Comparing Nadal Versus Djokovic On Hard Courts

The professional tennis tour , at least the men's side of things, has landed in Toronto, Canada for the upcoming Rogers Cup scheduled to begin tomorrow.

As is my tradition, I like to go up the weekend before the tournament starts to catch some of the practice court action.

Yesterday, I saw a little of Andy Murray, Feliciano Lopez, and Radek Stepanek but the highlights of the day included the hour long session between Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo and the session pitting Novak Djokovic versus Thomas Berdych.

Obviously, the crowd was bonkers for both Nadal and Djokovic as they are huge crowd favourites.

I was out there looking for general impressions of their form.

My overall impression is that Djokvic looks more solid than Nadal on the hard court.

Djokovic takes almost every ball on the rise or at the peak of the bounce. This gives his game a metronomic feel and minimizes his need to cover court.

Rafa, on the other hand, relies on his brute power and great speed. He seems to take balls at different heights at times and is much more of a shot maker than the Djokester.

I think the regularity of the bounce on hard court will really play into the strength
of Djokovic and would not be surprised to see him have another great hard court season like last year.

The one obvious improvement that I saw in Nadal's game compared to 2 years ago is his serve. It is much bigger and better placed. This is the one unknown for Nadal going into the hard court season.

We all saw how effective his serve was at Wimbledon. If he can hold easily on hard court as well, then he becomes a lethal opponent on this surface as well.

Now, I didn't get a chance to see Federer so I can't comment on his form.

Let the games begin.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons 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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Clay Then Grass Now Back To Clay

The French Open is a distant memory while the Wimbledon Final still creates a warm glow.

For tennis fans, the big questions are how will Nadal's knees hold up on the hard courts this summer and who will win the US Open later this summer.

So, what does the tour do post Wimbledon?

Well, they've scheduled a couple of clay court events including one in Stuttgart and the Swedish Open.

For players this has to be a bit of yo-yo feeling. First clay for a few months, then grass for 3 weeks, then back to clay for a week, then onto hard courts in North America.

Can't wait to see Nadal on hard courts.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons 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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What Can We Take Away From Wimbledon 2008

What a glorious Sunday this was for tennis fans.

The final of Wimbledon 2008 is already being talked about in reverential tones. Phrases like " the greatest tennis match of all-time" are being tossed around with the frequency of rain delays at Wimbledon.

It's obvious to anyone who has watched tennis closely the past 3 years, that Rafael Nadal has improved his game to an extent that is almost never seen on the pro tour. Players may work on some parts of their game and show improvement but Nadal has turbo-charged his game.

His backhand which was a liability everywhere but on clay 3 years ago is now a lethal weapon.
He can hit heavy topspin to neutralize his opponents, he can drive flat balls with rocket speed, and he can hit both a vicious slice or a floating slice to change the pace of the point.

Not to mention that he has added speed and variety to his serve and gained considerable expertise in volleying.

Who could have imagined that Nadal would serve and volley down love 15 in the biggest game of his life?

All credit has to go to Nadal and his coaches.

Now, notice that Nadal is not a product of a high-level tennis academy with a pedigreed coach who has directed other players to the pinnacle of the game.

So, Uncle Toni as he's known must know a hell of a lot about tennis. It's also been said that Carlos Moya, the fellow Majorcan, has been a major influence on the younger Rafa.

Nadal started with a warrior's heart, a sprinter's speed, and a boxer's knockout topspin forehand. But, now he is becoming a complete player.

I can't wait to see him play at the next 2 hard court slams.

Don't be surprised if you see him holding up a trophy either in New York or Melbourne or both.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND coaching Lessons 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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Wimbledon 2008 --Almost Sad To See Roddick Lose

I have mixed emotions about Andy Roddick.

On the one hand, as a tennis purist, I find his game unidimensional. He has the big serve, which probably isn't as big as it used to be, but the rest of his game is disappointing. The forehand is good, the backhand horrific, return of serve poor, and volleys almost non-existant.

On the other hand, I admire his competitive grit and his desire to try and improve by doing things like hiring Jimmy Connors to coach him and help his backhand.

But, in the final analysis, he has a poorly designed game given his skills.

It's a pity that none of his coaches recognized that his foot speed would not allow him to be a successful baseliner at the pro level and that he would need a great volley to finish points.

