[LightWarrior]

I'm sure that there has been a thread before about that. But since the early 2000 they have slowed the grass at Wimbledon, it is now slower than hard courts from the general point of view. Venus doesn't even use the slice. So it's almost a contradiction why she fares much better at Wimbledon that at the US Open (or AO for that matter). She's no Sampras, she's no Nvratilova, but somehow grass and Venus click together. Technically I've always wondered why. She often seems so "effortless" at Wimbledon, whereas she always struggles and making it hard on hard courts. What struck me is that after her last Wimbly victory she said that she knows about the bounces on grass every time. Any clue ?

 

[Inger67]

Confidence.

 

[Mr.Kardashian]

i dont know about all the technical aspects but i do know if i was her opponent on grass i would be intimidated by her past successes on the surface...

and you're right, she does seem to play effortlessly on grass and with so much confidence

 

[Lord Choc Ice]

S'all mental.

 

[mauresmofan]

First off she's a great athlete and you need to be a great athlete to win on the grass because of all the odd bounces you can get.
Secondly her massive serve does so much damage on the surface and with that comes more confidence which leads to bigger better serves.
Thirdly her wingspan combined with her athletisism and confidence doesn't leave too many balls she can track down and punish.
And finally she comes to the net putting away all the weak replies from her opponents and giving them 0 chance of getting back into the point.

Let me know if I've left anything out

Maybe just 1 more point SHE LOVES WIMBLEDON and if you love what you do it makes it that much easier to do your job well

 

[Uranium]

2005 Wimbledon says it all to me.
The low ball bounces really help her game and technique be smoother. All during 2005 Wimbledon, she stayed down so low and it was amazing to watch:hearts:
She also moves really well on the grass, along with her serve really does damage on the surface.
Like everyone has said, mainly confidence.

 

[danieln1]

Her serve is way more effective on grass than hard, that helps her a lot too...

 

[Stamp Paid]

Everyone else sucks on it.

 

[Rollo]

A. She's the best volleyer of al the top players.

B. Her first serve is more devastating on grass.

C. The lower bounce on grass helps her sometimes dodgy forehand and
makes her harder to pass. The grass puts the ball in her "strike" zonw
more often.

D. Shorter points favor her style of play.

 

[LightWarrior]

A. She's the best volleyer of al the top players.

Far from it. Henin and Mauresmo are way better vollyers. Henin won zero Wimbledon. I mean you would think Henin would be a far better player on grass than on clay given her style of play. Who would have thought ?

 

[azinna]

Wimbledon/Grass gets her to do what she should be doing wherever she plays:
stay relaxed in your service motion, and mix up the placement of your 1st serve, working off the body serve;
stay low on all your shots;
move forward;
stay alert with your feet;
strangely, she does this only at Wimbledon: put spin on your hard, deep balls;
stay patient, use your full defensive skills, knowing in a shot or two you will get something you can put away or come forward on...
...and usually you'll draw an error from an opponent who feels she has to do too much

 

[LightWarrior]

Wimbledon/Grass gets her to do what she should be doing wherever she plays:
stay relaxed in your service motion, and mix up the placement of your 1st serve, working off the body serve;
stay low on all your shots;
move forward;
stay alert with your feet;
strangely, she does this only at Wimbledon: put spin on your hard, deep balls;
stay patient, use your full defensive skills, knowing in a shot or two you will get something you can put away or come forward on...
...and usually you'll draw an error from an opponent who feels she has to do too much

Nice post.

 

[spencercarlos]

A. She's the best volleyer of al the top players.

B. Her first serve is more devastating on grass.

C. The lower bounce on grass helps her sometimes dodgy forehand and
makes her harder to pass. The grass puts the ball in her "strike" zonw
more often.

D. Shorter points favor her style of play.

D is the most importat one for her

 

[thegreendestiny]

:yawn:
Next...

 

[faboozadoo15]

Her serve is just so much more devastating on grass. Her mid-box slices which do nothing on clay and are more easily attacked on hard are nearly unreturnable on grass because it takes the slice and because of her trajectory are even more difficult to return.

Confidence is an intangible. Because she has more confidence in her serve, she goes for more, starts making them, and then she ends up with a match like she had against Sharapova-- averaging 115mph.

She's also got some of the best forward movement which helps her on the soft, odd bounces to get into an offensive position. She's got great volleys, and she's difficult to pass.

 

[AnomyBC]

The grass they've been usually lately at Wimbledon shouldn't give Venus much of an advantage, if any, but I think she's benefiting from the fact that a lot of players are playing on this grass the same way they played on the old grass, and that sort "old grass" game benefits Venus. I think if the other players just pretended that they were playing on a hard court then they'd probably do a lot better against Venus at Wimbledon.

 

[iGOAT]

I wouldn't say grass. It's really Center Court at Wimbledon. Remember her opening matches in 2007.

 

[Ryan]

Sigh. Grass isn't grass because its FASTER. Players dont play well on grass because they handle fast courts better than other people. If you're successful on grass, its because you like the low bounces, the skidding balls, you use slice serves effectively and you can close in on the net well (low bounce makes passing shots harder IMO). AND, you adjust to it better than 95% of the tour, since no one plays on grass except for 3-4 times a year.

 

[CJ07]

Its confidence more than anything, to be honest with you.

 

[Lin Lin]

She often seems so "effortless" at Wimbledon??

This is not true,look at 2005, she fighted so hard,especially in the final