[tennisbiz] Re: Tennis Styles

Some great responses from Alan and Scott. The points I would emphasize are:

1 Not only S&V, but the decline in American tennis in general can be
traced to when we dropped doubles from junior tournaments and replaced it
with consolation singles. Our players lost skill development, and lost the
matches when they could try things without it effecting their singles
ranking. Now, every match they play counts and no one is willing to try new
things.

2. When ;you grow up with is what you will stay with in pressure
situations. An example: back in the 80's, I used to go down to Bottitieri's
Academy to work with one of my players who was living there (and by the way,
Nick himself was always very accomodating and helpful to both of us). i
always used to see Aaron Krickstein (who I knew from when he was 5) and Jimmy
Arias (then ranked in the top 10) work out there, and spend at least 3 hours
a day working on their volleys and net game--and then watch in tournament
matches as they never went to the net. They wanted to get to the net, but
always went back to what had given them success through the years.

3. If you can het harder serves with the equipment we have, you will win
points without needing the volley. Also, the harder serve gives you less
time to get in to the net.

4. The best advantage of a larger head racket is not necessarily hitting a
harder serve (after all, Kramer and Gonzalez hit hard serves, as did others),
but in returning a hard serve. My question for John McEnroe, when he says go
back to wood rackets is: If Sampras can hit 110 with a wood racket, can
anyone return it successfully with a wood racket? The new rackets make serve
return a weapon, both with the strength of the racket, racket head size, and
the topspin that lands at the feet.

5. And finally, the great S&V players like Kramer, Gonzalez, Laver, etc.,
never faced players with the 2 hand, topspin returns of today, which are
almost without fail offensive serve returns, unlike most of the 1 hand slice
returns often used in the past.

Jon Fischer

 
Received on Fri Apr 04 2003 - 09:48:34 CST