Nadals game and Grass.

S

Scud

Guest
Some people already said it. Let me
try to summarize what I believe is
the wisest way to descibe Nadal as
a grass court player:

* his great topspin is not that effective on
grass.

* his defensive skills, where he stands so far behind the baseline (including when he hits return
of serve), is not that effective om grass.

* his twisted serve is not that effective on grass (he does not have a very good flat serve).

Some people want to compare him to Hewitt. They
say: if Hewitt can play on grass, the Nadal should
be able to do it. Its not really true. Hewitt is a good
example of the modern contrapunching grass court player.
He can take the ball very early and re-direct it (nadal can
not handle the speed that well). Nadals defensive skills is
more based on the fact that he stands far behind the baseline
(which is not possible on grass). Hewitt can react very, very
fast. Even faster than Nadal. Thats why he can handle the
grass better. Also:he hits the ball flat while Nadal hits the
ball with heavy spin. Hewitt then, I would argue, is a little
bit more of a natural grass court player, just as Nadal is a
far more natural clay courter than Hewitt.

Nadal is capable of becoming a very good grass court player
I think. But I doubt he will become one of the top 10 best
grass court players in the world.
 

TennisDog

Banned
There is no such thing as a flat serve. All serves have spin. Sampras' serves had the highest top and sidespin on the tour and he held serve 90% of the time and won Wimbledon a record 7 times. Some of Sampras' serves turned at over 5400 RPM double of most other players on the tour today.

Even on grass topspin is extremely important and more so than on other surfaces. Because grass results in lower spin (but faster speed) after the bounce than clay its imperative to put as much spin as possible on the ball.
 

superman1

Legend
Not really. Many of the greatest grass court players (Sampras, Becker) hit the ball flat. And Nadal's type of spin is much different than Federer's, which is more effective on grass. Nadal hits up on the ball to make it heavier. Federer hits through the ball to make it fly through the court. Nadal can flatten out, but he's still just not good enough to have a chance against the best grass court players.
 

OrangeOne

Legend
TennisDog said:
There is no such thing as a flat serve. All serves have spin.

That's being really picky, we all know that there are relatively flat serves, and most people are taught to play with a 'flat' serve.

Sampras' serves had the highest top and sidespin on the tour

Really? Sampras was a great server, no question. But the highest on the tour? I'd be surprised to learn that....

and he held serve 90% of the time and won Wimbledon a record 7 times. Some of Sampras' serves turned at over 5400 RPM double of most other players on the tour today.

Again - i'd be pleasantly surprised to see the full stats on that. I'd expect him to be a level above in many areas, but to spin the ball double that of others? Do you have the full stats on him and others? I am curious...

Even on grass topspin is extremely important and more so than on other surfaces. Because grass results in lower spin (but faster speed) after the bounce than clay its imperative to put as much spin as possible on the ball.

Sorry, *have* to disagree here. I don't have the time to find the quote - but only yesterday Fed was talking about having to get the flat/sliced serve working again instead of the kicker.

Anyways - topspin would only be more important on grass *if it was the way to win on grass*, and history shows us it isn't. Flat & sliding serves, compact groundstrokes (heavily topspun groundies aren't great due to the larger swing required), good volleys. That's the recipie, not loads of topspin.
 

LowProfile

Professional
OrangeOne said:
Really? Sampras was a great server, no question. But the highest on the tour? I'd be surprised to learn that....

Again - i'd be pleasantly surprised to see the full stats on that. I'd expect him to be a level above in many areas, but to spin the ball double that of others? Do you have the full stats on him and others? I am curious...

Sampras's serves did not average the most spin among the ATP pros, but they were very effective because of the pace that he put on his serves. Pros that served with more spin like Rios or Courier could not serve as fast as Sampras.

5400s RPM's is not twice the ball spin of most pros. It is however what Sampras frequently got on his SECOND serve. There would be no reason to have that much spin on a first serve. I guess 5400 RPM's is double (even triple) what many pros hit on their first serves, but not their second serves.

Here's where this information is from.

http://wings.avkids.com/Tennis/Project/usspin-07.html
 
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