In recent years, many of the players especially in the men’s tour have opted for a deeper return position rather than the more traditional return position at the baseline to block or return early.

The stand-out player on tour with a deep return position is Daniil Medvedev. He is probably the only player who stands so far behind the baseline to return the serves of his opponent on all surfaces. There are a couple of others like Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz who have also adopted the deep return position on all surfaces, but they do not go as far back as Medvedev does on the return.

Medvedev tends to return serve from far behind the baseline. *Image* *https://www.usopen.org/*

Let's examine some of the advantages of the deep return position.

Faster First Serve Return

The deep return position also allows you to be more aggressive on the first serve since there is more time to react and set up for a solid return. Although you will be giving up court position, you will be able to return the first serve with more power.

Effectively More Accurate And Controlled Return

The deep return position also allows you to be more accurate and play a controlled return. With increased time to react, you can pick the shots better and put them in the right spots. This will help to make your returns difficult for your opponent to attack and give you an edge in the rally that follows.

Getting More Balls In Play And Extending Each Point

Trying to return first serves and getting the ball back in play allows you to have increased chances of breaking your opponent early, turning defence into offence, and not giving away any free points to your opponent on their first serves.

Now I'll examine some of the disadvantages of the deep return position.

Opponent Serves And Volley

Standing deep behind the baseline on the return gives your opponent an easier opening to serve and volley. If you are standing too far behind the baseline, your opponent can take advantage of that and come to the net more often, as you will have difficulty hitting a passing shot.

Tiring Out Easily

The deep return position also requires more movement from side to side and front to back as you move around the court to return. This can tire you out quickly if you’re not used to it.

Court Limitations

Some courts have smaller run-off, making it difficult and risky to return the ball that might end up close to the fence or the line judges. A slice serve or a kick-serve can often push the returner wide and put them in a difficult position to return the ball.

Risk Of A Short Return

Standing too far behind the baseline can also result in a short return, which can give your opponent an easy put-away.

To Sum Up

The main goal the players want to achieve by standing so far behind the baseline to receive the first serve is to make sure that there is enough space for the ball to drop before receiving it at an ideal height, putting the ball back in play.

Playing from a deep return position only makes the returner temporarily vulnerable and by putting more balls in play on returns, it effectively provides more opportunities for you to turn defence into offence.

Several top pro players had a fair amount of success despite giving up court position on the return of serves as the current game lacks serve-and-volleyers. Players on tour in the last decade do not play serve-and-volleys as often or as well as they once did, thus making it more advantageous for the players with deep return positions.

However, as more players adopt the deeper return position, we have seen a lot more players within the last year playing the serve+1 (volleys, drop shot) tactic on tour. Particularly, younger players like Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune who choose to keep the points short and impactful with drop shots and volleys.

The game now consists of fewer long rallies and more short points utilising a big serve followed by a volley or even a drop shot. This means that we may see more players play serve and volley more often on tour.

Most importantly, the game of tennis is very diverse, and there is no correct way to win points and matches. Daniil Medvedev adopts a very unconventional way of tennis while Novak Djokovic plays more conventional tennis. Both are still winning on tour despite the different approaches.

The deep return position has both its advantages and disadvantages. It can be used to great effect if done correctly but there are certainly risks associated with this strategy as well. Ultimately, whether a player should stand further back from the baseline or not depends on their style of play and what works best for them in any given situation. Thus, each player must decide for themselves how far they feel comfortable standing behind the baseline when returning serves - only then will they be able to maximise their potential on the court.

Should You Be Standing Further Behind The Baseline To Return Serves?