Drop shot: A shot that falls to the court just after having crossed the net. The closer to the net it falls, the better the drop shot. Typically utilized as a tactical surprise against a player standing far behind the baseline. Also regularly the fallback option of a struggling player short on ideas or fitness. Either way, used with the intent to end a point or draw an opponent to the net in order to hit a passing shot. See Passing shot.
Drop volley: A drop shot hit from a position near the net.
Error: A shot that lands outside the opponent’s court or into the net.
Exhibition: A match or tournament primarily for entertainment purposes. No ranking points are involved.
Fault: The same as an error but off the serve as opposed to during a point. Players get one freebie per serve. See Double fault; Second serve.
Fed Cup: Annual international women’s team competition in which countries compete in staggered single-elimination events throughout the year. The Fed Cup is organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and not the WTA.
First serve: The most important shot in tennis. The initial attempt by a player to serve successfully into the opponent’s service box. The first serve tends to be more aggressive in pace, placement, and strategy because the server has a second opportunity if needed.
Flat: A shot typically hit hard and without much spin. Called flat because of its trajectory over the net.
Follow-through: The opposite of backswing. The final part of the motion of a player’s swing pattern. See Backswing; Buggy whip.
Futures: The third rung of circuits in men’s tennis below the Challenger Tour and the ATP World Tour. Players on the Futures circuit attempt to accumulate enough ranking points to qualify for Challenger Tour events. As its name implies, the Futures circuit ideally is for younger players seeking to gain experience and ranking points as they develop. Nevertheless, this isn’t really the case, as many longtime professionals with low rankings compete at this level.
Game: The basic unit of a set. One player serves during its duration, which lasts as long as necessary to see it to completion. A game may last thirty seconds or shorter. A game may last thirty minutes or longer. The points in a game are counted as follows: love, 15, 30, 40, deuce (if necessary), advantage (if necessary). A player must win a game by two points. This is why if a game goes to 40–all, or deuce, one player must score advantage and then one more point to win the game. If only one player in a game arrives to 40—be it 40–30, 40–15, or 40–love—then the game can be won if that player wins the next point. This moment is referred to as game point. See Advantage; Deuce; Game point; Set.
Game point: When a player is one point away from winning a game. See Advantage; Deuce; Set.
Ghost into the net: A tactic. When a player subtly and unexpectedly approaches the net when the opponent is otherwise distracted with playing the ball.
Grand Slam: Until recently, winning all four major tournaments—the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open—in the same calendar year. Now each of these tournaments, once known as majors, are widely referred to colloquially and officially as Grand Slams. See Career Grand Slam.
Grass: One of the three main playing surfaces of tennis and the least common. Generally the fastest court surface, which produces the lowest-bouncing ball. A boon to players who prefer short points, as the speed and low trajectory of the ball during play on grass produces far fewer rallies than clay and hard court surfaces do. Beneficial to big servers and detrimental to players with large backswings that take away from the response time of their groundstrokes. The kindest part of the circuit to serve-and-volleyers. That said, due to a change in the type of grass seed used to the more rapid-drying 100 percent ryegrass, the courts at Wimbledon now produce a higher-bouncing ball and consequently play slower than they did in years past.
Grinder: A player whose principal strategy is to repeatedly play out long rallies from the baseline in the hopes of wearing down the opponent. This tactic has been encouraged by slower court surfaces, increased physical endurance, and improved racket equipment.
Grip: Two meanings—how a player holds the racket, which affects swing path and shot production; also, the exterior wrap of the racket handle.
Groundie: Slang for groundstroke.
Groundstroke: A swung forehand or backhand hit after the ball has bounced.
Half volley: A groundstroke or volley struck immediately after the ball bounces on the court.
Hard court: One of the three main playing surfaces of tennis, typically made of asphalt or concrete with a synthetic top layer. Courts can be produced for a large variety of playing speeds. Hard courts were originally fast by design, but technology has seen them evolve to occupy a number of speeds as of late, ranging from extremely fast to nearly clay-court-paced. Therefore, one can’t assume a court is fast because it’s a hard court. Indian Wells and Miami are renowned for being slow hard courts, the latter being a notoriously extreme example, while Shanghai is known for being a fast hard court. After a general trend of slowing down hard courts over the years, the organizers of the Australian Open took to speeding up their hard courts for the 2017 edition of the tournament. The results speak for themselves.
Head: The part of the racket above the neck that frames the stringbed.
Hold: When the player who is serving wins the game. The opposite of a break. Commonly referred to as to hold serve. See Break; On serve.
Inside-in forehand: When a player hits a forehand from the ad court to the opponent’s deuce court. In other words, when a ball is hit to the backhand side of a player’s court and the player hits a forehand from that backhand position directly down the line. Also known as running around the backhand. See Down the line; Inside-out forehand.