Think Max Mirnyi instead of Rafael Nadal.

I was cringing watching the final set tiebreak today against Tipsarevic. Roddick could do nothing but push his backhand and you don't win in the pros by pushing. His unforced backhand error at 4-5 in the tiebreak was just so sad and reflective of where he's at as a player now.

Maybe Andy should play doubles to work on his return and volleys?


Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Guarantee You Improve Your Tennis Ranking. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Wimbledon 2008 Heats Up

The 2008 Wimbledon Tennis Championship are underway.

Day 3 and a huge dose of shock in the 2008 Wimbledon Championships.

Marat Safin has just taken out the number 3 seed Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer, in my opinion, is breathing a little bit easier.

Although Djokovic played poorly today, he still is third best player in the world and capable of insanely good tennis.

Are the Wimbledon gods taking care of Rog?

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND Lessons To Win More Tennis Matches 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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2008 Wimbledon Draw Could Be Critical

The 2008 Wimbledon Tennis Championship is just around the corner.

And, in the past year a new, critical pre-tournament variable has popped up --Who has to play Djokovic in the semifinals?

On clay, it was an issue but not that much of one. Nadal has never lost to the djoker on clay.

On grass, it's potentially a whole different story.

Nadal beat Djokovic last weekend for his first grass court title but it was an extremely close match that could have gone either way.

On the other hand, Djokovic beat Federer in the Australian final and also last summer in Montreal. Granted, these victories were on hard court but, if I'm Federer, I don't want to risk playing Djokovic in the semis.

The luck of the draw recently has favored Federer. I think it's about time Nadal got a little lucky draw of his own.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Ideas To Help You Improve Your Game 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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Nadal Totally Dominated Federer In The 2008 French Final

It wasn't even close!

Actually, it was beautiful to watch if you're a Nadal supporter and probably very painful to sit through if you consider yourself a Fed fan.

But, for all tennis fans it may have been the most impressive performance we've ever seen on clay from the world's greatest all-time clay court player.

Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion. I think that Nadal is the greatest clay-courter of all time!

Only Borg enters into the discussion for me. I think that Borg had the speed, mental toughness, and stamina to hang with Nadal. I wonder though if Borg's two handed backhand could have stood up the the relentless assault of the Nadal forehand.

Of course, we'll never know. And, until Nadal wins 6 French Open titles, there will always be those who say he can't be as good because he hasn't won as many titles.

So, let's wait two more years before we crown Nadal as the greatest on clay.

Now, Let's see what Rafa can do this year on grass.


Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND Lessons To Win More Tennis Matches 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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Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are Cruising

I can't recall a recent grand slam tournament with such a lack of excitement in the first week and a half. Granted, I'm only talking about the men's side and I apologize to all fans of the women's tour.

Nadal has absolutely dominated on the way to the semis. Federer hasn't been challenged, and Djokovic has cruised as well although his sets have been a little bit tighter than the others. I didn't see his match with Gulbis this morning but the scores were close.

Whoever the fourth player to reach the semis ( probably David Ferrer) will be a long, long shot to reach the finals.

So, now it's time for the real tournament to begin.

Bring on Djokovic and Nadal.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches 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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Does Nadal Worry About The French Open Draw?

As I write this, Rafael Nadal is about to close out his first round match in the 2008 French Open.

The real drama of the tournament so far was the release of the draw late last week.
Everybody wanted to know what half of the draw Novak Djokovic was going to be in.

And, as anybody who has looked at the draw knows, Roger Federer is smiling. The question is does Nadal even care?

Federer is smiling because he should cruise into the semifinals where he should meet either Nikolay Davydenko or David Ferrer.

Federer's record against Davydenko is a pristine 12-0 including 3 wins on clay.

Against Ferrer, Federer is 8-0 with 3 wins on clay.

I would say not much to worry about if I'm Federer.

Nadal on the other hand should have to play David Nalbandian in the quarters and Djokovic in the semis.

Nadal is 0-2 against Nalbandian --both on hard courts. And, Nalbandian has crushed him, not having lost a single set!

Against Djokovic, Nadal is 7-3 and 4-0 on clay.

Of course, this begs the question-- does Nadal worry about anybody on clay?

