Monte Carlo, ATP 1000

[don_budge]

Alexei Popyrin does this really amazing thing in his preserve routine that I actually teach in my perfect service motion...but he immediately defers to imperfection in his backswing. He bobs the racquet head.

I use this bobbing of the racquet head in the setup position to preset the tempo of the swing. Popyrin does the beautiful slow bob of the racquet with his entire upper body synched to the racquet head but then he makes a rather quick step backwards while he is in his backswing. So what is the resulting "compensation move"? The compensation move is a quick abbreveiated backswing to counteract his quick motion going backwards. The result? A tempo that is lacking in...tempo.

[stroke]

https://www.tennis.com/baseline/articles/stefanos-tsitsipas-sunscreen-guy-expose-chris-eubanks-oversight-monte-carlo

[stroke]

Zverev looked good, particularly his top tier backhand, in taking out always tough RBA. Struff routines the demon, surprisingly, but up next is a rounding into form Ruud.

[stroke]

Fritz and Stan in first set tiebreaker. Stan looks in vintage form, but Fritz is tough, even though clay in clearly not his preferred surface. One thing is clear out there, neither of them has anywhere close to Alcaraz feel on drop shots.

[don_budge]

Wawrinka looks as if he has all but thrown in the towel. At his age it would have been nice to have a perfect service motion that might buy him two or three easy points on each service game. Against Fritz...from what little I saw...he worked too hard to win his serve. Now he is looking gassed after a tough first set. Next up...Holger Rune. Another interesting coaching saga. Patrick Mouratoglou...tennis' version of a coaching whore is at the helm. Apparently. I thought that I read that they had parted ways but here he is showing up in the locker room. Doing what...I don't know. I do know that he has "coached" several high profile tennis players and I'll be darned if I noticed one change in any of them. Perhaps he is a tactical genius. Or maybe he is good at applying sunscreen.

[stroke]

Rune way too much game for Theim in first set. Quite the difference in court position. Rune with his compact technique off both sides was all over Theim.

[jimlosaltos]

'There is no rhythm on clay courts. Every bounce is a bad bounce and even if it's a good bounce you expect it to be a bad bounce.'

-- Daniil Medvedev, after winning his first clay court match of the season 6-3 6-2.

[jimlosaltos]

Looks like Matteo Berrettini, after a period of lackluster encircling multiple injuries, has at least gotten his first serve back.

Max 144 MPH, Average of 131 MPH.

[stroke]

A lot of great matches tomorrow, but the match of the day may be Berrenttini vs Rune.

[stotty]

Berrenttini played well in the end today. Cerundolo played well too...hit some lovely forehands...moves well too.

[don_budge]

Looks like Matteo Berrettini, after a period of lackluster encircling multiple injuries, has at least gotten his first serve back.

Max 144 MPH, Average of 131 MPH.

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions of modern day serving and behind the plethora of ugly, ill conceived servied motions is the altar of speed. What is power I ask the student? Answer: Control is power. There are three elements of control...speed, spin and placement. Not necessarily in that order. Control the ball and you control your opponent. Control your opponent and you control the match.

So much is made of MPH, yet that is just one third of the equation for successful serving. Speed alone might get it done for you in any given match...depending largely upon the conditions and your opponent as much as your speed. But it is the combination of all of the elements of control that win night in and night out. It is not possible to serve consistently night in and night out without a service motion that is perfect. Nearly perfect. Roger Federer had arguably the best serve for years on the tour. He exited the stadium as the stand alone example of serving technique and tactics. Berrettini may have served lights out for parts of that match. I didn't notice for the few minutes I watched. I was more intrigued with his opponents motion. A superb motion by today's standards that needed just a little ironing to eliminate a barely perceptible wrinkle.

