2016 French Open…ATP 2000...Roland Garros…Paris, France

[don_budge]

Journeyman Radek Stepanek…he with the "great career" leads the way in the French Open qualifying.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/stepanek-turns-back-the-clock-in-roland-garros-qualifying

He plays with a bit of "classic flare"…his tactics jerk the opponent around the court. Trying to get him off balance for the knockout blow. Radek plays in combinations…subtle combinations. His use of spin, court position and forecourt play makes him a bit of an anomaly on the tour these days. That and his advanced years. Thirty-seven years old!

[nickw]

Journeyman Radek Stepanek…he with the "great career" leads the way in the French Open qualifying.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/stepanek-turns-back-the-clock-in-roland-garros-qualifying

He plays with a bit of "classic flare"…his tactics jerk the opponent around the court. Trying to get him off balance for the knockout blow. Radek plays in combinations…subtle combinations. His use of spin, court position and forecourt play makes him a bit of an anomaly on the tour these days. That and his advanced years. Thirty-seven years old!

Yes, we saw what he can still do, when he pushed Murray all the way for the first 2 sets of their match in Madrid. I won't forget his quote after qualifying for the Oz Open this year 'I just serve-and-volleyed my way into the Australian Open'!

I really believe this style of play still has a place in the modern game, but hardly any coaches would ever teach or encourage it, and that's the main reason we probably won't see this style of play for the foreseeable future, not because there aren't potential athletes out there who would be able to use it successfully at the top levels of the game.

[klacr]

Yes, we saw what he can still do, when he pushed Murray all the way for the first 2 sets of their match in Madrid. I won't forget his quote after qualifying for the Oz Open this year 'I just serve-and-volleyed my way into the Australian Open'!

I really believe this style of play still has a place in the modern game, but hardly any coaches would ever teach or encourage it, and that's the main reason we probably won't see this style of play for the foreseeable future, not because there aren't potential athletes out there who would be able to use it successfully at the top levels of the game.

Good post Nick. It starts with the coaches! I've received so much positive feedback from the serve and volley articles I did for this site a while back. Players and coaches are both interested in learning it, but few are willing put themselves and students out there, opting for the status quo.

Stepanek won his 1st round match in qualies today. I have confidence he'll make the main draw. And most importantly, he has the confidence in his game to know he can do it as well.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

The French Open Favorites...
Djokovic, Nadal, Murray. Can Fed still be considered?
Berdych looking for a new coach. Perhaps he can attempt to lure Lendl a 2nd time. Maybe timing is right.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I really believe this style of play still has a place in the modern game, but hardly any coaches would ever teach or encourage it, and that's the main reason we probably won't see this style of play for the foreseeable future, not because there aren't potential athletes out there who would be able to use it successfully at the top levels of the game.

You are absolutely right, nickw. And the problem is coaching, by and large, is a younger man's occupation, which means as time goes by, the art of teaching volleying, and serve and volleying, is becoming lost.

We were also probably the last country to teach really good sliced backhands, and now we're losing that skill also. Sliced backhands in my neck of the woods are taught as an add-on and often look ugly and unrefined. Nowhere near enough time is spent in developing the shot into the beautiful, fluid stroke it ought to be.

I wonder if Djokovic will win the French Open this year? Despite his recent loss to Murray, I feel Novak is still head and shoulders above the rest of the field. At 29 (nearly) he must be feeling an urgency about winning the French. I wonder if that will play on his nerves?

[klacr]

Novak Djokovic = Captain Ahab
French Open Title = Moby Dick

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

The French Open Favorites...
Djokovic, Nadal, Murray. Can Fed still be considered?
Berdych looking for a new coach. Perhaps he can attempt to lure Lendl a 2nd time. Maybe timing is right.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

In a nutshell, no.

Favorites to win the tournament:
Novak 4/5
Nadal 4
Murray 4
Stan 12
Nishikori 25
Federer 33
Thiem 40
Monfils 50
Kyrgios 66

Novak the strong favorite as to be expected. It will be very interesting to see if he can avoid the Lendl Wimbledon tning. Lendl of course was all over the Wimbledon title but never got it.

[gzhpcu]

Federer withdraws due to back injury!
http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/36336722

[stotty]

Worrying...

I am getting a little concerned about Federer. He's had a succession of injuries all of a sudden. I wonder if this is the beginning of end.

[klacr]

One Last Push...

I am getting a little concerned about Federer. He's had a succession of injuries all of a sudden. I wonder if this is the beginning of end.

The day you are born is the beginning of the end.

Remember when Murray skipped the French Open in 2013 to better prepare for Wimbledon? How'd he do at Wimbledon? Anyone remember? Stotty?

Federer realizes the French is his least likely tournament to win. Spend time on things he can truly win....like Wimbledon.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

I hope that you are prepared...

I am getting a little concerned about Federer. He's had a succession of injuries all of a sudden. I wonder if this is the beginning of end.

…for the post Roger Federer culmination point…I can hear that sucking sound. Like the air escaping from a balloon.

[don_budge]

Where does it go from here? Culmination point…post Roger Federer. The Pathway.

Where does it go from here? Culmination point…post Roger Federer

I really believe this style of play still has a place in the modern game, but hardly any coaches would ever teach or encourage it, and that's the main reason we probably won't see this style of play for the foreseeable future, not because there aren't potential athletes out there who would be able to use it successfully at the top levels of the game.

We are due for a post Federer culmination point. I'm not certain how old you are nickw but you certainly need to have been cognizant before the year 1984 rolled around to fully understand the position that the sport of tennis is in at the present. I say that not only because that year could very well have been a culmination point in a purely Orwellian manner of speaking but because that was a significant culmination point also in terms of tennis history.

