Tactically, I think Gill was right, that Carlos just couldn't find the steady emotional 3rd gear to get his teeth back into the match. In fact, the break he got in the second set was almost too adrenalized. I was certain he would get broken again after that.
Looking back on more of the highlights, particularly the court-level ones (cheers TennisTV), it seems to me that Carlos might have benefited from focusing on getting depth in the middle third and not giving Dimi any angles. Same could be said for the serve. Carlos' has improved his deuce side slice but it can still lack bite and movement at times. He strikes the upper right corner of the ball and his power can drive it into the ground. Where as if he made contact a little lower and swung the ball wide more (and even slower), he'd have more success...I think...I'm just a rec player. Anyway, he wasn't finding the body serve very well at all.
I agree he needs to become more of a spot server; mix his speeds and spins. Use the kick more, body serve more, stop trying to smack so many aces. Feel like it would be a good energy management strategy too.
To me it seems that Dimitrov has found the perfect counter to the backhand cage. He slices very deep and very low to his opponent. Both Alcaraz and Zverev would run around to hit their forehand. The problem is that the modern forehand his built for hitting high topspin balls. Low slices are very difficult to handle. So they just massage the ball back. Then Dimitrov can hit a topspin backhand to change the shot or run around and hit the forehand. Dimitrov on the other hand has very classical strokes that are not bothered by low balls as much . He is also a bit taller than Fed so he can handle the high balls without any problem. Playing Dimitrov, as I stated in another thread, is like playing a lefty. Or like the women playing Ash Barty. No one plays like that anymore. Like Ash, Grigor has figured out how to neutralize the attack to his backhand. Now he has two or three options to counterattack. In short, Carlos could not lock him in the cage because of the slice/topspin combo.
I think it's definitely a court situation as well: quick low courts are Dimitrov's sweet spot with his eastern forehand grip and conservative backhand/ability to slice.
He gets more juice out of his serve and forehand as well
That section on Dimi and content and aesthetics is, I think, a subject for a book on tennis. Truly right up my former comms/business strategy past. Lovely.
Agreed. We touched on this topic earlier. I even listened to Spiral Dynamics which I had never heard about. I was reading an article about the death of the humanities not being a university problem. According to the author, the death of the humanities is a societal problem brought on by big tech. In a similar vein, the death of the middleweight game was brought on by the robotization of tennis. I loved Agassi's two hander and Connors as well. But when EVERYONE plays the same, tennis becomes boring. Bring the aesthetics back please. It is fascinating to think that beauty still has a role in our quantifiable world where everything is counted but nothing is enjoyed for enjoyment's sake anymore. Hugh, when you are done with your masters degree, please write more on this topic.
It's interesting, because tennis made an aesthetic decision some decades ago when serve-and-volley at Wimbledon was making things unwatchable with the lack of rallies. They changed the grass to make the ball bounce higher and more predictably. That helped shift things tactically toward what we have now; baseliners winning wimbledon. While I think the product today is great and we are blessed with players coming forward and attacking (alcaraz, rune, even djoker now, tiafoe etc.), the visual style of the players is getting squeezed. The one-hander's advantage - more power and spin – has been squashed by the bigger hitting from the back that is rushing it. I just hope that the drop shots, slices, net sneaks, and finesse elements remain a large fringe element.
I agree. However, if we take grass out of the equation, the surface that allows for the most variety is clay. The sliding, the slicing, the drop shots, the shape on shots...the ability for a small player to beat a big player...it's where all the craft and guile is in the game.
Widening out, my issue is that the speed of court doesn't vary enough during the season. Too many hardcourts are too slow.
I'd say there is an argument that a very quick court allows a smaller player to upset a bigger player, rather than a slow court. Smaller players get more purchase on their shots/serves relative to the bigger player in quick conditions. In slow conditions, bigger players have the firepower to still hit through the conditions, but then get time on the ball from their weaker opponents. Isner always liked a slower hardcourt I believe, because it gave him more time on his groundstrokes, and he still could dominate with his serve.
yeah, I get it. I guess I'm just thinking about the north-south game, the small ball that comes into play. I'm thinking of Gaston, Moutet, even Diego...But, yes, Zverev becomes insanely punishing on clay.
Yes, we have actually gone too far the opposite way, from the S&V quick strike courts before, to ridiculous homogenisation of courts all over the world. We need to go back and find a balance. I can't believe some tournament officials dont believe fast surfaces will not give them increased viewership in today's day of strictly middleweight tennis.
I just want parts of the season where guys like Bublik can string together 2-3 great months. I mean, Paris masters and Rotterdam are incredibly slow for indoors.
