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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Roger Federer - The Different Strokes


Roger Federer has glided through his tennis career without contracting any injury of such magnitude that could compel him to miss a Grand Slam event or retire through a match. His successes have made people to have a look at how he has managed to do what he has done. There is no individual shot of his game that has made the ultimate difference. There have been and there are many players who have thrived on a monster serve as the main attacking weapon. A few had the audacity to attack with the second serve too. There are those who bludgeon their ground strokes with almost as much power as the serve. A few have done it on the back hand too. Versatility looks like one dimensional for them when compared with Roger Federer.
Federer’s top ranked contemporaries have faded from the scene long back. Lleyton Hewitt born in the same year as Federer has gone out of the top two in 2005 and has been plagued with injuries for the last few years. Andy Roddick, a year younger, too was in the top two lastly in 2005. He though has managed to remain in the top ten for most of the time. Marat Safin, a year older, retired in 2009 and was in top two lastly in 2002. Roger Federer is continuously in the year end top two since 2003. He has declared his intentions to compete in the London Olympics in 2012. This speaks highly of him not only as a player who has managed to be in good physical condition but also necessitates a look into his game which is mainly responsible for his being in such great shape.
Roger Federer may not look as strong as say Rafael Nadal or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but it is not merely the bigger muscles that have to be strong for playing tennis. The smaller muscles play a big role in executing the shots. A thin Justin Henin can hit the ball as hard as a muscular Serena Williams. Roger Federer generates pace with his timing as well as his racquet head speed. Roger Federer can hit the ball from any posture he finds himself as the ball comes into him from the other side of the net. This is in sharp contrast to the back pedaling players like Rafael Nadal who want to meet an incoming ball in their striking zone. This quality of his play takes away precious time from his opponent to find a winner. He innovates on the court  We see the contest between brain and brawn, the beauty and the beast and often, the beauty and the brain triumph. But all this is now changing as Federer approaches the twilight of his career.
Federer is committing many errors of late which were uncharacteristic of him in the past. His legendary self belief, mistaken as arrogance by some, wavers in big matches. Shades of doubt rule his mind when he is up against a determined player from the top few. The first breakdown occurs in the serve, followed by backhand and finally forehand. Those players who do not capitulate within 7-8 shots in a rally pose problems. The number of such players is increasing. His game is no longer a mystery, his having been on the scene for so long. Players and their backboard teams have dissected every aspect of his game and devised game plans. A few of the top players are now able to execute that game plan.  
When people see him play, he invokes memories of his master class when he was at his peak and that is sufficient to light up the mood of many tennis fans.  

Monday, February 14, 2011

Rafael Nadal - A Safety Player


Rafael Nadal has improved his game to suit the demands of different surfaces as well as to the need to add new arsenal to his repertoire of shots. It has however not changed the basic nature of his game.

Rafael Nadal plays the same type of game that others play, forehand though is the lethal weapon in his armour. His shots go to the same places, though a bit acute and with a heavier top spin. On account of the top spin, the opponent gets longer time to see the ball and reach it to play the return. But while returning, the top spin takes him back a bit and comes in the way of his body transfer into the return shot. When the return is weak, Nadal pounces on the ball and blasts it to the other corner.

Nadal game is very physical. He outclasses opponents by retrieving the irretrievable ball and outlasts them in five sets if the opponent is overpowering him in the initial phase of the match. On account of this athleticism, it is tough to beat him in a five set match. When he is down and out, he just hangs on waiting the sheen to go from the opponent’s play in due course of time. But these things can be exceeded by players who are faster athletes and have stronger physique. On a given day, when such opponent would play above his potential, he can make victory difficult for Nadal.

Nadal plays a percentage game, as most of the professionals do. Percentage game is more predictable. The shots are more likely to go to the safer places in a rally, which are not difficult to fathom. If the opponent takes a calculated risk and is the first to go to corners with a hard hit, he finds ways to open up Nadal’s weaknesses.

Nadal is basically a retriever who used to win by inducing errors . Since his forehand shots were very heavy, he was able to force errors into the opponent’s game. There would be very few unforced errors from his own racquet. His winners will also not be many, but always more than his unforced errors. He has now developed into a player who also hits a number of winners, but in the process, also commits many more unforced errors than he used to. He plays the high risk game only when such game is the winning game. When he finds his best shots not winning points, he transforms into the usual role of a defensive counter puncher. 

Rafael Nadal has  become a more versatile player. His winning ways are not likely to stop in 2011.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Andy Murray : Die Another Day



Andy Murray has once again belied the hopes of his die hard fans when he lost in the finals of Australian Open 2011 to Novak Djokovic. It is a pity to see so much talent going to waste. Doubts come to mind whether he will ever live up to his potential. This was a golden chance, no Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to battle with in the finals. He had adequate rest before the finals. There was a known opponent in the finals whose shots were not unknown. It looked as if he would grab the opportunity just as Roger Federer did without Rafael Nadal in the French Open 2009 finals.

In the fateful final, two things happened simultaneously - Djokovic played a winning game and Murray played a losing game. It was not an equal fight, where both should have played their best tennis. But then, you play only as well as you are allowed to play. As regards the mental make up, there are two Andys, one that reaches the final and the other that plays in the finals. Murray is a great player but he is yet to develop into a great champion. He gets into awe of the big moments and plays much below his potential. He is yet to develop a powerful weapon, be it serve, forehand or backhand. He lacks power on his shots making it easier to retrieve them. His strengths are anticipation, movement & footwork, speed and spin variation, great retrieving ability, all court game, but all this comes to naught when he gets into the finals of a Grand Slam tournament without any proper plan for execution of his strengths. Everybody has been saying that it is the mind set he has to change. He transforms himself in the finals and starts playing a different game than the one that brought him upto the finals. Djokovic got a tough match against Federer in the Semi-Finals and continued the same style of play. In Australian Open 2010, Murray had defeated Rafael Nadal playing attacking tennis before Nadal retired, but in the finals, he did not play an attacking game against Roger Federer and lost. In all the three finals, he has lost in a similar way. He stepped in abandoning the winning ways. He lost to a player who chose to attack. He went into an utterly defensive way and went on shrinking and shrinking further. He did not only appear to have no Plan B, but no Plan A as well. His serve percentage dipped for no reason. His number of aces came down from Semi-Final and earlier round stages. He started dancing to the tune of the opponent. He had no mental strength to recover or bounce back. He appeared to be running all over the court without any purpose. This is how Andy Murray was won over by the opponent in Grand Slam finals.

Andy Murray is not either having the right people in his corner or he does not listen to the right people. He has not developed any overpowering weapon in the last few years and it is difficult to see him winning a Grand Slam title without a single devastating shot. He is a very good player, but needs to introspect and develop. He has to change, but who has to tell him so that he listens. His mum has been there, but nothing changed. He has no coach, but will he listen to a coach if he employs one. This defeat is going to devastate him, but for how long, one can not say. He lost Australian Open 2011 more than Djokovic won it. One would like to see him get into winning ways in Grand Slam tournaments.