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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Roger Federer vs. Rod Laver

Laver and Federer were both born in August 43 years apart. Federer's birthday is August 08, 1981, while Laver's is August 09, 1938. It makes comparing them straightforward as the grand slams make up this way too. For example, Federer won his second Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 22, while Laver won his first Wimbledon 1961, at the same age of 22. And so on.. get the drift?

Laver	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	Career
Australian	r32	r32	r16	r16	W	F	W							W	-	r16	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
French	r128	-a	r64	r32	r32	SF	W	F	F	F	F	W	F	W	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
Wimbledon	r128	-a	r32	F	F	W	W	QF	W	W	W	W	W	W	r16	QF	-	-	-	-	-	r64	8
US Open	r128	-a	r16	QF	F	F	W	F	W	F	W	W	r16	W	r16	-	r16	r32	-	r16	-	-	5
RF/RL age	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38

Federer	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Career
Australian	q1	3r	3r	4r	4r	W	SF	W	W	SF	F	W	SF		4
French	1rw	4r	QF	1r	1r	3r	SF	F	F	F	W	QF	F		1
Wimbledon	1rw	1r	QF	1r	W	W	W	W	W	F	W	QF	QF		6
US Open	q2	3r	4r	4r	4r	W	W	W	W	W	F	SF	SF		5

Green shaded boxes represent Rod Laver playing in Pre-open Era amateur division. Blue boxes represent Rod Laver playing in Pre-open Era under Pro division, whose 3 Grand slam equivalents were French Pro, Wembley and US Pro. These divisions were eliminated in 1968 French Open with the beginning of the Open Era, represented in White boxes, however "contract" professionals were banned for several grand slams (shown in light blue boxes) due to conflicts between NTL, WCT and ITLF till 'true' Open Era started in 1972 US Open with the formation of ATP.

Note: RF/RR age is the age of both Roger Federer and Rod Laver when the tennis season starts (Jan 1). By the time they play US Open, they would have had their birthday and older by one year. (Like Federer won his first US Open at age 23, though he was 22 when the tennis season started).

Note2: Laver served at Australian Army in 1957 as indicated by 'a' for the last three slams of the season.

Data by Wikipedia, ITF & ATP.

Also see, Federer at Grand slam Singles Main draw.

Roger Federer vs. Bjorn Borg vs. Rafael Nadal

Similar to Roger Federer vs. Pete Sampras summary, here's an attempt to match the Swedish ice-man, Björn Borg's achievements against Roger.

Federer's birthday is August 08, 1981, while Borg's is June 6, 1956. So, they are 25 years apart, which makes it convenient to compare them. Some similarities include Borg is 0/9 at US Open where Roger has won four straight times, like Federer is 0/9 at French Open where Borg has won six including four straight. Borg and Federer were known to be brats during junior days and then developed an ice-cool demeanor later on. Also, both Borg and Federer has won Wimbledon five straight times, an all-time record and both are junior Wimbledon champions as well.

Also, during the era when Borg played, Australian was not considered a serious slam and most of the pros never played them, at least not consistently like modern pros do.

Update: Added Nadal as well - as a sheer coincidence, Nadal was born 30 years apart on June 3, 1986. Both being at the top of their game from a very early age and the eerie similarity of their success at French Open as well.

Borg	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	Career
Australian	-	3r	-	-	-	-	-	-	-							0
French	4r	W	W	QF	-	W	W	W	W							6
Wimbledon	QF	3r	QF	W	W	W	W	W	F							5
US Open	4r	2r	SF	F	4r	F	QF	F	F							0
Nadal	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	Career
Australian	-	3r	4r	-	QF	SF	W	QF	QF							1
French	-	-	W	W	W	W	4r	W	W							6
Wimbledon	3r	-	2r	F	F	W	-	W	F							2
US Open	2r	2r	3r	QF	4r	SF	SF	W								1
Federer	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Career
Australian	j-F	q1	3r	3r	4r	4r	W	SF	W	W	SF	F	W	SF		4
French	j-1r	1rw	4r	QF	1r	1r	3r	SF	F	F	F	W	QF	F		1
Wimbledon	j-W	1rw	1r	QF	1r	W	W	W	W	W	F	W	QF	QF		6
US Open	j-SF	q2	3r	4r	4r	4r	W	W	W	W	W	F	SF	SF		5
BB/RN /RF age	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Note: RF/BB age is the age of both Roger Federer and Bjorn Borg when the tennis season starts (Jan 1). By the time Borg played Wimbledon and Federer play US Open, they would have had their birthday and older by one year. (Like Federer won his first US Open at age 23, though he was 22 when the tennis season started).

