The Best Shots in Tennis – 5. The Drop Shot

If there’s one shot that’s earned the wrath of the purists so often that we’ve actually become convinced that using it amounts to moral bankruptcy, it is the dropshot. That little artful piece of trickery, that deceitful sleight of hand employed only by the crooked of mind – surely no honorable player should stoop so low as to try and cheat his opponent out of a point by forcing him to sprint to the net? Unfortunately for the traditionalists, the players of this generation didn’t get the memo detailing all the evils of the dropshot, so they’ve pretty much gone in the opposite direction – it’s come to a stage where no young player can rest in peace unless he uses the dropshot at least, oh, a hundred times every match. And who can blame them if the strategy proves effective? It’s all about the percentages – if you can make the shot work more often than not, it’s worth taking the risk, right? Continuing with our series on the best shots in tennis today, we take a look at the dropshot.

Men – The Contenders: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Jurgen Melzer, Ernests Gulbis, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet

You know the dropshot is spreading its ultra-modern tentacles and firmly establishing itself in the psyche of tennis players all over the world when that classicist of classicists, Roger Federer, actually hires a coach just to learn this one shot. The rumors were never confirmed, but there were more than a few whispers when Federer signed on Jose Higueras to be his coach back in 2008 that the assignment came with a set of clear instructions, foremost among which was – teach me the forehand dropshot. Federer hadn’t yet conquered Roland Garros back then, if you remember, and the dropshot is as good a way as any to make a breakthrough on clay; the farther behind the baseline a player retreats, the more effective a dropshot can be. If you’re wondering why Federer went 10 whole years on the pro circuit before even attempting to learn what has come to be one of the most important shots of the modern game, I should remind you of Federer’s stubborn sense of traditionalism – he actually thought playing a dropshot was a dishonorable way of trying to win a point. Thankfully he’s rid himself of that kind of archaic thinking, and today his forehand dropshot can rival his backhand dropshot (which has always been very good) for its quality and disguise. Still, Federer doesn’t always choose the best moment to use the dropshot; moreover, when the opponent manages to get the ball back, Federer’s follow-up shot can sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

Andy Murray sets up to hit his deadly drop shot

Jurgen Melzer has been using the dropshot, and using it effectively, for close to a decade now, and his recent run of success has brought this highly underrated weapon into the limelight. Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils bring a certain flair to the dropshot that only a Frenchman can, while Ernests Gulbis can legitimately rank the dropshot as one of the very few shots he doesn’t routinely send ten feet long or tamely into the net. Novak Djokovic can make you drop your jaw in awe when he carves up a perfectly disguised dropshot that leaves his opponent completely flummoxed, but he can also make you tear your hair in frustration when he resorts to the dropshot as a cop-out and ends up sending it to the bottom of the net. That leaves us with Andy Murray, who not only has the uncanny ability to choose exactly the right moment to hit a dropshot, but can also follow up the dropper with the highest quality lob or the most pinpoint passing shot that makes viewers feel that he’s actually toying with his opponent. Of course, that satisfied smirk that sometimes crosses Murray’s face after one of his successful attempts at outfoxing the opponent through his deadly dropshot-lob combination only adds to the whole ‘I-can-run-rings-around-your-game-with-my-court-smarts’ impression that he seems to want to bring to the court.

Winner: Andy Murray

Women – The Contenders: Jelena Jankovic, Justine Henin, Agnieszka Radwanska, Maria Kirilenko, Daniela Hantuchova, Anna Chakvetadze

Here we go again – it’s time to bash the ball-bashers. How many women today actually use shots that even remotely involve touch or finesse? The logic goes something like this: when you can hit the cover off the ball and send your opponent scrambling in every direction to just get a racquet on the ball, why bother trying to employ cute little changes of pace? In other words, why try to outwit your opponent when you can outmuscle her? The problem with scoffing at the apparent dumbness of this line of thinking is that the no-smarts-pure-power type of players have been doing pretty well for themselves the past few years – this decade, the Slams have been dominated by the Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters, with only the tiny little Justine Henin managing to insert some semblance of artistry in the midst of the thundering violence of the big-hitters. And yes, as you’d expect, Henin is one of the very few women who realizes the true value of the dropshot, hitting it with élan and conviction, often with spectacular results.

Agnieszka Radwanska is all focus as she hits a backhand dropper

Anna Chakvetadze, the forgotten Russian who at one point inspired comparisons with Martina Hingis for her chess-like game built on strategy and cunning, still possesses a mean dropshot today. Maria Kirilenko is another Russian who isn’t all about the screaming and the explosive hitting – her dismantling of Maria Sharapova at this year’s Australian Open when she repeatedly forced Sharapova to come forward through a mixture of dropshots and drop volleys was a lesson in playing a power baseliner. Jelena Jankovic has a game tailor-made for clay, and she has a dropshot tailor-made to take advantage of her opponents withdrawing way behind the baseline in their bid to counter her clever counter-punching. Daniela Hantuchova can hit every shot in the book with authority and the dropshot is no exception; the only problem is that she’s just as likely to dump a dropper into the net as she is to hit a perfectly undercut, viciously spinning one that the opponent has no absolutely no chance of even getting close to. But it is the little-known Polish youngster Agnieszka Radwanska who wins my vote here; her dropshot has it all – fantastic disguise, superb touch and most importantly, perfect timing. Radwanska has often been accused of lacking the firepower to hang with the big girls, so it is no surprise that she has developed a variety of other weapons to stay competitive with the field. She uses the dropshot as an offensive tool as well as a defensive shield – and she does it better than just about any other woman on the planet today.

Winner: Agnieszka Radwanska

Read about the best shots in tennis:

1. The Serve

2. The Forehand

3. The Return of Serve

4. The Volley

6. Movement

7. The Backhand

8. The Head