Power Baseline tennis?

So what do you guys think about the mindless ball bashing that goes on. It obviously takes a lot of fitness , consistency, and power, but do you enjoy watching/playing it?

I personally want to develop an all court game, which requires a lot of agility, fitness, skill, and conditioning.

I've seen a ton of varsity players just ball bash repetitively, and it got dull.

Your thoughts?

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Originally Posted by 03White

So what do you guys think about the mindless ball bashing that goes on. It obviously takes a lot of fitness , consistency, and power, but do you enjoy watching/playing it?

I personally want to develop an all court game, which requires a lot of agility, fitness, skill, and conditioning.

I've seen a ton of varsity players just ball bash repetitively, and it got dull.

Your thoughts?

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Well, it depends which "baseline bashers" are playing. People like Gonzalez or Verdasco are very exciting to watch because of their outrageous power and a seasoned eye would enjoy the battering groundstrokes of Nadal. Murray, obviously, is boring and crap, so it works both ways. Personally, I'm an out-and-out baseliner, the kind you're talking about. I really enjoy it but I appreciate that it is healthy and effective to be able to command the entire court (eg. Federer or Tsonga). The most enjoyable matches to watch and play are those where two contrasting styles conflict, the most obvious being the power baseliner against the serve-and-volleyer, hence the excitement of watching Sampras vs Agassi. Nowadays, the contrasts are more subtle: Nadal's grinding heavy topspin and guileful cunning pitted against Federer's silky smooth drives or Del Potro's brutal hammer blows. It's a less paradoxical contrast but an intriguing one nevertheless.

"mindless baseline bashing" is partially an offshoot of the current coaching ideology for junior players. Don't hit winners, instead, don't hit losers. That basically sums up the current idealogy for up and coming junior players.
Remember when Courier, Agassi, Chang, and Sampras came thru the ranks of juniors? Guess which one's were comformists, which one had his own ideas.

It's irritating in the same way that watching Murray play anyone outside the top 5 is.

^yeah, I know what you mean, but you don't normally get things without taking risks..Individuality certainly can be a good thing, if you can capitalize on it.
Not saying that its not fun to ball bash, i hit against the wall, and really have to work it sometimes, which is really good excercise. AL, yes, it does take a more practiced eye, especially in mens matches. I tend to watch mens matches more, because I find that I can learn more, though i do like to watch Graf and Henin and Maursemo.

No disrespect at all to the power baseliners, for me to critique them would be completely inappropriate, because I haven't reached that level yet, if I will ever, and they are all astounding athletes who have worked extremely hard.
Thats why i hate when random people just say "Oh, Nadal is not doing that, or I want so and so to reach the net more, or so and so sucks".. its not at all that easy, and really, who are you to say all of that.. go up to that player, and say that to their face..

I'm more critiquing as a spectator since I'm in no way a great player. If the players have enough variety it makes for fantastic matches like Verdasco-Nadal last year.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 03White

^yeah, I know what you mean, but you don't normally get things without taking risks..Individuality certainly can be a good thing, if you can capitalize on it.
Not saying that its not fun to ball bash, i hit against the wall, and really have to work it sometimes, which is really good excercise. AL, yes, it does take a more practiced eye, especially in mens matches. I tend to watch mens matches more, because I find that I can learn more, though i do like to watch Graf and Henin and Maursemo.

No disrespect at all to the power baseliners, for me to critique them would be completely inappropriate, because I haven't reached that level yet, if I will ever, and they are all astounding athletes who have worked extremely hard.
Thats why i hate when random people just say "Oh, Nadal is not doing that, or I want so and so to reach the net more, or so and so sucks".. its not at all that easy, and really, who are you to say all of that.. go up to that player, and say that to their face..

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True. It's annoying when people say things like "Nadal's crap because he can't hit as hard as Delpo". What they don't understand is that everything about Nadal (his mindset, his physique, his grip, his swingpath) is geared up for the kind of game he plays. It couldn't be any other way. Let's also not be too critical of Nadal; he is a former number one and has over 20 titles to his name and he's still 23/24 years old. His gameplan definitely works, no one can deny that, but it requires him to be in peak mental and physical condition in every game of every match. It's the most demanding strategy used by any player on the tour but the rewards are considerable.

I love watching long rallies. If every point was just a baseline rally, then no I wouldn't enjoy it as much.

As for playing a baseline rally.. I do like that as well. Like you though, I'm not at the level where I'm consistent enough to win a match this way. If my opponent hit's with good top spin, I can rally all day, but put me up against somebody hitting flat, and my groundstrokes go south of 2.5!