does bounce a little, the angle of the shot required to get it back will be beyond all but the most gifted opponent.

The key to hitting the perfect drop shot is believed to be “soft hands”, which entails slackening one’s grip on the racket at exactly the moment of impact, allowing the racquet to absorb more of the force of the shot and take much of the pace off the ball. This in turn means the bounce on the other side of the net will be lower.

Frequently, a drop shot will be played on the volley, known as a “drop volley”. Although this shot existed long before his time in the game, John McEnroe is believed to have turned it into an art form, making him arguably the greatest serve-volley player of all time.

Tennis Shots: The Backhand

From listening to tennis commentators, it would be easy to come to the conclusion that a backhand was something that any tennis player compares to a particularly troubling visit to the dentist – if it can be avoided, you should, because the result of going there will be painful and potentially embarrassing.

There is no doubt that a good backhand is trickier to play, and therefore rarer in the competitive game, than a forehand. For this reason, professional players will aim to hit to their opponent’s backhand in the hope of forcing a mistake. Because it is an “unnatural” shot – played across rather than with the player’s body, mistakes are more common with it – but a good backhand is worth developing, because it can be devastating.

As players instinctively aim for their opponents’ backhands, having a good shot with that stroke is liable to win you a lot of points. The Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, a top twenty player with a moderate record in the game, is believed by no less an authority than John McEnroe to have the best backhand he has ever seen – but unfortunately for Wawrinka, this has resulted in players hitting to his less gifted forehand.

Wawrinka’s compatriot Roger Federer is one of very few top players to hit the backhand single-handed, allowing him greater reach and ability to hit on the run. This has made him dangerous from anywhere on the court, a major element in his success in the game.

Tennis Shots: The Forehand

The forehand is considered the easiest tennis shot to master, perhaps because it is the most natural one to hit. It involves holding the racket out from the body and striking forward, with your palm facing towards your opponent at the point of contact. The fact that it is considered to be easy to master does not make it a less dangerous shot – some of the best individual shots in the game are forehands, with the modern game featuring some particularly dangerous forehands including those of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

A well-judged forehand is particularly hard to counter because of the level of power and accuracy that can be contained in it. Most players will try to get opponents to hit to their forehand because it gives them a better chance of hitting a winner, and players are known to run further in order to “run around” their backhand, purely because they know that the forehand shot has a better chance of landing in court and potentially being a winning shot.

Great exponents of the forehand include the aforementioned Federer and Nadal, whose running forehand cross-court shot is considered unplayable on a good day. As well as these two, players like Ilie Nastase and Fred Perry were particularly good at hitting the forehand while among the female players Steffi Graf is considered to have been the best female player of the shot, earning her the nickname “Fraulein Forehand” as a result. The fastest forehand ever recorded was by the Frenchman Gael Monfils in 2007 at the Australian Open, measured at 118mph.

Tennis Shots: The Volley

If you want to make a real success of your grass court game, you are going to have to come to the net at times or risk being beaten by someone with greater killer instinct. The approach to the net is all important in grass court tennis – and to a lesser extent on other services – because if you can hit a good volley, you will win a lot of free points if you get to the net.

A volley is any shot that is played before the ball bounces on your side of the net. Serve-volley tennis, a major component in most successful grass court games, entails hitting your serve and then approaching the net to volley away any return. It is particularly deadly on grass because any well-judged volley will bounce so low as to be impossible for the opponent to reach.

Many people feel that a volley is only as good as the player’s approach to the net to make it. If you can volley well, but come to the net at the wrong time – because for example your opponent hits returns well and has the measure of your serve – then you will be passed by your opponent. If on the other hand you judge the approach right, you will have easier volley opportunities.

Among the best volleyers in the history of the men’s game, John McEnroe was considered to have the best pure volley while Sweden’s Stefan Edberg was believed to have the best combination of approach and volley.

Tennis Shots: The Serve

In terms of the rules of tennis, the serve is a shot which has one function – to start a point by putting the ball in play. It is simply intended to commence a rally, all things being equal, but in recent times it has become a whole lot more important than that. These days, a particularly good serve can win you matches almost on its own – although players who can serve and do little else are still unlikely to win many titles.

Because of the way it is played – the ball is almost always struck overarm, from a ball thrown into the air by the player whose turn it is to serve – it tends to be the fastest shot played in any rally. A player with a particularly fast serve, or one who has pinpoint accuracy, can win points without their opponent even getting a racket to the ball. When a serve wins a point without being touched by the opponent, it is referred to as an “ace”.

Some of the greatest exponents of the serve have been the Croatian Goran Ivanisevic, Britain’s Greg Rusedski and the man with the three fastest serves recorded in men’s tennis, Andy Roddick, who holds the world record with a service of 155mph. The fastest women’s serve ever recorded came from Brenda Schulz McCarthy, who hit one of 130mph in 2006. there are many people who view the growing speed of tennis serves as detrimental to the game, as it prevents long rallies – but others who view it as an awesome display of raw power.

The Tennis Greats: Andre Agassi

Although his list of career titles may be shorter than his contemporary and American compatriot Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi is still in many people’s eyes one of the most remarkable players ever to pick up a tennis racket. Believed by many with the knowledge to comment to have had the best return of service that has ever been seen in the game, Agassi is unique among male tennis players in having won a career Golden Slam – that is, all of the Grand Slam titles plus an Olympic gold, won in 1996 at the Atlanta games.

