Watching Roddick-Henman.
Two guys really bombing away from the baseline. But the amazing thing was, they both went to net pretty much whenver they felt like it. Henman treated anything he hit with depth as a potential approach shot. He showed Roddick's groundies no respect at all. And that forced Roddick to come in more, which he did. But again, he didn't wait for good approach shots. If he planned on going to net and his approach shot had any kind of depth, he went to net.
Now, high tech rackets or not, the women just don't hit the ball with the kind of pace these two do. The women have WAY more time to get to net than the men do. And the ball they have to volley isn't coming nearly as hard. So the power game isn't blowing away the volley game. The volley game just iosn't being played.
I think it's because players start training so young. When they aren't strong enough or fast enough to get to the net and play there. They hit endless shots from the baseline, but playing at net means learning through failure. You're gonna get passed. And today's players don't seem to have any desire to experience that.
If you watch the Navratilova match, you HAD to be struck by how much better she is at net than any other player on the tour, even now. She can hit to almost anywhere, from any angle, on balance or off, on the ground or airbourne. The woman's a highlight film.
Anyway, my point is, if you watch the best of the men, it's immediately apparent that getting to the net is totally possible, even in the compressed timeframes of today's points. If your volleys are good enough, it just doesn't matter how fast the ball is traveling. The advantage is all to the person at net. If their hands and feet are fast enough.
Two guys really bombing away from the baseline. But the amazing thing was, they both went to net pretty much whenver they felt like it. Henman treated anything he hit with depth as a potential approach shot. He showed Roddick's groundies no respect at all. And that forced Roddick to come in more, which he did. But again, he didn't wait for good approach shots. If he planned on going to net and his approach shot had any kind of depth, he went to net.
Now, high tech rackets or not, the women just don't hit the ball with the kind of pace these two do. The women have WAY more time to get to net than the men do. And the ball they have to volley isn't coming nearly as hard. So the power game isn't blowing away the volley game. The volley game just iosn't being played.
I think it's because players start training so young. When they aren't strong enough or fast enough to get to the net and play there. They hit endless shots from the baseline, but playing at net means learning through failure. You're gonna get passed. And today's players don't seem to have any desire to experience that.
If you watch the Navratilova match, you HAD to be struck by how much better she is at net than any other player on the tour, even now. She can hit to almost anywhere, from any angle, on balance or off, on the ground or airbourne. The woman's a highlight film.
Anyway, my point is, if you watch the best of the men, it's immediately apparent that getting to the net is totally possible, even in the compressed timeframes of today's points. If your volleys are good enough, it just doesn't matter how fast the ball is traveling. The advantage is all to the person at net. If their hands and feet are fast enough.