I\u2019ve recovered from my trip to Brazil, the flu, and an over-full stomach, and now I\u2019m ready to get back to my exhaustive obsession with the world of tennis.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\nStarting with, of course, those terrifying year end lists. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m startled to see another year sneak up on me much, much faster than I imagined possible \u2013 the worst part is realizing I\u2019m not much closer to some of my dearly held goals than I was at the beginning of the year, it\u2019s the task of predicting the future of tennis players who\u2019s psyches may not be up to the task of being the next big thing.<\/p>\nWho\u2019d thunk that Juan Martin del Potro would bust out and win four straight events and have the nerve to stand up to David Nalbandian by putting the year end championships ahead of the Davis Cup as if there were all the time in the world for Argentina to win its first Cup? In del Potro\u2019s mind, there probably is plenty of time.<\/p>\nDel Potro is my pick for the ATP most improved player and here are the rest of the top 13 categories. I don\u2019t want to spend too much time on this because I want to talk about the prospects for Andy Roddick\u2019s new coach, Larry Stefanki. Can he bring something new to Andy\u2019s game? But let\u2019s go through them for a few minutes.<\/p>\n1. ATP player of the year. Rafael Nadal absolutely. And I\u2019m willing to bet that this is his highlight year, particularly with the Olympic gold medal thrown.<\/p>\n2. WTA player of the year. This is tough because no one dominated and Jelena Jankovic is the weakest number one we\u2019ve had in terms of slam credentials. But Jelena wins it because she was by far the most consistent player while everyone else was either injured or unable to deal with injury – Ana Ivanovic\u2019s thumb injury affected her confidence as much as it did her thumb, or unable to win a final – Svetlana Kuznetsova lost all five finals she played this year.<\/p>\n3. ATP match of the year (I know, I know, but maybe some people may disagree). The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But I will say this, I still think the 1980 Wimbledon final between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg with that 18-16 fourth set tiebreak was better.<\/p>\n4. WTA match of the year. I\u2019m picking the Wimbledon final between Serena and Venus only because it\u2019s so good to see them go toe to toe in a slam final again.<\/p>\n5. ATP most improved player. JMDP. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gets an honorable mention.<\/p>\n6. & 8. The WTA most improved player. Dinara Safina without a doubt. And whoever it was that surrounded her with so much positive support that she positively busted out of her former insecure and self-lacerating persona, deserves the WTA coach of the year award.<\/p>\n7. ATP coach of the year. You know what, I\u2019m giving it to Toni Nadal, Rafa\u2019s uncle, because I don\u2019t think he gets the props he deserves. Rafa\u2019s game had improved every year and surely Toni deserves some of the credit.<\/p>\n9. Player who abused the medical timeout rule the most. This was just a weak attempt on my part to bring up the subject of Novak Djokovic because he didn\u2019t fit into any other category, and he\u2019s known for racking up impressive lists of injuries which don\u2019t seem to keep him from winning matches. Maybe the category should have been \u201cPlayer who most got in his own way,\u201d because Nole managed to piss off the US Open crowd after Roddick teased him about his injuries, and he persists in being in your face arrogant. Still, I have him winning at least two or three more slams if he would just grow up.<\/p>\n10. ATP player who is most likely to drop far down the rankings next year. People have been picking James Blake but I think he\u2019s still got another year or two in the top 10 or 15 before he sinks. He\u2019s thirty years old but he doesn\u2019t have a lot of miles on his body. I\u2019m more concerned about David Ferrer\u2019s confidence and, even though I\u2019ve been wrong about him the past two years, David Nalbandian\u2019s motivation.<\/p>\n11. WTA player who is most likely to drop far down the rankings next year. Far is a relative term. If you started the year at number two and ended the year at number eight, that\u2019s a big drop. For that reason, my pick is Kunetsova because Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova will be back next year and Serena Williams and Venus Williams are now regular tour members.