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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