I never give much attention to MPH. My idiot partner in the little tennis club in Sweden that I worked at used to pull out his "speed device" and let the kids go willy nilly with it. Each trying to outdo the other. I just turned my back on the whole nonsense. Sure...it is important to serve with speed. But the kiss of death is over emphasis on speed...better to concentrate on effortless power (control). The best feedback I ever had was ironically just the other day with a student who had been listening to my instruction in the course of just a couple of video lessons and a couple of phone calls. The last video I saw I said to myself...ahhh...this is how it begins. The student told me that after serving quite a lot of practice they didn't feel any discomfort the next day. Previously they said that after practicing serving the next day they felt as if they had been hit by a train. I change the student from pinpoint to platform in a matter of minutes. Painlessly I might add.

How fast must a server serve? Answer: Fast enough given the situation. It is the combination of spin and placement that is going to win for you in the end. In order to do that you have to be set up to serve like that. It's like golf...the woods are filled with long drivers of the golf ball. Keep watching Berrettini's speed...then you can be quite certain that you have taken your eye off the ball.

I think it will be interesting to watch Nicolas Jarry versus Stefanos Tsitsipas today. I won't see it. But here again are the tale of two serve motions...among other things. The Tsitsipas coaching situation has always intrigued me. All of that potential struggling to come forth. Interesting tales at that.

[don_budge]

A lot of great matches tomorrow, but the match of the day may be Berrenttini vs Rune.

A great match is a match that you can watch from the beginning to the end and I am pretty sure there are not too many of those.

[don_budge]

Alexei Popyrin does this really amazing thing in his preserve routine that I actually teach in my perfect service motion...but he immediately defers to imperfection in his backswing. He bobs the racquet head.

I use this bobbing of the racquet head in the setup position to preset the tempo of the swing. Popyrin does the beautiful slow bob of the racquet with his entire upper body synched to the racquet head but then he makes a rather quick step backwards while he is in his backswing. So what is the resulting "compensation move"? The compensation move is a quick abbreveiated backswing to counteract his quick motion going backwards. The result? A tempo that is lacking in...tempo.

When diagnosing service problems it is difficult for those that are not certain what they are looking for to have any idea what the problem is let alone what the fix is. Between the service motion of Alexei Popyrin and Aryna Sabalenka there are rather profound similarities. They both take this rather abrupt step backwards to shift their weight from the front foot to the back and this move sets off a chain of compensatory moves that will never have any chance of assimilating perfect weight transfer on a consistent basis. Popyrin has a much better setup position but that is all for naught as well as his abrubt move backwards plays havoc of any semblance of tempo...let alone fluidity.

[don_budge]

Novak Djokovic versus Lorenzo Musetti...everyone looking for Musetti to duplicate the effort at the French when he had Novak two sets to zero...before folding. Probably not going to happen.

Hubert Hurkacz versus Jannik Sinner...see my comments earlier in this thread about a big lug hugging the baseline against more mobil opponents.

Daniil Medvedev versus Alexander Zverev...maybe the most interesting match story wise on the agenda. Medvedev up 7-6 Head to Head and this is their first meeting on clay. Medvedev in form and Zverev is always somewhat of a question mark.

Matteo Berrettini versus Holger Rune...Berrettini's service motion under the microscope and Rune's dysfunctional tennis coach the story here.

Andrey Rublev versus Karen Khachanov...two leading tennis players in the modern game currently without a flag which cannot be discussed on tennisplayer.net due to gag order on politics.

Jan-Lennard Struff versus Casper Ruud...Ruud trying to make a believer of himself and Struff trying to make a believer of just about anybody. Good win over Minaur who might be clay challenged.

Taylor Fritz versus Jiri Lehecka...Just want to make a brief comment/analysis about the fashion statement of Fritz against Wawrinka. Nice off white shirt and shorts. The headband is a wise choice over the backwards baseball cap eight days a week. But why the black socks? Just curious...such a poor choice.

Nicolas Jarry versus Stefanos Tsitsipas...my "MATCH OF THE DAY" because of a two fold criteria. First of all is the conversation of service motions and secondly is the question surrounding the coaching paradigm behind the development of Stefanos Tsitisipas. What is the path forwards for Stefanos? Is there a vision? Once a boatload of potential now a anchor of under developed potental. Why?

[stroke]

Interestingly, Tsitsipas is the second favorite to win the tournament behind Novak. I guess it is because he has won this tournament twice.