Jack Romeo
Professional
Hi everyone... been following the French Open? I like the guys tournament more - more quality matches, but let's admit it: club players can relate more to the women than to the men. I mean some of us (especially intermediate players) also have problems with committing too many unforced errors or double faults. Many do not have big serves and are also not comfortable coming to net. So it's just like the women, right?
Anyway, watching the women's tournament, it's fairly impressive that the finals will feature 2 Russians who in the past have never really made a dent in the Williams-Belgians dynasty. While both Myskina and Dementieva are supremely gifted groundstrokers, neither are owners of a big serve. Dementieva, in fact, has a poor serve, considering that she is a top 10 player.
In the past 2 years, I thought that the serve would be a more and more important shot for the women. The Williamses dominated because no one could handle their serves. Justine Henin-Hardenne got to the top by vastly improving her serve. And Lindsay Davenport remains a top 5 player despite injuries and declining fitness because she still possesses a big serve.
So how is it now that all of a sudden, these 2 Russians got past all those big servers and are now contesting a grand slam final? Well, I've been thinking about this and came up with some points that club players like us can learn from:
1. make the most out of your strengths - in this case, groundstrokes. Both Russians have excellent movement, footwork and racquet work. Dementieva is very aggressive off the ground and has great power. I think she can match, if not surpass, anyone in terms of groundstroking ability. She stays low and takes the ball early, constantly adjusting her steps to get in exactly the right position. Myskina is less aggressive but more consistent and has more variety. But she can also turn up the pace when she needs to. She used all her variety in her upset wins over Venus and Capriati.
2. Take advantage of anything the opponent gives you - in the case of Myskina, she kept her cool stuck to her gameplan, letting Venus and Capriati self destruct with errors. The conditions favored her, but Venus and Capriati are champions who are supposed to be able to find ways to win no matter what. Instead, Myskina gave them nothing to work with, constantly moving the ball around, mixing up the pace and picking her spots to go for her winners. Dementieva took advantage of Davenport's poor movement and Mauresmo's nervous play. She knew that the pressure would be on Amelie and played as if she had nothing to lose. She was aggressive throughout. She didn't back down even when Mauresmo tried to change the pace by hitting high loopers. Instead, she kept her focus on the ball and took it early. She was able to generate her own pace. Corollary to this, when Myskina changed the pace against Venus and Capriati, the Americans were bothered that the ball wasn't coming back at them the way they were used to. Instead of seeing a slow ball as a chance to have more time to set up for a shot that they like to hit, they became flustered. Club players can relate to this. Sometimes, when I get a slow ball, I'm confused as to whether to drive it, loop it, slice it, angle it, or whatever. Frequently this results in errors. Oddly it was comforting to know that even Venus and Capriati can feel the same way sometimes as we do.
3. a slow, short serve can sometimes be an asset - this may sound totally ridiculous but in my experience at the club level, this is a very valid point. I've seen many players hit aces because their serves were so short with a lot of spin while their opponents were standing too far back and were too slow to react properly. Not all aces are the fast ones that paint the lines. Of course, if you hit all your serves short, your opponent should be able to adjust to it, theoretically. But many players do not think well and fail to adjust to situations that require simple solutions. In Dementieva's case, we know that all her serves are coming to the forehand side (of a right handed player, as Davenport, Mauresmo and Suarez are). Why didn't these players just stand over closer to the forehand side and wait for the serve there? The answer is simple: they weren't thinking! And chances are, many of your opponents at your club aren't good at thinking these things too.
4. if you don't have a serve, you should at least have a great return - this is corollary to the previous point. Dementieva has one of the strongest returns in the women's game. Myskina also has an excellent return. They have to have these shots because their serves aren't weapons. Myskina in particular was able to take advantage of Capriati's second serves, while Jennifer couldn't - or wouldn't - do the same to Myskina. If she wasn't serving well, she should have tried harder to return better. In the Miami Open final, Serena Williams took each point that Dementieva served as an opportunity to pounce right away with her forehand. Serena won 6-1, 6-1. Davenport and Mauresmo should have done the same thing but they didn't. Maybe they were thinking, "well it's clay and I have to be patient and not too aggressive because that will result in too many errors..." But the aggressive returning was actually the thing that won Dementieva those matches. She did what Lindsay and Amelie wouldn't do - be aggressive with the return.
5. don't be surprised when you get short balls, rather, see these balls as opportunities to really take control and finish off your opponent - if you have good groundies, you should be able to force short balls from your opponent. But at the club level, a short ball can frequently throw you off, because you are forced to move to the net where many of us are uncomfortable, or we think too much about what shot to hit or where the opponent is going and lose concentration on the ball. When Paola Suarez hit short balls to Dementieva, the Russian didn't take her eyes off the ball and look at where her opponent was going. Instead, she kept her focus on the ball even long after she had hit the shot she wanted. Most short balls were dealt with by hitting inside-out forehands or drop shots. Dementieva doesn't have a good drop shot but it was effective against Davenport because Lindsay didn't move well at all (she was injured). Club players don't need to have a Guillermo Coria drop shot, even though it would be nicer to. Elena's drop shot should serve a club player well enough because many club players don't move any better than Davenport did that day.
