Conversation with Eldon

1/23/09  Friday  11:00 am.

Chico Racquet Club

 

Eldon and I sat down in the clubhouse restaurant to talk about my progress.  I only had the chance to play two matches since the last time I had had a strategy session with Eldon.  Today was a rainy day and thus Eldon had some time to talk.  We talked a lot about my match with, Jeremy Watson, a 4.0 player (Eldon was able to watch some of this match due to being in close proximity with his lesson court), and some about my match with Matt Dorsey a very strong 4.0 player.  The following are some of the main points:

 

1)  I’ll start with this idea because this is the one that gives me the most excitement.  This is the strategy of moving to a shorter ball diagonally.  I finally understand how important this is.  When you move to a shorter ball diagonally you cut it off, taking it on the rise instead of its descending arc which happens when you move laterally along the baseline to strike a shallow ball.  This is significant since moving to the ball diagonally allows you to have a forward momentum that puts more weight behind the ball being struck.  Striking the ball with diagonal forward momentum means that the ball will travel further through the court while at the same time opening up a more significant angle for your opponent.  All good stuff!  This is what you want.  It means a more penetrating ball with more pace that will put more pressure on your opponent.  In the case of playing Jeremy, he hits a lot of shallow balls so this is something I need to take advantage of especially on his forehand side.  This should take away some of Jeremy’s strength on his forehand side (he has a sizeable forehand that can really jump) making him run wide and deep to return a more penetrating shot from me.  I would also add here that several weeks ago when Eldon first suggested that I learn to run more diagonally to shorter balls, I thought this was just to save space and time; in other words to get there quicker and to run less.  Now I see there is a lot more to it than that and am I happy, because I see the potential here to create some great shots that will not only put pressure on my opponents, but may also lead to outright winners!  

 

2)  Position of the head when striking the ball, taking ball more out in front.  Eldon further clarified what this technique is.  It’s very important to take the ball out in front for various reasons (one of the biggest being more pace, also it’s easier on the elbow and wrist), but in particular with respect to the position of the head when one makes contact with the ball out in front of the body he/she doesn’t have to turn the head as far and can still see the ball approach the string bed of the racquet.  If one watches a slow motion clip of Rodger Federer’s forehand stroke this is what you will see.

 

3)  I was staying close to the baseline unconsciously.  This is something that has improved in my game strategy.

 

4)  Eldon says that I am starting to watch my opponent more closely, but that I have to react more instantaneously and anticipate better when I have put my opponent on the defensive so I can move forward in the court in order to take a more offensive position.

 

5)  Going down-the-line. Keep it up.  It’s one of my best shots.  Critical here is the idea that often you may want to hit to what you consider to be your opponent’s weakness (for example Jeremy’s backhand), but you don’t want to do it to the exclusion of your best shots.  In other words, you don’t want to forget to use the shots that you normally execute well and are most comfortable with when given the opportunity by your opponent.

 

6)  On the backhand, you can run with your racquet at your side, but not all the way back to allow for creation of a swing loop and rhythm.  This kind of racquet preparation will pay off in hitting better balls.

 

7)  In the warm up with Jeremy, Eldon said that I was adjusting to Jeremy’s jumping ball in a more relaxed fashion, that I had improved considerably from a couple of months ago when Eldon had last seen me hit with Jeremy.  My backswing on the forehand maybe needs to be a little bit shorter but not much.

 

  Eldon told me one of the reasons the score in my match with Jeremy started to improve for me was due to the fact that I started to go down-the-line with Jeremy instead of crosscourt.  This strategy was paying off because it allowed me to hit a shot that I am very comfortable with (one of me best shots) and also for the fact that I was able to pass Jeremy at the net more successfully with this shot.

 

9)  When I start to dictate points with more consistency than I will have an easier time of getting into an opponent’s head.  Eldon suggested that one can make an opponent think that their groundstrokes are falling apart by giving them penetrating balls and angles that they don’t normally hit.   It’s all yours to take when that starts to happen.  The opponent is going to self-destruct.

 

10)  Eldon talked a lot about playing within your element. He compared it to someone who was learning Spanish and tried to go beyond what he/she had learned in a real conversation with a native speaker and consequently made more mistakes than was necessary. I need to stay with what I know best in a match, with my strengths.  Playing within my element will win me matches.  If it doesn’t that’s okay, too.  The other player is just at a higher level.

 

11)  Eldon agreed with me that Matt Dorsey possibly knows very little about strategy, but that he instinctively understands how to move forward on short balls to try to take the offensive and end points quickly.

 

12)  We also talked about the ability of someone like Rodger Federer to mix up his shots with different kinds of spins and neutral balls waiting for the opportunity to move forward or pop a penetrating winner when the right ball arrives on his half of the court.  I had witnessed this in watching Rodger play Andreas Seppi in the Australian Open 09.

 

13)  I mentioned how I had seen part of a match in the Australian Open 09 with Tommy Robredo against a kid named Lu from Taipai.  Lu was outclassed.  Robredo is certainly higher ranked, more experienced and just a higher caliber player.  Lu, sensing that he was outclassed, felt he had to play out of his element, that he had to go for more than he was capable of.  So in other words Robredo’s level of play forced Lu to try shots he wasn’t capable of sustaining throughout the match.  Lu had some beautiful shots from time to time, but that was all.  He felt pressured to go for more than he should have most of the time and consequently lost.  He would have been better off if he had played within himself and his element!  He might have had more of a chance of winning that way.

 

14)  Eldon also mentioned that he had seen Fabrice Santoro play Andy Roddick.  He wanted me to see some of that match if I had a chance in order to watch how Santoro was working his strategy to find a way to get into the match to try to upset Roddick’s rhythm.

 

15)  Eldon suggested that eventually he wants me to string my racquets with more pressure since that will help me to compress the ball better.  He also told me I need to be sure to lower down my lbs. gauge after every stringing in order to keep it more accurate.  He also suggested that I get a calibrator for my stringer.  He said that after every 20 racquets or so one should recalibrate or at least check to be sure the stringer is accurate.