End of an Era?

The era of Roger Federer's dominance is quickly coming to a close. Struggling with confidence, struggling with his forehand, struggling to keep his composure, the lost to Novak Djokovic at the Sony Ericcson in Miami epitomizes the loss of form experienced by Roger the last year. It's not only Nadal he has trouble with now but now a whole host of new up and comers. The Murrays, Novaks are just the beginning and with players like Tsonga and Del Potros are biting at his heels as well. I'd be very surprised if he's able to win another Grand Slam bar some miraculous string of events. I'm not bashing Roger but it seems to me that he simply was satisfied with his level and #1 position while the rest of the field simply got bigger and stronger.

Bar some revolutionary change in the way Rogers trains and commits to Tennis I don't see him winning in the present or future. Roger needs a little fire and it needs to be lit big time under his butt. Hopefully, this lost in Miami will be a clear warning sign that the old Roger is simply not good enough anymore.

All is as it should be....

So as it was written, so it was done. Nadal, the #1 ranked tennis player defeated the #2 Roger Federer in another battle of epic proportions in the final of the 2009 Australian Open. The 6-2 score of the 5th set did little to portray the ebbs and flows of what could be described as another classic between the two would be hall of famers. Again, like the wimbledon final, Roger had his chances but they were fleeting. He struggled to hold his serve most of the match while Nadal continued to rain down topspin mortars from impossible positions. Nadal was a literal wall, not in figurative sense, he was physically a wall. In the end, Roger didn't run out of steam, he ran out of heart. Something Nadal couldn't do even if he tried.

So again the Prince beat the King and improved his record over Roger to 13-6. The Nadal fans rejoiced, the Federer fans despaired. It was as the draw sheet predicted, number #1 beat number #2, still most of us still struggle to accept Nadal as the undisputed #1. Is the king, Fed Express, really dethroned, I mean for good? Take one good look in Nadal's eyes as he steps out onto the court. I really don't think you will need much convincing after that.

To be honest, I'm not much of a Federer fan nor am I a Nadal fan by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are aspects of both which I admire and I also abhor. Federer, bred of tradition, his fluent groundstrokes and catlike grace speed and agility. His ability to focus on the ball and his anticipation skills are unparralled. If you go by the text book, he is a better tennis player then Nadal. More complete with the uncanny ability to play a multitude of styles. His one weakness, arrogance and stubborness. Please don't mistake me, Roger is a perfect gentlemen off the court and refreshing example of grace and humility in a top althelete however on the court is a different matter. On any given day his game is good enough to beat 95% of the other players convincingly and I believe Roger thought that this was good enough, hence his game didn't evolve. He didn't get stronger, he didn't get faster or smarter. He wanted to play 'his game' against anyone and beat them 'his' way. The one person his game had limited success against was Rafael Nadal. The undisputed #2 in the world. Roger must of recognized the potential in his younger opponent but did nothing to guard against it or prepare for it. Thus the inevitable happened. Rafael got better.

Rafael's game is to me the ugliest display of brutish force on the men's game. His game depends on muscle and sure will for sucess. His forehand stroke functions exactly like wheels inside a ball machine (except there is no bottom wheel to counter the topspin). It's a monstrous creation designed with one purpose, to produced a ball that is near impossible to hit. His legs are tree trunks also designed for one purpose, to chase down that impossible ball for a winner while his opponent stands flabbergasted (usually just at the audacity of Nadal even trying for it). His game is built around things they defy common sense. Things engineered into him as a child as if he was customed designed in some futuristic Tennis eugenics program. I don't like his game, period. It lacks grace, elegance and one day it will be his downfall as his body begins to breakdown. However, there is one thing I cannot take away from him and beyond everything it is his greatest strength. His heart.

Nadal is in constant pupil mode, this I attribute to his Uncle Tony. Through his tutorlage he has bred the perfect student. Humble, respectful and hard working, all aspects of Rafael's game are improving on all surfaces. Even at #1, Rafael is as eager and as hard working as the day he was ranked 300 in the world. He plays every point at 100% and there's no ball he won't try for and no set, game or point that he doesn't believe he can win. The scary thing is, I don't think he can think any other way. There is 100% belief yet 100% effort to support it. Let's see how his body holds up, if it does, he could be number #1 for a very, very long time.

Dokic ....You go girl!

It seems like forever since I've seen that name. Once a rising star in the WTA (reaching a high of No.4 in the world) the often troubled Serb makes her return to the Australian open. And boy has she ever. Often known as much for the antics of her insane father Damir as for her tennis, the 26 year old has battled against through adversity and made her opponents take notice. Under the lights of Rod Laver arena, an emotional Jelena toughed out a long 3 setter over the 17th seed, Anna Chakvetadze, 6-4, 6-7(7-4), 6-3.

I've always liked Jelena. She's got big strokes and physicallity that can match any player off the ground. More then that she plays with a fiery go get'em attitude that I've always admired.

Though, the last three years has been a bit of a downward spiral for Jelena. Suffering from depression and injuries she hit a low ranking of 617 in 2006 but has slowly clawed her way back in contention by winning several ITF tournaments in recent years.

