He stands well inside the baseline as he approaches this short ball, the perfect kind on which to attempt a drop shot. While you can’t see it here, Djokovic typically waits to release his left ...

The drop shot—a slight gesture, really, better described as a “ploy” than a “stroke”—has often been maligned as cowardly. Roger Federer (ver. 1.2) once dismissed it as a “panic” shot.