Koslov

[klacr]

I would love to have the opportunity to tweak that service motion of his and discuss his serving tactics. klacr...any possibility of you intervening on my behalf?

I'll see what I can do.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[DougEng]

Stefan Kozlov US Open Juniors High Speed

Here's that serve in Future Stars:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...8s.html?Stefan Kozlov.mov

He apparently was injured (leg problem?) at the US Open Juniors.
Lost to Miedler of Austria easily. I should be shooting points at regular speed
or 120 fps but shoot this at 240 fps. I posted it on youtube.

Oh well. Nothing spectacular for now...especially hurting.

http://youtu.be/zLRAnAIR6C0

Enjoy!
Doug

[tennis_chiro]

I wonder about serve followthrough

He apparently was injured (leg problem?) at the US Open Juniors.
Lost to Miedler of Austria easily. I should be shooting points at regular speed
or 120 fps but shoot this at 240 fps. I posted it on youtube.

Oh well. Nothing spectacular for now...especially hurting.

http://youtu.be/zLRAnAIR6C0

Enjoy!
Doug

Doug,
Nice video. Is his tendency to finish to the right a sign that he is not getting enough rotation through his serve? I like to see that service motion completed on the left side of the body. Finishing on the right helps get more kick, but it leads to tennis elbow problems because the muscles of the forearm don't completely or properly relax at the end of the motion.

I hope you will post some more like this of some of the other juniors.

don

[jasonfrausto]

He apparently was injured (leg problem?) at the US Open Juniors.
Lost to Miedler of Austria easily. I should be shooting points at regular speed
or 120 fps but shoot this at 240 fps. I posted it on youtube.

Oh well. Nothing spectacular for now...especially hurting.

http://youtu.be/zLRAnAIR6C0

Enjoy!
Doug

Doug,

Thanks for taking the time to film and share this. Especially the length of the video! I'll definitely be watching it shortly.

[DougEng]

More Stefan Kozlov Videos from US Open 2013

More Stefan Kozlov videos I filmed from US Open Juniors 2013.

There are from doubles.

First two are regular speed, then last one is high speed (240 fps).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWnSIbTW-D0

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPRV5-CTrpQ

[stotty]

Koslov winning ways down under...

I see Stefan Koslov made it to the final of the boys event down under. He lost easily in the final but when you consider he is still fifteen...sixteen next week...that's a decent achievement.

Well done, Stefan.

[stotty]

Here is a video of Koslov playing the final of the Orange Bowl last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhtwB153OY

I wonder if this kid will develop to become a great player or not. It's too early to say. The first conundrum is will he develop a big weapon. When I saw him at junior Wimbledon he was very savvy at playing matches, but lacked power. I found it hard to determine whether his forehand or serve had the potential to be big. Time will tell. I am going to watch this kid with interest.

[dimitrios]

Here is a video of Koslov playing the final of the Orange Bowl last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNhtwB153OY

I wonder if this kid will develop to become a great player or not. It's too early to say. The first conundrum is will he develop a big weapon. When I saw him at junior Wimbledon he was very savvy at playing matches, but lacked power. I found it hard to determine whether his forehand or serve had the potential to be big. Time will tell. I am going to watch this kid with interest.

Apparently Kozlov rolled both his ankles days prior and so was not close to 100 percent in the final. Yes, I too am curious to see what weapons he develops. It seems right now that he has three attributes in spades: ball control, tactical awareness and competitive drive and ability.

He is very talked about by both his peers and development people in tennis. But he seems to have such a long way to go. I'm most curious to see how his power develops as well as his movement -- neither of which seem particularly strong at the moment.

As for the "weapon" he may or may not develop, he's going to need several weapons if he wants to compete at the highest levels.

[GeoffWilliams]

It's called an ankle brace. Kid has defense.

[stotty]

Tricky customer that Koslov

Apparently Kozlov rolled both his ankles days prior and so was not close to 100 percent in the final. Yes, I too am curious to see what weapons he develops. It seems right now that he has three attributes in spades: ball control, tactical awareness and competitive drive and ability.

He is very talked about by both his peers and development people in tennis. But he seems to have such a long way to go. I'm most curious to see how his power develops as well as his movement -- neither of which seem particularly strong at the moment.

As for the "weapon" he may or may not develop, he's going to need several weapons if he wants to compete at the highest levels.

Thanks for the comments.

