Summary: <img width="1024" height="466" src="https://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TE-Plus-Podcast-Template-Final-1024x466.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;"><p><img class="alignleft wp-image-13866 size-large" src="https://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TE-Plus-Podcast-Template-Final-1024x466.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="466"></p> <div class="smart-track-player-container stp-color-2d7bbf-EEEEEE"></div> <h2>Show Notes</h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hey, it’s Jeff here, and I wanted to circle back, and talk about the U.S. Open again. It’s been a couple of weeks, and I didn’t really have a chance to summarize a few of my thoughts and observations, and I actually want to talk about the women’s side of things today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I want to talk about Serena Williams in her semifinal match against Roberta Vinci. Now, Roberta Vinci is a Grand Slam champion, actually, in doubles, and has tremendous variety, and that’s what I want to talk about today in terms of strategy, and how she took down, arguably, one of—if not, the greatest woman player of all time, Serena Williams. And, Roberta used variety, she used her slice backhand, she’s a little more of an old-school player, and what I loved about that match in the semifinals is that she did use her slice backhand, she did bring Serena up to the net with shorter balls, or at least—not to the net, necessarily, but made her move forward into the court, and Serena does not like playing against slice.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And so, many female players, now, do not use the slice, do not use off-speed low balls: the type of balls that give a lot of players fits, including Serena Williams, who’s number 1 in the world. So, it just goes to show you that just by adding in the slice, by making a player move forward, it’s a wonderful strategy used at all levels. It’s something that I used as a young junior player, and even as a college player, and sometimes as a pro, it’s being able to slice low and short, or, at least, be able to use the slice off-speed to throw off your opponent, can work really well. We saw that in the semifinals of that match.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, the next time you get on the court, see if you can slice a little bit more. Think of using more variety against your opponent. Do different things.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One more thing I wanted to mention: Roberta Vinci also came to the net. She snuck into the net, she knocked off a volley, she was aggressive in that way, and that’s because she plays a lot of doubles. So, if you’re not playing a lot of doubles right now, play more, because it will round out your net game, it will help you with your transition.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, those are just a couple of observations that I had from the U.S. Open, particularly the women’s in the semifinals match between Vinci and Serena Williams. Slice that backhand more, use a variety, take pace off the ball to frustrate those hard hitters, and then, find ways to sneak in to the net.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, I really enjoyed sharing this with you today, and we will see you at the next email.</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://servefundamentals.tennisevolution.com/sfu-blog-anatomy-optin-v2?utm_cam"></a></p>
