Summary: <img width="580" height="326" src="https://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/cincinnati-2015-sunday-federer-.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;"><p><a href="http://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/cincinnati-2015-sunday-federer-.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-10759"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-10759" src="http://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/cincinnati-2015-sunday-federer-.jpg" alt="cincinnati-2015-sunday-federer-" width="700" height="350"></a></p> <div class="smart-track-player-container stp-color-2d7bbf-EEEEEE"></div> <h2>Show Notes</h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hi, it’s Jeff here, and did you have a chance to see Roger Federer this past week in Cincinnati? Was that just one of the most inspiring displays of tennis that you’ve seen in a long time? If you didn’t see it, you’ve got to get on YouTube, and just YouTube-search “Federer Cincinnati 2015. You’re going to see a spectacular play from him.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, one tip that I want to give you today is that Roger Federer is getting out of his comfort zone, and that’s something that I want to ask you today: are you getting out of your comfort zone?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And where he is getting out of his comfort zone, in particular, is with his return of serve. So, for so many years, he has been, in my opinion, passive with his return of serves. He’s been content with just getting the ball in play, starting the point, and then winning points in longer rallies. And now, he’s doing something very different. He’s actually attacking second serves, which I’ve been calling for for years. So, way to go, Roger, for committing to getting out of your comfort zone and attacking the second serve.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, one play that he’s using is what I call the “Short-Hop Return Play,” which, to be quite honest, I’ve never seen before. I’ve never seen a pro take a big second serve from the opponent, and almost short-hop it at the service line. He is literally moving forward several feet from the baseline, right up to the service line, short-hopping the return, and then coming to the net, and, it’s surprising his opponents. It’s throwing them off.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A lot of times, he doesn’t even hit a great return, and he almost kind of bluffs by coming to the net, and his opponent is actually completely surprised and misses that first shot. So, there’s that surprise element, where the server is not ready for what you’re going to do, and when you return serve and do something different, it throws them off, or it throws her off.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And so, what’s going to happen is not only are you going to get errors on that point where you surprise them but, you might start to get them to double-fault more, to lose more points with their serve, and to press more.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And the other benefit is you actually might get your opponent to take pace off of the first serve. So, by taking pace off of the first serve, you have a better chance of getting more returns back into place. So, not only could you start getting more double-faults, but you don’t have to deal with big first serves.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, the whole idea is to get inside the opponent’s head when you’re returning, to do something different: Can you take the return earlier? Can you move back? Can you run around your backhand and hit forehands when you do this?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 40;"></span></p>
