Which Style of Tennis Player are You?
If you take a closer look at tennis matches, you will notice that most players always follow a certain style. In general, every tennis player has his or her own playing style, which reflects their individual strengths and weaknesses.
As an opponent, you want to find out his or her style (including pattern of play and strategy) to make the best use of the weaknesses. As soon as you recognize these, the match is already half won for you. Then you will have an answer for almost every one of their shots.
In total, tennis players can be divided into 4 primary types, all of which differ according to certain characteristics. In this article you will learn what types of players they are. At the end of this article you can evaluate for yourself into which category you fit as a player.
These 4 styles are:-
1. The Aggressive Baseliner.
2. The Serve-and-Volleyer.
3. The Counterpuncher.
4. The All-Court Player.
We also provide some possible key strategies to be able to beat each of these 4 styles of player. You may be wondering which of these camps you fall into yourself. You may even find that you fall into a few.
The idea, however, is to find your opponent’s greatest strength or attribute and then try your best to neutralise it. In addition, you should also be studying their weaknesses and trying to exploit them as much as possible.
This list should provide some ideas on how to deal with certain types of players. On the opposite end to that, this list can also inform you of how others may react to your particular style of play so that you can put yourself in a position to defend it.
It is hoped this article will cover both singles and doubles game-players.

 1. The Aggressive Baseliner
Nowadays, the aggressive baseline player is probably the best known player type. As the name suggests, this player dominates their opponents from the baseline. They prefer to enter the rallies offensively by hitting fast balls deep into the opponent’s court.
Basically, the main characteristic of the aggressive baseliner is a powerful forehand or backhand. With this, they want to keep you moving from the beginning, so that you stay on the defensive the whole time.
If they get the chance, they like to use angles to push you out of the court. Then they try to finish the rally with a winner. Here, among other things, their willingness to take risks on the tennis court shows. At the same time, however, their strokes are very prone to mistakes. Since the baseline is their comfort zone, they are reluctant to move to the net. Should they ever come to the net, they will want to finish the rally as quickly as possible.
Examples of this type are Djokovic, Del Potro, Nadal, Azarenka, Sharapova and Clijsters.
Key Strategies to Beat the Aggressive Baseliner
(a). Hit deep into the court. You need to keep your shots deep into the back third or quarter of the court. If you give these players balls near the service line, they will hit winners almost every time.
(b). Vary the height and spin of your balls. Every aggressive baseliner has a “wheelhouse”, ie. a height of ball bounce that is their power zone. You need to vary the height at which they receive your balls - mix in high bouncing shots with low, slicing shots. Also vary the spin - topspin, flat and slice. Aggressive baseliners rely on getting a rhythm, and introducing variety to your shots prevents them from getting into their rhythm.
(c). Bring them to the net. Force them to come up to the net and beat you with their volleys by mixing in drop shots. Make sure you have done a good drop shot though. They will punish you for a high sitter or a drop that lands too close to the service line.
(d). Be careful when you approach the net. Aggressive baseliners usually have fantastic passing shots, and they love a target. Although it’s great to mix in coming to the net as part of your strategy to disrupt their rhythm, do make sure you are coming to the net when you have them on defence.

 2. The Serve-and-Volleyer
Due to the widespread baseline game, the serve-and-volley player has become an exception. They pursue an extremely offensive strategy, as they come to the net at almost every rally. As a result, they plan to win the point with a volley or a smash. They come to the net after every first serve, and often times after a good second serve.
An essential characteristic of the serve-and-volley player is their powerful serve. This serve is used as the preparation for the net approach, so to speak. Especially big tennis players tend to serve fast and then move to the net.
It is often seen that this type of player uses the “chip and charge” strategy on the return. More precisely, the player stands relatively close to the service line when their opponents serve, in order to hit the return as a half-volley. They then run forward to the net to build up pressure on their opponent.
In general, the aim of the serve-and-volley player is to keep the rallies as short as possible. For this reason, they try to avoid the game at the baseline. Accordingly, the groundstrokes are the biggest weakness of the serve-and-volley player. On the other hand, their volleys and smashes are technically flawless.
Examples of this type are Sampras, Stepanek, Llodra, Carla Suarez-Navarro, Navratilova.
Key Strategies to Beat the Serve-and-Volleyer
(a). Focus on your return of serve. Yes, their serve is a weapon. However, you need to be proactive when you try to return their serve. You need to change your return location and use the down-the-line returns more often than you should against other playing styles. It’s the hardest return from which to hit a first volley because they have to cover the entire width of the court. Also mix in short, heavy topspin returns at their feet, and use off-paced returns to force them to generate their own power from the first volley - not an easy thing to do.
(b). Use sharply angled, top spin shots. Both as a return-of-serve and as a rally ball, using a lot of heavy topspin will give you the margin of error to hit angled, cross-court shots. It’s also effective at making balls drop quickly at their feet, forcing them to have to hit up on their volleys. This gives you a chance to get offensive and have an easier volley for yourself to hit.
(c). Take their time away by hitting your return on the rise. If you return their serve by getting the ball on the rise, you take precious time away from them. This means they can’t get as close to the net as they would like for their first volley.
(d). Keep them pinned to the baseline. Serve-and-volley players do not want to stay back and rally from the baseline. They often do not have consistent enough groundstrokes to sustain long rallies or be aggressive from the baseline. If they do follow their second serve or return-of-serve to the net, keep your shots deep in order to keep them at the baseline and rallying. Be consistent, and you can win the point from their lack of consistency from the baseline. Another way to pin them to the baseline is to lob after their first volley when they are moving forward to close the net.