We're on the same page with Koslov. When I saw him at Wimbledon last year, I found his strokes looked incredibly plain, non damaging almost. Yet he won with guile and court craft. Older kids couldn't power him off because he stuck the ball in nooks and crevices that made it tricky for them to get hold of the ball to knock his block off, clever...and he was effective and a quick learner on grass. I saw Hingis at junior Wimbledon at aged twelve where she made the last eight. She was exactly the same.

It's going to be interesting how the kid develops...glad to find you are as curious as me.

[worldsbesttenniscoach]

Thank you, Stotty, for sharing the Orange Bowl footage of Koslov. I only watched 8 minutes of it, due to the far-away camera that made viewing a burden. However, here is what I notice.

Koslov potentially has a good topspin forehand, but sometimes he gets too sideways as he hits it. The racket almost seems to get trapped behind his body. He has such a complex forehand backswing that I think more of an open stance could often free up his forehand power.

Another reason for his lack of power on the topspin forehand is his extreme Western grip. Every time, his forehand has tremendous spin that lacks pace. He needs a coach to show him that even with a Western grip, a player can learn to hit somewhat flatter forehands, depending on what is best for the situation. Koslov's coach has not taught him a relatively flat topspin forehand yet.

Koslov's slice backhand has a very weak grip & is mediocre, but at least he can hit some good drop shots off it, & is consistent with that shot. And from what I saw, at least he is also kinda consistent with his 2-fisted backhand.

On court positioning & anticipation, Koslov needs work. I saw him positioned too deeply in the court when the opponent came to net. I also saw, one time, Koslov trying to recover to the next court position by running parallel to the baseline, deep behind it -- when a player masterful in court coverage would have angled forward & sideways towards the open court.

Yes, Koslov is a consistent player who fights hard. He must make some adjustments in his tennis game if he hopes to succeed at high levels on the ATP. But keeping the ball in play can take a player a long way.

[stotty]

Great observations, worldsbesttenniscoach

Thank you, Stotty, for sharing the Orange Bowl footage of Koslov. I only watched 8 minutes of it, due to the far-away camera that made viewing a burden. However, here is what I notice.

Koslov potentially has a good topspin forehand, but sometimes he gets too sideways as he hits it. The racket almost seems to get trapped behind his body. He has such a complex forehand backswing that I think more of an open stance could often free up his forehand power.

Koslov's slice backhand has a very weak grip & is mediocre, but at least he can hit some good drop shots off it, & is consistent with that shot. And from what I saw, at least he is also kinda consistent with his 2-fisted backhand.

On court positioning & anticipation, Koslov needs work. I saw him positioned too deeply in the court when the opponent came to net. I also saw, one time, Koslov trying to recover to the next court position by running parallel to the baseline, deep behind it -- when a player masterful in court coverage would have angled forward & sideways towards the open court.

Yes, Koslov is a consistent player who fights hard. He must make some adjustments in his tennis game if he hopes to succeed at high levels on the ATP. But keeping the ball in play can take a player a long way.

Thanks for your comments.

Yes he struggles on his forehand under duress, particularly when pulled out wide. It's not that big a shot either. But he is young so we can give him a breather on that one.

His sliced backhand is mediocre, you're right. But when I watched him play live at Junior Wimbledon (I was standing just feet away) he used his sliced backhand very effectively. He dropped balls short or shallow giving his opponent a low bounce. This flummoxed his western-gripped opponent completely. Another thing about Koslov's sliced backhand is it has very little slice. It's more like a flat shot with gentle underspin.

Koslov isn't the most talented kid in the world by a long way but he has superb ball control. I cannot tell you how much control he has of that ball. His game is incredibly plain at first glance. The English don't know him and very few stayed long to watch him play. They quickly moved on to watch the powerful and the grunters. Another good thing about Koslov is he silent when he plays.

His games at Junior Wimbledon were far better than the Orange Ball. Grass seemed to offer him more tactically, and he used every inch of what the grass presented him in this sense. He should have made the final but got bad cramp in the semi on the hottest day of the year. He was much younger than all his opponents and looks/is very much a boy.

I am not a fan of where he stands to serve to the ad court. He isn't the quickest and that line is too open for me. Plus, he can only serve one type of serve from that position which makes him predictable. He denies himself the serve down the middle by doing this.

His two-handed backhand is rock solid. He misses very few.

I am intrigued by Koslov because he's great, but I am unsure his game will develop. In a funny way I see a Michael Chang in him...reached his peak as a teenager and never got much better. Let's see. Time will tell.