The Advantages of Attacking the Net in Tennis
Tennis is dominated by rallies from the baselines as players with supercharged groundstrokes try to overwhelm their opponents by blasting shots that are fast, deep and heavy with topspin, occasionally throwing in a drop shot to throw them off balance.
As a result, players attack the net less frequently than they did in the past.
'The ball is being struck so hard with so much topspin it gets below the net really quickly, which makes it hard to volley,' the ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe said.
But players who take advantage of short balls from their opponents to fight their way forward can seize control, winning points more quickly than those who stay at the baseline.
Ask top tennis analysts to name the elite volleyers in the sport and there's little debate on who's best: Carlos Alcaraz — the recent winner of the French Open and defending two-time Wimbledon champion — is the unanimous choice.
McEnroe said that Alcaraz 'has the best combination of speed, explosiveness and soft hands.'
Alcaraz's footwork and agility also enable him to get back quickly and annihilate lobs, Pam Shriver, also an ESPN analyst, said. 'His movement going backwards is incredible.'
That ability to go backward well means he can move closer to the net, Martina Navratilova, a Tennis Channel analyst, said, which makes volleying easier, especially because he reads his opponents so well and can quickly cut off the lanes for passing shots. 'He can push off to go back or explode forward.'
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CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
French striker Olivier Giroud is parting ways with MLS club LAFC after 1 disappointing year
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Forbes
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New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Chelsea win extraordinary four-hour Club World Cup match delayed by severe weather and packed with drama
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Benfica's players looked like they had been let off the leash, Chelsea's as if they had expected to go through the motions for the final minutes. A Benfica equaliser immediately looked likely, even if the nature of it was fortuitous: an Angel Di Maria penalty awarded after a VAR check found Malo Gusto guilty of a handball. Advertisement That meant extra time and, absurdly, more than four hours had passed since the game kicked off. Chelsea ended up victorious after a flurry of goals in the second half of extra time, but for players and spectators alike — both at the stadium and on TV — these delays are challenging to say the least. Oliver Kay After the extraordinary delay, Benfica knew they had five minutes of normal time plus stoppage time to find an equaliser, which they did in controversial fashion when they were awarded a penalty for handball by Malo Gusto. The move began when Benfica were awarded a soft free kick on the edge of the box after Caicedo was judged to have pulled down Di Maria. From that free-kick, Di Mari played the ball to the back post where Gusto jumped didn't connect with his defensive header. Behind him, Nicolas Otamendi did connect with his header, aiming it across the goal. And with Gusto looking towards Otamendi, the ball struck Gusto's raised left arm as he fell. The referee was watching the incident and did not give a penalty but after being called to the replay screen by the VAR he did award one, with Di Maria beating Robert Sanchez. Remarkably, this was the first time that Reece James, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer had all started a game together for Chelsea. Well, perhaps not quite so remarkable when you consider the injuries that have restricted both James and Lavia to so little football over the past two seasons. But this was a glimpse of how Chelsea could look in the season ahead if those injury problems ease: James at right-back, Lavia and Caicedo in central midfield, Fernandez a little more advanced of that duo and Pedro Neto, on this occasion, joining Palmer and Liam Delap further forward. REECE JAMES!!! 🔥 Chelsea have their first goal of the afternoon ⚽ Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #SLBCHE — DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 28, 2025 It was a surprise to see Palmer on the left: presumably a temporary measure, with Chelsea now having agreed a deal to sign England Under-21 winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund. Palmer did not look entirely comfortable there, but there were flashes of quality. Likewise from Lavia and Caicedo, who controlled the midfield. Delap's performance was less easy to evaluate, but there were more signs that his speed, aggression and direct running are excellent raw attributes to work with. Advertisement Perhaps the one disappointment was Fernandez. After his strong performances against Los Angeles FC and Esperance de Tunis in the group stage, this was a more difficult afternoon for the Argentina midfielder, facing his former club. The perfect system for Maresca's Chelsea is still to crystallise — and Palmer was far more effective in extra time after moving into a central role — but having James and Lavia fit makes such a difference. Oliver Kay Chelsea might have lost Caicedo even earlier. In the first half a heavy collision with Leandro Barreiro bent his right leg into a worrying arc and left him shouting in pain on the floor. It was the kind of moment that can lead to ligament damage, or worse. Caicedo got back up and played on, as he always does. He is a warrior, but being a warrior has its downsides. Only five players in the Premier League received more yellow cards than him (11) last season and in the 61st minute at Bank of America Stadium, he earned the booking that rules him out of Chelsea's Club World Cup quarter-final against Palmeiras. The reasoning of referee Vincic was unclear in the moment; Caicedo made no tackle to prompt the flash of yellow, but did appear to protest when teammate Marc Cucurella was penalised for a loose tackle deep in the Benfica half. If dissent was the offence, it is a cheap way for Chelsea to be deprived of arguably their most important player. Caicedo started every single Premier League game for Chelsea in 2024-25, and every cup match that mattered. There is very little indication of what Maresca will do without him in this scenario; Romeo Lavia is at least fit to deputise but new arrival Dario Essugo does not seem ready yet and the return from James' outings at the base of midfield has been decidedly mixed. Whatever alignment Maresca chooses, Chelsea's midfield is going to have a very different look and feel against Palmeiras without their player of the year. Liam Twomey Attendances have been up and down at this tournament — some genuinely impressive, some disappointing. This fell into the latter category, with large swathes of empty seats at the 74,867-capacity Bank of America Stadium. FIFA announced an official attendance of 25,929, which means the stadium was just over one-third full or nearly two-thirds empty, depending on your perspective of such matters. The city has a considerable appetite for football; Charlotte FC regularly attract 30,000-plus crowds in Major League Soccer and there was a crowd of 70,248 when Real Madrid played Pachuca last Sunday. But this knock-out game between two European clubs on a Saturday afternoon was evidently a harder sell than some of FIFA's excitable hype suggests — hard to sell at FIFA's prices, at least. Advertisement To the great credit of those who were there, many stuck around through the entire delay. Oliver Kay Chelsea staff are likely to be more familiar with Palmeiras' path to the Club World Cup last eight than most, given that Estevao is being keenly observed inside and outside the club ahead of the formal completion of his move to Stamford Bridge after the tournament. But despite being voted player of the match in two of his team's three group games and carried a lively threat against Botafogo in the round of 16, Estevao has not been the driving force behind Palmeiras' progress to this point. Abel Ferreira's team are built on a sturdy defence that has kept clean sheets in three of their four Club World Cup matches, conceding twice in a four-goal thriller against Inter Miami. They press aggressively from the front, looking to win the ball long before it can reach their defensive third. It does not always overwhelm opponents but there has been plenty of evidence in the United States that it is effective in wearing them down; all five of Palmeiras' goals in this tournament have been scored after half-time, and it was no surprise to see them come on stronger than Botafogo in extra time at Lincoln Financial Field. All eyes will understandably be on Estevao in the quarter-final, but it would be foolish for Maresca and Chelsea to focus solely on their incoming prodigy. Liam Twomey Friday, July 4: Palmeiras, Club World Cup quarter-finals (Philadelphia), 9pm ET, 2am (Saturday) UK You can sign up to DAZN to watch every FIFA Club World Cup game for free
