Salzy Federer

[theshredder]

As a teaching pro who worships the ground Roger walks on and saw Jeff play many times at Stanford, his article on working out with Roger was fabulous. That first hand insight could only come from a player, not one of the idiot reporters who keep asking Roger if he is washed up.

[don_budge]

Roger Federer...The Last Remaining Link

"Tilden is the book. Gonzales is the model, with the Budge backhand. Hopman is the coach and Federer is living proof."

It was a really insightful and thoughtful article...it was a nice tribute to the person that is Roger Federer. Sometimes it appears that the word "reporter" can be found under the letter "i" in the dictionary, I agree. Imagine being in the locker room working up the nerve...finally doing so, then realizing...this guy is a regular dude behind all of the fame and fortune...all of the hoopla. Then all of a sudden you are out on the practice court trading shots with the man...what a surreal dream.

Roger is the last remaining link in the chain that was classic tennis. He is, in the end, a man just like the rest of us. His sun may be setting on his playing career...he reached his zenith now his destiny is on the horizon sinking into hopefully, a beautiful sunset. Perhaps even more unfortunately, it looks like classic tennis will disappear with him. But at the same time Roger Federer will be joining all of the other great legends, of this great sport, in the past.

Unless he can manage a last hurrah. If he can manage to think it through (with the help of his coaching staff) he will realize that he cannot expect to win another major slugging it out from the baseline with these guys...he must change his tactics, he must end it at the net. He can perhaps accomplish this if he can use his service to this end and be more effective at approaching the net in the course of the baseline rallies. Shorten the points! What an exciting idea! What do you think..."theshredder"?

There is only one current player that I use as a model for my students...guess who it is? Only Roger. I have all of the respect in the world for him...which falls just short of worshiping the ground he walks on. I believe some of his greatness is due to the mediocrity that surrounded him for much of his career. Professional tennis needs another handful of players just like him...or rather in his mold, to make the game a bit more interesting. Without his element the game will be a dreadful bore. There will never be another like him...he is a classic. The last of a dying breed.

[jsalzz]

Thanks, Shredder

Hi Shredder,

Thanks for your kind words. One of my fondest memories as a tour player was practicing with Federer. I really enjoyed writing this article and thanks to JY for allowing me to put it together for his awesome website.

Jeff Salzenstein

[theshredder]

Salzy you are the man. And oh god yes would it not be unbelievable to see Roger play more nowadays as he played then and as Jeff experienced. Maybe there will be a next great classical player. I can only hope. You have to wonder why though that there must be some reason why Roger and everyone else no longer goes to the net.

[don_budge]

Maybe there will be a next great classical player. I can only hope. You have to wonder why though that there must be some reason why Roger and everyone else no longer goes to the net.

Jeff Salzenstein...Nice thoughtful article...you should consider writing some more articles on the life of a journeyman tennis pro. Spice it up a bit...if you know what I mean.

Shredder...let me ask you this. As a tennis teacher, at what point do you teach your students to move forward to the net? The modern paradigm seems to totally neglect the middle area of the court and service tactics, where the game transitions from backcourt play to net play. The approach game, technique with tactics. Half volleys. Service motion and tactics.

Today, all of the emphasis is about topspin forehands and two hand backhands. It seems to be one dimensional in the approach to solving a problem, to teaching the game. Where is the creative element of the game? The creative element in the teaching? To me this has greatly contributed to the lack of all court tennis play...which is boring especially at the professional level. There's your answer to the question "why?"...nobody is teaching all court tennis. The teaching element followed the Nick B. concept into the abyss that is the current state of the game. It will take years to correct the momentum...maybe never, if you consider that the impetus will never be there to do so.

I think that if Roger thought this through...and honed his approach tactics as well as his serve and volley he would stand a fighting chance at Wimbledon anyways. He could strike a blow for Classic Tennis.

[tennis_chiro]

Who can hold Excalibur?

\The modern paradigm seems to totally neglect the middle area of the court and service tactics, where the game transitions from backcourt play to net play. The approach game, technique with tactics. Half volleys. Service motion and tactics.

