First Shot Tennis
Serena Williams blew through Justine Henin in their quarterfinal match yesterday at the Sony Ericsson Open 6-2 6-0. It was a match which showcased how often encounters between the hard-hitting top players in women’s tennis today are all about the “first shot.” The serve, especially the first serve placement and percentage, the return, especially the second serve return and the first ball in a rally are all critical to the
success of top players, especially in the women’s game these days. For example, if you glance through the head to head match scores between Serena Williams, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova, you will notice a few other matches with some lopsided match or set scores similar to Serena Williams’ easy victory over Justine Henin yesterday. In 2007, Serena beat Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-2 at the Australian Open and 6-1 6-1 at the Sony Ericsson Open during a phase when Serena was playing very confidently and in contrast Sharapova was suffering through serving woes. A year earlier, Sharapova beat Henin 6-4-6-0 to capture the U.S. Open title. Last year, Henin also beat Serena in the 2007 French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open quarters and the last match had a score line of 7-6 6-1. In these rivalries, despite the many talents of the players, one player can win easily if she is serving and returning very well while her opponent is not doing it as well. More focus should be placed on the critical “first shot” in determining the winner in women’s tennis.
|| Comments (0)
