Venus vs. Serena: The serve

[Colin]

Now that Venus is figuring out how to better manage her condition, should she spend the off season working with Serena on her serve?

Arguably, Venus' first serve, when it's on, is the most dangerous (certainly the fastest). Problem is it's not on for a consistent amount of time in a match, and her second serve causes her unneeded turmoil. Serena, by contrast, seems to be so dominant just because she gets so many free points on serve or sets herself up for a one-two punch so often it's nearly impossible to break her. And her second serve is so much better than the other women (except Stosur).

If Venus conquers the fatigue/health issue (or at least disguises it enough) and can improve her serve consistency, she has so much going for her in this WTA crowd even at this age with her athleticism and power at the net. It might not serve her that well early in the year, but come summer and Wimbledon/U.S. Open, she might just be a contender again, one last time.

Problem is she just likes to go for that first serve, like Sharapova. (So many similarities to Maria ... it's not a surprise that, as Lindsay Davenport explained, Serena is able to play Maria so well with her power game because it's so much like Venus.) But Maria came back from injury and has steadily improved consistency, enough to be No. 2 now.

Can Venus do something with her toss, technique or mindset to improve as well, or is it just too late at this point?

[Federerx16]

Her fatigue issues have been a huge inhibitor to her serve, I'm sure.

[Razoredge]

Just goes to show what a mediocre player she is without a good serve to hide behind, hopefully Serena loses her serve and gets exposed next.

[Sabratha]

The Williams sisters are all about the serve.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by Sabratha

The Williams sisters are all about the serve.

I think Venus' serve is letting her down, but she does have a lot going for her even being fairly old for the tour and suffering from fatigue: aggressive mentality, never-say-die fight, a world-class backhand, net play that's much better than most on tour.

I doubt she'll go for it, but she could possibly be more successful teaming with a good doubles player (other than Serena) and treating singles as a secondary objective.

I'm really interested to see how this year plays out for her now that she has some experience managing her disease and has been getting her ranking up. I think she'll make the semis of a major at least.

(P.S. Why did I post this in match results? )

[jones101]

At 32 I doubt the Queen will be changing anything significant to her serve.

Like Colin said, her main problem is she likes to go for too much, and needs to serve more intelligently.

[Bertie B]

I think Serena has/had a sharper eye for detail, and was more coachable. Venus, I believe, saw outside coaching/advice as an ego assault that ought to be emphatically rejected. This reception naturally discouraged smart people from helping. Serena, I suspect, even if she didn't agree in her heart-or-hearts still humored advisers to be polite.

[NadalAgassi]

Yes Serena is all about serve when on any good day she can easily crush Azarenka and Sharapova 1 and 1 or 1 and 0. That lucky Serena, the WTA rules allowing her to hit all those serves to break her opponents serve so easily, LOL!

[Razoredge]

Yeah Azarenka and Sharapova are real impressive tennis players. Very complete and varied games, no holes at all. Phenomenal athletes. Amazing serves.

Oh wait that's the opposite of what's true.

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by Sabratha

The Williams sisters are all about the serve.

Nothing wrong with being all about the serve. Becoming the best at the most important shot in the game would seem to be a really good idea to me.

[stringertom]

Originally Posted by Sabratha

The Williams sisters are all about the serve.

Besides the Williams sisters and a few other select players (Masha, Stosur, Lisicki), the WTA is all about not having a serve. This would explain Serena's ability as a bagel/breadstick baker.

[Razoredge]

Originally Posted by stringertom

Besides the Williams sisters and a few other select players (Masha, Stosur, Lisicki), the WTA is all about not having a serve. This would explain Serena's ability as a bagel/breadstick baker.

Masha doesn't have a good serve. Maybe very, very rarely will she actually serve at a decent level but even then it's not anywhere near Serena's level which is horrible considering that she is 6'2.

Stosur and Liscki are just not consistent enough, same thing for someone like Goerges.

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by Razoredge

Masha doesn't have a good serve. .

That seems a bit extreme to me. Maybe too inconsistent to be a great serve, but certainly it is a good serve (now that her injury is much better).

[DRII]

Originally Posted by Razoredge

Just goes to show what a mediocre player she is without a good serve to hide behind, hopefully Serena loses her serve and gets exposed next.

Hate much?

I don't think its Venus' serve that has let her down the most since her illness, which I believe affected her at times even before it became so acute; Venus' movement (which was the best I've ever seen from any woman) is what is most damaging now. She moves like 30% of what she used to...