Windy at Wimbledon
The gusty winds blew through Roland Garros this year and today they also made an appearance at Wimbledon. Wind can affect all aspects of a tennis player’s game and psyche, but it seems that the serve was the most affected today. Ana Ivanovic struggled with her game and her serve in her thrilling three set victory over Nathalie Dechy. Even Serena Williams was forced to catch a serve toss as did many other players as
the wind moved the ball all over the place. Although some players did catch several bad tosses, there is a point at which a player feels that he/she just can’t/shouldn’t catch anymore tosses. On the grass courts at Wimbledon where the serve is usually very effective, Novak Djokovic served 10 double faults in his loss to Marat Safin. It’s hard to know if the wind affected Djokovic’s rather high toss and big service motion or if it was the pressure he was feeling from Safin. Nonetheless, Safin, who has a more compact, fluid service motion managed to serve quite well. Confidence in a stroke such as the serve matters enormously because the motion is so fast and it can be very frustrating to constantly chase after errant tosses. Under stressful, pressure-filled conditions, strong technique is vital.
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