What’s up, Team!?
Another great week in the tennis world! Big week for Ben Shelton as he talks his first Master’s 1000 title in Toronto. Here are Tennis Tactics - Last week I mentioned that I had something exciting for you. In this weeks video, I’ve been experimenting with AI powered data analytics and found some really insightful data that drove this week’s analysis. Excited to see what we learn as we continue to explore match data more and more.
New Content Releases!
After this year’s Wimbledon final, I wanted to jump back a few years… back to 2001. This week’s video is a deep analysis of Federer V Sampras at Wimbledon 2001.
Pete Sampras had won Wimbledon for 7 of the last 8 years. He was untouchable. The serve and volley was a monster, and this is match would pit the reigning champ against. man who would go on to break Sampras’s unthinkable record. Roger Federer was early in his career at this point and pulling this upset would mark an inflection point for him at majors.
The rest is history, but, if you’re like me, as you watch this video, you’ll remember just how tight this match was and just how tennis has changed over the years. It’s a deep analysis into the first strike patterns of the past. Let me know what you think of this one!
As always, if you enjoy the match analysis go ahead and like the video and subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already! On our way to 7,000 subscribers!
Tactic of The Week
Shot Sequence
Ball 1: Serving on the ad side, aiming out wide
Ball 2: Return short cross, but more in the middle. Keep it low.
Ball 3: Server’s First ball deep line
Ball 4: Unplanned
Analysis: This is an opening tactic designed to start the point by hitting strong serve to your opponent’s backhand and then make the opponent run to the open court. If you can get around it and hit a forehand volley on that first ball even better, as you would be playing across your body, but a low backhand slice volley could also be really effective here.
The returner is left to scramble. If you are running this one in practice, let the returner mix up their targets and go for the pass.
Fun to create these kind of pressure moments - can the returner get the pass? Can the server lock it down with a second volley? Really fun stuff. 👀
Tennis Tactics Updates
Still in editing here. I am targeting October 1st for the book launch. As we get closer I am trying to get it on as many player’s radar as I can, so if you know another player who would be interested in learning more about tennis strategy, send them a link to sign up for this newsletter so I can keep them posted!
I am also deep in some development work to create some digital resources that would go along with the book. Very exciting stuff here and I can’t wait to see what I come up with here.
As always, if you are looking for more information on tennis strategy or tennis development plans, check out my website tennistactics.com!