OFTEN players on the ATP Tour might pop up during a certain season and remind you of just what they are capable of. Then, just as they had appeared, they are gone in the blink of an eye, falling back into obscurity to hibernate until the next similar season. This is because some players are just suited to the surface and are yet to really take hold of other surfaces. On this list, we take a look at three grass court dominant players who are really one-surface dominant ATP players who range from inside the top 20 to outside the top 50.

The rankings are taken from the Elo ratings on Tennis Abstract, which is a great way of determining who has really been in form the last year. Those players are rated on their form against opponents rather than just tournaments, so beating top players count for more than winning lowly ranked tournaments against weaker opponents.

HARD COURT:

In this edition we take a look at the hard court dominant players, and this is often less noticeable on Tour because hard court events make up more than half of the Tour. They can be indoor or outdoor, but as a whole, if you are dominant on hard court, you can generally find yourself high up on the world rankings without too much impact. If a player could pick one surface to be dominant at, it would be on hard court as it has the most points on offer in a calendar year.

Alex de Minaur

Overall: 19th
Hard: 13th

The Australian is a really unique prospect. He is what you would determine as an all-court player who has a lot of tricks he can implement, but nothing you would consider a massive weapon. His court coverage, in particular his return game is quite impressive, and he is able to get to balls from the net to the baseline, with consistent and varied shots off either side. His drives have enough power to do the job, but it is more about placement rather than anything else, with less errors and more variety than his peers which is how he can often challenge and topple the better players. But more importantly, it is the fact he has no issues with using his forehand, or backhand and therefore is able to cover the court so effectively. If you could sum up de Minaur, it would be consistency. He does not have any massive weapon other than his court coverage, but he also does not have any major flaw. He just has not had the success on courts other than hard thus far.

Vasek Pospisil

Overall: 20th
Hard: 15th

It is a lot easier to explain the success of the Canadian on hard courts. Unlike de Minaur, he is a big server. He wins a lot of points off his serve, from aces to his first and second serve points, looking to control play from the get-go. The issue is, he has a lower serve percentage and higher ratio of double faults to go with it, which means if his serve is off, he can be in trouble. His forehand is okay, but nothing special, and his backhand is a real weakness which can leave him exploited by the more consistent players. Much like other big servers, if clever return players or counter punchers can weather the storm and read his serves, then they will have a massive chance of beating him. The one weapon he has compared to a lot of other servers on tour is the fact he is not afraid to come to the net and is actually one of the best serve-volleyers on Tour. He can mix it up from his pure power off his serve, and add that slight element of surprise in his game. If a player is able to predict when and where Pospisil is moving, he is beatable, but one can see how the hard court plays into his hands.

Emil Ruusuvuori

Overall: 53rd
Hard: 33rd

The Finn is the same age as de Minaur and you could argue he is like a lesser version of him. He lacks a weapon, but is just solid across all front. He does not have a dominant forehand, backhand or serve, but they are good enough to get the job done if he is consistent enough on the day and his opponent is a touch below. The big difference between Ruusuvuori and de Minaur at this stage is the fact that de Minaur’s retrieving game is elite, and Ruusuvori’s is getting there, but he relies on his opponent making mistakes. His career path could be similar to de Minaur, but he needs to add some more consistency, but as a raw talent, the hard court dominant player has some good variety to his game that should see him succeed more than one-weapon players on Tour.