As I pointed out in another post…1968 was surely a culmination point as tennis went to the "Open Era" from an era that was clearly divided between the amateur and the professional. Professionals were more a traveling band of gypsies than a professional sport. 1968 was the year that tennis professionals were allowed to compete in the Grand Slam events. Just sixteen years later, in 1984 we had all four male semifinalists using oversized racquets in a Grand Slam event…that is what makes 1984 another culmination point in the tennis world. Then sixteen or seventeen later…fast forward to 2001 to the Goran Ivanisovic versus Patrick Rafter final at Wimbledon and here we witness the last culmination point. This was the point where the game became too fast…serve and volley tennis had devolved to a point where it was "serve and maybe a return". The points were lasting on average less than two shots on the only grass court event left in the Slams… at Wimbledon.

Ironically at that very same Wimbledon there was another parallel culmination point taking place. The old guard was surrendering to the new guard when Roger Federer defeated Pete Sampras in a thrilling five set quarterfinal match. Pete at the age of 30, handed over the mantle to the last of the Mohiccans…the last of the dying breed...the nineteen year old Roger Federer. He handed over to the "Living Proof" of my teaching paradigm…"Tilden is the book. Gonzales is the model with the Budge backhand. Hopman is the coach and Roger Federer is the Living Proof. 2001...Stanley Kubrick’s year of the “Space Odyssey” served as another multiple parallel culmination point much as 1984 did. Do not forget that infamous day in September as well...911.

So here we are once again with a sixteen or seventeen year culmination point and we are due for more tampering and more engineering. Don’t ignore the parallel events in the political world as well. Donald Trump...Brexit. The game has been dumbed down to an all backcourt game where all of the most interesting facets and tactics of the game have been nearly completely engineered out of the game. It isn't just serve and volley…it's the complete all court game that has been reduced to it's present form. Merely approaching the net has become antiquated also. The only reason modern players come to the net is to chase down a drop shot. Modern players couldn’t find their way to the net if they had a seeing eye dog to lead them. I noticed at the Madrid Open that drop shot statistics were being kept for the first time when Andy Murray played Rafael Nadal and they were charting drop shots attempted and drop shots successfully made. Sheer and utter nonsense.

I knew back then when it happened the tennis world had started to devolve and implode into it’s own footprint like some fantastic controlled demolition…and trust me I was screaming bloody murder. The big racquets took the subtle nature right out of the game and made a mockery of it. It was if it was surgically removed. It's not an exaggeration. What happened was that the equipment change created a line of demarcation that can never be rescinded. There is no going back. The big graphites are an illusion created to make tennis players to feel superior about themselves and their sport…it was a golden calf. The truly amazing thing is that the tennis playing population went for it hook, line and sinker. Even though...the classic playing icons of the time resisted as long as it was feasible until it was either quit or join in the fiasco. Björn Borg quit and John McEnroe played on and he made it even more of a fiasco with his outrageous behavior and he had every right to do so. When you change the rules in midstream this is what happens.

Radek Stepanek demonstrates that tennis has not really changed all that much in concept. This sort of tactic can still be played. Roger Federer who is way past the prime of his career has been amazingly successful at it when the conditions give him half a chance to employ it. But the vast majority of the players are certainly not equipped to do so. You see…along the way the coaching was also hijacked and it became "politically correct" to actually coach tennis in its present form and to do otherwise was heretical. Trust me…here in Sweden at one point it was nearly illegal to teach the one handed backhand.

It isn't that Stepanek plays overwhelming serve and volley…he is as a matter of fact playing the all court game. There is a huge difference between serve and volley tennis and the all court game. Strictly serve and volley tennis was the initial demise of the classic game which came about because the big racquets made it an ugly game as well. It is the all-court game whose demise that hurts the present game so badly. The inability for players to transition from backcourt play to the forecourt. It used to be that every single player in the game could play both games or a combination of backcourt, transition or serve and volley. There were of course exceptions to that rule if you want to quibble but generally speaking all of the great champions of the past competed on all the surfaces and the surfaces were unique. Some great champions may have never won at Rolland Garros for instance but they competed there and more than likely they came at least somewhat close.

It has become a philosophical question…this question about tennis and its "modernization". The game is reaching another crossroads. Another culmination point. The tennis you will witness at the French Open this year is the same style of play that you will see at any ATP hard court event or even at Wimbledon. All back court all of the time. There are exceptions of course…there always will be. Radek Stepanek is an exception even he was not really cognizant in 1984. He was only five years old.

The game should go back to wooden racquets for the professionals. They afterall the most talented and best tennis players in the world. Why should they need any more racquet than their predecessors? But this is where the question diverges and becomes a question of human nature.

[don_budge]

The Radek Stepanek Saga…cont.

Stepanek won his 1st round match in qualies today. I have confidence he'll make the main draw. And most importantly, he has the confidence in his game to know he can do it as well.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I am watching Radek Stepanek attempting to serve out the set in the final qualifying round…he leads Y. Nishioka by a score of 6-3, 5-2.

Mission accomplished…Radek into the main draw.

[stroke]

The day you are born is the beginning of the end.

Remember when Murray skipped the French Open in 2013 to better prepare for Wimbledon? How'd he do at Wimbledon? Anyone remember? Stotty?

Federer realizes the French is his least likely tournament to win. Spend time on things he can truly win....like Wimbledon.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Yup, I think Fed realizes he is really not going to win the French, and playing there does nothing for his career, legacy, or his confidence at this point. He will not be 33/1 bet at Wimbledon. He will still probably be in the top 3 favorites there, and I could still see him winning one more major.

[gzhpcu]

Let's not forget how many times Nadal was injured, had long breaks and came back. So I wouldn't worry to much about Roger. He started playing as a pro in Gstaad in 1998... 18 years as a pro...