Azzurri
Legend
Goren, and any other big serve and volley player from the 80's-90's may have been even bigger if they were baselines players compared to today's player. This occured to me this past weekend while playing a singles match.
I have been losing to this one player lately that I feel is not as good as I am. I had become very frustrated every time I played him. I believe I had lost 8 or 9 of the last 10 sets we have played. This weekend I decided to S&V every 1st serve and come in on almost any shot I had control with. I put nothing but pressure on him and won 6-1.
Because I am an "old man" and out of shape, I had to get to the net on my 1st serve as quickly as possible. I decded placement and spin was the strategy. I could not "boom" my normal 1st serve and get the proper footing and lean into the court angle to get to the net. So, while I had nice spin and got many 1st serves in, I lost pace BIG TIME. I was hitting maybe 75-80 mph serves.
Here is my point. In order for guys like Sampras, Edberg, Cash, Rafter and other S&V players to get to the net as quickly as possible, they needed to give up some power on the serve to get to the net as quickly as possible. If you look at Edberg or Rafter serving, then compare them to Sampras or Goran..you will see how their (Ed and Raf) first serve were meant to bring them to net, their momentum. I think that took some power away from their serves. But not so with Sampras, Goran and Becker (for example). These guys still hit huge 1st serves and still had great momentum to the net without sacrifing power..truly amazing when I realized this.
Is it me? Maybe I am babbling...anyone agree/disagree? My serves were so different when I had the "rush the net" mentality.
I have been losing to this one player lately that I feel is not as good as I am. I had become very frustrated every time I played him. I believe I had lost 8 or 9 of the last 10 sets we have played. This weekend I decided to S&V every 1st serve and come in on almost any shot I had control with. I put nothing but pressure on him and won 6-1.
Because I am an "old man" and out of shape, I had to get to the net on my 1st serve as quickly as possible. I decded placement and spin was the strategy. I could not "boom" my normal 1st serve and get the proper footing and lean into the court angle to get to the net. So, while I had nice spin and got many 1st serves in, I lost pace BIG TIME. I was hitting maybe 75-80 mph serves.
Here is my point. In order for guys like Sampras, Edberg, Cash, Rafter and other S&V players to get to the net as quickly as possible, they needed to give up some power on the serve to get to the net as quickly as possible. If you look at Edberg or Rafter serving, then compare them to Sampras or Goran..you will see how their (Ed and Raf) first serve were meant to bring them to net, their momentum. I think that took some power away from their serves. But not so with Sampras, Goran and Becker (for example). These guys still hit huge 1st serves and still had great momentum to the net without sacrifing power..truly amazing when I realized this.
Is it me? Maybe I am babbling...anyone agree/disagree? My serves were so different when I had the "rush the net" mentality.