I suspect he would have preferred it Djokovic had ended up in the Federer half of the draw. Whoever plays Djokovic is going to have to expend tremendous energy and this could affect what's left for the final.

Let the games begin.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches 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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Federer's New Coach - Will It Make A Difference?

After 4 years of failing to come up with a way to beat Rafael Nadal consistently on clay (we all know about Hamburg last year), Roger Federer recently hired Jose Higueras as his new coach.

The real question is what can Higueras, or any coach really, bring to the Federer game?

I don't think that there's much technically that Higueras can change in the Federer game. Federer has a fairly conservative grip for his backhand topspin which tends to be his main liability against Nadal. Fed doesn't have the more extreme backhand grip of a Gustavo Kuerton or a Richard Gasquet -- grips that would probably make it a little easier to handle Nadal's high topspin shots.

So, we're left with tactical changes.

Tennis students were watching Federer's matches in Barcelona very carefully to see what changes if any they could pick up.

I myself watched the final in which Federer blew a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Here's what I saw.

I think Higueras is trying to get Federer to open up the court more against Nadal so as to create better opportunities to attack.

Higueras correctly recognizes that Federer cannot rally with Nadal and expect to win a long match.

The first thing I noticed was a greater tendency on Federer's part to run around the Nadal second serve and rip a forehand. We saw some of this at Wimbledon and I think it's a very effective technique.

The next thing I saw was that it looked like that Federer was trying to hit his crosscourt forehand shorter and wider. Instead of playing power tennis and ripping crosscourt forehands deep into the corner, it looked like Federer was taking some pace off and trying to hit a sharper angle so that the ball would land a few feet up the sideline and pull Nadal further wide.

And, one more thing I noticed, was a tactic of hitting a drop shot off of a backhand.

Let's look at this last pattern in more detail.

Over the past few years, Federer has tried various patterns to counter the Nadal forehand to the Federer backhand. He has tried ripping crosscourt topspin back -- to no avail --, he has tried slicing crosscourt --to no avail, he has tried hitting up the line --with limited success.

So, in an effort to try a new pattern, Fed looks like he's trying to hit the drop shot up the line. Since Nadal is cheating to his (Nadal's) forehand corner, Nadal has a long way to go to get the Federer drop shot. And, Federer has a chance to attack the net behind the drop shot.

So, as always, tennis remains a beautiful chess match.

Can't wait for the French Open.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches 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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Federer Versus Sampras --What The Club Player Can Learn

Roger Federer took on Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden this past Monday night.

The score was 7-6 for Federer in the third set -- by all measures a very, very close match.

But, for many tennis observers, the match wasn't quite as close as the score.

Roger severely outclassed Pete in the first set and was up a break early in the second.

Pete looked a step or two slow compared to Roger. But, Pete came on after being down a break in the second. But, to my eyes, Roger kept Pete in the match by hitting back to Pete when Roger had open courts.

John McCEnroe was doing the color commentary on Tv. Each time Roger would subtly hit back to Pete instead of hitting a winner to the open court, Mac would say that Pete guessed right. I don't think so!

Still, it was a fascinating match to me. If you've ever doubted the value of a great serve, just watch this match over and over again.

Pete may have lost a great deal of foot speed and some of his reflexes, but his serve remains world class. And, on the speedy court that was specially installed at the Garden, Sampras' huge serve was a weapon.

So, lesson 1 for the club player ---keep working and working on your serve. Work on hitting both corners of the service boxes while using the same toss. This is what makes Pete's serve so great -- he has incredible disguise.

Lesson #2 -- if you have a speed advantage it's a lethal advantage. Get into shape and know when you walk on the court that you're the better mover. It's subtle but huge.

Lesson #3 -- learn how to attack and close. When Pete got hot with his serve he was able to follow it to the net and hit first volleys ( when he didn't have an outright winner on the serve). So, in your practice matches, get to the net at times and work on your closing game.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tactics To Win Tennis Matches 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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Winning The Club Doubles Championship

My partner and I won a club championship in doubles last week. It was a terrific win, an upset according to most.

But I knew that we had a good chance going in. I had played the other 2 players before and had a read on some of the tendencies and weaknesses of my opponents.

As I write about in my book on tennis tactics, tennis is a game of patterns. If you can get the game to winning patterns, then you should win.

