Australian Open

[jimlosaltos]

One of best "reach over the net to the wrong side of the court" shots I've seen. Tsitispas with wrong side of net put away vs Berg. Took a shank, a stab volley popping up 20 feet and a sprint from behind the baseline to set it up.. Watch closely and you'll see Stef swing horizontally back toward himself with the racket face flat toward the ground. Travels alongside the net cord, striking the umpire's chair.

Improv skills worthy of Second City.

filedata/fetch?id=103142&d=1705344863&type=thumb

filedata/fetch?id=103143&d=1705344863&type=thumb

worth a look
https://youtu.be/rllZX3jany8?si=4feODRTQkxHZ4L2j

[stotty]

Brad Gilbert called in Andy Roddick to help tweak Coco Gauff's serve.

“I coached Andy at a young age. He’s got an amazing serve. And I was thinking, ‘what a great person to take a look at Coco’s serve,’” said Gilbert ahead of Novak Djokovic’s opener with 18-year-old Dino Prizmic.

He continued, “It’s kind of full circle. When I coached Andy, I was his age now. Andy was like Coco’s age. It was a great two days. Really helped things out, simplified Coco’s motion, abbreviated a little bit.”

Coco: “It only took me, like, two days—maybe three—to get really comfortable with it,” she said. “It was just to make the toss more consistent. Instead of throwing from so low to start up higher to make the toss more consistent.”

Tennis.com

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/andy-roddick-source-coco-gauff-simplified-service-motion-brad-gilbert-australian-open

That's really interesting. It's not what I teach, preferring to have the tossing arm come from a lower position like Roger. I guess a toss starting from a higher starting point suits the more abbreviated motion.

Pancho Gonzales, who had one the best motions ever, started his toss from a relatively elevated position also as I recollect. So Coco and Andy are in good company.

[stotty]

One of best "reach over the net to the wrong side of the court" shots I've seen. Tsitispas with wrong side of net put away vs Berg. Took a shank, a stab volley popping up 20 feet and a sprint from behind the baseline to set it up.. Watch closely and you'll see Stef swing horizontally back toward himself with the racket face flat toward the ground. Travels alongside the net cord, striking the umpire's chair.

Improv skills worthy of Second City.

filedata/fetch?id=103142&d=1705344863&type=thumb

filedata/fetch?id=103143&d=1705344863&type=thumb

worth a look
https://youtu.be/rllZX3jany8?si=4feODRTQkxHZ4L2j

Bizarre!

[stotty]

I watched De Minaur and Raonic today. I am not a fan of any part of De Minaur's game other than his foot speed and spirit. He seems to do everything well but not very well, and he's handicapped by his serve in my view. He doesn't rotate his shoulders away from the net and pull his right shoulder back any where near enough, limiting his power considerably. This is a shame because his racket arm speed is immense, and this is how he is compensating....what a shame. His forehand grip appears quite conservative too by modern standards, not that that's an issue, just an observation.

Nothing wrong with his speed around the court however, which is rather blistering...or his will to scrap and fight.

[stroke]

I watched De Minaur and Raonic today. I am not a fan of any part of De Minaur's game other than his foot speed and spirit. He seems to do everything well but not very well, and he's handicapped by his serve in my view. He doesn't rotate his shoulders away from the net and pull his right shoulder back any where near enough, limiting his power considerably. This is a shame because his racket arm speed is immense, and this is how he is compensating....what a shame. His forehand grip appears quite conservative too by modern standards, not that that's an issue, just an observation.

Nothing wrong with his speed around the court however, which is rather blistering...or his will to scrap and fight.

I agree, no part of his game is not easy on the eye. He is though probably one of the best, if not the best mover on the tour, and he is a great fighter. That is a lot.

[johnyandell]

Bill Simon's take on Osaka:

https://www.insidetennis.com/2024/01/naomi-osakas-heroic-journey/

[stotty]

Good solid win for Raducanu. I am pleased for her. She played really well.