 3. The Counterpuncher
The counterpuncher is a more defensive type of player, who moves mostly on the baseline. For this reason they could also be called a defensive baseliner. The counterpuncher is also known as “The Pusher” as they push the balls back waiting for you to make a mistake and they don’t often hit winners but just wait for your errors.
In principle, the counterpuncher does not try to dominate the rally. Instead, they simply react to their opponent’s shots by hitting the balls back into the other side of the court. Another characteristic of the counterpuncher is their good footwork. They can move very fast on the court, covering it almost entirely .
All in all, the counterpuncher is a rather patient player, because they are primarily waiting for your mistake. Although they are able to place balls purposefully, they rarely start an attack. This is one of the reasons why they make few mistakes themselves. The best counterpunchers keep their shots deep, have good lobs and place balls effectively. They often hit the ball in an high arch with relatively little speed trying to get you out of rhythm.
Examples of this type are Murray, Ferrer, Monfils, Wozniacki, Jankovic, Sanchez Vicario.
Key Strategies to beat the Counterpuncher
(a). Attack the net. Counterpunchers do not like to be rushed, and they do not wish to be
pressured into trying too much. Be aggressive at coming into the net to finish off points.
(b). Be patient. You are going to have points where you will need to hit more balls than you want. You must patienttly construct points to get your opening to the net. Impatience is how the counterpunchers will ultimately beat you. However, don’t stay in long protracted rallies for too long. Otherwise, you are playing right into their hands.
(c). Hit behind them. A lot of counterpunchers cover the court well by running into the open court. Hitting balls behind them can effectively wrong-foot them and either draw a ball that you can attack and come into the net behind, or if you are really lucky, an error.
(d). Getting lobbed to death? Embrace your overhead. The lob is a high-percentage shot - especially for the counterpuncher. Do not get into a long lob/ counter-lob-fest with them. Hit an overhead, drive the lob, or better yet, hit an overhead from the baseline off those deep lobs.
(e). Move them forward and backward. Counterpunchers are excellent movers from side to side, but often they are not good movers from forward to back. Hit drop shots and short cross-court angles to move them forward, then follow it up with a deep lob or deep, penetrating groundstroke to move them back again. It’s effective at drawing short balls for you to attack or even errors.

 4. The All-court Player
While the other types of players specialise in a certain area, the all-court player combines all skills within themselves. This all-rounder has an incredible variety of shots. They also have very good stamina on the tennis court.
Basically, the all-court player is a fairly consistent player, which is why you will not recognize any weak points at first glance. They feel comfortable at the baseline as well as at the net and therefore keep their game balanced.
It is difficult to develop a strategy against the all-court player because they are prepared for almost every situation. Practically they can adapt to your playing style very well. The only weakness of the all-court player is that they often can’t show a really outstanding shot. Compared to the other types of players, their strokes are only average.
They use a lot of different shots and adapt to use the shots that are best matched to exploit their opponent’s weaknesses. Against the Serve-and Volleyer, they are consistent baseliners. Against the counterpuncher, they are aggressive attackers. Against the Aggressive Baseliners they try to bring them into the net.
However, because they have learned such a wide range of shots they do often do not have any real weapon amongst them. When they do, it is also often the first shot that can break down under pressure.
Examples of this type are Federer, Tsonga, Isner, Kvitova, Radwanska, Schiavone.
Key Strategies to beat the All-court Player
(a). Stick to your weapon. Know what your weapon is (e.g. forehand? backhand? consistency? drop-shot? lob? overhead? slice? volley? down-the-tramlines? angle-shot?) and focus on using it as much as possible. An all-courter will likely have a difficult time breaking down your much better weapon. This is why Nadal plays his forehand weapon against Federer’s sliced backhand.
(b). Hit high looping topspin balls deep into the court. Keeping high topspin balls deep will keep an all-court player pinned deep behind the baseline. It’s very difficlut to hit a variety of shots from 1metre plus behind the baseline - e.g. drop shots are nearly impossible to hit while moving backward this far from the net.
(c). Be aggressive and dictate the points. You are going to have to take control of the points has much as possible and dictate the play. All-courters are very aggressive players - even when they employ a counterpunch strategy, it is because that’s what opponents don’t like, and they are controlling this rhythm. To stay ahead, you are going to have to be the aggressor and dictate the points that you want to play.