Data by Wikipedia.

Also Federer at Grand slam Singles Main draw.

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
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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
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Wimbledon Final 2007 - Part 2 -Should Nadal Serve Wide More In The Deuce Court?

If you closely watch Rafael Nadal's serving patterns, you'll notice that he rarely goes wide in the deuce court.

I've charted Nadal's serving patterns for most of the last 2 French finals and the last 2 Wimbledon finals.

As I've noted before Nadal often basically lets you know where's he's going to serve. His reasoning must be that his slice serve is good enough to get a relatively weak return that will allow him to begin to dominate the point with his forehand.

You can't really argue with his results. You could possibly say that this serving strategy is less suited for tiebreaks where free points on the serve are much more important than in regular games. Ergo, he lost both tiebreaks to Fed and his tiebreak record is not all that hot.

Nadal is quite capable and fairly confident, in my opinion, in serving down the middle in the ad court. If you cheat too much to take away the wide serve, he can burn you with smoke down the middle. He did this repeatedly in the latter stages of last year's Wimbledon finals.

As you recall Nadal got smoked at the beginning of the first set of last year's Wimbledon and was down 5-0. I charted his serving pattern and he had served 11 out of the first 13 first serves to the backhand.

I believe that last year Federer received so much grief in the tennis world stemming from his inablity to return the Nadal serve at the French Open. People like Wilander were basically saying why not just stand further to the left to cover the slice and make him beat you by going the other way if he can. Federer may have used this strategy to return at Wimbledon and was giving Nadal trouble.

Near the end of the first set in the Wimbledon final last year, Nadal started serving down the middle in the ad court and he continued this for the rest of the match. He served almost 50 % of his ad points last year in the second set down the middle and he won 80% of the points.

So, I believe that Nadal is quite capable of mixing it up in the ad court.

Where I think Nadal has trouble is in the deuce court. He rarely serves the wide serve in the deuce court. This of course the serve that Fed, Sampras, and McEnroe all had mastered. ( I'm talking about the Fed and Sampras wide serve in the ad court and the Mac serve in the deuce court since Mac was a lefty like Nadal). These great servers serve wide and get the ball a few feet up the line making the serve almost unreturnable.

And, by being able to serve this wide, they force the opponent to alter the return position, making the serve down the middle more effective.

Look at Nadal's starting position in the deuce court and then compare it with the starting position in the deuce court of other lefties like Mac, Rusedski, Leconte, Gomez, Martina.

All these other lefties stand a few feet away from the center line. Nadal hugs the center line when he serves in the deuce court. I believe this gives him an even better angle for the serve down the middle but hurts his angle for going wide in the deuce court.

You can't argue with Nadal's results but I'd like to see what would happen if Nadal moved a few feet further away from the center line in the deuce court like the others and improved the wide serve.

If I were his coach and he struggled this year again on the hard courts, I'd experiment with this idea to see what happens.

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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Wimbledon Final 2007 ---Part 1

What a final it was. A classic!The Wimbledon final of 2007 will go down in history as one of the all-time bests.

Compare it to the Wimbledon Final of 2006 and you can see that Nadal has closed the gap with Federer on grass. This was an even match.

Both guys have played each other enough and adjusted enough that the matches between them are no longer about patterns. No one is clamoring that Federer should slice more or hit down the line backhands.

It came down to pure tennis execution.

The one area where Federer is clearly superior to Nadal is in hitting aces and unreturnable first serves. Notice that I didn't say his serve is better.
Look at how often Nadal holds serve and you can begin to appreciate his serving strategy. He hits his lefty slice most of the time and makes righthanders block back a weak return into midcourt.

From there, Nadal dominates points with his forehand.

The problem with this strategy is that it's not that effective in tiebreaks where getting free points on your serve is key.

And, if Nadal had been able to split the 2 tiebreaks with Fed, we'd be looking at a new Wimbledon champion.

Let's hope the Wimbledon Final of 2008 is just as good.

Next time I'll talk about Nadal's serve from a technical point of view.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Ideas To Help You 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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Rafa The Warrior And Is Federer Even In The Tournament?

