Perhaps women's bodies aren't well suited for that particular element of the game. I mean, it's weird that in the whole history of the game only a couple of women have had what one could call a "great serve". It can't just be incompetence or bad coaching.
I think it boils down to talent overcoming form. I'm sure Errani's terrible serve didn't matter an ounce until she went pro..heck, probably not until she became a consistent top 100 or top 50 player. Bad habits already set in by then.
touche
This. Her serve hasn't hurt her in doubles, where she I believe has been ranked number 1 before.
Women can't play tennis. That simple.
More than a "couple." Just for starters, over the decades: the Williams sisters, Davenport, Graf, Brenda Schultz, Dokic, Vaidisova, Pierce, Wade, Stosur, Lisicki, and many going back. A great serve is--as you know--not just power, but disguise, placement, etc. (ex. King) I think some paint the women's tour with a broad brush and look at the Dementievas or Erranis as the standard of women's serving because they are so feeble. They only define themselves.
I would call most of those decent serves. I'm talking about the serve as a real weapon. Sure there's more than "a couple" - I was just using an expression - but not substantially more. I'd say Serena, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, Davenport, Lisicki qualify, the others you listed don't convince me as much.
Not true, it is all about technique and some tennis academies have taught women to not put much emphasis on their serve but on their return game.
She is like the female David Ferrer, she has not weapons but can hustle and can grind you down.
well, it got Francesca Schiavone a French Open title! :lol:
Damn I miss Demented! Great Bod, Great fighter, terrible serve..,you left us to soon Lena-D!
Dunno which was worse, Big Mouth Demented's slice from the deuce court that you could see coming yesterday, or Errani's "hacker in the park, I'm too uncoordinated to synch the motions together." Her whole game is an affront to me, almost the first time I heard of her was at Wimbledon, when she beat Radwanska-another winner-who was top 5 at the time, and they said that made Errani's record against Top 5 one and twenty-nine. To paraphrase the line from "Bull Durham," "One...and twenty-nine. How'd she get the one?" Then they mentioned that one of her 2nd serves was timed at 49 mph. A professional tennis player...hitting a serve considerably slower than I drive on a Sunday afternoon. Then, seeing how much her career earnings were(admittedly, much of it from doubles) was the final straw. It's an indictment, of sorts, on the WTA, and, like I said, an affront.
Hmmm, a blast from the past. Yeah, hers was pretty bad, too, and she had some kinda weird backhand, looked like a snooty party host flicking a bug of the lemonade pitcher(see the following at around 1 minute in), and lol for sure at that serve(about 2 minutes in, and Chrissie's serve looks like it couldn't blacken my eye from 20 feet, either):
Why should we praise her? Nobody expects her to serve like Raonic and we know she is a fine player, you can't blame 5 ft 5 for a 77 mph average on 1st serves. Its clearly a poor shot. There are smaller women that could serve better than her.
That's a good point- Kournikova also had a shakey serve but was a hell of a doubles player.
If you want a real blast from the past try this
Yeah, it's hilarious, if she were a quicker player, it almost looks like she could beat her serve to the net, it's like a frisbee sailing in. Thanks for the post.If you want a real blast from the past try this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwHoFrBw5AA
Wonderful on so many levels. The experiments with colour. The styles. The hair!! World Team Tennis. The comments below the video. And above all the mighty serve of Francoise Durr ( see 4.25, and especially the second serve. Her right leg!).
Happy days
PS Durr was a classic example of someone who had a really weak serve, a highly unorthodox backhand, no obvious power anywhere in her game, yet was extremely difficult to beat.
horrible noise indeed
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/court-report-errani-realises-the-error-of-her-ways-in-using-armstrongs-dodgy-doctor-8120175.html
It pretty amazing how many matches she wins given her skill set. To offset those physical deficiencies she has to be one of the grittiest players on tour and her shot selection/match management is excellent.
Errani is very athletic and has very consistent strokes. Most of the women's tour is not and does not. That is the explanation.
