Baseliner or netter?
By betterdays
@BetterDays4Me (3777)
Philippines
May 19, 2012 1:06am CST
Which technique do you think is better, being a baseliner or a netter? Which style of play to do have and why do you choose that kind of style?
7 responses
@narnia007 (1050)
• India
23 May 12
I am usually a baseline player.I love to play powerful strokes giving the opponent a tough time to return them properly.But it depends on the type of court too.If it is a grass court,you cannot judge clearly about the bounce and spin of the ball after it touches the grass.In such a case,I would prefer volley.Even in clay courts,a sudden volley will stun the opponent and thus gaining us points.
1 person likes this
@BetterDays4Me (3777)
• Philippines
23 May 12
Wow, you seem to be a strong player. I haven't tried grass courts and we have only so few in our country, but I heard it's a really fast court. Our court here is similar to clay courts but they spread some shells on the court so we call it shell courts. I think you're also very good in volleys and I guess to be good in it, preparation is most important...I mean how you set up the volley.
@michael66 (35)
• Belgium
22 May 12
At the beginning I wasn't moving from my baseline almost at all, it was really a "safety zone", but once I got better and better, I tried myself at the netting, which is quite tough to master, you really have to have good reflexes and strategy to be able to do quite many things in little time, you must think about the opponent's strategy, think about your own, prepare for the hit, hit the ball, all in the blink of an eye.
1 person likes this
@BetterDays4Me (3777)
• Philippines
22 May 12
You are right about the need to have quick reflexes when you're in the net. The other players can pass the ball in any directions to having a sharp eye and quick reflexes are important. So I guess if you're not very good in the net, it is often better to stay behind the baseline so that both you and your partner can work together at the back court. I myself is not an excellent netter but I also don't consider myself a bad netter...just so so. I really like baseline game so much, and I like retrieving a lot of balls which seems impossible to get. That is why I like Murray because if you watch him play you can see that he still gets the ball in play in situations wherein other players could have already lost the point. He gets every ball no matter how far it is and how difficult it is to return.
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
19 May 12
I haven't played in many years. But back when I did most of my playing, a long time ago, I was totally self taught and I think because of that, I was mostly a baseline player. I would play at the net when playing doubles which I didn't play often and actually I wasn't all that bad. My style of play was one of hitting flat and hard. This was pretty effective for me since when I did most of my playing was back in the wooden racket days and with those rackets I could usually hit harder than many of my opponents. Of course with the rackets they have now days everyone can hit hard. Another reason that I didn't play at the net much was that I was vulnerable to being lobbed. This was not because I wasn't fast enough but because in tennis, as in baseball, I had problems with balls coming almost straight down. This may have been because I wore glasses because of being very near sighted.
@BetterDays4Me (3777)
• Philippines
22 May 12
Yes, I remember with McEnroe and Borg era they use wooden rackets. I think playing flat and hard is very good and an aggressive way of playing. If you can hit them consistently (which is usually harder when you hit the ball flat), then you are a strong player who is hard to beat. Most people hit with top spins for more consistency, and nowadays I can see more people using extreme western hand grip which I almost never see before ( about 10 years ago, more people are used to eastern grip or semi western grip ).
Just like you, I am very near sighted and I can imagine your difficulty when someone lobs over you and you will have difficulty hitting the ball going down. In my case, I wear contact lenses so that won't be much of a problem, but my problem is that I'm small (5'6") so they can easily lob me as I can't reach the lob even if I jump, so I need someone at the back who is fast and a good baseliner.
@mensab (4200)
• Philippines
19 May 12
i like to combine both depending on the opponent's style and opportunity. but i like coming to the net and attacking the net to confuse my opponent and to rattle him/her. i also like anticipating shots from the opponent so that i can attack and put it safely on the other side of the net. i like the gracefulness of those netters who courageously attack the net.
@BetterDays4Me (3777)
• Philippines
19 May 12
I can understand your point because I myself gets intimidated with players who are really good at netting. The problem is I'm not good at netting myself so I seldom try it. Anyway, do you have favorite players who are good netters? I can mention few great players like Sampras, Henman and Federer.
@rafaelnadal007 (731)
• India
2 Jun 12
I think baseline is better when people knows how to beat the opponent hovering near the neat like hitting short cross court balls or down the line or lob shots which lands exactly before the baseline. But when the serve is extremely good which has been returned weakly it is always better to finish it off by net playing. Same applies on really good shots like cross court shots and down the line ones which makes the opponent stretch too much and returns lightly. The best thing is to apply the mixture and work on various strategies which makes really versatile and difficult for the opponents to judge. I like to hit serve and volley but when it doesn't work well I stick to baseline rallies and wait for the right time to go near the net to finish it off.
@AgentGulaman (3546)
• Philippines
19 May 12
I am still a beginner in playing tennis so I don't think I can answer the question. I am not good yet in either of them!
But I think that I will go for baseliner because netting is quite hard to do and I like to do ball placing. Oh how I wish I can play tennis again! Work really demands even my weekends giving me no time to play the game!
But I think that I will go for baseliner because netting is quite hard to do and I like to do ball placing. Oh how I wish I can play tennis again! Work really demands even my weekends giving me no time to play the game!@BetterDays4Me (3777)
• Philippines
19 May 12
You are right in saying that netting is more difficult to master than a baseline game. I had been a baseliner ever since but I also try to learn how to be a good netter, which I can use when I was able to push my opponent backwards then I attack the net for a simple winning point. Some baseliners that insires me are Andy Murray, Lleyton Hewitt and Marcelo Rios to mention a few. Anyway, Rios is retired now and Hewitt is think is almost retired so choosing them only shows my age more :)
I hope you find a way to have more leisure time for yourself, AgentGulaman.