...nobody is teaching all court tennis. The teaching element followed the Nick B. concept into the abyss that is the current state of the game. It will take years to correct the momentum...maybe never, if you consider that the impetus will never be there to do so.

Since the retirement of Pat Rafter there has not been a single player I can identify who could properly execute the serve-and-volley transition game or even the approach and volley transition game (entirely different from kill the short ball and finish with a volley). Rafter and Edberg are the only players in recent memory who could adequately defend returns at what I somewhere learned to call the "tram corners", the outside corners of the service box. You have to be an exceptionally gifted and trained athlete to make the quick change in direction and then handle what might just be a floating return along the side of the court. Furthermore, you can't do this with a swinging volley; you have to be able to execute a crisp, accurate "drive volley" to a point where the opponent can't hurt you even if they can get a racquet on the ball. And with today's equipment, he can hurt you from almost anywhere so that has to be much better than it had to be 30 years ago.

It's amazing to see today's players hit swinging volleys with such skill. But they simply can't "consistently" execute that shot when they are really on the move like you have to be to transition to the net on anything more than a total kill opportunity. And players today don't learn the drive volley. Only the rarest few would be able to play the "tram corners", but without routinely developing good drive volleys, no one really gets the opportunity to see if he could be the one to free Excalibur and lead a resurgence of the "classic" game style with the sword of serve-and-volley. It's a longshot anyway, but no chance with no one learning the drive volley.

And even if you don't really serve and volley except for an occasional change of pace, to be able to truly finish at the net, a player needs to be able to move forward and hit a good drive volley on the move.

And don't even get me started on players, especially women, letting high balls drop so they can hitting swinging forehand volleys instead of overheads. When I get them that far, I teach my players the kneeling overhead, so they can put a ball away on a short medium bouncing ball with absolute security and finality. When is the last time you saw someone do that. We used to do it all the time in doubles and there is no doubt in my mind it is a better shot than the swinging volley when it is available.

But like I said, don't get me started...

don

[jsalzz]

Pat Rafter, the last great volleyer

As a former player and now coach I believe the transiiton game and volleys should be taught from day 1!

Pat Rafter has a unique way of moving at the net and his technique is not taught by ANYONE that I know of...

I have studied him meticulously for hours and hours and use him as a model for myself and all my student.

I was always told to serve and volley more as player withmy big serve but no one taught me how to volley.

It's a lost art that will return to the game if only more coaches and players would study and master Rafter and Edberg.

I am looking forward to the day when I can share my transition game beliefs with a top player that can use these skills to have more success on the tour.

Until then I will help my Colorado players master the middle part of the court ...

[tennis_chiro]

Nice move to the net

As a former player and now coach I believe the transiiton game and volleys should be taught from day 1!

Pat Rafter has a unique way of moving at the net and his technique is not taught by ANYONE that I know of...

I have studied him meticulously for hours and hours and use him as a model for myself and all my student.

I was always told to serve and volley more as player withmy big serve but no one taught me how to volley.

It's a lost art that will return to the game if only more coaches and players would study and master Rafter and Edberg.

I am looking forward to the day when I can share my transition game beliefs with a top player that can use these skills to have more success on the tour.

Until then I will help my Colorado players master the middle part of the court ...

I remember scouting you for Huggy Bears, Jeff. You had a nice move to the net and an excellent serve-and-volley game. Generally, all my lessons start with 5 to 10 minutes of warmup at the net. I'm getting older and slower and lazier, but I try to stick to that with all the kids that really want to learn to play. That approach made a big difference with Danielle Lao (now at USC) and Angela Kulikov (now one of the best 13 year-olds in the country, especially around the net).

Keep at it. Hopefully you'll get a kid who will listen and have the patience to stick with it until they develop all the tools necessary to succeed playing a complete game. Remember, Rafter, as superb an athlete as he was, didn't really mature until 24 or 25. He got beat up pretty good by the top guys when he was 21 and 22. You have to take a lot of lumps to get the routine down. Not many out there who really understand how to make the move anymore.

don

[stumphges]

As a former player and now coach I believe the transiiton game and volleys should be taught from day 1!

Pat Rafter has a unique way of moving at the net and his technique is not taught by ANYONE that I know of...

