M. Keefe Gorman presently serves as a managing director of a Division 1 wealth management team with Merrill Lynch. Outside of his work with Merrill Lynch, M. Keefe Gorman plays a number of sports, including golf and tennis.
Like golf, tennis is often referred to as a game individuals can play from childhood through old age. Over a lifetime of play, an individual will develop a unique style that generally can fall into one of four categories. The grinder, or pusher, is often referred to as a human backboard. This type of player possesses no weapons beyond elite consistency and impressive stamina. A grinder rarely misses a shot and will never beat themselves, but can be defeated by an aggressive yet measured approach to the net, which eliminates the pusher’s running game. Similar to the grinder is the counter puncher, another fast and balanced player who rarely makes errors. Unlike the grinder the counter is not afraid to attack. The counter puncher, however, still lacks a finishing shot and relies on using his or her opponent’s pace and angles against them. Attacking the net is again the winning strategy, but the counter puncher is much more capable of ripping a passing shot when compared to the grinder.
The aggressive baseliner is the natural progression from a counter puncher. This type of player is capable of hitting winning groundstrokes from anywhere on the court, and often will do just that. These players are prone to making many errors, and while they are capable of hitting a less aggressive player off of the court, a patient tactician can begin drawing these errors consistently as a match wears on. The final type of tennis player is the serve and volleyer. This player has a serve with pace and control that sets up an easy approach to net. Against a solid serve and volley player, opponents must simply focus on their own service games and wait for the occasional mishit serve that can be attacked for a passing shot.
Michael Keefe Gorman 