How does the height difference rank...
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height by itself, does not matter, unless the elements associated with the height come in play
The two that come to mind are net play/coverage, kick serve
How does the short player deal with a good kick server?
I don't know how often Maria, if at all uses kick good serve as part of her arsenal
But watching today's match, it seem like Errani was weather the storm when she decided to wait for the server inside the baseline and take the ball on the rise.
How will Errani fare passing Maria at the net?
I don't know, but Maria does not come to the net that match. So it is hard to say.
The two that come to mind are net play/coverage, kick serve
How does the short player deal with a good kick server?
I don't know how often Maria, if at all uses kick good serve as part of her arsenal
But watching today's match, it seem like Errani was weather the storm when she decided to wait for the server inside the baseline and take the ball on the rise.
How will Errani fare passing Maria at the net?
I don't know, but Maria does not come to the net that match. So it is hard to say.
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Well, but is it needed? How does Errani compare to Klara Zakopalova?
While Errani can push, she's more a %-player. Zakopalova has more blast shots and managed to outplay Maria. But due to serve and return, Maria still won fairly easily. But OK, Errani is certainly stronger in the mental department, Zakopalova never believed she could do it.
While Errani can push, she's more a %-player. Zakopalova has more blast shots and managed to outplay Maria. But due to serve and return, Maria still won fairly easily. But OK, Errani is certainly stronger in the mental department, Zakopalova never believed she could do it.
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Overvalued. Her kickserve is eaten by good returners easily. It's nowhere in the same league with Serena's or even Petrova's.
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Is that that second serve with about 30% miss ratio that we are talking about? :lol:
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Besides Serena, I have seen Stosur kick serve take opponents completely out of her Stosur service game.
I have not seen Maria do that.
ys mentioned Petrova, but I still think Stosur kick serve is more of a weapon
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This is an interesting topic, but worthy of its own thread (in general, not specific to this match) on who should perhaps use basically the same service for their first and second serve; as just "putting the ball in play" may be a worse bet than taking X% greater risk of a DF with an all-out service.
If Player A serves 60% on first and 90% on second, but Player B wins a much higher % of 2nd receiving points (on that surface, vs. that opponent) Player A might well be better off going all out on her 2nd serve all the time in the match; not just as the occasional "try to catch her by surprise".
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I would have thought by far the most significant advantage of a taller player would be taller = longer arms = more leverage = more power. They also have more clearance over the net when they serve which enables them to serve flatter and still achieve good angles.
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This math does not apply that simple. First serve is much more relaxed, less-pressure serve. If you use the same serve for the second serve, it is likely that you'll get a significantly worse percentage of serves in due to entirely psychological reasons.
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You know, I've tried to do a bit of math on this ('cause I'm the geeky type), and what I come up with is that a 6 inch height difference doesn't really translate to very much, angle-wise, over a distance of 60+ feet. A serve down the T, landing on the service line, (neglecting spin, gravity, curving and other non-Pythagorean elements, but considering average arm vs height length, racquet size and jump height), is gonna have an angle of 9.9° for a 5'4" player and 10.9° for a 6'2" player... really, that's not a lot. The same goes for a serve that just makes the net; there really isn't a huge (mathematical) difference.
That said, I don't doubt that height makes a difference, but it's not just simply about angles.
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It would be true if Karlovic and Isner didn't exist. But they exist and can make such serves, which are impossible for all the rest, i mean about angles ..
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I just saw this video that explains it rather better than I did.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/video/08062012/58/hawk-eye-errani-must-find-length.html
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thanks for the video. In tennis should be much more such analysis before matches
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