If I were Grigors coach, I would suggest a lot of short slice backhands(particularly to the forehand) to force Zverev forward and have to deal with passing shots. Just make him play quality volleys, Grigor to me would not necessarily have to produce clean winners as padding shots. I am thinking enough of this strategy could unnerve Zverev. Sinner, it is all on his racquet. It he manages his error count, as he has been doing, he is too good for Med.
He used it very well! Zverev was having trouble with Grigor's slice to the forehand. He either missed or just hit Grigor a ball that was easily attackable. It is, as if, it took Grigor 15 years to find his opening. When he came on the tour, so many more people played like him. He was Baby Fed but just could never measure up to the Adult Fed. Now he seems more mature and maybe his game is just different enough to bother the newer generation. The match against Sinner will show us if indeed Grigor is onto something.
I really hope Dimitrov is able to sustain this level that he is playing at right now. The clay season will be interesting to see if he can find any success there where the slices and fast FHs are the least successful.
Regarding Dimitrov, on the Tennis Podcast (the Catherine, David and Matt one), they were quoting Dimitrov's former coach Jamie Delgoado saying that Dimitrov's current form is the result of preparing and practicing the right way for a long time. Dimitrov has been the ultimate professional for a long time and I am happy to see it paying off.
The Medwed wide serve + **backhand** 1 opposite allows him to pull the ball (ie power) and tweak his swing path with both hands to comfortably take balls early (ie aggressive control).. surprised it’s not more common on tour.
I happen to prefer it myself, but as a lefty with a forehand that can spray, maybe not so relevant a comparison.
A single arm and hand shot will always allow for more arm and racquet-head speed, creating more power and spin. That's why there are barely any double-hander-on-both-sides players, both on the ATP and WTA tour. The last one who had any sort of success was Marion Bartoli if i remember correctly
A captivating analysis as always! Speaking of aesthetics, it would be interesting to see a discussion about serve technique, such as the differences in elbow and shoulder cocking in the trophy position between the "American" serve (Sampras, Roddick, Shelton) and "European" serve (Federer, Grigor, et. al.), the impact of swingpath on ball toss disguise, and the optimal techniques for tall vs short players...
Dimi top 10 at 32.
Tactically, I think Gill was right, that Carlos just couldn't find the steady emotional 3rd gear to get his teeth back into the match. In fact, the break he got in the second set was almost too adrenalized. I was certain he would get broken again after that.
Looking back on more of the highlights, particularly the court-level ones (cheers TennisTV), it seems to me that Carlos might have benefited from focusing on getting depth in the middle third and not giving Dimi any angles. Same could be said for the serve. Carlos' has improved his deuce side slice but it can still lack bite and movement at times. He strikes the upper right corner of the ball and his power can drive it into the ground. Where as if he made contact a little lower and swung the ball wide more (and even slower), he'd have more success...I think...I'm just a rec player. Anyway, he wasn't finding the body serve very well at all.
I agree he needs to become more of a spot server; mix his speeds and spins. Use the kick more, body serve more, stop trying to smack so many aces. Feel like it would be a good energy management strategy too.
To me it seems that Dimitrov has found the perfect counter to the backhand cage. He slices very deep and very low to his opponent. Both Alcaraz and Zverev would run around to hit their forehand. The problem is that the modern forehand his built for hitting high topspin balls. Low slices are very difficult to handle. So they just massage the ball back. Then Dimitrov can hit a topspin backhand to change the shot or run around and hit the forehand. Dimitrov on the other hand has very classical strokes that are not bothered by low balls as much . He is also a bit taller than Fed so he can handle the high balls without any problem. Playing Dimitrov, as I stated in another thread, is like playing a lefty. Or like the women playing Ash Barty. No one plays like that anymore. Like Ash, Grigor has figured out how to neutralize the attack to his backhand. Now he has two or three options to counterattack. In short, Carlos could not lock him in the cage because of the slice/topspin combo.
I think it's definitely a court situation as well: quick low courts are Dimitrov's sweet spot with his eastern forehand grip and conservative backhand/ability to slice.
He gets more juice out of his serve and forehand as well
Agree. Also speaks to his post US Open run as well.
That section on Dimi and content and aesthetics is, I think, a subject for a book on tennis. Truly right up my former comms/business strategy past. Lovely.
Agreed. We touched on this topic earlier. I even listened to Spiral Dynamics which I had never heard about. I was reading an article about the death of the humanities not being a university problem. According to the author, the death of the humanities is a societal problem brought on by big tech. In a similar vein, the death of the middleweight game was brought on by the robotization of tennis. I loved Agassi's two hander and Connors as well. But when EVERYONE plays the same, tennis becomes boring. Bring the aesthetics back please. It is fascinating to think that beauty still has a role in our quantifiable world where everything is counted but nothing is enjoyed for enjoyment's sake anymore. Hugh, when you are done with your masters degree, please write more on this topic.
