2012 Wimbledon finals

Hey everyone, sorry for the extended delay of this post. My busy schedule sometimes keeps me away from my blog. But I’m back to talk about the Wimbledon final between Federer and Murray. Federer and Murray? Yeah, what an odd combination. For the last four slams it’s been Djokovic/Nadal but finally we have some new faces. Well maybe not new but atleast different. 

The match was very good. The kind of high quality you’d expect from a Wimbledon final. Andy Murray, has long been pursuing his first grand slam title. Just like Agassi was, twenty years earlier. The ironic thing is that both Andy and Andre had lost there previous slam finals before making the breakthrough at Wimbledon. Both were considered to be the underdog and neither player was considered a likely candidate to win this tournament. Andre, won his final against Goran Ivanisevic. Would history repeat itself for Murray? 

As the match unfolded Murray found himself quickly in control. He broke Roger at the start of the match, then a tug of war ensued between them. They exchanged breaks of serve but ultimately Murray closed out the first set 6-4. 

In set two, Murray had real opportunities to get a stranglehold but seemingly floundered his chances. He was making inroads on Roger’s serve and it looked like he might be able to take the second set in a tie-break. A few lucky points from Roger gave him the second set 7-5.

Set three went to Federer after an incredible battle at 3-2. Murray, threw everything he had at the Swiss but it wasn’t enough. After losing this game and conceding the break the momentum of the match was clearly with Federer. He blew through the third set with very few mistakes. Roger won the third set 6-3.

In the fourth set Roger, got an opportunity early on and pounced on it. From then on it was a forgone conclusion. Murray, had too much hill to climb, though he never stopped trying. Roger served out the match at 5-4 to win his seventh Wimbledon and seventeenth slam overall. 

After giving an emotional post match interview Andy Murray was cheered on by his home crowd. Roger, praised Murray’s performance, saying he was certain Murray would win a slam at some point in his career.

I agree with Roger. Murray, played great. It wasn’t like in the other slams where he stormed in playing brilliant tennis and then seemed to whither up and die in the finals. Murray, competed hard from start to finish. Were he able to win the second set, I think he would taken the match from Roger. In the future he will remain a viable contender to win slams. I believe he’s going to have a lot more opportunties.

Federer, winning his seventeenth slam at Wimbledon, just staggers me. No one has ever come close to that kind of number, I mean Pistol only had fourteen. Roger, is now in a class by himself. How many more. can he get? Could he reach twenty? At 30 years old I don’t think it’s likely but with a couple more Wimbledons and the US Open Federer could end up with twenty slams. Or more. Scary isn’t it?

Thanks to the win, Roger is ranked on top again and has broken Pete’s record of most weeks at number one. (Poor Pete, his records are just getting trashed this month.) I admit, that’s a record I didn’t think he’d be able to pull off when he lost the top rank to Nadal two years ago. I and a lot of others thought that Fed’s days at number one were over. Turns out we were wrong, Fed surprised all of us and now he’s number one again. 

With the US Open series starting next month, the players will be returning to the States to duel it out across North America. Expect the number one ranking to be up for grabs in the weeks to come.

Wimbledon semi-final preview

It’s been a long slog for these guys but they’re nearly at the finish line now. The only thing standing between them and the Wimbledon trophy is each other. Blocking Roger Federer’s path is the top seed Novak Djokovic. While Andy Murray, has to go through Jo Wilfried Tsonga.

It should go without saying that Roger Federer, is a fantastic grass court player. Will his past experience and success at Wimbledon be enough to overcome the athleticism and power of Novak Djokovic? I think so. Grass, is a rewarding surface for players who like to attack. The ball doesn’t bounce as high and it moves through the court quickly. Roger, will be able to play the match on his own terms without having to out-grind a younger and more physical opponent from the baseline.

Andy Murray vs Jo Wilfried Tsonga, is a tough one to call. Tsonga, is the better grass court player but he’s not as consistent as Andy Murray. It’s going to be decided based on how well Tsonga plays. If he comes out flat and doesn’t light up the crowd with his shot making, the match will go to Murray. But if he’s bombing aces and crushing forehands, then it should fall to Tsonga.

My prediction is Federer will play Tsonga for the Wimbledon championship this Sunday.

How to become a great server

This is a follow up, to my post on how to become a great returner. Most recreational players are enamored with the speed of fast serves. And I’ll agree, it’s fun to swing away on the first serve. But in terms of importance, it’s consistency, placement and then power. Keep it in this order. Because you can’t have a good serve without consistency.

I equate consistency with topspin. When you hit with topspin you are adding safety to your shot. With this in mind, it makes sense that the topspin serve would be the ideal choice for the second serve right? That means it’s really important to get this serve down. If you’re struggling with getting it in, here’s a useful exercise that will help your consistency. I do this all the time.

Place a hopper several feet away from you. Grab a few tennis balls and practice throwing them into the hopper, while using the topspin service motion. This simulates the motion of the serve and familiarizes your muscle memory with that motion. Once you’re able to get the ball in consistently, stand back a few more feet and work at getting it in from further away. You can also do this same exercise on the tennis court, just stand inside the service line when you’re throwing the ball. Do you notice, tossing the ball from a close distance requires a lot of arm action but as you back up you start to turn through the toss? This is because the rotation of your hips adds extra power to your serve. When you are ready to add power to your second serve, you can accelerate through the striking part of the service motion, while turning through the ball.