The legend of Rafa the Tennis Warrior continues to grow. And is Fed even in the draw?

The Soderling match, the comeback against Yhouzny. Who wouldn't love the competitiveness of the young Spaniard?

And as for Roger Federer, he's only played a partial set in the last week.

Wimbledon is becoming a bit of a joke with all the rain delays. It changes the dynamics of all the matches.

First of all, rain delays can remove fitness as an issue. Players like Nadal and Agassi work players over physically so that as the match goes on, their opponents start to get beat up physically.

But, with all the rain delays, a player like Soderling never had to worry about fatigue.

Secondly, the courts play so differently depending on whether the grass is dry or wet. No other slam has this discrepancy to such a degree except maybe the French where the clay can play much more slowly if there's been rain.

Thirdly, all the postponements completely destroy the rhythm of a fan. Imagine Federer has only played a partial set all week. Unbelievable!

So, bring on that roof so that we can enjoy a proper Wimbledon tournament.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Strategy 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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Listen Carefully To What Darren Cahill Says

This year's coverage of Wimbledon includes Darren Cahill in the commentator's booth.

Cahill is one of the top coaches on the tour and has worked with players such as Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi in the past.

His observations are those of a professional coach and not just a fan like a lot of the others in the booth.

He'll remark on what grip a player is returning with and how this should affect where a server goes. He'll lay out tactical plans for players to follow.

In other words, you get a glimpse of the way a top tactical tennis mind works.

How many of you out there notice what grips your opponents are playing with and adjust your strategy accordingly.

So, keep listening to Darren Cahill and learning.

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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Nadal Looks Good So Far On the Grass

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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How Bjorn Borg Got So Good On Grass

Today is the first day of Wimbledon.

For 2 weeks the tennis world gets to watch the game of tennis played on a unique tennis surface. And, as we all know, the transformation from the clay courts of Paris to the grass at Wimbledon is no walk in the park.

I've just finished reading a book called Borg Versus McEnroe. This book is a delightful recollection of the world of tennis circa 1979-1981.

The author describes how Borg prepared for Wimbledon after his customary win at the French Open.

Instead of playing warmup tournaments like many players do, Borg worked out at a private club in London called The Cumberland Club. Apparently, Borg was so bad the first few days, that many members joked that they thought they could beat him!

It was here on the private courts that Borg got his grass court timing down and beefed up his serve to the point that it was considered quite a weapon.

Working out with his coach Lennart Bergelin and some practice partners, Borg hit ball after ball spurred on by his incredible work ethic. And, at the end of the day, Borg could often be found in the clubhouse with the other members having a snack.

Today's great champion Roger Federer has a game well suited to grass so it's no great transformation for him. But for the modern day Borg, Rafael Nadal, the 2 weeks in betwen the French Open and Wimbledon are his only opportunity all year to change his clay court game for the grass courts.

So, let the grass court games begin.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Different Tennis Tactics Work On Grass Than On Clay 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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Ok, It's Time For Wimbledon

It always takes me a few weeks after the French Open finishes to get ready for Wimbledon.

My first emotion is that Wimbledon is not part of the real tennis season. After watching the grueling rallies at Roland Garros, the quick points at Wimbledon and the emphasis on the serve seems unathletic.

Certain guys come out of the woodwork to become formidable opponents at Wimbledon.
Big servers like Ivo Karlovic can be a nightmare on the grass.

But as the fortnight approaches, I start to get excited about the subtlety of the grass game. This year in particular, I can't wait to see how Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal do on the grass.

My gut feeling is that both Federer and Nadal are going to run into trouble. I don't know why but it's a feeling I have.

And, one of these years I feel that Andy Roddick is going to win. He's been close in the past but hasn't been able to come up with a brilliant match at the right time. And, with his serve, he'll be dangerous for at least the next 5 years.

Federer skipped the warmup grass tournament this year and I always feel that that strategy makes a player vulnerable in the early rounds.

Similarly, Nadal got knocked out mid-week. I think he too could be upset early.

Now, in the spirit of Wimbledon, I'm about to indulge in a little strawberries and cream.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Smarter Tennis Tactics Might Have Helped Federer In The French Open Final 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 French Open Final

The French Open final was no great surprise to me.

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I consider Nadal an extremely difficult matchup for Federer.