In this case, our opponent in the deuce court had a strong forehand return but a much weaker backhand return. Paying extra attention to the placement of the serve in the deuce court, and making sure it got to the backhand, payed huge dividends.

And even though both our opponents had big first serves, each tended to serve fairly predictably which took away some of the effectiveness. In addition, both hit slow slice/kick as second serves to our forehands, allowing us to rip forehands and charge the net.

We won 6-1 in the third.

A lot of times you really can't tell what's going on in match unless you're really paying attention to the match within a match.

Good luck in your club tournaments.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win Your Club Championship 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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Federer's Serve - Difficult To Read

Listen to what Janko Tipsarevic said after losing a classic tennis match to Roger Federer the other night -- "I couldn't read his serve".

In all of tennis instruction, shot disguise is the least discussed part of tennis technique.

What is disguise as it applies to tennis shots?

Basically, a shot is well disguised if the receiver doesn't pick up any cues early on that will tip the receiver as to where the ball is going.

Cues that tip off the direction of the shot include the setup of the feet, the position of the shoulders, the timing of the rotation, and different locations for the service toss.

The great servers toss the ball in the same location for all the different serves. Less skillful servers tip off what type of serve is going to be hit by the toss. The toss may be to the left and over the head for a kick serve, to the right for a slice serve, and in betweeen for a flat serve.

There's a story floating around as to how Pete Sampras used to practice as he was developing his serve.

Pete would toss the ball to the same location each time without knowing where he was going to hit the ball. At the last second, his coach would yell out where the serve was supposed to go and Pete would make a last millisecond adjustment of his hand to change the direction of the ball.

From a returner's point of view, it is very frustrating to play a player with great disguise on the serve. You have to wait until after the ball is hit to know where it's going and that's usually too late if the serve is well placed.

That's probably why Andy Rodick's serve at 140 mph seems to be less effective than Federer's serve at 120. Roddick probably cues the direction where Federer doesn't.

As you try to work on your game try to swing the same way for different shots and change the direction of the ball by slighty varying the contact point.

Ask your practice partners if they can tell where your shots are going and when they can tell. If your partners can read where your shots are going before the ball is actually hit, then you are probably giving something away.

So, the moral of the story is to keep working on that disguise.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Insider Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches 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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Tennis -- Australian Open Time

It's time for the 2008 Australian Open Tennis Championships.

What this means is that serious tennis is about to start for 2008. After all, if Roger Federer can continue to play otherwordly tennis at the Australian Open, he can climb a little closer to the all-time record of 14 slams held by Pete Sampras.

This year's tourney will feature a new court surface. For the past 20 years the tennis at the Aussie Open has been played on a surface called Rebound Ace.

Rebound Ace has not been a popular surface for a number of reasons. First of all, players have complained that the surface gets sticky when it gets hot (and it gets very hot at the Australian Tennis Open Championships) and players say that there is a real risk of suffering ankle sprains on the synthetic surface.

Secondly, the top Australian Tennis player Lleyton Hewitt has complained bitterly over the years that Rebound Ace is too slow and doesn't give him a good chance to compete for the championship. Note that the concept of a national tennis organization trying to use a surface to favor homegrown players isn't so foreign. It's commonly believed that the US Open surface is kept very fast to favor hard-hitting Americans who grew up on the fast hard courts of California and Florida.

So, this year a faster synthetic surface called Plexicushion is being rolled out.
If you're watching the tennis at the Australian Open on TV this year, the most obvious change that you'll notice is the color of the new Plexicushion surface.

So, the let the games begin and let's see what the tennis looks like.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches 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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Tennis Footwork, Speed and Movement

Speed, quickness, and overall movement skills on the tennis court are killer weapons.

Everybody knows that being in good shape is important in tennis but great tennis movement and overall tennis court quickness changes the game in other subtle ways.

I just played a sanctioned tournament in my age group. Won my first round 6-0, 6-3 against a good player. Then had to go against the #1 seed in the next round.

I asked around and found out that he was a very solid player in superb condition. What they didn't say was that he moved like a cat on the tennis court. He had great tennis quickness, movement, footwork, and balance. He utilized the split step technique well but had sprinter's speed when he was pulled wide or short.

I can't tell you how this changed the game.

