I found this shot on YouTube. Roger Federer left Tim Henman speechless. I was speechless after I saw the shot. I am interested in your comments and whether you know of any shots that match this one.
John Frausto
Are you an offensive, neutral or defensive player? Too many times players are on one end of the spectrum and can’t figure out why they are so inconsistent and can’t win. As a coach, I like my players to play all facets of the game. If they are one dimensional, they limit their opportunities to win.
I have researched videos on YouTube to write about on my Topspin Tennis.Com Blog. Nick Bolletieri (IMG Academies) has done a nice job on breaking down different styles of play and how each generates opportunities to win.
Have you ever played an opponent that you “think” is better than you and psych yourself out before the match even begins? This happens often and players don’t know how to deal with it. Have you ever played a player that everyone knows you should beat but end up losing. That was the case today at the US Open when Ana Ivanovic from Serbia lost to the No. 188 women in the world Julia Coin from France.
Nick also talks about “The Four Key Phases of a Point” and how builds upon the other. The four are:
The Start - serve or return of serve
The Setup - The rally to create the opportunity ball (video ends after this)
The Opportunity - will be covered in the next review
The Finish - will be covered in the next review
I hope you like the video and outline! I will do a follow-up on the 3rd and 4th phases next.
Thanks!
John Frausto
Owner/President
Topspin Tennis.Com
This was by far the best trip to Cincy to date. The picture is of Fernando Verdasco, Michelle Zwicky and my dad. Verdasco has a great game! I watched tennis for 5 days straight and never got bored. The “Modern Game” is amazing. Some of the highlights of the week:
1) Watching Safin “tank” after he was called for a foot fault on his second serve against Tursonov. Can you say “IMPLODED!”
2) Playing early morning doubles at Mason High School with my dad and friends. Bob Evans afterwards for breakfast isn’t bad either. There is just something about good company (my dad), a good cup of coffee and reading the USA Today that just makes everything alright!
3) Spending time with my friends and board members of the USPTA Midwest Division. What a great group of people. We watched the Thursday night match between Nadal and Haas. Probably the best match of the week!
Everyone should make a trip to an ATP event. The Cincy tournament is one of the best. If you are a USPTA professional, you get in for free. Who can’t beat that!
Happy Hitting…..JF
What a great day of tennis again. By far this was the warmest day of the tournament. Temperatures hovered over 90 degrees. The day’s highlight was Roger Federer’s gutsy win over unseeded Robbie Ginepri by a score of 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-0. Federer wins a measly 44% of his matches when he loses the 1st set in a match. In the second set, he managed to hit 10 aces and win a close tie-breaker 7-6(5). The third set wasn’t close with Ginepri losing the set and match 6-0. Federer joked after the match “I’m happy I’m back with a one-match winning streak.” His next match is scheduled for Thursday against the big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Everyone had a great day of tennis today. Some of the highlights included watching the Fernando Gonzalez and Thomas Berdych match. Berdych pulled out a good three set match. We also had a chance to watch Tommy Haas, Richard Gasquet, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and many others on the practice courts. Michelle had a chance to watch James Blake and Andy Roddick practice together.
The night matches were nice. We watched Marat Safin go down in flames against Demetri Tursunov. Marat got pretty animated when the linesman called a foot fault on him on a 2nd serve. He didn’t look the same after that and conceded the match on controversial 1st serve that was obviously out but Safin said it was in. The crowd was not happy and booed Safin.
The 2nd match pitted Gael Monfils against Donald Young. Mofils had too much fire power and out gunned Young to a 6-1,6-1 victory.
Ken, Michelle, “The Razor” and myself are playing doubles bright and early in the morning. Starbucks will follw and then we will head to the tennis center to watch Day#2 matches. Everyone is excited about the Federer vs Ginepri match. Please play well Roger!!!
The Zwicky’s, McAllister’s and Frausto’s are in Cincy. We just got done playing some early bird doubles this morning at Mason High School. We had a great match…..Michelle and I won the first set 6-4 and Ken and my dad won the second set 6-4. We will have a re-match tomorrow morning.
The Men’s 1st round begins this morning at 11:00am. We are showering and heading over. Below is the order of play for today. There will be some great matches today!
CENTER COURT start 11:00 am
[12] T Robredo (ESP) vs M Fish (USA)
S Querrey (USA) vs P Mathieu (FRA)
[13] F Gonzalez (CHI) vs T Berdych (CZE)
Not Before 7:00 PM
D Tursunov (RUS) vs [WC] M Safin (RUS)
G Monfils (FRA) vs [WC] D Young (USA)
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
J Nieminen (FIN) vs E Gulbis (LAT)
F Lopez (ESP) vs A Seppi (ITA)
[Q} J Bjorkman (SWE) vs R Ginepri (USA)
[14] M Youzhny (RUS) vs T Haas (GER)
Not Before 7:00 PM
M Ancic (CRO) vs J Acasuso (ARG)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
T Bellucci (BRA) vs [16] I Karlovic (CRO)
J Benneteau (FRA) vs R Soderling (SWE)
P Kohlschreiber (GER) vs [Q] M Yani (USA)
COURT 4 start 4:00 pm
S Aspelin (SWE) / J Murray (GBR) vs R Bopanna (IND) / J Cerretani (USA)
S Bolelli (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) vs S Lipsky (USA) / D Martin (USA)
Mack and I just got done with our morning session of training. We worked the inside out and inside in forehands hard today. Mack is moving better and can now hit a forehand from anywhere on the court. He also learned the beginning steps of a “kick serve.”
We had lunch at the Exchange Coffee House in downtown Plymouth, Wisconsin, USA. Mack had the usual Turkey and prologne wrap. I had a mocha and ham/cheese panini. Good stuff! We go on court for training at 2:00pm. We will do track and bleacher work. Fun, fun, fun!
Mack ended his final training session with a bang! He did a total of 120 pushups last night. We had a rule in place that for every ball he put itno the net, he had to do 5 pushups. Hitting the ball into the net for a 10 year old is very common. It’s very common for a lot of people. What players don’t understand is that there is more room above the net than there is below it. The last rally of Mack ripped 10 balls over the net and finished by hitting a winner on me! He also had one ace on me as well.
Day #2 of training begins at 9:00am tomorrow.
Today Mack K. and I will be training in Plymouth, Wisconsin, USA. Mack is a 10 year old from Chicago who has great potential. He is strong and has a great passion for tennis. I will keep you posted on his training.
