The Opportunity Attack

[johnyandell]

Would love to get your thoughts on Jeff Greenwald's latest, "The Opportunity Attack"!

[don_budge]

my thoughts...the evolution of Jeff Greenwald

One question...all those years at the Bolletieri Academy and never being trained to "Opportunity Attack". Shame, shame...shame on you Nick. I made the same point in my comments about an American teenage phenom that I had the pleasure of knowing some years ago. He went to Nick and never evolved. He continued to play the junior game in the professional ranks. To his credit he had an amazing career but my point is...could it have been better? Jeff's article leads me to conclude that I am right...again.

Precisely my point about American tennis. Hijacked and compartmentalized. Jeff came out of the box with the help of an older gentleman and guru named Paul Cohen to evolve into a more complete tennis player. What a great story. Here is a man who enjoyed considerable success playing a certain way but had the ambition, desire and moxy to know that there was something more left in the tank. Potential...room for improvement. Why sugarcoat?

I really like the technique on the volleys...the face of the racquet and the strings are left facing the target and not being "wristed". The wrist is left intact through the entire stroke except for the natural play in the joint. At contact it appears that your whole unit is so intact that you are making "contact" with your right shoulder simultaneously with your racquet face. When volleying dipping bullets there is very little wiggle room to be flapping your wrist around. I also think that today it is advisable to volley with slightly stronger grips than the traditional method of using the continental. What do you think Jeff?

The other thing that needs to be explored is the approach game. When close to the net and closing, the underspin shot is being under utilized in the game today. While the underspin approach lacks in speed and power it makes up for in placement and spin. Spin is the thing that can deceive the player attempting a passing shot by throwing them ever so off balance allowing the approaching player to close...ala say McEnroe or the likes.

Congratulations on your recent success and more than that...for your daring to change and evolve. I admire you for that. I hope that American coaches are gleaning from your story. There is much more potential in American tennis than people realize...there has been a void in the understanding of the game. To truly play great tennis you must use the whole court.

Jeff...your serve is not up to its full potential because of an inadequate backswing. Care to listen? It appears to me that you have a rather vast reserve left in the tank. Again...it perplexes me that all of those years at "The Academy" and no perfect service motion. Strange.

[llll]

i really enjoyed the article
as an all court player it was like preaching to the choir
but i respect and admire jeff for willing to get out of his comfort zone and after the success he has had to be willing to change and incorporate a new philosophy and tactic into his game and DO IT under pressure with not alot of time for the cement to dry
kudos to jeff
don budge
excellent comments as always
my 2 cents
the modern players are starting to incorprate this strategy
and i think its maybe not all because of but to some degree because of federer
rafa admits i beleive he had to learn a net game to beat fed and to try to shorten points to try to save his body some wear and tear (might not have done that for him)
novak,murray,tsonga,fish to name a few all arent shy about closing and finishing the point at the net

we may not see exclusive serve and volley tennis
short ball up the line and come to net tennis

but i think/hope the days of baseline bashing exclusively are becoming extinct

[jperedo]

interesting, i was actually trying to research more about this sort of strategy right before this article was posted.

i would have like to see more example of execution. any chance of that in the future?

[don_budge]

llll aka Larry...

but i respect and admire jeff for willing to get out of his comfort zone and after the success he has had to be willing to change and incorporate a new philosophy and tactic into his game

Right you are...that is a great point. Specifically mentioning a change not only one of technique which is discussed ad infinitum here on the forum to the great delight of the technique freak...but in the end, philosophically it is a tactical game. One that should be played by all military officers. Play more tennis...make less war.

Coming to an epiphany regarding tactics and philosophy is true evolution of "the master" when it comes to enlightenment. Was it not Dostoyevsky who wrote somewhere..."The second half of a person's life is made up of nothing more than the habits he has acquired during the first half." I love a great change that rocks the boat.

Once again with regard to your volley technique...I mentioned that it appears that you are making contact with your right shoulder while you are simultaneously making contact with the ball on your racquet there is just one more thing. You devote some space to the footwork in your piece and this is very prudent. And you practice what you preach...as you are working the upper body into the shot coordinated with your racquet the lower body is doing some beautiful work as well. At the same time or even just before contact with the ball, your front foot is neatly and softly meeting the earth to give a wonderful transfer of weight into your shot. You are right too...this needs to be practiced. While most students spend most of their practice scurrying from side to side, I encourage mine to spend at least half of their training going forwards and backwards. Besides it is better aerobic training.

One more thought Jeff...is this business of the approach game that I mentioned in my first round of thoughts. Utilizing underspin has an additional advantage...it buys you a split second to get prepared to make that first volley. The problem with approaching the net these days is the quickness with which the game is being played. If you hit a topspin rocket as an approach shot your opponent has a pretty good read on the side that you will be approaching number one and number two and three...if you miscalculate and hit too much topspin your approach is going to land short and sit up for the passing attempt.

By using underspin or flatter approach shots, these shots are not traveling quite so quickly and the change of speed and or depth may just throw off the passing attempt. Plus it seems to be more natural to move in behind underspin approach shots...for instance on the backhand one can visualize Billie Jean King criss crossing her feet as she scoots forward to the net. Also since you can use more of a volley like stroke to hit approach shots off shorter balls you have a bit more time to calculate a better placement and also you can be a bit more deceptive because you can hold off on your intentions a split second longer. I am not saying that this would be enough at the pro level to swing the present baseline slugfest into a net duel...but in lesser arenas this tactic could be a gold mine.

[privas]

Federer-esque!

Brilliant article, with perfect timing too, as we remember that inside-out backhand drop volley Federer played at set point and then later in the match in the Wimbledon finals against Murray. The second half of one's life should be spent more at the net. The dark woods of the midlife crisis of Dante should lead one towards the Paradiso of shorter points at the net. However, his type of game requires strong ground strokes. The rest of us hackers still have "serve and volley" and the "chip-and-charge."