old school - a lesson learned

[barthuskey]

I got very interested in the two recent "old school" posts and it put me in a sharing mood. Someone mad the comment that the old school way of doing things would only work at the club level but against a college player it would basically be death. Really??

I have recently taken on a partner for my small academy. He played the satellite circuit like I did and was a pretty good player........played at Western Kentucky prior. He's 30, I'm 34......he's in great shape, I'm not........he's very quick around the court, I'm not.

He has every shot in the book but prefers to play with power........21st century tennis.......whatever.

The other day, we had a lull in our schedule so we decided to play a set...........he said "I've got 15 minutes to bagel you old-timer". Interesting..............I won 6-2. Now you must understand that I still serve around 115+ and still have my full service arsenal........meaning, breaking me is not very easy, even for a college player, but I want to focus on the contrast once we found ourselves "inside" the points. I blasted my serves, received weak returns, sliced those returns hard into the corners controlling the points, then typically winning on a short chip the other direction or with a volley. His service games followed a path more along the lines of big serve chipped back low by me, giving him no topspin or pace to work with.......he would then either try to force somthing that was not open.........error.........or would just get the ball back in play allowing me time to cram another slice drive to the corner following that up with another short chip to the other side of the court or with a volley.

This same gentleman recently slammed two of my top college players quite handily in their work out sessions 3 days ago.

6-2........it's not the type of game gentlemen........it's what you can do with it.

 

[whozon3rd]

Interesting post, if the backhand slice works against the modern forehand, why not a forehand slice. Maybe a resurgence is in play "what goes around comes around"?

 

[Bungalo Bill]

Lots of things are coming back. But keep in mind this, the "power" game is a relative term. Rocket Rod Laver was a "power" player in his day and is consdered "old school"????

The term old school really means you have almost all of the different shots in your arsenal - and can use them, including the slice forehand.

It also means you are going to use all of the court to hit your balls and will mix speeds and spins. Your always mixing finesse with power at various degrees. Also, you are always going to try and close your points at the net instead of hitting a winner from the baseline. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what old school is to me.

 

[kevhen]

I guess I am old school because I hit all those shots with different speeds and spins and angles but I feel like it's hard to get past the 4.0 level unless you start adding some serious pace to your groundstrokes. The 4.5 guys get used to the spins and paces and start hitting winners or force errors off any slow (sliced or topped) ball even if it has good depth. When I play 4.5 players, I have to hit hard even though it's not my usua game, just to keep them off the offensive. So I don't think "old school" will ever come back and be successful at the higher levels, but it does work well at the 3.5 and 4.0 levels in my opinion.

 

[Air Sampras]

What type of game did Sampras play? He obviously had the power of the 21st century, but he was content to chip back returns if he had to, and he came to the net frequently (more on his serve).

 

[joe sch]

The more shots you have in your arsenal, the better your chances of winning because dominating tennis requires beating all types of players. Even slice forehands are still used today but they are usually just seen when a player is reaching for a wide shot and does not have time to top the ball. They could sulely be used doing rallies to change pace, like a dropshot, and help force a bad reply. The point is that when your dominating or preferred style is not good enought to get you a victory against a given opponent, you need the ability to change tactics otherwise accept defeat or hope for your opponent to lose his advantage.

 

[Ash Doyle]

I am one of the ones that started this "old-school" talk, and some people aren't getting it. "Old-school" doesn't mean "lacking power". I meant it as varying your strategy to include more than just bashing topspin shots baseline to baseline.

 

[dozu]

Roger Federer is old-school.

 

[Brent Pederson]

Hey Dozu, I was just going to say that!

Federer does just that, mixing things up nicely, keeping the other guy off balance. Bashing hard from the baseline is great, but it's even more effective to bash a hard one deep into the corner, then hit the reply with a short slice to the opposite angle. Much harder to get to, imo, than just hitting another hard shot to the baseline. And even if your opponent does get to it, you can be at the net smiling at him as you drop his return to the other corner...

Also, when you mix in the short angle slices, it makes the hard shots seem even harder...