Is Ash Barty the Closest thing to Fed on WTA?

[jimlosaltos]

I'm not arguing the WTA world number one will match Fed's career. Nor that her strokes resemble Fed's (She's no female Grigor Dimitrov).

But tactically, she plays more like Peak Fed (2004-2007/8) than anyone I can think of, at least on this boring Sunday with no NFL.or tennis.

Spot serves, slice backhand to get space, serve + one, higher wining percentage behind 1st serve than much bigger servers. {Remember, Peak Fed was a whirling dervish of Serve Plus One greatness. Early Fed, S&V. Later Fed, power baseline. Fed 2.0 re-discovered his backhand DTL ! It's like Picasso's periods -cubism, blue, surrealism ... ! ).

Thoughts?

Look at this hit point graphic from AO22. I believe this is ESPN. Red is a forehand. Every dot is --

First Shot After Serve, Barty AO.

She's even got one forehand from her backhand doubles alley. That takes footwork. I don't recall what segment of play this was for. Could have been 2nd set of final only for all I can recall.

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[arturohernandez]

The graphic is scary from a tactical perspective. She is basically showing the world that the main role of the serve is to setup a forehand. I think Nadal would have similar numbers to Fed and Barty. I am sure that the green dots would end up generating a forehand as well on the serve + 2.

She is the female Fed tactically using the slice. I think the only thing that stopped him from using this tactic more was Nadal. Otherwise, he would have continued using it at least for a while.

Ash is playing intelligent tactical all court tennis. Yes, she is a gifted athlete. But tactically I cannot think of anyone that can handle her right now. She may not win Steffi or Serena major numbers. But she could easily end up at the level of Henin or maybe even better. Her game is easy on the wear and tear of the tour. She saves a lot of energy by slicing and slowing the game down. She can play for many years with this style. Meanwhile, all the other bashers just burn each other out. Keys, Collins, Brady, Sabalenka, Muguruza, and the rest will just try to keep hitting it harder and harder. Every year we have a new basher who shows up only to drop just as quickly. It's a sure way for women to scale to the highest levels of tennis. Then they reach the top and have to play against a completely different style in the final.

Funny how champions do something different. Ash is different and it is working. She plays the way tennis was meant to be played. Not by just bashing shots as hard as you can. But rather by neutralizing and then attacking. It has given my daughter a new blueprint for handling the bashers that seem to dominate girls junior tennis these days.

I am just waiting for the next great women's champion to hit both slice and topspin with one hand. Why not? A woman could use the topspin 1hbh 20-30% of the time mixed in with the slice 70-80% of the time and still be effective. By going so extreme in the adoption of the two handed backhand, women have left a tactical opening that is just ripe to be filled by a skilled athlete who is a throwback.

A 1hbh is a liability for women/girls until it isn't.

[jimlosaltos]

A 1hbh is a liability for women/girls until it isn't.

Well put.

Your mention of Justin Henin echoed my thoughts. While Ash to use her own words "Is not tall but I am not small", both were 5 ft 5 in, I believe. Henin thin as a pencil, Barty like a fullback.

Elsewhere I saw discussion that Barty is only at the top because of the tired old excuse that the "field isn't strong". My guess is that Ash is at least as good as Henin, who beat Serena 6 times including on Wimbledon grass, Roland Garros clay, and US Open hard courts.

Ash would present similar match-up issues for Serena as Justin, but a better serve.

[arturohernandez]

Well put.

Your mention of Justin Henin echoed my thoughts. While Ash to use her own words "Is not tall but I am not small", both were 5 ft 5 in, I believe. Henin thin as a pencil, Barty like a fullback.

Elsewhere I saw discussion that Barty is only at the top because of the tired old excuse that the "field isn't strong". My guess is that Ash is at least as good as Henin, who beat Serena 6 times including on Wimbledon grass, Roland Garros clay, and US Open hard courts.

Ash would present similar match-up issues for Serena as Justin, but a better serve.

Totally on the same page with you on this one!

The new/old blueprint is here but no one has seen it yet. Ash gives everyone fits because no one plays like her. They said the same thing during Fed's early days when he was using his slice to great effect. Graf did the same thing and it worked very well in a loaded era.

Everyone plays like the Williams sisters now. They are the model. Hard to make the argument that the field is weak when it is imitating the two greatest sibling tennis players in WTA history.

Funny that no one sees Henin or Barty as a model. I don't think it is restricted to women 5'5". I think all the women could learn to change the pace and play an all court game.

Meanwhile, we can just watch Ash cleanup for the next 8 years in what will be a perpetual weak era.