HOW ELITE TENNIS PLAYERS WILL REDEFINE DEFENCE IN 2026
How Elite Tennis Players Will Redefine Defence in 2026: By Paul Dale | The 3AM Method Turning Defence into Opportunities to Counter-Punch Modern tennis is witnessing a tactical revolution. Today's elite players like Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic are blurring the lines between defence and offence, transforming what once seemed like defensive positions into explosive counterpunching opportunities. This evolution represents a fundamental shift in how professional tennis is played at the highest level. Modern tennis analytics show that winning points from defensive positions — and transitioning effectively from defence to offence — is a critical part of elite match play today. The ATP’s Steal Score metric, for example, quantifies how often a player wins a point when in a defensive position, reflecting their ability to turn a disadvantage into a winning result. ATP Tour +1 In recent seasons, players with high Steal and Conversion scores (the latter measuring suc...