"I don't think I'm running out of chances, [but] I think if I do come back it will be this year, 2009, I don't think I'll push it any further than that if I don't … The time is not the problem, it's just the feeling whether I can do it, and it's a lot of hard work to put into it. Coming from zero, it's not easy to do."

She has been quoted that the famous comeback performances of Capriati, Pierce and Andre Agassi are the sources of her inspiration.

Well here's to you girl. Give it one last shot and make it a good one. You've been through 'Tennis Parent' hell and if Pierce and Capriati can do it, why not you?

I'll be rooting for you.

Visual Learning: The Quickest Way to Improve

The human body is an incredible machine. If you take the time to realize that every day tasks we do like walking, lifting a pencil, driving a car takes the coordinations of thousands of nerves and muscles synced perfectly with directions from your brain, it's really quite remarkable.

The question is, who taught us these things, how did we come to learn these innate skills. Did we read them in a book? Did someone tell us step by step how to walk, jump and skip rope

The short answer is no. The human mind is an incredible self-learning machine. In fact, most practical things we do everyday were learned from observing others. We see someone do something we like and we copy it. It's amazing how the body can mimic something it sees without step by step instruction from a manual or video.


Ok. How does this a apply tennis? The same way we learn simple tasks by observing, we can learn to improve our tennis strokes. How many times have you seen a great tennis match live and up close and then step out on the court and strike the ball amazingly. That's your mind absorbing the sound and speed of how the players are striking the ball and your mind and body trying to emulate it. Your body is learning from watching. Unfortunately, at most this usually only lasts a session or two before our body begins to forget what it saw and we fall back into that safe haven of our regular play. How can we make a more lasting impression in our heads and help our game out long term?

Visualize and emulate. Find a player you who you'd like to learn a particular stroke from and simply watch. I don't mean chase that little spec on the screen on your Tele during a broadcast but really take an effort to learn by watching. You have to make a concerted effort to gather all the footage and image sequences you can of that player and that stroke. Often you can find articles on the web from certain websites (like Tennisone.com, Hi-Techtennis.com) that break down the strokes of particles players along with slow mo video. Go grab this stuff. Sit there and watch those movies over and over. It may sound silly but sub-consciously your brain is sucking in that sequence into your brain. Everytime it sees it, it reinforces that posture and positions of that player, more and more in your memory. Watch it till you can visualize that sequence in your head.

Marat Safin's Backhand

Now here's the tricky part. Now that you can see the stroke in your head. Now close your eyes and image you and your body performing the same stroke. This will take a bit of time to visualize but in time you should be able to image your body (with your head attached to it) performing the same action exactly as you saw it in the video. Now the amazing thing is, your body now has an amazing reference point to perform the same action with the same posture and positions. Do this a few times in your head, see your self performing the same motions in your head. Now pick up your racquet and do a swing like you image seeing yourself doing in your head. You'd be surprise about how close you can actually mimic the stroke.
The best part is you really haven't told yourself anything really, you just told your body to copy something and it did all through the process of visualization and imagery.



Now just because you imagined yourself hitting a serve at 124mph like Pete Sampras doesn't mean your doing to do it. In fact the 1st time you do a live run of your visually learned stroke can be quite awkard. Timing and hitting the ball is another issue all together but don't get frustrated. Timing will come with practice and muscle memory with repetition. If you already have a solid foundation of strokes it may be just a tweak or two here and there to make it spot on. Always keep a strong image or yourself performing the action in your mind, it will help reinforce the learning process.

Last thing, be realistic. Ivo Karlovic is 6'10. Just because you can swing like Ivo doesn't mean your going hit a serve like him but there are always things about his serve that you can use to improve your shot.

Also this doesn't mean you can learn everything by yourself. A round or two with the head pro from time to time at your local tennis club can be a great help. There are subtle things about each tennis stroke and you may not pick up by just watching like grip tension, weight transfer and arm looseness. Even better, tell your pro your trying to develop a shot like so and so. He may be able to help you even more.

Remember, study, visualize, execute.

Oh Maria.....whatever shall we do with you?

Poor Maria. Again she's slated to miss yet another event due to a nagging shoulder injury. Not just any event though, the AUSSIE OPEN where she's the defending champion. That means she'll lose all the points she's gotten from that Grand Slam and slip farther down the rankings.

Well you can't really blame her, arthroscopic shoulder surgery is nothing to take lightly and I wouldn't want to look across the net and see Serena or Venus with a bum shoulder not to mention trying to return their serves/groundstrokes.

Unfortunately, this comes at a time where the women's game seems to spiraling. There has never been a time where the #1 ranking has changed hands so frequently and it doesn't look like it's going to end any time soon. With the retirement of Justine Henin (like what the hell?), people are searching for a legitimate force in the women's game but every gal who has taken the number one spot since has risen and fallen to the wayside. Thank god for the William sisters adding some drama to the pot. Their wimbledon final and US open clash has added a dash of spice to a otherwise tasteless year in the WTA pot. On the flip side, the men's game has just gotten interesting with the dethroning of Roger Federer by Nadal and new upcoming stars like Tsonga, Simon, Cilic, Gulbist and what about that Andy Murry guy? Do the brits (or scots) actually have the making of a #1?

