July 1 , 2008 
 Become a Better Player - The Finer Points TennisOne 2.0 gives you all sorts of ways of seeing how to improve your strokes--and this week TennisOne Senior Editor Dave Smith discusses how you can use our new cutting-edge video upload and stroke comparison functionality to do just that. At the same time, we know there's more to this game than hitting solid groundstrokes. Check out the finer points...TennisOne 2.0 is like being taught by the top tennis coaches in the world every day, 365 days of the year.
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Wimbledon and Improvisation Jim McLennan Wimbledon magnifies the entire tennis experience. Verdant green courts (at least for the first week anyway), glorious grounds, the tightest most enclosed center court of all the grand slams, and a faster, lower bouncing surface that augments the skills of the most talented servers and returners, and bedevils the rank and file who have made a living on big, defensive baseline play. If tennis is about angles, offense, defense, improvising, moving forward, chipping and charging, and more (and yes, in some rare instances all those things do occur) then our best practitioners in the men’s game have developed (Federer) or are enhancing (Rafa) just those skills. The first week had some unusual surprises, early exits of Sharapova and Ivanovic by lesser though eminently competent lights, as well as a disappointing showing by the American men where Andy and James went out in the second round. The French Rebound How interesting that we can dismiss the French Davis Cup team earlier in the year, and yet these same guys (minus an injured Tsongas) went further, with Gasquet reaching the second week of play losing to Andy Murray, and Arnaud Clement through to the quarters.
As much as anything, this speaks to the ability to improvise on this surface, which Patrick McEnroe discussed when evaluating the track record of James Blake at Wimbledon. Rather than the straight-forward big game, these Frenchmen play a canny version of the modern game, with overspin, underspin, offense, defense, movement, and more. And I believe this generation of French players were molded by their matches with Fabrice Santoro the magician. Imagine a young Gasquet learning the game at the feet of Santoro, literally, and being made to pay dearly when out of position, when choosing the wrong shot, the wrong tempo, or the wrong spin. The elder Santoro, now in the twilight of his career, may be most responsible for France’s current fortunes.
Developing the Next Mecir When considering the fortunes of American tennis, and somehow this conversation generally concerns the men because of the incredible Sampras/Agassi/Courier/Chang quadfecta (coining words on an early Sunday morning), I continue to look for a “Miroslav Mecir” within our ranks. Catlike-quick rather than booming groundstrokes, more of a counter-punchers feel (and certainly none are better than Rafa and Roger when it comes to counter-punching) but definitely with a serve. Can’t we find dancers with a boxer’s tenacity and a fluid serve? And on that score, many of the modern players serve big, but it is easy to note who flows in the delivery and who works to make the ball fly. US Player Development Director -- Patrick McEnroe Patrick McEnroe now steps into the unenviable position as director of US Player Development, but with a Davis Cup title under his captain’s belt, this may his next logical move.
The courts at Wimbledon play slower and with a higher bounce than we saw fifteen years ago. And in that distant past there were many more serve and volleyers - Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, John Newcombe, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Pat Cash, Patrick Rafter, Tim Henman, and more. The faster grass courts rewarded these volleyers with low skidding bounces and, with the exception of Bjorn Borg, the dipping, heavily spun passing shot had not yet been perfected. Many players came to the net simply to prevent their opponent from having the first volleying chance. Consider Federer, who now plays more of a baseline version of the grass court game, certainly willing and able to move forward, but less so than in his 2001 upset over Pete Sampras, where he served and volleyed much more often, simply to keep Pete in the backcourt. And just as Wimbledon magnifies the importance and effect of the serve (no where does this hold more true than with the Williams sisters), equally, this surface challenges the returners and rewards those who can get the return in play. With a good serve out wide to the corner of the service box and a volley into the open court, the pressure always falls squarely on the scrambling returner, who must thread the needle while on the run. And in fact, if Roger and Rafa repeat in the finals, the most telling tactic may be Roger’s out wide serve in the deuce court, compared with Rafa’s wicked sidespin serve out wide to the ad court. Importance of Return of Serve A little like the incredible Sampras/Agassi rivalry, which pitted the games best server against the game's best returner, in this era Nadal ranks first on the ATP Tour on winning points on the first serve and second on points won returning second serves. By comparison, James Blake ranks 10th (not bad) on points won returning the first serve, but 39th on points won returning seond serves. Andy Roddick fares worse on both fronts, ranked 64th on winning points returning the first serve, and 57th on winning points returning the second serve. Whether blocking, borrowing pace, or chipping and charging, the receiver’s primary task is to get into the point, and make the server play. And this simple tactic holds true every bit as much for you and me. Take-Aways Enjoy the tennis this week dear reader, whether you are fortunate to be on the hallowed grounds of the All England Club or, like the rest of us, glued to the spectacular coverage on your television screen. Take note of the chipped backhand, low and skidding to the midcourt area, either at the volleyer's feet or daring the baseliner into this unfamiliar midcourt ground. Take note the simple blocked return of serve, as often as not making the server hit one more ball. And finally take note of momentum shifts, and how a long game with many break points when not converted can often turn a match on its head. This happened at the 2007 French Open final when Federer squandered many break points early in the match against Nadal, and when equally he escaped multiple break points in their decisive fifth set of the 2007 Wimbledon final. Very little separates the winner and the loser, and the same will hold true for you and me. As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
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