Wearing a tennis visor and holding a racket, Snoopy is usually shown approaching opponents confidently, until play begins. In his first appearance, he states that he hates it when his opponents serve hard, after an opponent's serve flips him upside down. In the June 10, 1976 strip, he tells Charlie Brown that he hates playing against such top players as Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors because they "keep hitting the ball back."