Caroline Garcia, like so many in tennis, is hitting it big—and being rewarded

I have to commit, and I have to believe I can do it—go all in. . .with commitment and confidence. Sometimes [the shot] can fly five meters behind the baseline, but it is what it is. Caroline Garcia after her upset of Coco Gauff at the Miami Open on Monday, referring to her uber-aggressive style.

Okay, there’s no need to oversell Garcia’s comment or her recent success, even if the French player also belted her way through Naomi Osaka in the previous round. Now 30, Garcia has known hard times since she peaked in the WTA rankings at No. 4 in late 2018, falling as far as No. 79 in 2022. Don’t think of her as the message (although, who knows?), accept her as the messenger.

That message is this: More than ever before, players on both tours are exploring the benefits of playing explosive, high-risk tennis, from relentlessly fine-tuning already massive serves to, perhaps even more importantly, creeping very close to the edge of recklessness at any opportunity in search of point-ending winners.

The trend is hiding in plain sight, evident in the applied power of a Jannik Sinner (finally, a tool to counteract the impregnable defense of Novak Djokovic!), the serving exhibitions put on by Ben Shelton, the let-it-all-hang out creativity of Carlos Alcaraz (whatever happened to that Spanish infatuation with clay-court tennis?). Also in progress: rekindled interest in the serve-and-volley tactic among younger players including that formidable prospect from the U.S., 6'8" 20-year old Martin Damm. If you haven’t heard of him yet, you will—soon.

But this new emphasis on bold tennis—the words “first-strike tennis” are relatively new in the vocabulary—is even more pronounced on the WTA Tour, which in the not too distant past was a happy hunting ground for patient, consistent baseliners. There have alway been exceptions, of course. But the mindset has been flipped like a mattress with deep bodily impressions on one side. The methodical, precise artisans are now in a minority.

Aryna Sabalenka is at the forefront of the trend. As recently as 2022, she was a wild child prone to over-hitting, hounded the dreaded serving yips. But she has undergone a complete makeover. Double faults are no longer a problem, nor is the temper that once was as explosive as her groundstrokes.

At Brisbane early this year, Sabalenka took so big a cut at a backhand that she ended up whacking herself in the back with the racquet (Sabalenka laughed it off, later saying: “Yeah, thank God nothing serious happen there. I'm just strong.”). Instead of dialing back her go-for-broke instincts, as a player from an earlier time might have done, Sabalenka has worked through her issues with the refrain: “Keep hitting, at some point you’ll start hitting the right targets.”

In her win over Gauff, Garcia had to weather a second-set charge by the US Open champion without losing faith in her high-risk, high-reward style. It’s a challenging proposition, because any fail can be groan-worthy.

“Sometimes it (momentum) goes on one side very quickly,” Garcia  said, adding, “I just had to keep going, believing in what I was doing.”

Garcia’s habit of standing on or inside the baseline to receive serve—regardless of who is serving—is a signature trait. She believes it helps her to do “great things,” not least because it forces her to focus on the ball toss and the exact moment of contact, then to meet the ball with a short backswing.  The aggressive attitude carries over to when Garcia, or anyone with a similar vision, is serving. Hence the growing impact of the “serve-plus-one” tactic. It is now part of Garcia’s game plan, which she sums up as one showing “full commitment.”

Keep hitting, at some point you’ll start hitting the right targets. Aryna Sabalenka

This greater willingness to gamble has made the game a lot more fun to watch. To some, it may even diminish the awe in which we regard some historic matches (Dear Nole and Rafa: couldn’t you boys find a quicker way to settle your differences in that 2012 Australian Open final that went over five hours?).

This brings up a supremely ironic point: The way the preponderance of slow courts has transformed the game, which may not be the way we usually think it did.

There’s been a lot of kvetching over the years about how slow courts have hurt tennis by promoting a one-dimensional, heavily baseline-based style. But the physical toll of struggling through long hitting contests on slow courts has over time led to a new interest in ending points with greater dispatch. So much of the tennis we see today—hitting a big ball, accepting greater risk—is less the natural outcome of playing on slow courts (like the hard courts in this ongoing Sunshine Double) than a reaction against it.

The ace, or any winner, is more coveted than ever—harder to come by, but more valuable than the latest new crypto-currency.

It isn’t easy to operate at the edge, which is one of the reasons Garcia has struggled with her confidence. A lot can turn in any match on an overcooked forehand, a mistimed break-point serve return, those moments that Garcia described as the “little details” that can leave you the author of your own demise. But more and more players seem prepared to embrace that risk. Those who fail to do so may find themselves spinning their wheels. It helps to adopt a gambler’s way of looking at things.

“Well, it’s one point,” Garcia said of aggressive strikes go awry, “If it isn’t paying this week it will pay next week.”