Talk:Tennis strategy

Both-Back Strategy
Why I deleted the following sentence from the end: "This strategy is also useful on the receiving end of a good server, since the usual up-and-back strategy may expose the net player to winners following the forcing serve."

It is confusing I think. What is "the receiving end of a good server"? I guess this is meant to refer to the receiving team, but that isn't what it says. It isn't clear whether this is talking about the serving team or the receiving team. Sometimes the serving team plays both-back because the serve is so wimpy the server's partner gets drilled. But that is bad strategy. If you mean that the the receiving team might play both-back because the serve is very strong, resulting in poaches of the service return, that I would agree with. Ken2849 15:52, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Who is what type of player
Pete Sampras is more of an all-court player, although he is famous for his serve and volley game in Wimbledon. On hard courts (except on the late stages of his career) he stayed back quite a lot after his second serve.
 * I will agree. When compared to pure serve and volleyers such as Rafter and Henman, Pete Sampras is more of an All-court player.  He didn't come to net on clay courts, and on hard courts it varied.  He was able to suit his game for the required surface.--Leonidas1982 (talk) 17:23, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

Jimmy Connors, I thought, is more of a defensive baseliner than an all-court player, but he employs serve and volley tactics on critical points for element of surprise. Can anyone correct me?
 * Jimmy is the ultimate defensive baseliner. Remember him chasing all shots with tenacity, in particular the 3 consecutive smashes in his later US Open run. He does come to net to surprise opponents, but not that often to be called an all-court player.


 * Well, since Pete Sampras' tennis career will always be linked with his triumphs in Wimbledon, it cannot be avoided that his playing style will also be linked with the serve-and-volley type, although some editors and critics may argue that he is an all-court player.Joey80 07:41, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
 * The Wimbledon success makes him look like a serve-and-volleyer. But he (and Boris Becker, etc) played from the baseline often, especially in clay courts. You don't see that in Stefan Edberg or Tim Henman.Aree 13:07, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Let me get this straight, Sampras cannot be accurately labeled an all-courter because he won most of his grandslams on grass. But yet, Santoro is labeled as an all-courter --- hmm, something seems amiss.--Leonidas1982 (talk) 19:24, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Just noticed that Chris Evert is not mentioned as a baseliner, when in fact, critics have widely credited her in spreading such a playing style--becoming somewhat the norm a generation after her career. Joey80 07:44, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
 * One joke is that Chrissie comes to the net only twice in one match - and one of them is to shake hands with her opponent. Aree 13:07, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Pictures of more recent players?
Haven't been here in a while and discovered all pictures are changed to players 20 years ago. No direspect, but I think references of more recent players (Federer, Nadal, soon-to-retired Agassi) would serve better for Wikipedia community as a whole. Don Budge, Ken Rosewall, Bill Tilden, they're all great, but it doesn't relate to anyone but us tennis afficiandos (someone even asked me who this "John McEnroe" is). Roddick, Henin-Hardenne can draw more excitement (and contributions) from the regular Wikipedia user. Aree 12:56, 3 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, fine. But try finding some copyright-free modern pix to put there.  People *have* posted modern pix in some of the tennis articles and they *always* get deleted for one reason or another due to copyright issues.  I'm the guy who found and posted all of the old ones and they seem to fall under "historic usage" rights.  So apparently they're okay.  Or they have been so far.... Hayford Peirce 18:39, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Strategy vs "Playing Style"
I feel like we should differentiate between a "strategy" of tennis (meaning what to DO in certain situations) versus "Playing styles". Currently, this article is a bit of a mix? One could present that there are general strategies that do not depend upon a "Playing Style". Frankly, I throw this out to see if anyone agrees...It IS possible that it is only in my mind... Mjquin_id (talk) 22:49, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Lists of players
I am thinking about removing the lists of players for each type of "style". Although some are fairly obvious, if you follow tennis, none of them are cited. Can people either cite references where the player is said to play a certain way...or we remove the lists? Can I say 30 days or consensus? -- Mjquin_id (talk) 01:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Up-and-Back Strategy
I have rewritten a statement to the effect that the server and the receiver must both be at the baseline for the serve. Certainly the server must be; but "[t]he receiver can take up any position he thinks most suitable on his side of the net" (Know the Game - Lawn Tennis, ISBN 0-7158-0202-X, p.9). Paul Magnussen (talk) 19:37, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Decline of Serve-and-Volley
The given explanation for the decline of the serve-and-volley strategy in recent years is not convincing and is not defended. Improvements in technology are surely the primary reason for the decline, not that "this strategy requires more experience to master and to defeat other playing styles." And either way, it is poor style to have the technology-improvements reference in parentheses. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.95.160.44 (talk) 19:23, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Removal of lists of players
Following on from this -
 * "I am thinking about removing the lists of players for each type of "style". Although some are fairly obvious, if you follow tennis, none of them are cited.  Can people either cite references where the player is said to play a certain way...or we remove the lists?  Can I say 30 days or consensus?" -- Mjquin_id (talk) 01:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

- I've been bold and removed the list from this article, as nobody in 18 months had seen fit to comment on their original suggestion.

User Mjquin_id (talk) is quite correct - anybody can add to such a list, and not a single player had a citation to justify their inclusion. After all, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia of facts we can prove by external references, not a font of our own 'knowledge', hearsay or opinion (no matter how experienced or educated we may be in tennis or whatever).

Quite happy to discuss, & for people to re-introduce players, one at a time, provided that each player has their own individual citation, to ensure the article has a reliable source, and to avoid any potential bias.

Further thoughts, anybody? It's probably best to comment here, below (but in this section), to keep discussion in one place. Trafford09 (talk) 10:39, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Serve and volley
This page needs to be merged here, no other strategies are made into other pages, which the article is rather small and cannot be made to stand alone! BLUE DOG TN 18:28, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Completely agree and the same also applies to Pusher (tennis) as I mention below 31.124.45.250 (talk) 15:31, 11 July 2022 (UTC)

Pusher (tennis)
As in the Serve & Volley comment above, I can't see any justification for Pusher (tennis) having it's own separate entry. That article contains nothing that couldn't be part of this one 31.124.45.250 (talk) 15:37, 11 July 2022 (UTC)