- Playing down the line reduces the distance between Player A and the ball, given Player A less time to play the ball.
- This option also forces A to move quite far and fast to his forehand, meaning that Player A is likely to be moving when hitting the ball. Since the majority of players are actually worse at hitting the forehand when moving in that direction, Player A may find it harder to make a good stroke.
- If Player A is already moving towards his backhand side, playing down the line may catch Player A flat footed, unable to change his momentum in time.
When Player B is extremely off balance, he may decide that he is not going to recover in time to play his next stroke anyway, and decide to try to hit a winner. In this case, by giving Player A less time to play the ball, and making Player A move to his right to get to the ball, Player B increases his chances of stealing the point with an unexpected winner. Player B should attack as hard and fast as he can, since he is not expecting to get to the next ball anyway. This is a gamble reserved for when Player B is desperate, since if Player A gets to the ball all he has to do is block the ball to the wide open court, using the natural angle available to him.
Conversely, when Player B is balanced and has good court speed, this option can also be a very good choice. Once again, it puts Player A under a great deal of pressure, with the addition that unless Player A manages to put the ball very wide to Player B's forehand, Player B is likely to be able to hit another attack with his forehand, since it is hard for Player A to get at Player B's backhand. Player B can choose to vary the pace and spin on his attack as desired, since this is not a last chance gamble, but a calculated attack on his part. Remember, Player B better have fast feet though!