The Stroke Dynamics
In today's game the forehand, backhand, serve, volley, and slice have not changed, but the way they are hit has. In the past tennis pros basically hit forward more than up against the back, causing it to land nearer to the baseline. They played a very aggressive hit a winner on the next point approach, some hit with a lot of accuracy while some not so much. In today's game the stroke dynamics have changed drastically, they tack on what is called the windshield wiper technique on to the ball, which causes the strings to brush up and over the ball. This improved the consistency of the pros and allowed them to play longer points, introducing the unforced error counter into the game. Today's game has it so that the player with the most consistency will win more points vs a player who goes all out on his stroke. Look at the picture of Bjorn Borg on the right, he is hitting a backhand about shoulder height and will most likely drive it down the line or go cross court with it. On the bottom Nadal demonstrates how the modern pros hit the forehand, with extreme racquet head speed and brushing up the ball.
The table on the bottom shows the average speed and spin of the top pros, though the tables a little outdated now, it shows how Pete Sampras only generated about 1,800 rpm's on his forehand, vs what nadal does with his 3200 rpm rating.
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