The all-court player is able to win from any position on the court: at the net, from the baseline, or anywhere in between. He is able to adapt to any style of play according to his opponents' skills and tactics.

He has good dependable strokes and can attack or defend from any position. 

The ACP is a confident tennis personality having the peace of mind that he can rely on his strokes in any situation that he might encounter. 

He is mentally confident and possesses the right balance of aggressiveness and patience which allows him to attack or defend with few unforced errors. 

His only big weakness, typically, is that he does not have a clear weapon. Compared to the aggressive baseline player who likes to build his tactics around his strength (forehand), the all-court player is comfortable with both sides and can control the point with less effort from either side. 

Tactics to beat the All-Court Player (ACP)

The ACPs can be masters of tactics considering they can use the whole court to their advantage. Therefore one of the main tactics against them is to keep them on the run. It can be hard for you to do that all the time but if you manage to change the pace, spin and depth of your shots, you will get the ACP out of his comfort zone. 

– When serving, prepare to hit a good percentage of first serves in to avoid their attack. If you have to hit second serves, use the ones that prevent the player from attacking you: slice low, topspin into the body or to the weaker side, and deep into the service court.

– When returning their serve, be aggressive on the second serve. Take charge of the point by hitting the ball early and angle it to make the opponent hit on the run.

The all-court players like to move the ball around inside the lines and make you run; eventually, they create a nice opening for their winning shot. So you will be chasing the ball a little until you find ways to avoid it… 

– Prepare for a long and tactically challenging match. They are like chess players who can figure you out and exploit your weaknesses. Expect to adjust and come up with creative ideas to keep the ACP from controlling the points.

– The overall mentality with which you should approach this match is to be patient first (it can be a long tactical challenge for you), consistent with your confidence (don’t give up if you find yourself frustrated with his clever attacks), and willing to believe that momentum can turn either way (hoping that at some point his strokes might fail him and you can begin playing better).

Some of the ways to prevent your opponent (ACP) from taking charge of the point are: 

– hitting mostly cross-court,

– mix up the shots’ spin, height over the net, and placement,

– court position variety: alternate between staying back and moving up to the net. 

And, after all this, you should know that even though the ACP seems to own all the shots, there are actually some that are not that strong. Figure out which ones they are and use them to your advantage.