A letter to Robin Söderling's Father...

[don_budge]

?

[gzhpcu]

Don,
Agree with you on Robin Soderling's service motion, contorted and anything but elegant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a56pv...C7AC7C83282583

and then the elegance of Pancho Gonzales...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDJO_T0mwwM

Tilden has it right:

Power and control in service come from the free use of the racquet head, and can never be gained by the wild gyrations and acrobatic writhing in which you see so many players indulge. All of the great services that I have ever seen have been hit with ease, simplicity, apparently little body movement and no violent contortion.

only point I don't really agree with, is the minimal toss which Vic Braden advocates. Sampras, Gonzales, etc. all had a toss which was above the impact point. Pancho's seems to drop about 6 inches...

[GeoffWilliams]

Those styles are ancient, and none of them could hit 140mph like Soderling can at will. It would be like telling him his fh is bad form, because it does not look like Tilden or Gonzo. Those guys would not win an itf match today, or maybe even a d1 college match, truth be told. Tilden was also a child molester, and should not be held in any regard, mentioned at all by anyone without also bringing that up! Nothing like getting raped by an adult male.

[worldsbestcoach]

difference of opinion

Today's pro players have differences of opinions about the serve, amongst themselves. Some have low, quick tosses. Some believe that a towering, falling toss adds to the pace of the ball when strings contact ball. Karlovic & Roddick have low tosses; Soderling has a high toss. All of them serve the ball hard.

If a poster here advocates a lower toss, let's at least listen. It is not crazy to suggest a lower toss. The Bryan brothers do ok with low tosses.

I will not make a judgement on Soderling's serve. I will study it more. Of course, I have seen it on TV so many times. I will study it more. But Don Budge's points about the serve did not seem crazy. Some great servers even today have low tosses, and of course the motion should be without hitches.

Also, the thought occurs to me: What does Soderling say about his own serve? Soderling himself might say that he would like to improve his serve, and that he will. Who knows? Soderling might have a great serve. At this point, I need to study more, and also check Soderling's statistics for service. However, when the expert commentators on TV discuss the top servers in today's game, other players are mentioned far more quickly than Soderling is mentioned. So I am not going to be so quick to prematurely dismiss Don Budge's comments as wrong.

Also, when I have seen some vintage video here at tennisplayer.net, some of yesteryear's great servers have surprising similarity to today's good servers. Of course, we should not be too quick to dismiss some of the motions of Gonzales and other greats. Do golfers today dismiss Sam Snead and Ben Hogan? Do baseball players today dismiss Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle?

[worldsbestcoach]

Don Budge has taught some pupils great serves

Another thought: I happen to know that Don Budge has taught outstanding serves to some high-level players . . . yes, even by today's standards. I am not afraid to listen to Don Budge's opinions and insights about the serve. I will listen to and consider his thoughts. My hunch is that he teaches the serve well.

[worldsbestcoach]

another thought

I do not think that Gonzalez's serve looks so different from many of the good serves of today's pros Pancho was at the top of world tennis for decades. Even as a senior player, Pancho scored victories over many of the world's best players. We should look for the good things in the games of players who were at the zenith of the sport for a very long time . .such as Federer, Nadal, Rosewall, Connors, Gonzales, Lendl, Laver, Agassi. For instance, no player has ever had a better 2-fister than Connors had. His 2-fisters, both topspin and slice, were unmatched for a combination of power, accuracy, consitency, and ability to stretch for wide balls with resultant great shots (& recover well for the next shot).

I would say Tilden too, for longevity, but I agree with you that he did some awful things. I respect what you say. Also, Sampras's coach Pete Fisher, did some positive things in tennis, yet possibly did some very very bad things off the court. We see so often that heroes in sports can be greatly flawed away from sports.

The "modern" pro game is great, but it is far from perfect, and it will continue to get better. Also, I respect the level of Div. I NCAA. I have coached there. The players are great, but of course they still have holes in their games. As coaching gets better, those holes will be less apparent. As tennis and coaching improve, tennis will continue to grow as a sport.

[worldsbestcoach]

good points, Don Budge

You make some good points, Don Budge. Thanks. Also, I might sign up for some serving lessons from you.

Also, I forgot to mention Sampras among the long term greats. . . and Arthur Ashe would have lasted longer, but for his many unfortunate medical problems. Among the women, Lenglen, Wills Moody, Moffitt King, Smith Court, Evert, Navratilova, Graf, and Seles had long, successful careers.

About the serve of Pancho Gonzales: I read that Pancho dominated with his serve so much that one major pro tournament changed the rule to only one serve per point . .so that other players would stand a chance when copeting against Pancho's great serve. Howver, Pancho had such a great second serve that Pancho dominated that pro tournament. I will not reject Pancho's serve.