Not every tennis expert on TV thinks that Rafael Nadal can repeat his success this year at Wimbledon.
Remember, Nadal shocked the tennis world by reaching the final last year and giving Roger Federer a tough match in the final.
Nadal started this year's tournament by having to face Mardy Fish,a hard-serving American who should give Nadal trouble on grass.
I have to admit I only saw the first set but I was impressed at some of the changes Nadal has made to his game to improve on grass.
Nadal's backhand is a much better shot than it was in years past. He can now really drive it and take control of points with it. He knows that all the other guys are going to try to make him play backhands so he's really worked on improving it.
His return of serve is also much more agressive. He seems to be standing in closer and taking the ball earlier. I don't think you'll see Nadal standing way back to return like he does on clay.
Nadal is also serving with different patterns on grass. As I noted last year, Nadal will vary his serve placement much more on grass. Specifically, in the ad court, he will go down the the T on grass whetreas on clay he almost always just sticks with the slice serve wide.
In the deuce court, he still likes to go mainly down the T on both grass and clay. In fact, I think this is an area for him to work on. If he could hit a consistent serve wide in the deuce court, I think he would be almost unbeatable on hard court and maybe even grass.
Until next time,
Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Different Tennis Tactics For Different Opponents 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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