Inside-out backhand: When a player, in this case right-handed, hits a backhand from the deuce court to the opponent’s deuce court. In other words, when a ball is hit to the forehand side of a player’s court and the player hits a backhand from that forehand position diagonally across the court. Less frequently seen than the inside-out forehand. See Inside-out forehand.
Inside-out forehand: When a player, again in this case right-handed, hits a forehand from the ad court to the opponent’s ad court. In other words, when a ball is on the backhand side of a player’s court and the player hits a forehand from that backhand position diagonally across the court. Also known as running around the backhand. See Inside-out backhand.
ITF: The International Tennis Federation. In charge of the Davis Cup, the Fed Cup, and Olympic tennis, among other events. A separate entity from the men’s ATP and the women’s WTA.
Junk ball: A type of shot with little in the way of reliable spin, pace, or distance. Used to disrupt the rhythm of the opponent. Very few top players hit junk balls.
Kick serve: A serve hit with sufficient spin to bounce high and discomfit the returner.
Let: When a point must be replayed. Most commonly when a serve hits the net cord and nevertheless lands within the service box. A serve is not valid if it touches the net; that said, when such a serve lands inside the service box the server is given an opportunity to repeat the serve. If the let occurs on the first serve, then the server will repeat the first serve; if the let occurs on the second serve, then the server will repeat the second serve. For this reason, the chair umpire will announce, “Let: first serve” or “Let: second serve.” In this situation, there is no limit to the number of lets a server can be granted. Lets are not solely related to the net, however. Any number of in-game distractions can cause a let—from distracting court noise to something straying onto the court—and thus a replay of the point.
Line call: The determination made by a line judge of whether a ball landed inside or outside the court. A call of out is made vocally, a call of in is made via hand signals. A line call can be reviewed by a player’s challenge. See Challenge.
Line judge: Part of the officiating team placed at strategic places on the court to observe and confirm whether
a ball is in or out. Balls that are out are announced with the call “Out,” while balls that are in are silently indicated by pointing at the ground with arms extended and palms down. See Challenge; Line call.
Main draw: The actual tournament, after qualifying has concluded. See Draw.
Masters 1000s: Known officially as the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. A series of nine prestigious tournaments spread throughout the calendar year that award 1,000 ranking points to the winner, 600 points to the defeated finalist, 360 points to the semifinalist, etc. Grand Slam tournaments are worth 2,000 points for the winner, 1,200 points for the finalist, etc. Aside from Grand Slams, only the ATP Tour Finals awards more points (1,500 for the winner, etc.) than Masters 1000 tournaments. The nine take place, based on their order on the calendar, in the following locales: Indian Wells (Palm Springs); Key Biscayne (Miami); Monte Carlo; Madrid; Rome; Montreal/Toronto; Mason, Ohio (Cincinnati); Shanghai; and Paris. See 250s; Grand Slam.
Match point: The moment when a player is one point away from winning the match. Similarly, set point is when a player is one point away from winning the set. Championship point is when a player is one point away from winning the tournament.
Mishit: When the ball is struck by a part of the racket that is not the sweet spot of the stringbed, causing the ball to take off on an unintended trajectory. See Shank.
Moonball: A slow topspin groundstroke that crosses the net at an extreme height.
Net cord: When the ball inadvertently hits the upper cord of the net in the middle of a rally. This can be an unexpected benefit or hindrance to either player in the point.
No-man’s-land: During a point, the area of the court between the baseline and the service line. As the name suggests, one of the worst places to position oneself on the court.
On serve: The score of a set when neither player is up a break. If the score of a set is 4–3 on serve, this means that the player who has won three games is about to serve; therefore, that player has the opportunity to tie the set. If this player subsequently holds, the score is then 4–all on serve. On serve does not mean that there have been no breaks in a set—the term only describes the current state of the set: that there have been an equal number of breaks of serve, whether that number is four or zero. See Break; Hold.
Open: An open is a tennis tournament that is open to both professionals and amateurs. This does not mean that open tournaments are open to all and sundry. These tournaments have eligibility requirements. A player needs a sufficiently high ranking to enter the main draw of an ATP open tournament directly. The same holds true for the preliminary qualifying rounds of these tournaments. See Draw; Qualifier; Open era.
Open era: Beginning in 1968, when tennis tournaments became open to both professional and amateur players. The unofficial mark that separates one era of tennis from the other.
Open stance: Regarding foot positioning, hitting a groundstroke while the body is facing the net. A general practice now of professional players on the forehand side. Less so on the backhand side, but some of the best backhands in the game, such as those of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, are often hit with an open stance. This is far less common with one-handed backhands, but Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem are highly proficient at it.
Overhead: Excluding the serve, hitting a ball that is arm’s length above the head or higher. When hit with assertive force, commonly referred to as an overhead smash.
Passing shot: A shot that goes by a player who has moved up the court.
Platform stance: Positioning the feet during the serve with one foot slightly ahead of the other and not moving them from that position during the service motion until the ball is struck. As opposed to a pinpoint stance, during which a player brings the feet together at the baseline in the middle of the service motion.
