I have to admit I only saw the last 2 games of Nadal's first round match. And, in the one service game that I did see I didn't see any major changes in his service motion.
But, reading about it afterward, I discovered that Nadal himself said that he has been working on his serve. And, on some of the tennis forums there were some comments about it. The comments seem to be that he has widened the distance between his feet in his set up.
Readers of this blog might remember that I charted the Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer. The most interesting thing that I noted was that Nadal hardly ever served wide in the deuce court and, when he did, he couldn't serve wide enough. You can read my analysis of the Wimbledon final here Analysis of 2006 Wimbledon Final
I postulated that the other players know this and cheat to the middle when they return Nadal's serve in the deuce court. I made the comment that if I were Nadal's coach I would teach him to serve wide in the deuce court.
I believe what made it so hard for Nadal to serve wide effectively in the deuce court was his starting stance with open hips and feet closely together. Broadening his base makes it easier to serve wide and this might be the reason for the change.
If Nadal can learn this serve I think he'll give players even more trouble. Serving wide to righthanders' forehands in the deuce court ( if he can get it wide enough) will pull them off the court and open up the backhand corner for an attacking shot on the next ball.
Plus, if Nadal can force his opponents to respect his wide serve, then they will probably have to set up for their returns a few feet further towards the sidelines than if he didn't hit the wide serve well. This will make his slice down the T more effective.
Ah, the chess game of tennis tactics.
Comments?
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Online Tennis Tactical Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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1 comment:
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