In an interesting quirk, Agassi is married to the only female player to have won a calendar Golden Slam, Steffi Graf, who won the Olympic gold in 1988 in Seoul. Agassi won a total of eight Slam titles in his career, and but for much publicized battles with injury and weight gain may have won more. Considered to be a highly talented player who could have won more if he had had the same mentality as Pete Sampras, Agassi is nevertheless more popular than Sampras and believed to be the more naturally talented player.

An anecdote about Agassi’s early career sums up his abilities. When his father sent him to the tennis academy run by Nick Bolletieri in Florida, he agreed for Andre to stay for three months as that was all the family could afford. Ten minutes into his first practice session Bolletieri, considered by many to be the greatest coach of young talent tennis has ever seen, called Agassi Sr and told him to take his check back, because Agassi had more talent than any player he had ever seen.

The Tennis Greats: Steffi Graf

Although it would be hard in the extreme to make a case for anyone to surpass Martina Navratilova in terms of overall achievement she has been surpassed in terms of achievement in the women’s singles game – by Germany’s Steffi Graf, who won 22 singles Grand Slam titles over the course of a storied career in the game that spanned seventeen years from the age of 13 to 30. Graf is, in addition, the only professional player ever – male or female – to have won a Calendar Grand Slam over the three notable surfaces.

What is even more impressive about the latter achievement is the fact that it was as part of the even rarer “Golden Grand Slam” which comprises of winning all four of the Grand Slam events and the gold medal in the tennis event at the Olympic games. Although tennis has only been a full medal sport at the Olympics since 1988, in the five Olympic years since then her achievement has never been matched, or even approached, by another player.

Graf’s achievement in 1988 is testament to the versatility of the game she played. Not bound to any one style of play, she had few weaknesses in her game and is the only player to have been considered as even an approximate rival to Martina Navratilova, who she overcame on various occasions in finals of tour events and majors. Graf retired from tennis in 1999, and has since got married to former men’s Number One seed Andre Agassi.

The Tennis Greats: Martina Navratilova

In common with the Williams sisters, Martina Navratilova has had to put up with a level of criticism that was out of all measure with her game and her personality. When one considers that in the course of her career Navratilova won titles as a singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles player, one would be justified in asking why she would be criticised. When one hears that she won a total of fifty-nine Grand Slam titles across these three forms of the game, the question could be asked with greater volume.

It has been suggested that Navratilova played tennis like a man – a bizarre criticism for a player who was shorter during her playing career than virtually any professional men’s player of the time, and who had a game that varied enough to be successful in all forms of the game. This criticism surely comes at least in part from the fact that Navratilova is open about her sexuality – she is a lesbian and was open about the fact even when it was considered to be a big deal.

It is unfortunate that even in this article there should be a reference made to that fact, but the truth of the matter is that it is made necessary by the lack of enthusiasm with which people refer to her as one of the greats. However, Navratilova should not be the source of any lack of enthusiasm – the truth of the matter is that within the field in which she played, Navratilova was the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen – and won a US Open mixed doubles title just a month short of her fiftieth birthday.

The Tennis Greats: The Williams Sisters

Although each deserves to be remembered as a separate entity, there is no ignoring the phenomenon that is the Williams sisters. Still both active players at the time of writing, the sisters have won an amazing twenty Grand Slam singles titles between them as well as a further twelve as a ladies’ doubles partnership and two each as mixed doubles players. Their dominance of the women’s game has been criticised and lauded in equal measure, but only the most stubborn could fail to see how impressive it has been.

Venus, born in 1980, was the first to make an impact on the professional game, but was rapidly caught up by her sister, born the following year. At the time of writing, Serena has won 13 Grand Slam titles to her sister’s seven, although Venus has been more affected by injuries during the course of her career. That notwithstanding, Serena is considered by experts to have the more complete game, evidenced by her having won all four Grand Slam tournaments where Venus has won five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open.

Among the criticisms of their games, both are considered by skeptics to have excessively powerful playing styles. This, it is argued, makes the game less of a spectacle to watch – but this fails to take into account the high level of accuracy that both possess and their tactical abilities. When the Williams sisters have both retired, the women’s game may take some time to find even one player with the same natural talent as either sister.

The Tennis Greats: Pete Sampras

Although not remembered with the same level of affection that is reserved for the likes of john McEnroe or Bjorn Borg, no-one can deny the quality of Pete Sampras’ achievements as a tennis player. Considered dour in personality and robotic in his playing style, it was perhaps Sampras’ misfortune to play during an era when tennis itself came under attack for being dull and serve-dominated. This tends to ignore the fact that he was possessed of a greater degree of touch than many of his opponents, and a high level of stamina.

It is true that Sampras had a cannon of a serve, although there were players with a greater level of power than him playing at the same time. Mark Philippoussis, Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek could all hit it harder, but between them fell far short of the 14 career Grand Slam titles won by Sampras because they lacked his accuracy and consistency.

Sampras also popularized a shot that has come to be known as the “Tomahawk Smash” which involved winding up to hit a high ball and leaping high off the ground to hammer it into the ground on the other side of the court. This shot was always the final one played in a rally, often because it bounced high into the seats around the court. Although other players may have had greater charisma and more connection with the fans, Pete Sampras was a player you’d back to win a match for you on grass or hard court against anyone.

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