[Morrissey]

I wish the media would admit the obvious the reason Sharapova and Azarenka have problems with Serena is their SERVES.

It makes women tennis look like an inferior sport when so few of the women can actually serve huge like Serena Williams or perhaps Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur.

There is a serious problem in women's tennis so few of the women can actually serve BIG consistently. Nadia Petrova can do it, and so can Samantha Stosur but that's it. Venus Williams serve is now a liability.

If the men can serve consistently huge why can't the women? It doesn't make sense that so few women tennis players have consistent serves like Serena Williams. On the ATP Tour almost ALL the men can serve well.

Azarenka can't serve bigger than 107 or 108 miles per hour. In the semifinals in Istanbul Azarenka hit nine double faults and one on match point. Sharapova's serve is also shaky and is inconsistent.

Azarenka is a good doubles player she has variety in her game the missing link is her serve.

Sharapova can serve big but she isn't very smart hitting a hard hitting game against Serena isn't going to work.

Justine Henin showed that by changing the pace against Serena and using variety is the way to beat her.

I believe the woman that is going to challenge Serena is one that has a huge consistent serve and an all around game.
Justine Henin was able to do it for a while until she got bored and quit women's tennis.

But these young players are not impressive at all.

Petra has the huge serve, the big shots, but she needs more strategy. I hope in 2013, Petra can correct her fitness and health problems because having a gut and not being healthy has held her back.
Petra Kvitova is the only player I can see who has the potential to challenge Serena but she's showed this year she lacks discipline. Petra is out of shape she's not fat but she certainly isn't as fit as she should be. Petra also needs to get mentally stronger as well she gives up too easily.

[Natural Joe]

"Serena is the only female tennis player with a consistent serve"

Errani's serve is more consistent than Serena's

[Jane Lane]

And the sky is fucking blue. Next.

[romismak]

It is not about consistency - but yes her serve is consistent, not making million DF´s like most other girls and every match she can hit many unreturnables, but the difference is serve alone - as stroke , Serena´s serve is biggest in history and currently on the tour nobody comes even close, PEtrova,Hradecka at good day are big servers, but Serena at bad day is as good server at those girls at their best + powerfull groundstrokes behind serve and you have player that nobody can deal with - yes i agree serve is the difference, i always thought the way to beat Serena is to have big serve by yoursel or to play fast tennis and have consistency from baseline - Li or Azarenka at their best can deal with Serena even playing - serving good, because they can simply beat her in rallies and even break her.

Petra´s serve isn´t so big, it is her leftyness and ability to dictate after serve, but agree that PEtra at her best is ,,beast,, powerfull groundstrokes, killing 2nd serves like nothing and her lefty serve is great serve - nowehere nears Serenaś but good enough to have close match with her - howewer her movement is big liability.

When you compare women to men well, women´s tennis is really inferior, the serve power and groundstrokes power + speed-movement of men is just 2 leagues above women. For example Serena´s serve - biggest ever in women´s game - she is looking like Karlovic at his peak out there, but her serve would be average at Atp´s level with her FS% + for example her flat 1st serves are about 190-200kph most of the time - any top 50 players besides some clay-courters are serving at this rage consistently. We can´t honestly compare women and men - totally different game if you ask me. the power, speed and serves are another level

If you watch ATP and WTA matches - the differenc eis clear, ATP is serve dominant - 1break of serve and mostly set is over, while WTA is return dominant-or rally dominant, no matter who is serving there will be rallies and it basically serve is not advantage, is not important if you are serving or returning - unless you play vs Serena of course and some other good servers, but my point is you have small girls playing rallies vs each other and serve is not a weapon it is just stroke to start a rally - also my opinion is heighg is important, simply women are smaller than men so that means men have higher FS% by putting the same effort to serve big and also power-strenght is much bigger by men.

[bandabou]

Yep...Serena obviously has the GOAT serve and the girls are trying to beat her at her own game. Is never gonna work.

[Jane Lane]

Originally Posted by bandabou

Yep...Serena obviously has the GOAT serve and the girls are trying to beat her at her own game. Is never gonna work.

And what do you suggest they try and beat her at? Backgammon?

[edificio]

This is brand new information!

[miffedmax]

[bandabou]

Originally Posted by Jane Lane

And what do you suggest they try and beat her at? Backgammon?

they might as well try that. No what I meant is that hard-hitting isn't gonna be the way to beat Serena.

You need to have variety, great movement and even then..pray that she's off.

[doomsday]

Sharapova's serve was good throughout the whole tournament, hopefully she will keep up in 2013. I know she has to, to challenge Serena a lil more.

[aselto]

YEC should be played on a surface like the one in Basel. The deficiencies of the players' serve were exposed by the superslow surface.

[Morrissey]

It seems to me most of the female tennis players just use their serve to start a point it isn't a consistent weapon. Players like Azarenka can get away with a cheap serve on the WTA Tour but it would never work on the ATP Tour.

I wonder, if it is the coaching? If the coaches don't teach female tennis players the proper mechanics on how to serve?

It is sad that so few women can actually SERVE BIG in women's tennis I think the quality is lacking compared to the men.



Clearly, Serena, Petrova, Stosur, can really SERVE with different speeds, spins, variety, kick.

But the rest of the WTA Tour they don't know how to serve properly, get proper wrist snap and hit huge serves.

[Steven.]

Originally Posted by Jane Lane

And what do you suggest they try and beat her at? Backgammon?

i am SCREAMING

[smarties]

One of the thing that makes it so consistent is that she serves so often to the T (obviously where the part of the net is lower).

[Olórin]

Originally Posted by smarties

One of the thing that makes it so consistent is that she serves so often to the T (obviously where the part of the net is lower).

Yes, thanks for that in depth analysis. Never mind that hitting the T itself at those kinds of speeds is all but impossible for but a handful of the most skilled players in the world.

The most natural motion and inclination to hit shots, including the serve, is cross-court. Serving down the T is actually a more demanding serve and doing it consistently, and getting it in, is very very difficult.

Sharapova actually has a good serve herself right now and has tournaments like this one where she doesn't get broken much and is quite consistent. The problem is that Serena's serve is still that much better.