I probably had about 10 -15 points in the match where I played a great point and hit the ball into a position that most players wouldn't reach, let alone return with a good defensive shot.

It became almost impossible for me to finish this guy off in a point. Eventually , I subconsciously starting going for too much which is rarely a good strategy.

At the end of the match we had a chance to chat. I asked him what he thought of my game and where he would tell me to improve.

He told me my serve was excellent and my strokes were fine. But, then he said I should work on quickness. He told me about his tennis quickness and movement training routine.

At the top levels of tennis you have to deal with two great skill sets --three actually.

The top players usually are great technically with their strokes, great athletes with great court coverage, quickness, speed, and balance on the tennis court, and strong tactically.

If you're only strong in 1 or 2 of these areas you may struggle when you play the #1 guy or gal in the country.

Next time we'll talk about training routines.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches 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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Disbelief When Federer Loses A Match?

All I heard at the tennis club at the beginning of the week of the recent Masters Event in Shanghai was "Did you see that Gonzalez beat Fed?"

I had to contain my disappointment in their tennis acumen as I responded that it was totally meaningless. When Federer needs to beat Gonzalez, such as the Australian Open final, he can destroy him.

So what happens in these non-slam events when Federer has recently started losing a little bit more than we're used to?

Let me play amateur tennis psychologist here.

If I'm Rog and I've just won the US Open, my goal for the rest of the year is to keep my rhythm and not get hurt. I know that if I play well I win almost all the time.

What I don't want is to get hurt or have to work too hard physically to win matches.

So, I play to keep my rhythm.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Watch Federer's tactics very carefully from now on. When he's relaxed or just playing rhythm tenis, he won't run around his backhand aggressively. He's content to hit his backhand and rally. This minimizes the running he has to do, keeps his backhand sharper, and doesn't give his opponents the vacated forehand corner to attack.

Now watch Fed in a tight match. He starts to run around as many backhands as possible and to attack with his forehand. This is his attack game. It's lethal but it's more physically demanding for him, and as I said above, it exposes his forehand corner.

In the Gonzalez match, Federer was playing his rhythm tennis. Gonzalez was swinging from his heels, hit lines on almost every shot, and still barely won.

If Federer had wanted, he could have started to run around his backhand and speed up the game but, it was early in the week, and he was just trying to get his rhythm.

So don't get too excited when Fed loses a match early in a tournament. Put yourself in his shoes and ask yourself what the objective is

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches 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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Nalbandian's Hot When Pressure Is Off

I like David Nalbandian's tennis game. Always have. He plays with a fluidity and ease that is so enjoyable to watch.

Compare Nalbandian's game to that of Rafael Nadal. Nalbandian exerts far less energy as he moves the tennis ball around form side to side beautifully.

And, yet I can't get too excited about Nalbandian's great play at the Madrid tournament and at the Banque Paribas Tournament in paris the last 2 weeks.

I've always maintained that the tennis season, after the US Open Final and until the new year, is the time of the year when a lot of tenis pros make a lot of money. But, there's no history on the line.

For example, I feel that Federer is just trying to stay sharp and keep his timimg and hitting rhythm these next few months. I really don't think he cares that much if he wins or loses.

As for our Argentinian tennis friend, I've been so disappointed in his play in the tennis slams the last few years, that I can't get too excited because he put it together for 2 weeks.

For me to get back on the Nalbandian bandwagon he's going to have to do something in a slam soon. Like getting to the semis at least. Let's see him take Nadal in a 5 set, 4 hour match in the gruelling heat of Australia. Not exactly the same as 2 out of 3 sets indoors.

And, let's see him take out Fed in a semi or final.


Remember when Federer lost twice in a row on hardcourt to Guillermo Canas last spring? All the Federer haters started to gloat. But Rog was just trying to get sharp in the spring. When the important events rolled around, Rog was locked and loaded and took home both the Wimbledon trophy and the US Open title.

Enjoy the tennis this fall but don't take it too seriously.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches 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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Final Comments On The US Open

Well, I have to admit that I've been a little remiss lately. But, I hope that you all have been busy with your lives as I have been with mine.

But, let's talk some tennis now!

Looking back on the US Open here are some of my impressions.

