2014 Australian Open Championship...Melbourne, Austalia

[klacr]

I think the new racket is helping Federer a lot. In answer to tennis_chiro's point, "is Federer hitting higher backhands better than with his old racket". Yes, I think he is. His backhand has been excellent thus far. He has shanked very few high backhands like he used to and he's coming over high backhands much better. This could be critical if he is to have any chance against Nadal.

I think his forehand is also working better, though not as good as it was when he was young. His forehand started faltering quite a long time ago and has never been quite the same since. His backhand has steadily improved throughout his career.

But the greater plus for me has been his shot making on wider balls. He's been making better shots off wide balls on both wings both when defending and attacking. His defensive work has been exemplary with the new racket...just managing to pick back wide slice backhands against Murray won him many points.

The true test comes tomorrow against Nadal. Murray is not back to his "A" game so that test turned out to be less than we hoped. Murray played poorly yet still dug out a set, and Federer really tightened up for a spell. His first two sets against Murray were excellent but Nadal can easily keep up with that provided he's not impaired with his blistered hand. My hope is that Federer will use his wide serve effectively to the deuce court, and serve and volley if he does...or get a mid-court reply to pick off with his forehand. If he can play cat and mouse with Nadal when serving to the deuce court, he could score many points. He needs to get Nadal reaching on that backhand wing...and steal in.

The good news about this year's Australian Open is that it has shown many players there are so many easy points to be won by getting to the net. This healthy disease may well turn out to be catching...

The other good thing this tournament has shown is that you can still improve at the age of 28...or even 32...just keep trying whatever age you are. You aren't the finished article at 25...work hard...there may be more in the tank.

Playing Nadal will be the test of all tests! Does Roger have plenty of magic left? If he has only a little magic, it won't be enough. Roger's new racquet will face the ultimate test against the heavy and high Rafa forehands to Fed's backhand.

How often will Federer come in? How often will Nadal pass him? How quickly will Federer become disheartened by being passed and decide to stay back thus opening the door for Nadal to run him around?

I'm rooting for Federer big time. If in fact there is a God, he will allow Federer to win. Although if there was a God, he probably would have let Berdych win as well.

How amazing would it be for Switzerland if two players made the finals of the Aussie Open? Incredible stuff if you think about it. Before Wawrinka and Federer there was...Marc Rosset...

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

Pete Sampras in Melbourne

Pete Sampras arrived at the Aussie Open today. Did some press in the media room and here are a few interesting quotes from Pistol Pete.

-"When you look at each decade of the game there is 'The Guy'. Is there greatest of all time? I don't know."

-"Let's just appreciate what we're watching. We all had our eras. It's hard to compare."

-"I miss the moment. I miss excitement of the last weekend. I don't miss the stress. I don't think I walked away at the wrong time."

-"it's nice to see Roger playing well. He's got his confidence back. It's nice."

-"I've been asked (to coach) by a couple of guys but to go on the road, start travelling again, that's not for me."

-"Everyone plays the same way, there's just 4 or 5 players that do it best... Stand back & throw rocks."

*** -"Serve and volley tennis would be just fine today, you just need to know how to do it."

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

2014 Australian Open Championships...For Whom the Bell Tolls

Well...in fact it tolls for all of us. The bell tolls for thee. Each and every one. The difference with these three guys is that every single move they make will be scrutinized and analyzed. They in turn are doing their own bit of introspection. I just really admire the guys here on the forum that are contributing and responding to the discussion here. I saw the moose and her two calves again yesterday morning which to tell you the truth gives me a sense of real joy and happiness. This is just sport...it’s only a game. In fact...it isn't even that any longer. It's entertainment. Big Time Wrestling. But that being said...I must admit. I am truly a devoted and committed student of the game. I have had a lot of homework this past two weeks.

