shakes1975
Semi-Pro
i feel that fed was serving well enough to borrow sampras' approach in a match. Not always, but yesterday he was serving big enough and hitting his forehands hard enough to take this approach. I mean 25 aces on these slower courts means he was serving out-of-his-world.
[There was a video on BBC (somebody already mentioned this) where the analysis showed that the balls are travelling up to 9 mph slower after the bounce compared to 2003. That is just a huge difference.]
I notice that fed plays every game and every point with the same focus and determination (that's why he is able to dish out so many bagels and breadsticks). After all, he's a dedicated proffesional. But, like every human, he cannot maintain that focus through a 5-set match and this gives rise to lapses in concentration. Against nadal, these lapses in concentration have proved to be very costly time and again.
I think fed should borrow sampras' tactics in this regard. sampras, if you remember, first and foremost, always focussed on holding his serve as consistently and easily as possible. On his opponent's service games, he is focussed to some extent, but he's not desperate or doesn't play every point with a sense of urgency. He's content to take a few calculated big swings and some risks. Sampras rarely played a lot of rallies or rarely ran around a lot during his opponent's service games. If he feels he's being jerked around the court, he's content to just let the ball pass by (unless it's a set-point or a match-point) instead of running and running to save the point. I feel fed makes this mistake of trying to play every ball and every point to his full ability.
I think he would do better to be super-focussed on his service games, and just be a little alert on his opponent's service games. Take a few calculated swings, and maybe a couple of errors might come.
Sampras' approach is extremely useful and it shows how clever sampras was. This approach has the following benefits:
1. If fed's opponent is a someone like nadal who doesn't have the biggest serve and who likes to play rallies, esp. at the beginning of the match, it will not allow his opponent to get into the rhythm or groove. These guys love to play long, long rallies. Their whole game is based on rallies and stamina and concentration.
2. If fed is able to hold his serve easily, there is a chance that nadal will feel the pressure as the set goes on, and he will eventually make some errors. fed can then pounce on them.
3. If fed still cannot break serve, he can at least push the set into a tie-breaker, and given his bigger serve and tie-break record, fed has a much better chance to win it. If you will see, fed leads 5-1 in tie-breaks against nadal at wimbledon, mainly because of his serve advantage.
4. And lastly, but most importantly, by relaxing a little during his opponent's service games, fed will not face the issue of having to concentrate extra hard all the time for the full match. Due to his eagerness to play his best every game, he ends up losing his concentration at wrong moments (like on his own serve, for example).
I think if he follows this strategy, he can prolong his career significantly. It should be remembered that every tennis player has a fixed number of miles on his legs. Once that mileage has been reached, he cannot maintain his speed and explosiveness. fed has to be careful to prevent such a thing from happening.
One area where fed can improve is his instincts and anticipation at the net. Fed's volleys, as a stand-alone, are pretty good and he has good reflexes. But one mistake that fed makes when he hits an approach shot is that after he hits the shot, he watches what nadal is doing and then comes in to the net. Too many times, because of this, he's caught in no-mans-land and has to hit a low volley. i feel that once he decides to come in, he should just try to get as close to the net as is practical, so he may either get passed, but if not, he can get a higher ball to volley everytime.
[There was a video on BBC (somebody already mentioned this) where the analysis showed that the balls are travelling up to 9 mph slower after the bounce compared to 2003. That is just a huge difference.]
I notice that fed plays every game and every point with the same focus and determination (that's why he is able to dish out so many bagels and breadsticks). After all, he's a dedicated proffesional. But, like every human, he cannot maintain that focus through a 5-set match and this gives rise to lapses in concentration. Against nadal, these lapses in concentration have proved to be very costly time and again.
I think fed should borrow sampras' tactics in this regard. sampras, if you remember, first and foremost, always focussed on holding his serve as consistently and easily as possible. On his opponent's service games, he is focussed to some extent, but he's not desperate or doesn't play every point with a sense of urgency. He's content to take a few calculated big swings and some risks. Sampras rarely played a lot of rallies or rarely ran around a lot during his opponent's service games. If he feels he's being jerked around the court, he's content to just let the ball pass by (unless it's a set-point or a match-point) instead of running and running to save the point. I feel fed makes this mistake of trying to play every ball and every point to his full ability.
I think he would do better to be super-focussed on his service games, and just be a little alert on his opponent's service games. Take a few calculated swings, and maybe a couple of errors might come.
Sampras' approach is extremely useful and it shows how clever sampras was. This approach has the following benefits:
1. If fed's opponent is a someone like nadal who doesn't have the biggest serve and who likes to play rallies, esp. at the beginning of the match, it will not allow his opponent to get into the rhythm or groove. These guys love to play long, long rallies. Their whole game is based on rallies and stamina and concentration.
2. If fed is able to hold his serve easily, there is a chance that nadal will feel the pressure as the set goes on, and he will eventually make some errors. fed can then pounce on them.
3. If fed still cannot break serve, he can at least push the set into a tie-breaker, and given his bigger serve and tie-break record, fed has a much better chance to win it. If you will see, fed leads 5-1 in tie-breaks against nadal at wimbledon, mainly because of his serve advantage.
4. And lastly, but most importantly, by relaxing a little during his opponent's service games, fed will not face the issue of having to concentrate extra hard all the time for the full match. Due to his eagerness to play his best every game, he ends up losing his concentration at wrong moments (like on his own serve, for example).
I think if he follows this strategy, he can prolong his career significantly. It should be remembered that every tennis player has a fixed number of miles on his legs. Once that mileage has been reached, he cannot maintain his speed and explosiveness. fed has to be careful to prevent such a thing from happening.
One area where fed can improve is his instincts and anticipation at the net. Fed's volleys, as a stand-alone, are pretty good and he has good reflexes. But one mistake that fed makes when he hits an approach shot is that after he hits the shot, he watches what nadal is doing and then comes in to the net. Too many times, because of this, he's caught in no-mans-land and has to hit a low volley. i feel that once he decides to come in, he should just try to get as close to the net as is practical, so he may either get passed, but if not, he can get a higher ball to volley everytime.
