As a player begins to develop his technique and advance his game, he will need to develop a game style. In determining a game style, a player first needs to assess his strengths and weaknesses and choose a style that suits his strengths on the court while minimizing weaknesses. With younger players, they may transition from one game style to another as they mature physically and fully develop their games.

There are four main types of game styles: baseline, serve-and-volley, counterpunch and all-court. Each style lends itself to different kinds of strategies and tactics.

A baseline player favors groundstroke play and rarely, if ever, comes in to the net for a volley. Baseliners are very consistent, some are aggressive and like to move their opponents from side to side and tire them out physically with angled shots. Others are not as aggressive (pushers) and are satisfied with just keeping the ball in play.

A serve-and-volley player will follow his serve to the net, wanting to take time away from the opponent and pressure him into making mistakes or by putting away volleys. Serve-and-volleyers tend to have consistent, accurate and powerful serves, good instincts at the net with solid volleys and generally move well around the court. They tend to win the majority of their points at the net.

The counterpunch player plays defensive tennis and consistently turns an opponent’s offensive situations into neutral ones or offensive for himself. Counterpunchers are consistent from the baseline though not always as aggressive as the baseliner, but their ability to defend attacks through great shot selection, neutralizing shots, passing shots and lobs makes them very difficult to play. They move well around the court, are quick, have good footwork, always get an extra ball back and like to use an opponent’s pace and aggressiveness against them.