NEW YORK — On Sept. 2, Bianca Andreescu faces a series a firsts.
The 19-year-old Canadian will make her debut in the Round of 16 of a Grand Slam. While she won her first-ever appearance in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets, her match on at approximately 9 p.m. ET Monday night will be her first under the lights.
But the biggest first for Andreescu will be her opponent Taylor Townsend — the 23-year-old American plays a style that is extremely rare in today's game, one that Andreescu has never faced before: Townsend is a serve-and-volleyer.
Townsend's strategy harkens back to the days of tennis legends Stefan Edberg and Martina Navratilova, who have six U.S. Open singles titles between them. The last few years of the pro game have been dominated by power. An obsession with speed and force from behind the baseline has taken over as racquet and string technology has advanced.
"Martina Navratilova was my idol in terms of game style because I just loved how she was on the court, her energy, what she brought to the equation," Townsend said after advancing to her meeting with Andreescu. "She made it so interesting to watch tennis. It was more than just hitting a ball. … Not a lot of people do it, and it is kind of like a mental thing because the game moves so fast now."
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That's what makes Townsend special. Serve and volley is all about finesse and strategy; forcing a precisely placed shot by your opponent to win. It's about exact serve placement, knowing which angle to approach the net and ending the point quickly. When returning, just take out the serving part — instead, chip-and-charge and get to the net for the short game.
Townsend utilized this style to not only advance through qualifying but to upset the No. 4 seed Simona Halep in the second round and bypass Sorana Cirstea in the third. Against Halep, she won 64 of 106 net points and 47 of 75 against Cirstea, along with 33 of 53 serve-and-volley points. For comparison's sake, the Romanians combined to win 14 of 23 net points.
Let those numbers, and that wide margin, sink in.
TAYLOR TOWNSEND WITH THE UPSET 🇺🇸
— espnW (@espnW) August 29, 2019
She’s the first American woman to knock off the reigning Wimbledon champ at the @USOpen since Serena in 2008. pic.twitter.com/rC641HE7lt
The American knows how to serve and volley — forehand volleys, backhand volleys, stab volleys, drop volleys. She has all the tools to implement this game.
Andreescu said on Saturday she'll work on her passing shots in preparation for the match. That'll be a component to defeating Townsend, but there's way more needed to get the win.
When serving, a serve-and-volleyer is very exact with their placement and therefore, how they approach the net. If they're on the deuce side and serve wide they will most likely go to the net protecting the return down the line. If it is a serve that goes down the T, they'll usually come more down the middle. The whole idea is to take up space, get to the net and end the point with one serve and one volley; hence the name.
“Yeah, it was a little bit weird because it never happens on tour,” Halep said after her loss to Townsend on Thursday. “To have an opponent that is coming for actually every ball to the net. I tried to play body. I tried to play on the sides. I made also some mistakes. . . . I played a few times against her, and I knew how she’s playing, but today she changed. She went for all the balls to the net. So it was a little bit different.”
Andreescu, the Mississauga, Ont., native has one of the best returns in the game. She had seven winners off Kirsten Flipkens serve in the second round and won 53 percent of her receiving points against Wozniacki. But she'll need to be smart with placement when returning against Townsend. Like when a goalie goes out of the net to look big on a breakaway — that's the point of serve-and-volleying — approach the net to take up space and make their side of the court look small. Andreescu will need to utilize more returns down the line or straight down the middle attacking the body of Townsend. Anything less than a strong return will most likely end in a volley winner against.
MORE: Caroline Wozniacki likens Andreescu to Kim Clijsters
When Andreescu is serving, Townsend will most likely employ the chip-and-charge; getting the serve back by blocking and then getting to the net. There's also a good chance she'll stay at the baseline and approach when ready. That's the beauty of this tactic — it's an unknown element.
To defeat the lefty Townsend, Andreescu will also need to be strategic. She'll need to use not only her strong groundstrokes, pinpoint accuracy and a strong lob game but the Canadian will also need to bring to Ashe a strong mental game.
"I just think that tennis is 90 percent mental, 95 percent mental," noted Townsend after her last win regarding how mentally challenging her style of play is. "Forever I've heard the analogy it's like chess. Chess is very strategic and analytical and you have to understand, like, what's happening out on the court. It's about adjustments. You win and lose points constantly. So you have to kind of see what's happening and do make that adjustment."
This will be a big test for Andreescu, but we've seen her meet these challenges head-on before. Even if she labors and cannot advance to the quarterfinals, it's an experience that can only help her game grow and only lead to more firsts for the 19-year-old phenom.