<\/p>\n12. ATP Player who is most likely to rise far up the rankings next year. I\u2019m with Jenny on this one. Marin Cilic is now the number one player in Croatia and he\u2019s up to number 22. He\u2019s got a pistol whip of a forehand and great movement. He\u2019s got so much game that it still might take him a year or two to reach the upper regions, but I\u2019d put my money on him.<\/p>\n13. WTA Player who is most likely to rise far up the rankings next year. Agnieszka Radwanska is a teenager, she\u2019s in the top ten, she played in the year end championships. She\u2019s my pick and does she look like Dinara Safina\u2019s sister or what?<\/p>\nWhile Andy Roddick\u2019s recent coach, Jimmy Connors, was getting himself arrested for failing to disperse after getting into a tiff with the police at a UC Santa Barbara basketball game \u2013 this happened, by the way, before the game had even started, Andy\u2019s new coach, Larry Stefanki, was figuring out what possible changes he could bring to a veteran\u2019s game.<\/p>\nAs you could guess by now, the number one priority is Roddick\u2019s return of serve. Tennis players today are vastly improved when it comes to return of serve. Federer is right at the top and Nadal is not far behind. And I remember watching Rik De Voest, who\u2019s now ranked number 154, return Andy\u2019s serve pretty handily at the Los Angeles ATP event and thinking that Andy was in trouble.<\/p>\nBut he\u2019s not. He held serve 91% of the time this year and that\u2019s the best percentage on tour. In an interview with tennis writer Charlie Bricker, Stefanki didn\u2019t exactly talk about Andy improving his return of serve as much as changing his attitude:<\/p>\nConfidence is built on the right mechanics and having the right philosophy in your head. Andy, especially on second serve returns, needs to get more aggressive. Not necessarily going for everything, but not just sitting back and returning the ball.<\/i><\/p>\nAnd this too:<\/p>\nHe’s not a David Ferrer 5-foot-9 roadrunner. You’ve got to take more risks and unless you do you’re not going to create that presence you want on the court.<\/i><\/p>\nFirst of all, if you\u2019re not a good returner, at least act like one. No standing way off in the hinterlands to return serve – as Roddick used to do awhile back. Players can smell fear a mile away and nothing buoys confidence like fear in an opponent. Bunting a second serve back into the court falls into the same category. It\u2019s not the same as backing up, but it\u2019s passive at the very least.<\/p>\nAnd, if you\u2019re deficient in a particular skill, you have to take more chances. That should be easier for Andy than many other players as Stefanki also pointed out. If your serve is deficient and you take chances by going for winners, you could easily lose your serve. If your ground strokes are deficient and you aim for the lines, you\u2019ll run up unforced errors. But Andy will hold his serve 9 out of 10 times; he can afford to take a few whacks at second serves.<\/p>\nWorks for me. Andy ended the year at number 8 but he was number 6 when he went into the year-end championships. If he ends 2009 at number 6, that would be a major victory considering the emergence of Tsonga, Gilles Simon, and del Potro.<\/p>\nAndy dropped out of the year-end championships with an ankle injury and he missed some tournaments this year with a shoulder problem. Athletes are like cars. Once they start having problems, it\u2019s often downhill from there. For his sake, I hope he\u2019s got a few more years on him because he\u2019s a guy who does as much with what he has as any other player out there, and I appreciate that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve recovered from my trip to Brazil, the flu, and an over-full stomach, and now I\u2019m ready to get back to my exhaustive obsession with the world of tennis. Starting with, of course, those terrifying year end lists. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m startled to see another year sneak up on me much, much faster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Starting with, of course, those terrifying year end lists. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m startled to see another year sneak up on me much, much faster than I imagined possible \u2013 the worst part is realizing I\u2019m not much closer to some of my dearly held goals than I was at the beginning of the year, it\u2019s the task of predicting the future of tennis players who\u2019s psyches may not be up to the task of being the next big thing.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019d thunk that Juan Martin del Potro would bust out and win four straight events and have the nerve to stand up to David Nalbandian by putting the year end championships ahead of the Davis Cup as if there were all the time in the world for Argentina to win its first Cup? In del Potro\u2019s mind, there probably is plenty of time.<\/p>\n
