Federer - Return of the King

 Fed is the King of grass much as Rafa is the King of clay.  With Nol'e no longer in full control of things and Rafa seemingly vulnerable it is the perfect time for the King of tennis to regain his crown if only for a time.  There are always more coming up from behind but this is sweet for those of us that have come to near worship Fed for his artistry on the court.  It doesn't hurt that he is a likable guy that appears to have no rough edges and is a good family man too.  He is the perfect model for tennis as it was and should always remain.

I hope he has more good years ahead so that those of us in our selfish way can see tennis as it might be played by those not subject to the normal rules of human architecture and physics.

As for his future,  even those of us among his strongest contingent began to doubt his ability to hold back the younger titans in waiting coming up.  I was hopeful he'd grab one more but after seeing him play yesterday I do believe he has improved his game again.  His backhand is stronger and he's taken a few hints from the past when Ken Rosewall used his chip backhand to attack and sliced it to break up the rhythm.

He's improvised shots that I've never seen before.  One was a ball that Fed attempted to run around to hit his inside out forehand but the ball was moving so fast that it was going into his body.  Murray seeing this held back at the baseline and watched in disbelief as Fed performed a peel the orange slice forehand on an angle that I didn't know was possible from that position in the court.  I went out last night and tried it and figure he must have some battery powered spin inducing device in his racket to get the action needed.  What he created was a perfect angled drop shot from the baseline as he was moving backward.  I knew it wasn't an accident after he did it again later though I really was sure it was intentional the first time since he wasn't rushed in the execution of the shot even though he was jammed. Damn he's good.

If we had to put up one person to play a match on grass for the future of planet earth against space aliens to avoid a devastating intergalactic war, I'd chose Fed.  He's the best we have and ever have seen and that I admit as someone who idolized Rod Laver as the perfect tennis player in both skill and demeanor since I was a child.


Thanks Roger for giving us more years to enjoy.


Long Live the King of Tennis

Federer and Murray in the Final at Wimbledon

I'm partial to Fed but I'm happy to see Murray get a shot at the championship.  Getting past Tsonga into the final seemed like a struggle of confidence more than one of skill for Murray.  He wanted to go backwards and shriek and growl rather than fight.  I think Lendl has helped him immensely and it's proven by his arrival in the final.  He has an obstacle named Federer who won't go quietly and may roll over him if he's not careful.  I wish them both a great match but I prefer to see Fed set a new record as his likely last Grand Slam Championship win.  Call me selfish, but I want to be able to say I did watch him go where no one has ever gone in tennis and it seems unlikely anyone else will again.  Good luck Federer.

Stop the Grunts

It's about time they got to this to improve the image of women's tennis.  The loud grunting from some players is a tool for gaming your opponent and becomes clear when the volume increases when you get into trouble in a match.  Some players are silent and hit the ball just as hard.  So, whether an acquired habit or an emotional release, the use of the grunt as it exists is now getting serious attention in women's tennis and I would love to see this applied to the men's side of the tour as well.

Check out the story on this website.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/06/27/quiet-at-us-open-wta-plans-crackdown-on-excessive-grunting/

Rafa Gets His Stolen Watch Back

Not exactly a tennis article but it's nice to know Rafa won't be on the hook for a watch worth over $300K.  No matter who you are, you can't count on not losing your valuables while staying in a room.

Stolen Watch Found

Rafa Retains his Crown as King of Clay

He's amazing to watch as he runs down every ball humanly possible and a few I'm not sure are within the reach of mortals.  The fourth set is the one where we can see Rafa has no interest in losing his title.   The score is 5 all and he pulls off an ace to get up 30 love.  The struggle continues with Novak not letting up but finally Rafa takes the game to go up 6 to 5 in the fourth.  It's  now 30 all and the pressure is on.  Rafa attacks with a forehand and is now at match point,  Djokovic hits a double fault from 30 serving 40 and Rafa takes the crown.  Novak sits in disappointment while Rafa climbs to the stands to share the victory with his family.  

The score is now 7 French Open Championships for Nadal surpassing Borg's 6.

Tennis fans are blessed to have Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer competing against each other in this amazing era of tennis.

Nadal: King of Clay

French Open Men's Final 2012:  The match is rain delayed and is scheduled tomorrow.  Nadal had steamrolled through the first two sets and rain delays and intermittent rain frustrated his style of play.  If I had to bet, I'll put my chips on Rafa to complete the win.

Winter Tennis

Where you live helps determine how you will develop as a tennis player.
Anne Arundel County Maryland is a great place to learn to play tennis. I grew up there and the community support for playing tennis was and is ideal except for the weather. I spent winters contemplating spring while hoping that soon I would be out on the tennis court if the weather warmed even momentarily.

Accept the limitations of your environment and work around them.
Despite this climate, Anne Arundel County has a tremendous amount of tennis opportunity for junior players since there are now multiple indoor clubs and numerous outdoor facilities and public courts. These vary in condition from excellent and newly resurfaced courts to courts that are barely playable. Still this gives anyone an opportunity to find an outdoor court when the weather is good.

The long hard days of winter.

In mid-February the temperature is down the 20s it often won't break the 30s. As tennis players there really isn't much to look forward to unless you have the tennis channel or lots of indoor tennis time. Back in the 1960’s and 1970’s there were few options for a junior tennis player because there was no tennis channel and indoor tennis time was hard to come by unless your parents were fully committed to your game. I would scrape together some money from my part-time job back then and play once every few weeks with some high school friends at a local indoor club. Other than that, I spent the winters doing tricks with my with my old Poncho Gonzales wooden racket. And if my parents weren’t home I would stand a foot away from the wall in my bedroom or basement and practice volleys and half volleys.

To paraphrase Shakespeare and Thomas Paine in relation to what I was going through as a young tennis player , “this was my long winter of discontent,” I used to dream of living in Florida when I was a junior knowing I could be outside in warm weather playing tennis and doing just about anything else. Instead, I generally spent my time in front of a TV set or reading through the winter. Later I took up basketball since that was free and provided lots of physical activity. 40 years later I'm still here, but at least I have indoor time to fill the gap and that is my recommendation for you.

Accept your place in the pecking order of tennis or find a way to play year round.
Bottom line: if you want to be a tennis player in any location where winter outdoor tennis is unavailable, you'd better play indoors or you're unlikely to improve enough but to become strong tournament player. Find a way to get into an indoor league, team, or purchase your own indoor time even if it means renting a ball machine too. Without this effort throughout the winter it is very difficult to hold onto the improvements in your game that you accomplished in the previous outdoor tennis season.


www.BrentHerrick.com - Copyright 2009

TennisTeachingProfessional.com