I watched a lot of #tennis in 80s and 90s and I've only recently started following it again a bit more.
Back then hardly anyone ever played stops on clay court (or other surfaces, mostly makes sense on clay to begin with, I suppose).
They seem to be very common now, I wonder why?
Probably not player skill and if anything players are more athletic and faster to the net. Is it because players hit harder and therefore tend to be further back in the court, becoming more susceptible to stops?
@finestructure I think it’s a combination of the gear getting better (rackets nowadays are to 90s rackets what they themselves were to 60s rackets) and players realising drop shots are incredibly effective at depleting the opponent’s stamina: even if they get to it and win the point, they had to expense a lot of energy to get it, more than if they just slugged the point comfortably behind the baseline.
@layoutSubviews Yeah, it feels like it's mostly the latter - you need to stay somewhat close to the net but at the same time gear and power have developed such that you're then more open to get overpowered on the base line.
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