And, I predicted that Hamburg was an aberration. I felt that as soon as Nadal got to Paris and got serious at Roland Garros, he'd mow people down. Especially using his inside out and down the line forehands to a righthander's forehand.

And, that's what happened. Federer was actually hitting his backhand beautifully in the first set. But, if your backhand is on, then Nadal starts to punish you on the other side. Eventually, the legs go and you see a beaten player as you saw in Federer in the last 2 sets.

What was particularly striking to me though was that Nadal hardly varied his service placement at all. He hit almost every serve to the Federer backhand. And, he won 18 out of his last 20 service points.

This to me points out Federer's unwillingness to go outside the box in his tactical choice.

What could Federer have tried?

Well, he could have returned from way back and favoring the backhand side. This is typically how clay courters return. You get the ball in play but are vulnerable to the serve and volley and a big first shot.

This is how Nadal returns against Federer and you can see that Federer was often able to serve and volley easily to the open court.

Here's the key though. Nadal gets every return in play and says - "Beat me if you can with a second shot."

Federer wasn't even getting returns in play on the big points.

I'll say it again -- Federer should hire a clay court coach for the next French Open. Then maybe we'll see a different result in the French Open Final.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Smarter Tennis Tactics Might Have Helped Federer In The French Open Final 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 Versus Federer - How Great is That?

Another Great Nadal Versus Federer Match

Ask anyone in the tennis world what two players they want to see, and you'll almost unaminously receive the response of Federer versus Nadal.

And, now we've got the matchup we want.

All the talk of Federer's down the line backhand, and Nadal's lefty topspin forehand can quiet down as we prepare for the great Final -- Federer/Nadal.

I've been really impressed with both guys as they've mowed down their competition.

Nadal has been overpowering of the ground --brutalizing guys into submission with his heavy groundstrokes.

Federer has been more Sampras-like, getting out of trouble often with his superb serve which he can seemingly place on the line at the biggest points.

For the record, I'm going with the Nadal but I can't wait for the action to start in the latest chapter of the Nadal versus Federer rivalry.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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Is It Better To Grow Up Playing On Clay Courts?

Ah, clay court tennis!

There's nothing like it -- the incredible passing shots from deep in the court, the great drop shots, the huge topspin groundies. All of it together makes for the most exciting and elegant tennis. The French Open is definitely my favourite tournament of the year.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to play in Chile on beautiful, slow, red clay courts.

What impressed me the most was the beautiful, flowing strokes of some of the young kids. I realized then that growing up on clay leads to the development of heavy top spin strokes, a good kick serve, and usually a good drop shot as well.

Of course, hard court players often have a flatter first serve, better approach shots, especially the backhand slice, and far better volleys. It's an effective game but it lacks the elegance of clay court tennis played on the slowest red clay like in Paris at the French Open.

So, I pose the following question. If you were the director of a national Tennis association in charge of developing the next generation of players, would you choose to train them on clay courts or hard courts? Let's assume that both are available.

For myself, I'd rather see the kids develop on clay with solid groundies, good tactics, good patience, and great footwork.

Later, I'd work with the most promising to develop a big first serve and some volleys.

What about you? Clay court tennis or hard courts?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Clay Courts or Hard Courts, Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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's Lefty Inside Out Topspin Forehand

Watch Out For Rafael Nadal's Lefty Inside Out Topspin Forehand At The French Open

The tennis world is abuzz with excitement now that Roger Federer has beaten Rafael Nadal on clay --finally. And, just on the eve of the ultimate clay court tournament -- the French Open!

All the Federer fans were shivering with exctasy as they watched Rog take apart Nadal 6-0 in the third last week in Hamburg.

But, I'm warning all Fed fans right now -- Beware of Nadal's lefty inside out forehand.

You see, Rafa hadn't lost in three years on clay --that's unbelievable when you think about it. And, when you haven't lost in three years, you start to think that you don't have to do anything special. Just play high percentage tennis and you're bound to win.

Nadal's version of high percentage tennis is to hit heavily topspinned crosscourt forehands to his righty opponents. Well, after three years of getting their hats handed to them, guys are starting to figure Rafa out and they're overplaying his favorite shot. They're anticipating the crosscourt forehand, moving in, taking it early , and returning hard and flat. This pattern is giving Nadal a lot of trouble.

Davydenko almost beat him recently, Hewitt almost beat him, and Federer did beat him.

