Why Djokovic and Federer hired serve and volley experts to coach them.

[GeoffWilliams]

Becker vs. Edberg, in the battle of who can help their charges win another Wimbledon.

Edberg was the best ever volleyer, in part due to his extremely low split step into the net, with a 90 degree angle in his knees, that no one has ever been able to copy or emulate. That did two things: put him low for ankle volleys immediately, and gave him more lateral movement, faster, off that more spring loaded split step. What is net play all about? Low volleys, and lateral movement! All Fed has to do is add that super low split, and then he can let Edberg go.

Becker was known for his equally low knee bend, albeit on serve, not volley. I would think that's why Joker added him, to add the heavy ball on his serve, and to help with his drive volley. HIs volley resembles a 4.5 player in that regard, as his drop volley is more polished ala clay court practioner.

[julian1]

Edberg

Becker vs. Edberg, in the battle of who can help their charges win another Wimbledon.

Edberg was the best ever volleyer, in part due to his extremely low split step into the net, with a 90 degree angle in his knees, that no one has ever been able to copy or emulate. That did two things: put him low for ankle volleys immediately, and gave him more lateral movement, faster, off that more spring loaded split step. What is net play all about? Low volleys, and lateral movement! All Fed has to do is add that super low split, and then he can let Edberg go.

Becker was known for his equally low knee bend, albeit on serve, not volley. I would think that's why Joker added him, to add the heavy ball on his serve, and to help with his drive volley. HIs volley resembles a 4.5 player in that regard, as his drop volley is more polished ala clay court practioner.

Edberg is ONLY for 10 weeks per year.
Practically a probation

[GeoffWilliams]

Fed only needs one week to learn the low split step.

[gzhpcu]

Edberg is ONLY for 10 weeks per year.
Practically a probation

Poor guy, and I heard he is only earning around 80,000 Euros a month...

[stotty]

Poor guy, and I heard he is only earning around 80,000 Euros a month...

Why charge at all? These guys are swimming in money with their bulging bank accounts. Why not give back to each other, give back to the game, like in other sports? I don't understand it, I really don't.

[don_budge]

Celebrity Coaching...The Boris and Stefan Show

I suspect that at 90,000€ a month that their contributions are multi-faceted and not limited to serve and volley.

Their presence in the players group of supporters is their most conspicuous presence. Having these ex-boxoffice attractions in their corners boosts their market appeal while resurrecting nostalgic feelings in the "fans".

As far as their coaching contributions...they are not limited to serve and volley. Rest assured that these players are getting a heads up from the powers that be that the winds of change are swirling around them. Tennis will be making the necessary engineering changes to make the game more appealing for the fans and consumers that watch the sport. The game has become dreadfully dull in spite of what Fafa will tell you. It may be exciting for him when he has all of the attention that money can buy. But for any true aficionado of the game the truth of the matter is painfully clear...it's boring.

Presently it is not possible to serve and volley on a consistent basis because of the manufactured conditions and if anybody understands that it would be Becker and Edberg. In fact nobody had to tell that to either Roger or Novak. Serve and volley is not something that Novak Djokovic is going to all of a sudden be pulling out of the hat like some rabbit out of a hat in some amateur magic trick. So the question remains...what is the motivation?

I think that Andy Murray sort of got the ball rolling so to speak when he hired Ivan Lendl. But in turn...Djokovic for instance could add the facet of the opportunity attack to his repertoire. But any decent middle aged coach back from the day could teach him that. He is buying Boris' presence and marketability as well as his coaching acumen. I have listened to Boris a fair amount from the booth and I recognize that he is somewhat astute but in my opinion not quite as articulate as...me for instance.

Roger Federer may have gotten word that "they" would consider prolonging his career because "they" must recognize that the sucking sound that "they" are hearing is the air going out of a balloon once he retires from the game. All of that succulent money going down the drain with him. So he switches to a bigger racquet towards the end of his career and hires the "Sleepy Bear" to hold his hand as he makes his way on the attack aided by some faster courts...just like it was when he started his professional career.

It's interesting to speculate why the sudden resurgence of a couple of marque attractions from the past. Will their sudden appearance coincide with a reengineering of the game? But I am quite certain that we will not see Novak Djokovic serving and volleying on any consistent basis. He might throw that in once in a blue moon as a surprise tactic, but we would probably have a better chance of seeing monkeys fly out of Boris' butt first before we see Djokovic coming to a brief pause at the service line before swooping in and "crisping" volley after volley into all of the corners of the court and all points in between. He can barely manage routine smashes. Just kidding. His net play isn't any worse than any other modern player per se.

Federer on the other hand might press the game more at the net. This is a realistic possibility. But I don't believe that he can either revive his serve and volley game at this point either. He should however be examining the possibility of opportunity attacking at every opportunity.