Christian Boussus - Playing Style

Playing Style

At the peak of his career in 1932 his play was observed by Great Britain's then active Davis Cup player Nigel Sharpe who described him as the greatest French left-hander in the following manner: "He relies upon an all-round game with volleying as his forte. There is nothing of hurricane speed in his game. He takes the ball on the rise and hist his forehand with an easy swing and without much topspin. He gets good pace in this stroke and usually relies upon it as the forerunner of a volleying campaignHis backhand is of the cut variety but although putting so much slice on it he does not let it stop him from hitting it pretty hard. This stroke, of course, has its limitations, as it is distinctly difficult to make good passing shots against an agile volleyer. This wing is Boussus' chief weakness (he) is able to make his volley down the line with great speedbut does not use his wrist quite so much". He further analysed his service game and found it be most unorthodox. Boussus completely omitted to swing his racquet behind his head while serving making his serves rather ineffective. Although this style was useful in overhead smashes when accuracy is more important than the speed. With this type of serve he also put a great spin to the ball and kept it relatively low. Later in his career he adapted to baseline play and utilized a series of dropshots in his games.