ATP tour: too few clashes of playing styles?
The classic competition between unconditional offensive players and defensive artists is slowly dying out.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Feb 11, 2022, 05:12 pm
Félix Auger-Aliassime and Andy Murray have played five sets against each other so far, and Murray has not won more than four games in any of them. A small sample, but an indication that the match-up between the Scottish veteran and Auger-Aliassime is not exactly cheap. From Murray's point of view, of course. The pitches are too similar, the Canadian seemed too stable on Thursday in Rotterdam. The day before against Alexander Bublik, the entertainment value was already higher - the Kazakh varies and risks a lot, Murray was able to convince as a counterattacker.
Now Murray has started 2022 with a slightly more offensive approach and has shown himself more often on the net. In the end, of course, he remains a player who feels most comfortable on and behind the baseline. As did 98 of the other top 100 professionals. Refreshment is most likely to come from Maxime Cressy, whose game against Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open was extremely entertaining. Cressy cultivates an uncompromising serve-volley game, as one was used to from Stefan Edberg or Boris Becker in the golden 1980s.
Agassi takes the defensive to a new level
Those were glorious times, just think of the duels between Andre Agassi, the best receiver of his time, and Pete Sampras, the best server overall (Goran Ivanisevic may forgive this assessment). However: Sampras, Becker and Co. also knew how to keep up from the baseline, even if this was not the preferred place on the court. On the other hand, Agassi or Mats Wilander have increasingly sought their way to the net in close matches, even Björn Borg did not win his Wimbledon from behind alone.
But there was no other way: the balls were faster, the grass was shorter, and the game was completely different than it is today. Andre Agassi has raised the defensive to a new level, Novak Djokovic , Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are in their best phase, but in this respect they are at least on par with the American legend. Supported by slower balls and courts.
Shapovalov, Berrettini with controlled offense
A clash of playing styles like that between Cressy and Medvedev will be rarer in the future. As entertaining as Alexander Bublik orNick Kyrgios play, serve-and-volley is just one of several variants. When in doubt, these two tend to play from the baseline. Friends of the offensive game will probably have to be content with the fact that some comparatively younger candidates such as Auger-Aliassime, but also Denis Shapovalov , Matteo Berrettini and Carlos Alcaraz follow their balls to the net.