Zverev scrapes through the third set to go 2-1 up. He didn't play all that well but his booming serve can get him of of trouble. He played a decent tiebreak at least. Both players sit far too deep to rally at times. You'd think Zverev would have learned that lesson by now. He's so good when he's red lining it and positively rank when he goes all passive on us.

[stroke]

Match of the day Eubanks vs Rublev. Eubanks looked great in round 1, Rublev was extended to 5 in a very tough match.

[jimlosaltos]

I watched De Minaur and Raonic today. I am not a fan of any part of De Minaur's game other than his foot speed and spirit. He seems to do everything well but not very well, and he's handicapped by his serve in my view. He doesn't rotate his shoulders away from the net and pull his right shoulder back any where near enough, limiting his power considerably. This is a shame because his racket arm speed is immense, and this is how he is compensating....what a shame. His forehand grip appears quite conservative too by modern standards, not that that's an issue, just an observation.

Nothing wrong with his speed around the court however, which is rather blistering...or his will to scrap and fight.

I agree with everything you wrote stotty. BUT then how did De Minaur deliver the best ever serving performance against a world number one, winning all but 1 of his first serves in beating Djokovic in, where was it, Brisbane? One of the AO tune-ups.

From my memory only, his serving location was excellent.

Separately, I'd add that his return seems quite good. I recall a comment by Reilly Opelka aka Mr. Servebot, after he had hit Berrtinni in the chest with a first serve on the bounce, "Anyone crowds the baseline against my first serve I'm going at them. Except De Minaur."

[jimlosaltos]

Curious, don't know how or from where Tennis.com gets its projections but it says 16 year old Mira Andreeva is a slight favorite over Ons Jabeur, 3x 'Slam finalist.

Andreeva is getting so much hype, I may be forced to watch

[jimlosaltos]

I watched De Minaur and Raonic today. I am not a fan of any part of De Minaur's game other than his foot speed and spirit. He seems to do everything well but not very well, and he's handicapped by his serve in my view. He doesn't rotate his shoulders away from the net and pull his right shoulder back any where near enough, limiting his power considerably. This is a shame because his racket arm speed is immense, and this is how he is compensating....what a shame. His forehand grip appears quite conservative too by modern standards, not that that's an issue, just an observation.

Nothing wrong with his speed around the court however, which is rather blistering...or his will to scrap and fight.

Meets a supposed mirror-image later today: Alex de Minaur vs. Matteo Arnaldi

Seen Arnaldi 3 times, both in NexGen and once on late European hard courts. He is quick, but limbs like a Number 10 Ticonderoga. I think Ivan Ljubicic was in his box (FTT team shared with Fils) in Germany, was it?

[stotty]

I agree with everything you wrote stotty. BUT then how did De Minaur deliver the best ever serving performance against a world number one, winning all but 1 of his first serves in beating Djokovic in, where was it, Brisbane? One of the AO tune-ups.

From my memory only, his serving location was excellent.

Well that would be a mystery to me but then I guess even Raonic and Isner have one or two days a year where they return serve really well. Sometimes even the weirdest strokes can have good days. I can't imagine De Minaur is going to repeat that serving performance too often.

He's bloody quick, though...I'll give him that.

[jimlosaltos]

Missing Fed?

All this talk about Ben Shelton modifying his forehand to a more Fed-like drop makes he miss the maestro even more

Re-edited one of my Fed pics as solace.

filedata/fetch?id=103157&d=1705448799&type=thumb

[stroke]

Rublev takes out Eubanks in 3 sets of bang bang ping pong tennis. Tsitsipas digs deep to that Jordan Thompson in 4 sets. Both players really competed well. Novak at 1 set all vs Popyrin, now in a highly contested 3rd set. I guess we would all be beyond shocked if Novak did not get the win here.

[stroke]

Rublev Eubanks match stats. It is very unusual to see Eubanks clearly 2nd place on the winner tally.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Pf81z3EWqWMoorX8