It is hardly a secret that players on the ATP World Tour who stand below six feet have their work cut out for them. In the top 15 of the ATP rankings, there is only one player under six feet:  world No. 4 David Ferrer. In the top 50, there are only a small handful of talented players who stand below six feet, including Kei Nishikori, Fabio Fognini, Janko Tipsarevic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Nikolay Davydenko. Thus, only 12% of the top 50 is composed of men standing below six feet.

If you are looking for explanations as to why the smaller men face the biggest challenges on tour, look no further than Ferrer. The tenacious Spaniard is one of the most respected individuals on tour. His dedication to extracting every last drip of potency from his skill set is unrivaled. The 5’9” Spaniard has gone above and beyond to maximize his potential. And the lesson for other short men is that in order to be highly successful like Ferrer, they must capitalize on all of their physical/mental resources in addition to making the best use of their tennis skills.

These players must compensate for their lack of physicality by perfecting aspects of the game that work irrespective of height. For example, all of the aforementioned possess clean, technically sound strokes. Taking into consideration the forehands and backhands of all six of these players, they lack any gaping holes from the baseline. This highly tuned stroke production is critical for smaller men, who generally cannot put as much behind their shots as the bigger hitters in the game can. They value steady, dependable ball striking over powerful ball striking.

Another area in which smaller men can excel, as Ferrer has shown, is their physical resilience. Combined, Nishikori, Davydenko, Kohlschreiber, and Tipsarevic have 86 career walkovers/retirements. It is not entirely surprising to see such a high quantity of walkovers and retirements from this group, for they frequently find themselves retrieving, absorbing pace, and grinding out points. When a small man faces another small man, the match can turn into an war of attrition. A notable example of this type of match came in the 2012 US Open quarterfinal between David Ferrer and Janko Tipsarevic, which went to a fifth-set tiebreak and lasted over four and half hours. Small men like those two do have packets of power in their reserves, but they are often found running and playing defense.

As Kei Nishikori has learned, playing the best players in the world requires small men to abandon their typical style of play. Any expectation of beating superior opponents for these smaller men must come with the knowledge that consistency and defense usually will not get the job done alone.

Ferrer has won only 14 of his 69 meetings with the ATP Big Four of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Roger Federer.  This lack of success stems in part from the fact that Ferrer cannot use that steady, grinding style of play that works against almost all of his other opponents. It must be replaced with a more aggressive game plan that is less comfortable for him but has become the only way to break down the Big Four.

Another bleak reality for these smaller guys is that the leader of this group, Ferrer, has reached only one major final and won only one Masters Series 1000 title at the age of 31. In Ferrer’s defense, he has been a reliable mainstay in the second week of majors and regularly has won 55+ matches each season for the last several years. But the majority of his titles are coming at the 250 and 500 level of tournaments. Despite its achievements, Ferrer’s career shows how even the most accomplished of small men cannot quite find his way through the biggest of doors.

On the other hand, hope should not be lost for small men of the future. Gaston Gaudio at 5’9” won the French Open in 2004, Michael Chang at 5’9” won the French Open in 1989, and Andre Agassi at 5’11” won each of the four majors (eight total) during his career. If David Ferrer had played in another era, outside the golden age of the Big Four, he might well have won a major title like those men.

Height may be an advantage in men’s tennis, then, but it is not a prerequisite for success.