Well, I'm here to tell you not to get too cocky. Nadal is about to unleash his inside out forehand.

The beauty of Nadal's inside out forehand is that it makes righties ( like Federer, Davydenko, and Hewitt) have to cover the forehand side of the court. They can't cheat as much to the backhand side since at any moment Nadal can unleash that lethal lefty inside out forehand stroke.

Then, when he's pulled them wide to the forehand side, he can pummel them with his crosscourt topspin forehand to their backhand corner. They won't be able to hit it on the rise anymore and then they'll be at Nadal's mercy.

So, look out for Nadal's inside out lefty topspin forehand at the French Open starting tomorrow --the world's greatest clay court tournament.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Forget About Tennis Lessons, Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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 Tips That Helped Roger Federer Against Nadal

I'll bet any amount of money that Roger Federer was watching the semi-final match between Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal. And, As Hewitt played Nadal surprisingly well, you have to believe that Fed picked up a tennis tip or two to use in the final.

What Tennis Tips Did Fed Pick Up?

Believe it or not, Nadal is starting to become predictable and a lot easier to play against. In the last two weeks he's beaten Davydenko 6-4 in the third, Hewitt 7-5 in the third, and lost yesterday to Fed.

So, we have to ask what tips have the guys picked up.

Well, in my opinion, they're all anticipating that almost every Nadal forehand is going to be crosscourt. And, they know that a lot of Nadal's forehands land short.

They also know that if they let the ball bounce high they won't beat Nadal. So, all the guys are taking the ball very early and flattening it out. As a result they're either hitting clean winners or keeping Nadal on the defensive.

Not only are they winning more points but they're reducing the wear and tear on their bodies by playing further inside the court and having to move less.

Does Nadal have a counterattacking option? Of course he does and I'll give him my unsolicited tennis tips tomorrow.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Tips Coaching Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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Federer's Looking For A New Tennis Coach

Any tennis coaches out there looking for a new gig?

While the tennis world might think that Roger Federer is panicking in firing his coach Tony Roche, I think it's creates the greatest opportunity of his career.

Rog hired Roche as his tennis coach because he wanted to improve his attack game and his volleys. And Roche came through big-time. Rog has dominated on hard courts and grass in the last three years.

But Federer is now struggling on clay. And, like many greats in the past like Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, and Boris Becker, Federer is now realizing that clay is a different animal.

My belief is that Federer may have the talent to win on clay but he doesn't have the tactics to compete against great dirtballers like Rafael Nadal.

You can read some of my previous posts about what strategy I would advise Rog to follow if I were his tennis coach.

If Fed is really smart he'll hire a world class clay court tennis coach. And I emphasize clay court tennis coach. maybe someone like Jose Higuera who coached Jim Courier to 2 French Open titles.

Let's go Rog -- If Tiger Woods can switch coaches and revamp his game in mid-career so can you. Get that clay court tennis coach.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Coaching Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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Winning Tennis At The Interclub Level

It never ceases to amaze me how many tennis matches can be turned from losses into victories by recognizing patterns and matchups and changing things around to take advantage.

Of course, this is the basis of my whole theory of smart tennis and, if you're interested in learning more, then you can click on the image of my tennis book for more info.

Recently, my Sunday night doubles team has been in the league playoffs. My partner and I are playing first doubles. We've won two consecutive matches where we've lost the first set, won a close second, and then blown out the other team in the third set.

Last week we were playing a team that seemed pretty solid. They both had good serves and good returns. In particular, their deuce court returner had a very good two handed backhand return that he could hit inside out. We serve him down the middle and to his body in the first set and he kept hitting good returns.

Their ad side returner was a tall guy with a huge forehand. We obviously tried to get to his backhand but he was running around everything to hit his forehand.

And, since he was tall with good range, he could cover the down the middle serve when we tried to fool him.

We lost the first set and were struggling to hold serve.

To begin the second set I decided to make a few strategic changes. I decided to serve the deuce court returner wide to his firehand with my kick slice serve. This serve slices out wide but also has some topspin so that it bounces high.

The guy could not handle it. He kept ripping the return hard but couldn't keep the ball in play. Whereas on his backhand he took the ball early before it bounced high, on the forehand he let it get up too high and then didn't have the technique to generate enough topspin to keep the ball in play.

He gave us no trouble the rest of the match.

