What is a winner in tennis?

Tennis is a racquet sport where points are won by winning rallies against your opponent on the other side of the net. Points in tennis are won by forcing the opponent to make an error by sending the ball out of bounds or inside the net. The other way to win a point is by hitting a shot within bounds that is out of the reach of the opponent or one he or she can’t effectively return. When a shot hit by a player is out of the reach of his or her opponent and wins the player a point, then the player is said to have hit a winner.

When a player hits a legal serve and the returner is unable to make contact with the ball with the racquet, then it is called an ace. An ace also counts as a winner. Some tennis dictionaries state that if a returner manages to make contact with the ball, but is unable to return the serve to the other side, then even that is counted as a winner. This is the only form of winner where the point is scored as a winner despite the player making contact with the racquet. 

Winners can be hit in a manner that the ball zooms past the receiver after a baseline rally and also by hitting a drop shot that can take the receiver by surprise. Hitting a winner requires clean and consistent shot making in order to surge ahead in the match. A player’s winner count is constantly compared with the amount of unforced errors he or she has hit in the match.

A higher winner count compared to unforced error count is indicative of the fact that the player has been in fine touch throughout the match. If the count of unforced errors is more, then it suggests that the player has had a bad day at the office. If both the amount of winners and unforced errors hit in the match are nearly same, then it means that the player has had his or her share of highs and lows in the match.
Winners thus determine the nature of a player’s style of play and also aids him or her to rake up points more quickly.