The change in the surface of the court...however subtle has had a very significant impact on the play and the results this year. Thirty years after the Orwellien year of 1984 where the game of tennis took the final turn into the modern age we are once again left to the limits of our ability to discern. Because the rate of change is becoming quicker and quicker and the emphasis becomes more and more on the moment and the speculative future discernment is being engineered out of the human equation. He who controls the past controls the present. What is power? Answer...control.

at 2-3 in the third set, Mats Wilander commented on EuroSport on Federer's aggressiveness forcing Murray to start going forward himself: "…and suddenly we are looking at a completely different style of tennis, … and how healthy would that be?"

don

Yeah...I was listening to the same EuroSport tennis_chiro and this comment jumped out at me too. In fact...I tried to write it down because I wanted to use it in a post to support my findings on this tournament. What I was able to scribble down is much as you wrote...”if Federer is playing this style of play it is going to CHALLENGE others to get to the net. How healthy is that?” I agree in a sense that it will be healthy...but the issue is really how did it get to be the way that it is in the first place. Now we must examine the game and ourselves and ask the tough questions. Sadly...this will not happen. There will be some random experimenting and some tribunal will map the ways forwards and the rest of the herd will follow. What the game needs are some specifications with regards to the environment and conditions under which the “World of Tennis” has some real stringent guidelines regarding equipment and conditions. Those conditions should of course include net play and it is ironic that everyone acts like this is the second coming because Roger Federer has a new racquet and because of the balls and the court he is able to navigate his way to the net.

Of course others will challenge him. They won’t sit idly still and let Federer whack them into next week without a fight. But without the skills that needed to be developed in their formative years they are going to be hard pressed as we have watched the greatest tennis players in this day struggle to come to grips with this conundrum. I have watched player after player demonstrating how badly the game of tennis is being played these days when they all look like rank amateurs making simple volleys and struggle with the concept of the basic approach shot.

I cannot agree more with what you have outlined in detail about the problems with the way forwards and please consider just one more point...who is going to teach these nonexistent skills now? Well...I guess that it will just mean more money and exploitation as every tennis coach and teacher rushes to youtube to emphasize the fact that they are reinventing the volley, the approach, the net rushing serve. The wheel is being reinvented this month somewhere deep in the jungles of Africa or South America where it has never been heard of and modern day tennis people will be rushing to find a way to capitalize on the game of tennis by “reinventing” it as well. Already there are those here who are claiming some kind of responsibility or contribution to the change in process. Enough moralizing. It makes me sick. Where is worldsbestcoach when you need him?

For Berdych, No doubt he has the firepower to beat anyone. The question is can he produce and execute it match after match? Hoping Berdych does something amazing. I really really do.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Sadly...the most amazing thing that he did is hand the match to Wawrinka. The double faults at such key points of the match were his virtual undoing. The statistics of the match are truly unbelievable...much as the link that you posted in “Interesting Links”. The strange and mystical game of tennis often hangs in the balance by a thread that is unraveling precariously. That match could not have been any closer statistically but somebody had to win.

I think that perhaps the single most important trait that you can have as a human being is loyalty. I admire that way that you stick with Tomas Berdych. The reason that I admire this trait in you is because I know that you have this with your friends and students. Give my best to the other “Three Amigos” Kyle. They are truly unbelievable fellows and the state of Michigan is well represented by you men.

Nadal's left hand looks a right mess with a huge blister bleeding like a gaping wound. That's got to help Roger's cause I at least a little bit. I didn't see Nadal/Dimitrov but apparently Nadal was struggling to serve with that blister.

This is part of it. Dealing with misery and pain. In the end they won’t remember the blister...it won’t show up on the draw sheet. But it does give his royal highness an excuse. One that he will try and spin to make himself look good. Plus he can exploit it just in case he loses. He is a simple guy...a real simpleton who just happens to play tennis really well. Listening to him sickens me. The eyebrow is particularly unnerving. All of those ticks and involuntary quirks...he seems to have some version of Tourette's syndrome. In the end...he is only a man. A man that gets blisters. I don’t care about his fucking blister and I don’t like him one little bit. I hope that Federer pins his ears back and sends him back to wherever he came from.

He personifies everything that is wrong with modern day sports. Plus he has way too much money. Wait a minute...that is what is wrong with modern day sports. Take that blister and stick it where the sun don't shine.

But he should have hired John McEnroe for this confrontation only. More than anyone in the world McEnroe could have managed a tactical game plan against Rafael Nadal on an apparently slightly faster than “normal” tennis court surface. John McEnroe solved the riddle of Björn Borg in the waning days of Classic Tennis and this matchup is only the same thing...but it is being played in the mirror. Instead of a left-handed artist of a player with all of the shots from A to Z against the classic mechanical right-handed player with the strong gripped forehand and two-handed backhand...we have the reverse.

