At Wimbledon, the slice is not yet a dying art

WIMBLEDON, England -- In their third-round match at Wimbledon on Saturday evening, Grigor Dimitrov and Matteo Berrettini hit 128 backhand slices between them. It felt like a throwback to old times, when the slice was the go-to shot on grass, used so well by champions from Rod Laver and Martina Navratilova to Stefan Edberg and Steffi Graf.

Zipping through the court, a good slice keeps devilishly low and causes opponents all kinds of trouble. Approaching the net from the baseline usually required a slice, the perfect way to produce a simple volley to win the point.