So hurry back Maria. The women's game needs you now more then ever. We need your fire and moreover we need the rivalries. You might be an old girl at 21 and all but I think you got a few more good years left.

(BTW - That's the biggest cucumber ever!)

The Heavy Ball

Here's my next installment of my blog. Well I've played tennis a long time and I've gotten to a pretty decent level but it doesn't mean your game doesn't need a tune up now and again. Anyhow, I've been working with a coach recently and he's been teaching me how to make my ball heavier. Now that doesn't necessary mean harder or faster but more in terms of creating a forceful rally shot with lots of height and elevation and spin that's effectively neutralizes attacking opportunities for your opponents and hopefuly forces an error or produces an attackable reply.

So here's the 1st installment in a series of 3 about how to produce the HEAVY BALL.

KEEP THE HEAD LVL

- The head, though most people don't know it, may be the most important body part in any stroke. I know it contains your brain yadda yadda yadda but I'm talking about more in a bio-mechanical sense. Your head is one of the heaviest parts of your body. It's like a bowling ball perched on a stick (your neck) and where ever it goes your body tends to follow. Try just getting up and tilting your head to side, automatically because of the weight, your opposite shoulder wants to rise while the other wants to droop, the curvature of your spine starts to bend and your weight shifts to the foot on the side your tilting too. Yes, you've got a heavy one so you definitely see how head movement can effect not only your posture but your balance as well.

Now that we've successfully explored how heavy your head is let's put that knowledge into some pratical use. We've all seen the pictures of Roger Federer perfectly watching the ball just as the ball strikes his racquet. Yes, it's quite incredible how he can watch it so carefully. You may just think that it's to make sure his ball hits the racquet square in the middle of his string bed (this is partially true)but it always serves another purpose, it keeps him grounded to the ball. What I mean by that is, while keeping his head lvl and watching the ball as long as he can, he keeps his head still and aboved his center of gravity. Too many players jerk thier heads up as soon as they strike the ball. Not only does this result in mishits but it causes the shoulders to tilt back, they begin to lose foward momentum and their balance begins to shift in the opposite direction that you hit the ball. All in all you lose alot of power and solid connection with the ball since your force is now moving in direction more vertically then you intended.



Next time your out on the court try to keep your head still and looking your strike zone/ball throughout contact and follow-thru. Exaggerated it at 1st letting your hitting arm shoulder almost hit you in the chin (for the forehand or 2-handed backhand) before you look up (for the 1-handed backand, till your racket reaches the full extension in front of you). Make a conscious effect to prevent your head from moving vertically or side to side. One way to help visualize this is to pretend your body is rotating within a cylinder with your head being the axis. You should find that not only that your shots are more forceful but also more control since your racquet travels farther in a direction you want to place the ball not up into the ether. Moreover, you should feel more balanced throughout the shot and therefore it should be easier to recover and get back in position for that next shot. Naturally in a game you'll have to look up to see where your opponent and the ball is going but remembering to keep your head grounded throughout the stroke will bring your shots to a whole new level. See you next blog.

String Gauge

Hi folks. It's 4:45 so I don't have alot of time today so let's keep this one snappy. Let's finally talk about string gauge. String gauge is the thickness or diameter of the tennis string when you put it in your racquet. You'll hear things like 15,16,17, or 18 gauge or sizes like 1.16 or 1.18 or stuff like that. In most cases the higher the number the thinner the string. So let's go over the disadvantages and advantages of bigger or smaller string.

Lower Gauges - Thick String

Highs
Durable - doesn't break easily, loses tension slower
Hard string bed - Predictable String Bed, Good Control

Lows
Hard on the arm
Doesn't produce oodles of spin
Lack of Power
Less Feel

Higher Gauges - Thinner String

Highs
Springier string bed - More Pop
Bigger holes = More bite = more spin
Easier on the arm.
More Feel

Low
Less Durable - Breaks faster loses tension faster
Less predictable stringbed = less control

Ok. So what do you do? Chances are your stringer has put a 16 gauge string in your racquet if you haven't specified. It's mid road in terms of gauge so it's not steel cable nor is it fishing line. However, my suggestion is play with the highest gauge string you possible can without busting your pocket book. Thinner gauges are nicer feeling strings, give you more pop and more bite which if your big topspinner like myself is a huge bonus. Fear you'll lose control, well string a bit tighter, that's what I do. Next time you go get your racquet done, go up a gauge to 17 and get him to string it 3-4 pounds tighter. You won't regret it. However, if you the type that can chew up a string job in a few hours, well 15 gauge might be the one for you. Also a thicker string holds it's tension longer so if you play only a few times a year, you might also want to go to a 15 gauge. However, if you play alot, trust me a thinner string is the 'win'.