Kids don't like to experiment with their game, and usually stay in their comfort zone, which is to stay with the baseline game and not come to the net. Nobody likes to get passed or lobbed, and when the match is on the line they will hesitate to go in and take a risk.

It is true that there have been players who rely strictly on a baseline game who have done well on the pro tour, but if we look at the top men and women in the world we will find that in the high levels they all have a variety of shots with which they hurt their oponents.

Roger Federer is the perfect example of a player that has every shot in the book, which allows him to change his game according to the surface and the oponent and to dominate the world ramking. In the women  Justin Henin is an example of a player that comes in a lot, about 15-20 times per
match (on hard court). 

Posted by Gilad Bloom at 03:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently watched some of the best girls in the country play in a junior tournament. One thing I noticed was that none of the girls adjusted their game to the surface which was clay. They played as if they were on hard court, they were not sliding into the shot like they are suposed to, did not use the angles, the drop shot or play a more patient and sophisticated game that is required when you step on a clay court.

The reason is that most tournaments in the U.S. are on hard and most coaches don't really know how to move or play on clay themselves. It didn't really matter because they (the girls) were all playing the same hard court-type game anyway. I had a feeling that any mediocre European player who grew up on red clay would have been able to win against those highly-ranked girls.

Kids are reluctant to learn the new stuff, such as what it takes to play well on different surfaces, but i find that  the effort will pay off later on in their careers.

Posted by Gilad Bloom at 03:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)