It's interesting, because tennis made an aesthetic decision some decades ago when serve-and-volley at Wimbledon was making things unwatchable with the lack of rallies. They changed the grass to make the ball bounce higher and more predictably. That helped shift things tactically toward what we have now; baseliners winning wimbledon. While I think the product today is great and we are blessed with players coming forward and attacking (alcaraz, rune, even djoker now, tiafoe etc.), the visual style of the players is getting squeezed. The one-hander's advantage - more power and spin – has been squashed by the bigger hitting from the back that is rushing it. I just hope that the drop shots, slices, net sneaks, and finesse elements remain a large fringe element.
I agree. However, if we take grass out of the equation, the surface that allows for the most variety is clay. The sliding, the slicing, the drop shots, the shape on shots...the ability for a small player to beat a big player...it's where all the craft and guile is in the game.
Widening out, my issue is that the speed of court doesn't vary enough during the season. Too many hardcourts are too slow.
I'd say there is an argument that a very quick court allows a smaller player to upset a bigger player, rather than a slow court. Smaller players get more purchase on their shots/serves relative to the bigger player in quick conditions. In slow conditions, bigger players have the firepower to still hit through the conditions, but then get time on the ball from their weaker opponents. Isner always liked a slower hardcourt I believe, because it gave him more time on his groundstrokes, and he still could dominate with his serve.
yeah, I get it. I guess I'm just thinking about the north-south game, the small ball that comes into play. I'm thinking of Gaston, Moutet, even Diego...But, yes, Zverev becomes insanely punishing on clay.
Yes, we have actually gone too far the opposite way, from the S&V quick strike courts before, to ridiculous homogenisation of courts all over the world. We need to go back and find a balance. I can't believe some tournament officials dont believe fast surfaces will not give them increased viewership in today's day of strictly middleweight tennis.
I just want parts of the season where guys like Bublik can string together 2-3 great months. I mean, Paris masters and Rotterdam are incredibly slow for indoors.
The ideal time for fast indoor HCs is the post USO season. But yes like you said, even those HCs are slow.
If I were Grigors coach, I would suggest a lot of short slice backhands(particularly to the forehand) to force Zverev forward and have to deal with passing shots. Just make him play quality volleys, Grigor to me would not necessarily have to produce clean winners as padding shots. I am thinking enough of this strategy could unnerve Zverev. Sinner, it is all on his racquet. It he manages his error count, as he has been doing, he is too good for Med.
He used it very well! Zverev was having trouble with Grigor's slice to the forehand. He either missed or just hit Grigor a ball that was easily attackable. It is, as if, it took Grigor 15 years to find his opening. When he came on the tour, so many more people played like him. He was Baby Fed but just could never measure up to the Adult Fed. Now he seems more mature and maybe his game is just different enough to bother the newer generation. The match against Sinner will show us if indeed Grigor is onto something.
I really hope Dimitrov is able to sustain this level that he is playing at right now. The clay season will be interesting to see if he can find any success there where the slices and fast FHs are the least successful.
Me too!!
Passing* not padding
Regarding Dimitrov, on the Tennis Podcast (the Catherine, David and Matt one), they were quoting Dimitrov's former coach Jamie Delgoado saying that Dimitrov's current form is the result of preparing and practicing the right way for a long time. Dimitrov has been the ultimate professional for a long time and I am happy to see it paying off.
The Medwed wide serve + **backhand** 1 opposite allows him to pull the ball (ie power) and tweak his swing path with both hands to comfortably take balls early (ie aggressive control).. surprised it’s not more common on tour.
I happen to prefer it myself, but as a lefty with a forehand that can spray, maybe not so relevant a comparison.
Zverev does this also. I think the best forehands can just do more with the ball. Flat or spin, more power etc.,
A single arm and hand shot will always allow for more arm and racquet-head speed, creating more power and spin. That's why there are barely any double-hander-on-both-sides players, both on the ATP and WTA tour. The last one who had any sort of success was Marion Bartoli if i remember correctly
My God.
Sinner almost doubled Medvedev's total points: 60-37.
A captivating analysis as always! Speaking of aesthetics, it would be interesting to see a discussion about serve technique, such as the differences in elbow and shoulder cocking in the trophy position between the "American" serve (Sampras, Roddick, Shelton) and "European" serve (Federer, Grigor, et. al.), the impact of swingpath on ball toss disguise, and the optimal techniques for tall vs short players...