On the ad side, I decided to stand as far wide as I could and to turn my back even further away from the net in my starting serving position. I was determined to get the ball wide to the returner's backhand even if I gave up some disguise and some ability to go down the middle.

Well, this worked like a charm too. I told my partner what was working and he went to the same strategy.

They never made any counter adjustments and we cruised 6-1 in the third.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Plus, I've edited some pages on my web site about tennis strategy
tennis mental toughness
tennis playing tips to improve your game

tennis tactics and singles strategies to improve your game
how to play winning tennis

Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What Tennis Strategy Can Roger Federer Use Against Nadal On Clay?

It's spring 2007 and things don't look any better for Roger Federer when he steps onto a clay court and looks at the imposing figure of his nemesis Rafa Nadal.

In fact, things look worse.

Yesterday, in the finals of the 2007 Monte Carlo tournament, Federer got smoked like a pig on a fourth of July roast.

Fed just can't handle the Nadal topsoin forehand to his backhand. He's tried of course. He's tried a stragey of slicing his backhand. Didn't work. He's tried trading topspin backhands with Nadal -- doesn't work.

If I were to receive a telephone call late one night from somewhere in Switzerland and a certain R.F were to ask what Roger Federer could do on clay agsainst Nadal -- I might offer the following advice. And, if this Monsieur R.F. said he was a close personal friend of Rog and asked me to tape a little message for the Great One, this is what I might say:

Rog,

Dude, as much as I admire your greatness, you just don't match up well with Nadal. If you both play percentage tennis, he smokes you everytime. His forehand just beats you up brutally on your backhand side and you can't afford to play percentage tennis against him.

And, I know for someone as great as you are, it's hard to accept that there's another player out there who has your number. But, it's true and the sooner you accept it, the better your chances of beating Nadal.

Right now you're playing to keep matches close. You've got to accept that to beat Nadal you're going to have play riskier tennis and escape your comfort zone.

You might get smoked 0 and 1, but this is the risk you're going to have to take if you ever want to beat him on clay.

The first thing you're going to have to do is position yourself more in your backhand corner. You have to run around every backhand you can. Get it through your head -- Rog -- you can't beat Nadal on clay if you have to hit a lot of backhands.

Now, of course, you're going to say, but wait --he'll kill me with his inside out forehand. He might, but this is the risk you have to take. Anyway, every time he hits an inside out forehand, he's hitting to your forehand and this is exactly what you want. In fact, it's your only chance. You must force him to hit to your forehand and then you must go for every forehand. Win or lose the point -- and keep the points short.

Rog, I'm getting tired but I'll have nore to say to you in the next few weeks. After all, the French Open is a month away and you've got to get out to the court right away to start practicing running around every backhand.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Plus, I've added a new page to my web site about tennis strategy Tennis Singles And Doubles Strategies 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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Some Practical Doubles Tennis Strategies

I'm still waiting for my computer techs to sort out the problem with the tennis video software and hardware on my computer. So, for now, I have to put our foray into tennis video learning on hold.

In the meantime, I thought I'd talk about doubles tennis strategy.

I play in a good Sunday night men's doubles league. The guys playing one are usually 4.5 and up.

My favourite partner is a great returner with big groundstrokes. However, his serve is weak and he doesn't volley well for this level.

When we're both playing well we can beat anybody. But, too often his serve and volley dip at critical times. But to be fair, my game can go off too.

This last Sunday we started off slowly and lost the first set. Got bageled actually. Things weren't looking good and it looked to be a short night. As one of our opponents joked as we enjoyed a beer after the match, " After the first set I thought I'd be home in time for the Sopranos."

We were on serve at 3-3 in the second set when my partner got broken. They held, I held and they were serving for the match. We finally broke back to even the second set at 5-5.

We were playing on clay and my partner's second serve was getting hammered. I couldn't help much with poaching because of how hard the other guys were ripping the returns.

So, we decided that my partner would not serve and volley. He would serve and stay back. I would agressively hug the net looking to pick off easy shots and if they got by me, my partner would rip heavy low topspin shots and dare the other team to hit volley winners.

This change in tennis strategy seemed to calm my partner down. Now, instead of having to worry about his weakest shot - the volley- he could forget about that and just do what he does best, which is rip incredibly big groundies that are really tough to volley.

His serving improved, we held at 5-5, and broke to win the second set 7-5.