Watching Federer play, all dressed in black tennis clothes, in some of the mid-tournament matches was like watching a great musician practicing! Fed was flawless at times and the more you watch Fed, the more you have to be aware of his brilliant movement. He is the most musical player out there. He moves with a dancer's grace and a musician's sense of rhythm.

On the other hand, this was the first tournament where I said to myself how much better Rafael Nadal would be if he had received classical coaching growing up. His movement relies too much on bursts of speed as opposed to great footwork. As I've discussed before, his serve has flaws --mainly his lack of a good serve wide in the deuce court --, and I think he often takes the ball too late on his forehand and hooks it too much at times.

So, I wasn't surprised at the play of Novak Djokovic. His game reminds me more of Federer than Nadal. He has a very good serve which wins him a lot of free points. He moves well and is very solid off both sides.

For me the rest of the year is exhibition tennis. I focus on my own game until the Australian Open in January.

So the next few months of posts will deal with our tennis --the club and state level variety.

By the way I hope you all have seen Djokovic do his tennis impersonations. They're hilarious!

I've added a page on my web site which provides links to youtube videos if you haven't yet seen the Djokester's tennis comedy act. Just click here Tennis Humor and then click on the link for Djokovic's Impersonations

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Help You Improve Your Game 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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Some US OPEN Thoughts

Here are some of my random thoughts after having watched parts of the US Open so far.

1. Federer is playing brilliant tennis. He is serving and hitting his backhand as well as I've ever seen. His backhand passing shots were phenomenal last night against Lopez. It seems to take Fed about a set to get a read on big servers but when he zones in, it's over.

2. Nadal looked horrible in the first round and quite good in the second and third. If he is healthy, he should make it through to face Djokovic in the semis.

3. James Blake chokes a lot. He got lucky against Santoro to win his first 5 setter, but he was back to his old ways yesterday against Haas. He played an atrocious tiebreak full of really bad unforced errors. I thought I saw a smile on his face after Haas hit the topspin lob winner at 3-3 in the 5th set breaker. Real competitors would have been pained or angry beyond belief. This was not the time to think " Good Shot Mate."

4. Djokovic is so solid it's scary. It's going to be exciting to see what happens as the tournament progresses. And, if someone does beat him, I want to see what his deficiency is. The only thing I can see is that Nadal and Federer might be a touch quicker than he is. Can't wait.

5. The Williams sisters are still great. And, to their credit, they play exciting, attacking tennis. In general, women's tennis is so cookie cutter it's pathetic, but the Williams sisters and Justine Henin are the players to enjoy watching.

6. Andy Roddick has his chance tomorrow night against Federer. He's lucky to be playing at night, as Bjorn Borg used to hate playing at night saying he couldn't see as well under the lights, which could be a big advantage to Roddick if Fed has a little trouble picking up the ball.

7. Thank god -- No Rain.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Help You Improve Your Game 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
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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It's US OPEN TIME

It seems like an eon ago since Wimbledon.

I personally find the hard court summer season fairly boring. I view it as exhibiton type tennis gearing up for the US open.

And, I don't put a lot of importance on the results. You've got tournaments in back to back weeks so there's no way that a Fed or a Nadal will compete hard each week.

This means that there will be breakthrough winners and unusual guys reaching semis and finals. Look at Frank Dancevic in Indianopolis. Djokovic wins in Montreal and then checks out early the following week. He's too smart to kill himself 2 weeks in a row with matches almost every day in these non-slam events.

But the Open is interesting. And here are some of my thoughts having watched one of the semis and the finals of the Masters event live in Montreal.


Fed is Fed and, unless someone really steps up, he will be there again. The guy I think who can give Fed trouble on hard courts is Djokovic not Nadal. Djokovic's game is better suited to hard courts than Nadal's. He serves better ,and his two handed backhand is so solid that he dominated crosscourt backhand rallies against Federer in the final in Montreal.

Nadal is struggling and I don't see him having a great tournament. Part of Nadal's game is to break you down physically. New York can be steaming hot during the day but can cool down at night and I don't think cool conditions are to Nadal's advantage.

Roddick has to play Fed in the quarters. Goodnight Andy. Blake is on a roll but his game style is so risky that I don't think he can pull it off for 7 matches.

So I'm picking Federer and Djokovic in the final.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Ideas To Help You Improve Your Game 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
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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