Pasarell was a very stylish player, and was coached by the celebrated Welby Van Horn (the runner-up in the 1939 U.S. Championships) at the Caribe Hilton Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico. In his 1988 book "Open Tennis: The First Twenty Years", British news correspondent, radio commentator and sports writer Richard Evans wrote that "Lack of speed and a less than energetic attitude towards training probably prevented Pasarell from doing full justice to his ability. When we were on tour together in Africa in 1971 (for the $25,000 Marlboro African Grand Prix, along with Marty Riessen, Tom Okker and Arthur Ashe, and his [Pasarell's] new bride Shireen née Fareed), Ashe would tell the kids: 'Watch Charlie play and copy his strokes. He's got the best strokes in the world.'" Pasarell also had a very good service, and in 1967 at the U.S. National Indoors, the celebrated writer and player Eugene Scott gave the opinion that Pasarell and Ashe had the two hardest serves in the world.