We were on fire in the third set and won easily 6-2.

We both felt great afterwards because it was a win that was really due to good tennis strategy and tactics.

Anyway, this was just another match that was won by understanding the patterns and dynamics that are going on in a tennis match. To learn more about understanding tennis strategies and tactics check out my Ebook INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy 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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More About Tennis Video

As I wrote about last week, I'll be blogging about using video to help your tennis game.

So, I did some online research to see what type of camcorder I was going to need in order to get some good quality, frame by frame, video that I could use to compare my tennis strokes with the top players in the world.

Last year I played around with video analysis, but I was using an old Panasonic camcorder that did not have an adjustable shutter speed. The video was helpful for gross body type observations, but not for frame by frame analysis, because the racket was blurred due to the low shutter speed.

My research led me to conclude that I needed a camcorder that I could set to have a shutter speed of at least 1ooo.

I went down to the video store, filmed a few service swings, and went back home to see what kind of detail I would get with the higher shutter speed.

But when I got home, I couldn't get the system to work. Man, I was annoyed!

After doing some more reading, I figured out that the problem could either be in the camcorder, in the firewire that connects my camcorder to my laptop, or in the laptop.

I loaded up all three ( camcorder, firewire, and laptop) and off to the local electronics store I went. We hooked up my camcorder and firewire to one of the computers in the store -and -lo and behold - it worked. This eliminated my camcorder and firewire as causes, and led me to conclude that the problem was with my laptop.

Since my laptop is under warranty, I got on the phone with tech support and we tried to figure out if the problem was a hardware or sofware problem. After a number of diagnostic tests, it appears that the problem is a hardware problem .

Tomorrow, I'm bringing in my laptop to the service center to see what can be done.

Now, I know that this blog post hasn't talked too much about tennis but , if we're going to get into hi-tech tennis learning, we have to learn something about technology.

Until the next time,

Glenn


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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Can You Improve Your Tennis By Using Video?

Let's say you're a typical adult at the club playing a 3.5 to 4.5 game.

You didn't play tennis as a kid, love the game, have picked up a lot of savvy, and have a lot of good shots.

But, your game doesn't allow you to take it up a notch. You have too many technical limitations. Too many holes in your strokes which will take a lot of work to fix.

What are your choices?

The conventional approach is to take tennis lessons with your tennis pro. Not a bad option if you have a good tennis pro but it could cost you plenty at $40-60 per lesson.

Can you teach yourself by availing yourself of the newest technologies and studying the greatest pro tennis players in the world in frame by frame slow motion? What if you can compare yourself with them side by side? Is this an efficient way to learn?

Join me on this journey as we combine a love of tennis with the latest technologies. We'll explore the tennis video revolution.

It's going to be fun.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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You've Got To Give Serena Wiliams A Lot Of Credit

Say what you want about Serena Williams. Tennis fans tend to either love her or hate her.

Personally, I've always admired her talent but she's not my favourite player. But, I am in awe of her competitive desire and mental toughness.

She should have lost to Peer in the quarters but I knew that there was no way that Peer was going to hold her serve and win the match in the third set.

And, when Serena was done 15-40 late in the third ,she promptly banged consecutive service winners. The woman produces her best stuff when the going is the toughest.

The only other woman who I can say shows that same 'fight till I die' attitude is Maria Sharapova. And, that ladies and gentlemen, should provide a very entertaining final.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results 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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I Love When Pro Tennis Coaches Commentate On ESPN

The typical image that one has of a pro tennis coach is a quiet type who sits stoically for hours at a time while his or her player goes through the emotional ups and downs of a match.

So, it was quite interesting for me when ESPN invited Darren Cahill into the booth to provide commentary on the Andy Murray /Verdasco match.

Cahill was a breath of fresh air and had plenty to say. He essentially said that Verdasco was a stupid player and implied that he probably wasn't the sharpest guy either.

Of course, if you watch the extremly talented Verdasco play, you can see right away that he's a very dumb player. He has tremendous weapons that he doesn't know how to use very well at all.

Cahill went where ex-pros tend not to go. He was brutally honest but it was refreshing to hear some insightful analysis.

Of course, my all-time favourite is Brad Gilbert who knows more about tennis and has more opinions than anyone.

So, I say let's hear from more of the coaches and less from the players who basically give you the standard answers anyway.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook With Great Tennis Coaching Tips 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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