Now let’s talk about the flat and slice serves. These are best used on the first serve. Your goal with them, will be to establish control of a rally. There are several ways to do this. One way, is to serve a hard ball to your opponent and hope for a short reply. Another way, is to angle the serve away from them and look for a weak return. Which puts you in the attacking position. Since these two serves are offensive. Think about where your opponent’s weakness is. Most players have a weaker backhand than forehand. If you’re not sure which side is weaker, play a few rallies and see if your opponents starts to hit the ball short. If they give weak replies off of a certain stroke, that’s the key to target that side when serving.

Another important aspect to serving, is to have a consistent toss. I like to put the ball right on the palm of my hand and then practice tossing it straight up in the same exact spot. The more consistent your toss the more successful your serve will become.

Anyway, try out some of these tips and let me know how it goes.

Top 10 players I’d like to have a match with

It’s time for the next installment in my series. For those who don’t know. This is where I pick an active player, who’s playing style I find interesting and create a dream match scenario. Complete with court surface, strategy, and my reason behind why I’d want to have a match with them.

#9 Nicolas Almagro

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming in ninth on my list is Nicolas Almagro. A fantastic athlete. Who’s versatile playing style and aggressive ball striking, makes him a threat on any surface. He’s known for having a monster forehand, which he hits very accurately. His backhand is great as well. Almagro, is a tall order. Even for the best players in the world.

My playing style is relatively similar to Almagro’s. I’m an aggressive baseliner and I like controlling points from the center of the baseline and getting to the net. The biggest difference in our games (aside from obvious playing level abilities) is that I use a two handed backhand.

How would I play him?

Almagro’s, game is extremely well rounded. His best weapon may be his forehand but his biggest weakness would probably be his movement. Though getting him on the run isn’t easy. Almagro, is a great shot maker. He can dictate play, very well from the center of the baseline. One option when playing someone like that is to serve out wide. But I have a tactic which might work even better. When I’m in a backhand to backhand exchange and I’m looking to go on the offense, I like to step inside the baseline and hit a sharply angled short ball to my opponents backhand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This pulls them off the court and gives me quite a few options, if I’m able to get to their next shot in time. Another thing I’ve noticed about Almagro, is that he tends to slice the ball when his opponent, goes to hard to his backhand. This is not at all uncommon, since the slice is usually a safe shot which can be used to reset the pace of the rally. The downside to slice is that it has under-spin on it which gives it the tendency to land short. Short balls are attack-able. So hitting hard to his backhand may pay dividends throughout the match.

What surface would I play him on?

Hard courts. Clay would be nightmare because Almagro would be able to set up for everything and blast the ball away, all day long. I’d rather play him on something which has some speed. Sure the rallies would be shorter but with a match between two aggressive baseliners, you’d expect them to be short right?:)

Stay tuned for part three, which is coming up soon.

Tennis strategy

I’ve been thinking about doing a series of posts on game improvement strategy. The posts, will cover conditioning, technique, and ways that you can add consistency to your game, without spending the countless hours on court hitting balls. Basically, I want to condense some of my tennis knowledge into several posts, that will help my readers make improvements to their games. While still avoiding the roadblocks that really slow down your development as a player.

When I started with tennis, I didn’t really know what I was doing and I went through a series of coaches and instructors, before I was able to find what worked for me. I have had help from so many different people and I’ve adapted different things from all of them. Which are now a part of my game. But there was definitely a learning curve to getting good at the sport and a lot of that came from not knowing where to go, to get to the next level. I want to discuss how you can go from point A in your game to point B and not feel confused about what grip you need to use, or where your feet need to be positioned to drive a forehand ball down the line. Also, keep in mind that I’m open to suggestions. So, if there’s anything in particular, that you’d like me to write on, just drop me a comment and let me know what you want to see posted.

Big 4 into the Aussie Open Semis

I can’t say, I’m surprised that the top four players, made it through to the semi-finals. Despite the improvements, in the last few years amongst the lower ranked players, these guys are still heads and shoulders above everyone else. Every tournament they play in, you expect them to go far. They’re all so consistent. It’s very surprising when they lose early. Not that it happens that often.

But I’ve got to say, I’m glad they all made it through. Because these semi-final match-ups are exciting. I mean really exciting. We’re going to see yet another chapter in the Federer/Nadal rivalry and what I anticipate, will be a highly competitive duel, between Djokovic and Murray. Last years finalists. It’s hard to say, which players, are going to win. A Djokovic vs Nadal final seems like the most likely outcome but I wouldn’t put it past Murray, and definitely not Roger, to be the ones who prevail instead.

Federer, has been in great form, all the way through the tournament. Even when he took out the hard hitting Del Potro, in straight sets. This will be a tough match for Nadal, to win. He does have the natural advantage of being a lefty and I fully expect him to keep the ball going to Roger’s backhand all match long. This combined with his previous success against Roger, (9-17 head to head) makes him the overall favorite. Even so, this could go either way. Expect it to go four sets. Probably five.

Now, we have Djokovic and Murray. This is also a tough one to call because while Djokovic, is number one in the world and defending champion. Murray, is very fit and seems hungry to win. Nole, will really need to be on his game, to get past the Scott. Still, I’m gonna say Novak, prevails in 4. Murray’s defensive tendancies, can land him in trouble against the other top players. As we saw with Federer, in the 2010 final. Murray, is vulnerable to consistently aggressive play. Djokovic’s weapons may also be a little bit better. I’d say he has the better forehand and possibly serve. My prediction is Nole, wins this in 4.

So it should be very interesting, to see who is able to pull out the win? Will the finals be a rematch between Djokovic and Nadal? Will we see a rematch of the 2010 Australian final with Federer and Murray. Or something completely different happen, which nobody expects? My money is on the former.