I have studied him meticulously for hours and hours and use him as a model for myself and all my student.

Hi Jeff,

Would you mind saying a little more about the uniqueness of Rafter's movement at net? (Would make a great second article for you, BTW.)

[jsalzz]

Rafter At Net

In my opinion, Rafter is the last great serve and volleyer. Micahel LLodra, Taylor Dent, Tim Henman, and a few others were very good at this unique skill of moving forward after the serve, but Rafter was one guy who did it exclusively and could win Grand Slams.

There are some huge keys that made Rafter exceptional...his unique technique and cat like movement set him apart from the rest.

And it helped that he had a monster serve.

In terms of his movement, Rafter, like the best serve and volleyers moved through his volleys better than anyone. He also was comfortable volleying with his front foot down before contact, something that is not often taught by coaches.

McEnroe and Edberg also volleyed incredibly off their front foot.

I will talk to JY about doing an article on Rafter sometime.

Jeff Salzenstein

[tennis_chiro]

Get that foot down

...
In terms of his movement, Rafter, like the best serve and volleyers moved through his volleys better than anyone. He also was comfortable volleying with his front foot down before contact, something that is not often taught by coaches.

McEnroe and Edberg also volleyed incredibly off their front foot.

I will talk to JY about doing an article on Rafter sometime.

Jeff Salzenstein

You make a very good point about getting that foot down. Although you often are unable to get that foot down an awful lot of the time when you are serving and volleying, it is incorrect to think the volleyer is actually lunging forward to create additional speed on the volley. He is moving forward to intercept the ball as early as possible, enabling better angles and less obstruction from the net as he takes the ball higher in its' trajectory. Given a choice, a player would rather have the foot down and the head and eyes stable as he strikes the ball. In today's game, that is even more important as you try to deal with passing shots with tremendous spin going over 80 mph, perhaps even 100 mph.

Sadly, this is not well understood and the mantra "Step into your volley" is heard everywhere. You need the step to get the racket head behind the ball and move to cut it off and to help turn your shoulders when possible. When you move the weight onto the front foot, your ability to use your levers around a stable fulcrum (the front foot) is much improved.

In many instances, there simply isn't time to make your move and get that foot down. Then you have to be able to stabilize the body and make a good volley even though you are in midair. You have no choice. But the good volleyer is not "choosing" to lunge forward as they hit their volleys to increase the velocity of their shot.

It would be nice to see this taken apart in an article. To get good video clips from today's players, you would probably have to look at the serve and volley techiniques of the best (and I do mean the best) doubles players. They are the only ones who still really are practicing this craft. And it is a special craft, all but lost among today's singles players. It takes years and years of getting passed to develop the skill to the level of a Rafter, Edberb, Cash or McEnroe. The skill began to die in the 90's.

don

[don_budge]

Volley...technique.

The volley is optimally three motions simultaneously performed together to create a synergetic effect. Remember when hitting the ball in the air...less is better. Score with a combination of placement and solid contact rather than outright speed.

1. The weight is subtly shifted on to the front foot, the mark of a great volleyer...chest and shoulders over the front knee from bending at the waist.

2. Subtle rotation of shoulders rotating into the shot...imagine blocking or meeting the ball with the inside shoulder on the forehand side, or driving the front shoulder down into the ball on the backhand side.

3. Subtle arm and hand motion slightly downward motion to impart just enough backspin through the racquet head for control.

Really good volleyers are able to produce effective shots with motions 2 and 3 and at the same time..."stabilizing the body" as Don says, which means placing the body and racquet head in a position to form a nice wall against the approaching ball even if the front foot cannot be placed down in its optimal position. Wrong footing volleys is not necessarily wrong. Generally speaking...the more difficult the volley, the less motion. KISS.

If you wish to study volley technique you have to go back a bit farther than Rafter. He was a nice player...no knocks against him. But consider that the most monstrous thing about his volleys is the monster of a racquet he used. The Princess!

[gzhpcu]

I watched Rafter and Edberg play on the ATP champions Tour a year or so back. Great tennis still...

[johnyandell]

Jeff, Let's chat!