I couldn’t resist...now that Roger’s sword is equal to the competitions and the playing surface even favors him he has only to come up with the correct tactical game plan that gives his relative strengths and weaknesses in his game the advantage over his opponents relative strengths and weaknesses. I am convinced that he has this within him now that the petrie dish has been somewhat altered. He only needs to take a page out of the John McEnroe book of “Tennis Tactics” and voila...it’s an all Swiss Australian Open Final. This includes slicing the backhand "Rosewalian Style".

I have watched numerous approaches to the net with underspin by players who are at this point experimenting within the “new paradigm” and guess what? It works...what a surprise. After rallying and jockeying for position using strictly topspin for a player to all of a sudden get the idea to come in on a short ball behind a low and skidding approach puts the baseline player at a real disadvantage very quickly. The element of change of spin and speed and placement. It’s elementary my dear Watson. It's strictly Tilden. So said sherlock_holmes...aka don_budge.

I don't think Roger hits nearly enough of the Rosewallian slices, if any at all. I'd also really like to see him hit a lot more of those.

don

My Man...

[don_budge]

It isn't hard to compare...it is impossible

Pete Sampras arrived at the Aussie Open today. Did some press in the media room and here are a few interesting quotes from Pistol Pete.

-"When you look at each decade of the game there is 'The Guy'. Is there greatest of all time? I don't know."

-"Let's just appreciate what we're watching. We all had our eras. It's hard to compare."


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

A couple of mouthfuls from Pete Sampras. But he neatly tap dances around the issue that it impossible to compare the players of the past with those of the present.

I always loved the picture and videos of Pete playing with the Wilson Jack Kramer Pro Staff...the same racquet that John McEnroe used to defeat the great Swede Björn Borg. Pete came along after the game had transitioned into "Modern Mode" but he had one step in the Classic game as a child.

[don_budge]

Rodney Laver...

Predicts a Roger Federer win on EuroSport...

[don_budge]

Here's the deal...

Ok...first impressions. Federer clearly has his royal prima donna rattled. But in Rafael's first service game Federer made four rather unforced errors trying to drive his backhand.

He has a pretty good serving tactic going.

But he should endeavor with the following in mind...

the quicker court makes it a bit more difficult to run around the backhand

when he has nadal over to that side and nadal returns to federer's backhand he doesn't have to win with a drive...he should slice low and angled back to the forehand to get work out of his opponent. then he has opened up the backhand side. this should be his tactical paradigm along with mixing up the drive for length.

i am surprised that edberg has not worked this out with him. i hope that he has. it's simple. he must slice down the line at least as many times as he drives crosscourt. at least. he should hit low and angled at the forehand as many times as he drives. at least.

nadal cannot beat federer with his backhand.

the conditions favor federer accessing the nadal backhand.

quicker courts make it more difficult to run around the backhand and to recover for the next shot.

exploit the opponents weaker side by any means necessary as the ends will justify the means...tilden and machiavelli.

[don_budge]

Federer is playing Nadal's game...same old, same old.

I find it rather disturbing that the tactics are virtually the same as usual. Same old...same old. Missing so many drive return of serves on the backhand when he should simply get the ball in play ala his compatriot Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. Federer just driving his backhand repeatedly into the strength of Nadal...right into the wheelhouse of the forehand. Sickeningly stupid.

His tactics are attack...attack...attack. It should be...attack...parry...thrust. Very little parrying. There isn't anything thoughtful about it. What a shame...to not take advantage of the conditions. Much as tennis_chiro suggests...it is too much to ask for these players to change. Two players throwing rocks at each other. Stupid.

[stotty]

I find it rather disturbing that the tactics are virtually the same as usual. Same old...same old. Missing so many drive return of serves on the backhand when he should simply get the ball in play ala his compatriot Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka.

His tactics are attack...attack...attack. It should be...attack...parry...thrust. Very little parrying. There isn't anything thoughtful about it. What a shame...to not take advantage of the conditions. Much as tennis_chiro suggests...it is too much to ask for these players to change. Two players throwing rocks at each other. Stupid.

Well it went okay for the first three or so games...quickly reverting back to the normal pattern now. Federer has played well thus far...Nadal not yet near his best. Federer really has to get this first set...

[stotty]

Federer simply cannot win like this. He's reverting back to the usual pattern. The trips to the net have disappeared. We are gonna have to hope for a blister at this rate...

Oh well, I'm off to work...keep me posted everyone.

