first strike

Using her height to generate power, Williams changed the face of the WTA Tour with her aggressive, first-strike tennis.

At Wimbledon, where Sabalenka has reached the semi-finals on her most recent two appearances, the faster courts suit her first-strike tennis.

Grass-court tennis in particular is about first-strike tennis, even more so when you're playing someone who likes to dictate early in the rally like Vondrousova.

Indeed, the Dodgers entered the night 24th in the majors with a 59.8% first-strike rate, a problem Roberts believes has led to too many long innings, and too large a workload for the staff.

Eight years later, the Mariners are chasing down an MLB record for first-strike percentage, the one data point they value above everything in pitching.