Interactive Forum June 2023: Medvedev Serve Types

[klacr]

I think it's one the sloppiest great serves I've seen. It doesn't always repeat (down to an erratic ball toss mostly) yet he bombs it down successfully time and time again.

It's an odd aesthetic for sure. You also get the impression if you were to play him it would be this twilight zone time-space continuum feeling where things just don't make sense and whatever you throw at him he will manage to get back with greater interest. McEnroe-esque in a way. It's a compliment to his game and his skill level. Phenomenal athlete but definitely not cookie cutter.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA, PTR
Delray Beach
SETS Consulting

https://www.setsconsult.org

[jimlosaltos]

It's an odd aesthetic for sure. You also get the impression if you were to play him it would be this twilight zone time-space continuum feeling where things just don't make sense and whatever you throw at him he will manage to get back with greater interest. McEnroe-esque in a way. It's a compliment to his game and his skill level. Phenomenal athlete but definitely not cookie cutter.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA, PTR
Delray Beach
SETS Consulting
www.setsconsult.org

Life is more interesting when not everything is "cookie cutter" <g>

I was thinking of Medvedev's strokes while watching Coco Gauff lose to Iga Swiatek for the 7th time.

Coco, is also a great athlete, but her forehand is an obvious achilles heel. She knows it. Her coaches know it. While Medvedev does unorthodox things and makes them work, Coco's can't seem to overcome the liability of her one, unorthodox stroke.

One difference this amateur sees is stability. Medy's great movement and anticipation helps him be balanced and stable no matter how much his arms may be flailing. Coco seems gyroscopically unstable on every forehand, even if she arrives in plenty of time. Hard to overcome even with great hands and vision?

[jimlosaltos]

Since I was reminded today that a wise man once told me "The service motion includes the recovery step," I thought it might be of some interest to share another of my vids of Medvedev serving.

This is a slice serve to the deuce court vis Frances Tiafoe from BNP Open/ Indian Wells. It's a long view, so you can see the ball's motion, and I let it run to the point's completion.

The slice, despite not being near the sideline, takes Frances out past the doubles alley. Medy ends up caught inside the baseline, but hit an outright winner on a drop shot.

Part of what impressed me, was how well disguised the drop shot was. Frances was rushing to this backhand and had to make a hard stop and pivot when the ball headed 5 feet over the net to the deuce service box. It often seems to me that two-handers do a much weaker job of disguising drop shots off their backhand side than one-handers. But, to me, Frances was fooled with good reason.

It's 4k/ 120 fps. If you use the "gear icon" to the vid's lower right when viewed on a computer, you can further slow down the video. On a good monitor, if you squint you can sort of see the combination of gyro and topspin motion John wrote about in his great work on Sampras' serve.

The 1:10 min video is in the "Short" format at YouTube. Hope your find it interesting.

https://youtu.be/HGsAHrs6T6I

Still image as drop shot off return is hit:

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