The Slower Pace Player
Caroline Wozniaki
The slower pace player is a really important type of player to deal with simply because it takes less technique to slow a ball down than it does to speed it up. A slower pace player doesn't have to have good footwork, he usually just needs to get to the ball. They also do not need to learn a full stroke. Even if they did, they would slow the swing down in mid stroke anyway. Because of the nature of a slower pace player, they have more time to think about placement and different type of spins. At lower levels, the players just tap balls back. as a level gets higher and higher, the slow pace of play learns new tricks learn how to slice, they learn how to hit moon balls and they learn better footwork. All are tactics designed to extend points and keep them in rallies to test your patience.
The Faster Pace Player
Elena Dementieva
The faster pace player is more impatient than the slower pace player. Most of the time they are hoping that the pace can be sped up in the rallies so that they don't have to think about the technique. Often faster pace players do not understand why they don't like to play against slower pace players. So once they understand that they can only speed up the pace a little more than the slowest pace on the court they can win matches even though they're still not having fun. At lower levels faster pace players just hit the ball flat (no spin). But as they get higher in levels they correct their technique and learn how to place balls well even when they can't hit it that hard.
The Mixing Pace Player
Justine Henin
Certain players are adept to using a variety of spins to speed up and slow down the pace. They can use whatever pace their strategy dictates. However, some of these players have too big an ego to play slower than the other player and sometimes that causes them to lose matches.
It is very important to understand that no matter what pace you play at, the slower pace player dictates the speed of the rallies. The faster pace you want to play the harder it will be to keep up that pace unless the opponent obliges playing at the same around the same speed. So if you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in rallies that you don't normally make, ask yourself if you need to slow the pace down or speed the pace up and make adjustments.
