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Interesting tennis mind.
Dustin Brown: Tennis outlier, tennis intellect
12h -
Carl Bialik
LONDON -- Dustin Brown is an outlier of a tennis player in ways both superficial and deep. He looks different than other players at Wimbledon: He has long dreadlocks and his torso bears a tattoo of his father. And Brown plays differently, serving and volleying on nearly every serve, while approaching the net on return behind forehand slices and drop shots, as he did repeatedly on his way to upsetting two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal on Thursday.
To a member of his coaching team, Brown is an outlier in another, less obvious way: He has a keen, analytical mind for tennis.
Craig O'Shannessy, who has also coached Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram, recalled in an interview Friday what he thought when he first talked tennis with Brown about five years ago: "Thank goodness, we've got a tennis mind here."
What stood out to O'Shannessy was Brown's focus on his opponent's game rather than his own. O'Shannessy says eight or nine out of 10 players focus on their own game. Brown, though, "is on the good side of the coin."
"He is one of the smartest players I've ever worked with," O'Shannessy said.
Brown's game can look instinctive rather than considered: half-volley drop shots, ferocious flat returns and drive backhand volleys. But there is method to what sometimes looks like madness. "I want Dustin's game to look like complete chaos to the world, but it's all organized," said O'Shannessy, who focuses on analysis in his work with Brown.
What works for Brown can't work for everyone. Brown has unique tools, honed from practicing unusual shots endlessly since he first picked up a racket as a boy in Germany. The typical player has tried some of Brown's favored shots -- like those drop-shot returns -- only occasionally in practice and lacks the confidence to try them in a match. Tactics the coach would never advise for other players are high-percentage plays for Brown.
"A lot of percentages here really shift because he's practiced and perfected difficult elements of the game," O'Shannessy said.
The result is a game style that is distinctive to Brown, so opponents can't feel comfortable facing him. Who would they even choose for a practice partner? The last time Nadal faced someone like Brown was when he played Brown himself last June, losing 6-4, 6-1 in Halle, Germany.
Brown is a statistical outlier, too. He has served and volleyed on 80 percent of his second serves so far at Wimbledon, compared to five percent overall in men's singles through Friday afternoon, according to official stats-keepers IBM. And Brown is leading all men with 20 return winners, seven more than runner-up Ivo Karlovic, the man left in the draw who plays the most like Brown.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon15/story/_/id/13193527/wimbledon-dustin-brown-organized-chaos
Dustin Brown: Tennis outlier, tennis intellect
12h -
Carl Bialik
LONDON -- Dustin Brown is an outlier of a tennis player in ways both superficial and deep. He looks different than other players at Wimbledon: He has long dreadlocks and his torso bears a tattoo of his father. And Brown plays differently, serving and volleying on nearly every serve, while approaching the net on return behind forehand slices and drop shots, as he did repeatedly on his way to upsetting two-time Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal on Thursday.
To a member of his coaching team, Brown is an outlier in another, less obvious way: He has a keen, analytical mind for tennis.
Craig O'Shannessy, who has also coached Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram, recalled in an interview Friday what he thought when he first talked tennis with Brown about five years ago: "Thank goodness, we've got a tennis mind here."
What stood out to O'Shannessy was Brown's focus on his opponent's game rather than his own. O'Shannessy says eight or nine out of 10 players focus on their own game. Brown, though, "is on the good side of the coin."
"He is one of the smartest players I've ever worked with," O'Shannessy said.
Brown's game can look instinctive rather than considered: half-volley drop shots, ferocious flat returns and drive backhand volleys. But there is method to what sometimes looks like madness. "I want Dustin's game to look like complete chaos to the world, but it's all organized," said O'Shannessy, who focuses on analysis in his work with Brown.
What works for Brown can't work for everyone. Brown has unique tools, honed from practicing unusual shots endlessly since he first picked up a racket as a boy in Germany. The typical player has tried some of Brown's favored shots -- like those drop-shot returns -- only occasionally in practice and lacks the confidence to try them in a match. Tactics the coach would never advise for other players are high-percentage plays for Brown.
"A lot of percentages here really shift because he's practiced and perfected difficult elements of the game," O'Shannessy said.
The result is a game style that is distinctive to Brown, so opponents can't feel comfortable facing him. Who would they even choose for a practice partner? The last time Nadal faced someone like Brown was when he played Brown himself last June, losing 6-4, 6-1 in Halle, Germany.
Brown is a statistical outlier, too. He has served and volleyed on 80 percent of his second serves so far at Wimbledon, compared to five percent overall in men's singles through Friday afternoon, according to official stats-keepers IBM. And Brown is leading all men with 20 return winners, seven more than runner-up Ivo Karlovic, the man left in the draw who plays the most like Brown.
http://espn.go.com/tennis/wimbledon15/story/_/id/13193527/wimbledon-dustin-brown-organized-chaos
