Observations of Modern vs Classic tennis style matchup.

[onehandbh]

Anyone see the Donald Young vs Stepanek match?

Interesting to see the two contrasting styles/techniques.

Stepanek hits an eastern gripped FH, flattish groundstrokes vs
Young's topspin.

Some of my observations:

- on DTL approach shots, flatter, deep shots seem to be very effective.
The just don't give the opponent much time because it moves through
the court faster and rushes the opponent. Combined with the player being
at the net, this puts extra pressure.

- Heavy spin is great for opening up angles.
- Stepanek's use of so many dropshots in the first set cost him many points,
but I think it ultimately helped him win the match. It totally threw off
DY's timing.

- It seems like when you are in a defensive position, your better off
throwing up a deep shot w/o much spin or pace vs a shorter topspin shot
that lands around the service line. The deeper shot takes away angles
and buys more time.

- A lot of errors were from trying to hit DTL.

- Stepanek may be one of the better volleyers today, but his volleys are
nowhere near as good as the top S&V players from the previous generation.

- DY's heavy groundstrokes allowed DY to control the points in the first part of
the first set. Stepanek's use of deeper, flat balls taken on the rise was a good
counter though.

It was a fun match to watch b/c of the contrasting styles.

 

[InspectorRacquet]

What a perfect match summary and observation. If I may add one point, I'd say that when either Stepanek or Young was aggressive with his groundstrokes, he won the point. I guess being aggressive where applicable paid off for each player, too.

 

[DeShaun]

I stroke the ball better with a modern forehand but I to win more matches when hitting flatter. But this owes more to my defense than my offense. What I mean to say is that, when my rackets are leaded up they are heavier and I can manage only to produce a smooth flat swing. When my rackets are leaded up I am unable produce enough racket head speed to produce a western forehand. But my having to slow my swing down with the heavier rackets actually translates into my hitting more balls deeply into the opponent's court, although the extra weigh, of course, costs me the ability to hit nice angles using topspin. The extra weight also tends to make me a lazier player. It allows me to get away more easily with merely scrambling to block back my opponent's shots, one after another which places pressure on him especially if he supplies the pace. At first I thought that playing this style of game using a heavier racket was placing grater demands on my wheels, with scrambling being of the utmost importance. But upon further review, I actually believe that swinging a lighter racket but using a western grip to generate my own pace actually is more demanding on my legs than the other style. Again, I have obtained better match results against the 3.0-3.5 guys whom I play against by swinging a heavier racket, but I stroke the ball much better when using a lighter stick and western grip, with the catch being that supplying the pace needed to produce the depth of ball, which I get from my rackets when they are leaded up and I am swinging flat, is actually more demanding with the lighter rackets, or so it seems.

 

[5263]

DY is no poster child for Modern strokes, so while the post contained many good and interesting points, it is important to remember that this, as you state, is about STYLE and not modern stroke production.
And DY is still trying to find a style; not a fully developed example of anything. On the other hand, his opponent is well developed in his tactics and style.

 

[bad_call]

good match. RS had the answers to DY and his modern game. unfortunately for DY he didn't have a plan B.

 

[onehandbh]

DY is no poster child for Modern strokes, so while the post contained many good and interesting points, it is important to remember that this, as you state, is about STYLE and not modern stroke production.
And DY is still trying to find a style; not a fully developed example of anything. On the other hand, his opponent is well developed in his tactics and style.

Agreed. I'm not claiming DY is a poster child for modern strokes. He does hit
with quite a bit of topspin though.

It was interesting to see them play each other b/c one hits with a lot
of topspin and the other takes the ball early and hits it pretty flat.
I think DY could have won this had he not gotten thrown from the dropshots
and lobs in the first set. His heavy shots seemed to be causing Stepanek
problems.

 

[goober]

I think DY could have won this had he not gotten thrown from the dropshots
and lobs in the first set. His heavy shots seemed to be causing Stepanek
problems.

Stepanek looked like he was in control of the match the whole time. Drop shot and lobs were just one way to beat DY, but it looked like he could have beat him a number of ways. DY really had no plan B or C.

 

[GuyClinch]

This is cherry picking in the worst way... DY is a scrub. So he can't take advantage of any style..