The overwhelming power on the serve is an advantage that almost every successful American player has. It's hard to think of any American that has made his success with a great return game in the modern era.
Andre Agassi and James Blake are the only two players that lived and died on their groundstrokes and have made a mark on the ATP Tour.
Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick rely heavily on their first shot to break an opponent down. The up-and-coming American players in the men's game are Sam Querrey and John Isner. They combine for 13 feet and 3 inches of height and have totaled 264 aces so far this season.
Isner and Querrey play doubles together
at the U.S. Open (provided by nytimes.com)
The other highly-touted young American is Donald Young. He stands at 6 feet tall and has only smacked 13 aces this year. What does that lead to? Young is ranked 152 in the world, while Isner and Querrey sit in the top 35.
Why does it seem that an American without a serve is doomed to mediocrity in tennis. Agassi was able to time the ball with precision, taking time away from his opponents and taking titles left and right all the way into his mid-thirties. Read a small bio of Agassi at http://www.all-about-tennis.com/andre-agassi.html.
Why can no one replicate that?
Isner graduated from the University of Georgia in 2007. He was instantly successful on tour, running deep into tournaments and upsetting Roddick at the U.S. Open in 2009.
Oddly enough, he didn't even win his last college match. He lost to Somdev Devvarman of the University of Virginia in the NCAA Final. In this match, Isner was not broken, but still fell short of victory.
Devarrman was incredibly scrappy, getting to every ball and grinding out a 3-set victory. Read more about the match from Devvarman's perspective at http://www.theculturalconnect.com/new/2007/06/24/tennis-champ-somdev-devvarman-desi.
Devvarman turned pro in 2008, but has failed to break into the top 100. What does he lack? A dominant serve.
With many Americans relying heavily on their serve, they fail to improve other parts of their game. Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open with a backhand that could barely even be called a groundstroke.
It wasn't until the last few years that Roddick has solidified his weaker wing and been able to hang with people like Roger Federer off the ground.
Can American tennis catch the other countries in the other aspects of the game? Can Roddick turn his improved strokes into another Grand Slam title? Will Isner or Querrey rise to the top 10? Will Young or Devvarman ever make an impact on the tour?
Men's tennis in 2010 has a lot of question marks, the answers will most likely have to wait until Wimbledon, as Americans struggle to advance at the French Open.
Seems to me you have to compare non-Americans too to make this case, esp. the top players. Federer has a strong serve & his game flounders when he can't get his first serve in. Ditto Andy Murray - it's one of the reasons he lost to Federer in Australia. Then there's Nadal - his serve has always been one of the weaker parts of the game, and it's regressed again - that's part of why he's become more beatable.
ReplyDeleteAll non-Americans, all reliant on a good serve.
I guess we could just talk about the return game - but cherry-picking a few names as "Americans who can't return serve" wouldn't seem adequate to me as an argument.
My argument is that most American players are such strong servers and, in my eyes, they lack in other parts of the game.
ReplyDeleteYes, most players have strong serves and won't play as well if they serve below 50 percent, but how can you say Nadal is reliant on his serve. He's more reliant on his knees, which are failing him. He doesn't even run back to the back wall before matches, he just seems depleted.
To me, it just seems like foreign players are stronger all-around players. But, if Isner continues to improve the other parts of his game he may just become one of the most dominant players on tour.