Qualifier: A player who is made eligible for the main draw of a tournament by having participated in the rounds of qualification that preceded it.
Rally: During a point, the exchange of a number of shots for a noticeable duration of time.
Retire: When a player is unable to continue in a match due to injury or illness and therefore forfeits the match. When a player retires prior to the beginning of the match, this is known as a walkover.
Return: The first shot made by the receiver in response to the serve.
Round of sixteen: Refers to when sixteen players are left in a tournament. What point in the tournament this is depends on the number of players in the draw. In a Grand Slam tournament the round of sixteen is the fourth round. In a 56-draw tournament (for instance, Monte Carlo and Shanghai), the round of sixteen is the third round.
Scoreline: The score of a match in process or the final result of a match.
Second serve: If the server misses the first opportunity to serve the ball correctly into the opponent’s court, this is the second and final opportunity for the server to do so. Missing the second serve results in a double fault, gifting a free point to the opponent. Therefore, the overwhelming priority of the second serve is to land the ball inside the service box. For this reason, the second serve tends to be safer. However, hitting a safer serve without care for placement, speed, and spin gives the opponent free license to tee off on the serve, thereby putting the server immediately on the defensive and robbing him or her of any initiative—an initiative that is the sole benefit of serving in the first place. The second serve is the secret battleground of any tennis match. The better a player’s second serve, the more success is likely to come on the circuit. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in particular became players of an entirely other level once they improved their second serves. Meanwhile, Pete Sampras passed on the idea of changing his serve altogether on the second serve: he hit two first serves instead. A handful of current players have tried emulating this tactic, to mixed results. See Double fault; First serve; Let.
Seed: The number by which a player is positioned in a tournament draw. The higher a player’s seed, the further away from other high seeds the player is arranged within the draw. The size of the draw determines the number of seeds. A player’s seed is largely, although not exclusively, based on the ranking of the player; past performance of the player at the tournament also factors into a player’s seeding by tournament officials. For example, entering the 2014 Wimbledon Championships Rafa Nadal was the number-one-ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic was ranked second, Stan Wawrinka third, Roger Federer fourth, and Andy Murray fifth. And yet, Djokovic was seeded first, Nadal was seeded second, Murray was seeded third, Federer fourth, and Wawrinka fifth. (I know you’re curious: Djokovic ended up defeating Federer in a five-set final.) See Draw; Round of sixteen.
Serve-and-volley: An offensive tactic of long-standing practice, now far less common, in which a player rushes to the net following the serve. Designed to end the point quickly by cutting off the angles of the returner, thereby pressuring the opponent into hitting an error or a sitter. Improvements to racket technology and increasingly slower court speeds have combined to undermine the effectiveness of this tactic. This in turn has depleted the number of expert volleyers on the tour. Still, the serve-and-volley was the preeminent tactic of championship tennis for generations. Practitioners included Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver, Stan Smith (yes, that Stan Smith), Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe, and Stefan Edberg. Countered by the emergence of elite baseliners beginning in the 1970s, such as Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, and Ivan Lendl. In the family tree of tennis styles, Federer is from the branch of the serve-and-volleyers, while Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, and Novak Djokovic are from the branch of the baseliners. To date, the Sampras-Agassi rivalry marked the last time a pure serve-and-volleyer and a pure baseline player routinely competed in finals on the men’s circuit. The paucity of serve-and-volley in today’s game can make it an effective surprise tactic during a given moment in a point or for the duration of the match. For the latter, see Andy Murray vs. Mischa Zverev, 2017 Australian Open, round of sixteen. See Baseline; Baseliner; Grass; Grind
er.
Service box: The two rectangular areas of the court between the net and the service line portioned off by the centerline of the court and the singles sideline. The area inside where the server must place the ball without touching the net in order to start the point.
Set: The largest unit of scoring in a match. A set is the container in which games are counted and by which matches are divided. Grand Slam matches on the men’s circuit are best-of-five sets, as are Davis Cup matches. All other matches are best-of-three (although they used to be best-of-five as well). All matches on the women’s tour are best-of-three. The requisite number of games to win a set is as follows: six, provided the opponent has won four or less; or seven if the opponent has won five. If the score of a set arrives at 6–all, a tiebreak is usually then played in order to decide the winner of the set. See Game; Tiebreak.
Shank: A mishit ball, often off the frame of the racket. Not at all indicative of a professional player’s ability but rather of swing path, court positioning, and intent of the shot: Roger Federer shanks more balls than anyone on the circuit. See Mishit.
Singles: A match with only two players. A tournament of singles matches.
Sitter: A shot that poses, or at least should pose, no difficulty for the opposing player to put away for a winner.
Split step: A learned, automated motion of a player preparing to react to a ball hit by the opponent. It consists of a slight hop and separation of the feet to shoulder-width distance while remaining centrally balanced on the balls of the feet. Intended to prepare the player to react quickly in any direction.
The Circuit Page 2