[tennis_chiro]

I think Federer has fallen in love too much with his improved backhand. He is saying, effectively, "I'm tired of getting beaten up on this side and now, Rafa, I can hit your damned topspin forehand to my backhand. I don't have to play my slice."

He is definitely hitting that shot better, but it is not better than Rafa's forehand. Federer is hitting hardly any slice backhands unless he has no other choice. This is a huge mistake. Rafa is getting to see the same ball over and over again and he is just teeing it up. Glaringly absent is the parry and thrust element of a slice backhand hit by Federer by choice to change up the pace a little bit. And the lack of any ability to hit the Rosewallian slice deep and sharp into the corners of the court. On any chance Federer has to set up and hit his backhand, he is going solely with the topspin backhand; big mistake.

In the parlance of Malcolm Gladwell's "David and Goliath", David might as well have engaged Goliath in close quarters hand-to-hand combat because he had gone on a new strength training program and was 25% stronger than he had been before. David beat Goliath by using artillery and staying out of the range of Goliath's strength. (Great book by the way!)

This tactical error on the backhand is just one part of Roger's problem. I stated in an earlier post that it was going to be really hard for any of these players to learn to adopt the aggressive tactics Federer has been using through his first five matches. It should be easier for Federer because he played serve and volley tennis when he was younger. But even for Federer, when faced with real stress, resisting returning to the tactics he has been using for the last 8 or 9 years is really difficult. Nadal's ball is just a little bit heavier than everyone else's, but he has to play it early to have any real chance. At this point, just having broken back to 2-2 in the third set, he is going to have to rely on tremendous serving and the hope that Rafa's blister starts to play a role. And perhaps adrenalin has a role to play yet.

I hope I am wrong. Fed has just slithered off the hook to 2-3. Perhaps there is still hope!

don

[tennis_chiro]

Perhaps Nadal is just too much into Federer's head. That last service break was a gift.

don

[tennis_chiro]

Everything Stotty and don_budge were saying was so true. That was hard to watch.

I think Wawrinka will do better. But if the blister does not sideline Nadal, he looks awfully good.

don

[tennis_chiro]

No one else agrees with us about the slice??!!

I didn't see a single mention on Eurosport from any of the commentators about the lack of the slice or even and effective down the line backhand from Federer, even a topspin one. Are any of them aware of this "thrust/parry" strategy that we are talking about here. Apparently not. I don't know what they are saying on ESPN or the Tennis Channel, but I suspect it is more of the same.

don

[stotty]

I just came home from work to see the end scoreline. Well, it was only going one way after that first set for me...so no surprise.

It didn't start off too bad. Federer was tight to the baseline. He was playing well from inside the baseline also. He was definitely stealing time from Nadal and had Nadal retreating well behind the baseline. The problem is there was no other tactic backing it up...and nothing like the opening two sets against Murray. And then we started getting the lengthy rallies. At that point it was as good as over.

And, yes, what happened to the slice!

The encouraging thing is that when he does what he is supposed to (as the two Murray sets) it looks doable, it even looks easy. It's just when it comes to the crunch he reverts...understandable...but can he not see it's the ONLY way he could ever beat Nadal.

I know it sounds insane, but I actually think Wawrinka has more chance than Federer. He is more penetrating off the ground and better in the lengthy rallies...the penetration factor being the most important ingredient, being as he doesn't have the arsenal of Federer. If he can dislodge Djokovic, then why not Nadal...this is the way he must think. And he was a little unlucky at the ATP finals at the O2 where he should have won one of those two very close sets...lady luck had her say in that one.

The problem is he is 12-0 in head-to-heads and that's tough to overcome...

[bottle]

Interesting-- Navratilova's unremitting comment on Roger's forehand volley-- racket tip too high. Maybe he should have hired her instead of Steffan Edberg. Also, to focus on a single point near the end of the match: Roger generates an easy short ball to come in on affording him time for anything he wants. So what does he do? Uncorks a full topspin crosscourt backhand from ten feet away into the net.

Why not a slice or drop-shot as Navratilova asks? Not enough success with the drop-shot? Nonsense! For quite a while he won every point when he used it, sometimes after two or three reflex volleys.

One has no idea of the pressure out there-- unless of course one feels intense pressure every day of one's life.

Regardless, more bad decisions by the Fed came into effect the longer the games wore on. His head, I would argue, not his body, let him down.