Australian Open 2018

[arturohernandez]

Ivanisevic helped Cilic with his serve and it improved.

Again we are back to the issue of why coaches don't work to help players hit rhythmic serves.

I remember playing at a club in Frankfurt in 2015 in the mornings.

There was a coach out there teaching a really good junior to serve. The junior was whacking the serve.

But it seemed less fluid than I thought it should be.

I am sure at some point Cilic though he needed to hit the ball hard. And so he practiced this for hours.

Had he been taught to practice really slow and rhythmically in order to build speed, I think eventually it would have been a better outcome.

I know its easy for me to say because I just coach my own kids and none of them are pros or even college players.

But the emphasis on power and speed in the juniors is what eventually leads to bad serves on the pro tour.

His whole game is not fluid. But it could be. It would just require a coach to teach fluidity and incorporate that into the training.

Is this idealistic?

[stotty]

Ivanisevic helped Cilic with his serve and it improved.

Again we are back to the issue of why coaches don't work to help players hit rhythmic serves.

I remember playing at a club in Frankfurt in 2015 in the mornings.

There was a coach out there teaching a really good junior to serve. The junior was whacking the serve.

But it seemed less fluid than I thought it should be.

I am sure at some point Cilic though he needed to hit the ball hard. And so he practiced this for hours.

Had he been taught to practice really slow and rhythmically in order to build speed, I think eventually it would have been a better outcome.

I know its easy for me to say because I just coach my own kids and none of them are pros or even college players.

But the emphasis on power and speed in the juniors is what eventually leads to bad serves on the pro tour.

His whole game is not fluid. But it could be. It would just require a coach to teach fluidity and incorporate that into the training.

Is this idealistic?

One thing that will probably dawn on you when teaching your own children is they cannot always carry out what you want. No matter how hard you try, you will be unable to get swing shapes or racket paths how you would like. To a certain extent players have their own DNA and wiring when it comes to tennis strokes and some players have far less malleability than others. This is why coaches will often opt for getting players to make key positions rather then worry too much about fluency or cosmetics. Rafa's backhand is as ugly as they come but very effective.

You could spend hours and hours coaching a child to serve but if the shot is not there you won't somehow find it. The student brings a lot to the table which the coach has no control of.

Every now and again a coach gets a talented player who is receptive and malleable, but they tend to be the exception rather than the norm.

[don_budge]

It's funny because I have the sense that some of these big guys might be more natural one handers. I know we debated whether you need a one hander to attack the net.

The fact that his backhand is funky and he has a really nice one handed volley also makes me think the two hander is constraining.

Just imagine Roger Federer with a two-handed backhand. Just the thought of it makes me imagine a player glued to the baseline...like all of the rest. It's fine to play two-handed. If that is what you want. But the game is limited right from the beginning. The all court game is a longer learning curve. Approaching the net is a science. Make it a philosophy too. An art even. Carving the ball in the air is another whole dimension.

Federer used to play serve and volley on every single second serve at Wimbledon. Number one...the game was engineered starting with the equipment then they started monkeying around with everything. Number two...the coaching was hijacked. The herd fell for it hook, line and sinker.

Marin Cilic struggles terribly with the short backhand...he doesn't quite know or understand what to do with that kind of ball. He hasn't been trained in this regard. Once you begin to imagine players such as Cilic, Berdych, Tsonga, Raonic, Kyrgios playing one handed, to mention just a few, it gets a bit scary. Each and everyone of these guys were potential Boris Becker's or Stefan Edberg's. Boris and Stefan weren't just bangers either...both could play on the dirt. There are better athletes on the tour than Federer but there isn't a single one of them that is trained to play the game the way it was meant to be played. Go back to Numbers one and two. Think about it.

[arturohernandez]

It is interesting that the short slice backhand is such a clear weakness of the two hander.

Not so for Sampras, who was not known for having a particularly good 1HBH.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/petesampras/ps_backhand/ps_bh_short/ps_bh_short.html?PSBHShortFront.mov

[don_budge]

I saw this point on EuroSport a half an hour ago before we went out to the stable to feed the horses. So when we came back inside I googled "Federer versus Fucsovics..."federer mishit to fuscovics overhead youtube" and lo and behold there it was.

Courtesy of don_budge...one point in the Australian Open that you may have missed. From the Living Proof versus Anybody file.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwIiAFWHjBI

I love bringing back this thread. When I went to look for it I didn't see it initially on the first page. Whenever I start a thread I put the "cool" icon on it. But stotty started this one in my absence since my computer was down. Wow...those were trying times I was going through. Computer crash, car trouble an leaving the job. But you know what...each and every obstacle we faced together and we made it to the other side. I would like to tell the forum what a wonderful woman I married. I met her on match.com over thirteen years ago. There is a God.

[don_budge]

What the heck...while we are on the subject. Top twenty best points at the Australian Open. Hey...we are celebrating Roger Federer regaining the number one ranking, aren't we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJcVDZrvirs

[bottle]

[QUOTE=don_budge;n68964 I would like to tell the forum what a wonderful woman I married. I met her on match.com over thirteen years ago. There is a God.[/QUOTE]

She must be a saint.