Well that's mostly what I learned from watching these 2 Russians play. Maybe some of you guys learned other things too. Just add what you learned from watching the French Open.
Anyway, watching the women's tournament, it's fairly impressive that the finals will feature 2 Russians who in the past have never really made a dent in the Williams-Belgians dynasty. While both Myskina and Dementieva are supremely gifted groundstrokers, neither are owners of a big serve. Dementieva, in fact, has a poor serve, considering that she is a top 10 player.
In the past 2 years, I thought that the serve would be a more and more important shot for the women. The Williamses dominated because no one could handle their serves. Justine Henin-Hardenne got to the top by vastly improving her serve. And Lindsay Davenport remains a top 5 player despite injuries and declining fitness because she still possesses a big serve.
So how is it now that all of a sudden, these 2 Russians got past all those big servers and are now contesting a grand slam final? Well, I've been thinking about this and came up with some points that club players like us can learn from:
1. make the most out of your strengths - in this case, groundstrokes. Both Russians have excellent movement, footwork and racquet work. Dementieva is very aggressive off the ground and has great power. I think she can match, if not surpass, anyone in terms of groundstroking ability. She stays low and takes the ball early, constantly adjusting her steps to get in exactly the right position. Myskina is less aggressive but more consistent and has more variety. But she can also turn up the pace when she needs to. She used all her variety in her upset wins over Venus and Capriati.
2. Take advantage of anything the opponent gives you - in the case of Myskina, she kept her cool stuck to her gameplan, letting Venus and Capriati self destruct with errors. The conditions favored her, but Venus and Capriati are champions who are supposed to be able to find ways to win no matter what. Instead, Myskina gave them nothing to work with, constantly moving the ball around, mixing up the pace and picking her spots to go for her winners. Dementieva took advantage of Davenport's poor movement and Mauresmo's nervous play. She knew that the pressure would be on Amelie and played as if she had nothing to lose. She was aggressive throughout. She didn't back down even when Mauresmo tried to change the pace by hitting high loopers. Instead, she kept her focus on the ball and took it early. She was able to generate her own pace. Corollary to this, when Myskina changed the pace against Venus and Capriati, the Americans were bothered that the ball wasn't coming back at them the way they were used to. Instead of seeing a slow ball as a chance to have more time to set up for a shot that they like to hit, they became flustered. Club players can relate to this. Sometimes, when I get a slow ball, I'm confused as to whether to drive it, loop it, slice it, angle it, or whatever. Frequently this results in errors. Oddly it was comforting to know that even Venus and Capriati can feel the same way sometimes as we do.
3. a slow, short serve can sometimes be an asset - this may sound totally ridiculous but in my experience at the club level, this is a very valid point. I've seen many players hit aces because their serves were so short with a lot of spin while their opponents were standing too far back and were too slow to react properly. Not all aces are the fast ones that paint the lines. Of course, if you hit all your serves short, your opponent should be able to adjust to it, theoretically. But many players do not think well and fail to adjust to situations that require simple solutions. In Dementieva's case, we know that all her serves are coming to the forehand side (of a right handed player, as Davenport, Mauresmo and Suarez are). Why didn't these players just stand over closer to the forehand side and wait for the serve there? The answer is simple: they weren't thinking! And chances are, many of your opponents at your club aren't good at thinking these things too.
4. if you don't have a serve, you should at least have a great return - this is corollary to the previous point. Dementieva has one of the strongest returns in the women's game. Myskina also has an excellent return. They have to have these shots because their serves aren't weapons. Myskina in particular was able to take advantage of Capriati's second serves, while Jennifer couldn't - or wouldn't - do the same to Myskina. If she wasn't serving well, she should have tried harder to return better. In the Miami Open final, Serena Williams took each point that Dementieva served as an opportunity to pounce right away with her forehand. Serena won 6-1, 6-1. Davenport and Mauresmo should have done the same thing but they didn't. Maybe they were thinking, "well it's clay and I have to be patient and not too aggressive because that will result in too many errors..." But the aggressive returning was actually the thing that won Dementieva those matches. She did what Lindsay and Amelie wouldn't do - be aggressive with the return.
5. don't be surprised when you get short balls, rather, see these balls as opportunities to really take control and finish off your opponent - if you have good groundies, you should be able to force short balls from your opponent. But at the club level, a short ball can frequently throw you off, because you are forced to move to the net where many of us are uncomfortable, or we think too much about what shot to hit or where the opponent is going and lose concentration on the ball. When Paola Suarez hit short balls to Dementieva, the Russian didn't take her eyes off the ball and look at where her opponent was going. Instead, she kept her focus on the ball even long after she had hit the shot she wanted. Most short balls were dealt with by hitting inside-out forehands or drop shots. Dementieva doesn't have a good drop shot but it was effective against Davenport because Lindsay didn't move well at all (she was injured). Club players don't need to have a Guillermo Coria drop shot, even though it would be nicer to. Elena's drop shot should serve a club player well enough because many club players don't move any better than Davenport did that day.
Well that's mostly what I learned from watching these 2 Russians play. Maybe some of you guys learned other things too. Just add what you learned from watching the French Open.
