Playing Style

Hello
Styles of the Pros: Well known professional tennis players arrayed on the style wheel as examples.

If you got no style, you got no game.

This is a just-for-fun tool for determining what style of tennis best suits your idiom. If you are a beginner or intermediate, you can start from the center - from your basic personality type, and you will be able to find your best strokes and strategies. Simple draw a straight line from the center to the edge.

To use the wheel, draw a line from the center of the wheel through your personality type to the outer edge. Remember, there is no "superior" style there are champions in every style (see Styles of the Pros below), and all styles require the same athletic abilities - no style is easier than the others. The most important thing is to choose a style that suits your personality.

If you are an experienced player, try drawing a straight line from the center through your forehand, backhand, grip system, etc. to discover if you or your coaches have made any poor choices (such as a patient dinker with a Federer forehand).

If you have the wrong style, you are at odds with your Self.

Hello
Style Wheel: Shows the relationship between personality, playing style, and player tactics. The association of grip choice to playing style is particularly interesting.
Hello
Key to the Style Wheel: Labels the context of each ring of the wheel.

The style tool is a guide to finding a harmonious mix of these key elements:

    Style Wheel Elements
  1. Personality Type - If you are impatient, you shouldn't try to wait out your opponent. Impatience is a form of energy that you can be channel into aggression. Don't think of impatience as a fault - think of it as a gift from God. Patience is also a gift, as is being Normal. Whatever your basic personality type is, it can help you win if you develop the right tools.
  2. Playing Styles -
    • Dinkers - (aka Human Backboards) The players we love to hate. Dinkers keeps the ball in play - high and down the middle until their opponent makes an error.Virtues required: foot speed, strength, endurance and, above all, incredible patience.
    • Placement Players - (aka. Vivisectionists) Often mistaken for dinkers, these players don't just keep the ball in play - every ball they hit is designed to weaken their opponent's position, induce an error or put their opponents out of position. These players know what you choke on and thrive on feeding it to you. They slowly pull your game apart and leave you feeling like a beginner. Virtues required: excellent stroke production and variety, foot speed, precise placement, and other-worldly patience. A dark soul helps.
    • Heavy Top - Dinkers with pace, these players hang on the baseline and hit high, looping topspins. They don't usually try to force the point unless you get cheeky and charge the net, then they unleash their passing shots. Virtues required: endurance, foot speed, strength.
    • Run & Gun - This is the pre-eminent style today. It is like heavy top with winners. These players take any short ball and hit it for a winner. Their groundstrokes are hit with topspin, but they can flatten them out to achieve pace and penetration. Virtues required: explosive power ...period.
    • Serve & Volley - (aka Serve & Smash) You don't see much of this style anymore. High-tech racquets, the popularity of topspin and two-handed backhands have made the net a perilous place to be. But, if you have a big serve and don't own a monster forehand, then this can be a very effective strategy. Virtues required: big..Big..BIG serve, excellent touch, and solid volleys and overhead.
  3. Forehand Grip - The grip systems ring is at the center of the wheel for good reason-it is the core of an effective strategy. The forehand grip must match your primary forehand stroke. Examples: You can't hit heavy top with a continental grip. You can't hit a decent volley or overhead with a semi-western grip.
  4. Primary Forehand Stroke - should support the strategic objectives of the playing style, e.g., a slice forehand is best for hitting the approach shots that let the serve & volleyer chip and charge to the net.
  5. Primary Backhand Stroke - usually a more defensive shot, the backhand should cover any weaknesses of the strategy. If your backhand is your stronger side, then it should directly support your strategic objectives. Thus a dinker should shy away from the two-handed backhand as it decreases reach and forces you to hit the ball harder and waste energy.
  6. Primary Kill Shot - If you hit any winners, this is the shot that usually results in a winner given your chosen style. Even a dinker can hit a winner by lobbing over the head of a player's who crowds the net.