Del Potro is my pick for the ATP most improved player and here are the rest of the top 13 categories. I don\u2019t want to spend too much time on this because I want to talk about the prospects for Andy Roddick\u2019s new coach, Larry Stefanki. Can he bring something new to Andy\u2019s game? But let\u2019s go through them for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
1. ATP player of the year. Rafael Nadal absolutely. And I\u2019m willing to bet that this is his highlight year, particularly with the Olympic gold medal thrown.<\/p>\n
2. WTA player of the year. This is tough because no one dominated and Jelena Jankovic is the weakest number one we\u2019ve had in terms of slam credentials. But Jelena wins it because she was by far the most consistent player while everyone else was either injured or unable to deal with injury – Ana Ivanovic\u2019s thumb injury affected her confidence as much as it did her thumb, or unable to win a final – Svetlana Kuznetsova lost all five finals she played this year.<\/p>\n
3. ATP match of the year (I know, I know, but maybe some people may disagree). The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But I will say this, I still think the 1980 Wimbledon final between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg with that 18-16 fourth set tiebreak was better.<\/p>\n
4. WTA match of the year. I\u2019m picking the Wimbledon final between Serena and Venus only because it\u2019s so good to see them go toe to toe in a slam final again.<\/p>\n
5. ATP most improved player. JMDP. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gets an honorable mention.<\/p>\n
6. & 8. The WTA most improved player. Dinara Safina without a doubt. And whoever it was that surrounded her with so much positive support that she positively busted out of her former insecure and self-lacerating persona, deserves the WTA coach of the year award.<\/p>\n
7. ATP coach of the year. You know what, I\u2019m giving it to Toni Nadal, Rafa\u2019s uncle, because I don\u2019t think he gets the props he deserves. Rafa\u2019s game had improved every year and surely Toni deserves some of the credit.<\/p>\n
9. Player who abused the medical timeout rule the most. This was just a weak attempt on my part to bring up the subject of Novak Djokovic because he didn\u2019t fit into any other category, and he\u2019s known for racking up impressive lists of injuries which don\u2019t seem to keep him from winning matches. Maybe the category should have been \u201cPlayer who most got in his own way,\u201d because Nole managed to piss off the US Open crowd after Roddick teased him about his injuries, and he persists in being in your face arrogant. Still, I have him winning at least two or three more slams if he would just grow up.<\/p>\n
10. ATP player who is most likely to drop far down the rankings next year. People have been picking James Blake but I think he\u2019s still got another year or two in the top 10 or 15 before he sinks. He\u2019s thirty years old but he doesn\u2019t have a lot of miles on his body. I\u2019m more concerned about David Ferrer\u2019s confidence and, even though I\u2019ve been wrong about him the past two years, David Nalbandian\u2019s motivation.<\/p>\n
11. WTA player who is most likely to drop far down the rankings next year. Far is a relative term. If you started the year at number two and ended the year at number eight, that\u2019s a big drop. For that reason, my pick is Kunetsova because Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova will be back next year and Serena Williams and Venus Williams are now regular tour members.<\/p>\n
12. ATP Player who is most likely to rise far up the rankings next year. I\u2019m with Jenny on this one. Marin Cilic is now the number one player in Croatia and he\u2019s up to number 22. He\u2019s got a pistol whip of a forehand and great movement. He\u2019s got so much game that it still might take him a year or two to reach the upper regions, but I\u2019d put my money on him.<\/p>\n
13. WTA Player who is most likely to rise far up the rankings next year. Agnieszka Radwanska is a teenager, she\u2019s in the top ten, she played in the year end championships. She\u2019s my pick and does she look like Dinara Safina\u2019s sister or what?<\/p>\n
While Andy Roddick\u2019s recent coach, Jimmy Connors, was getting himself arrested for failing to disperse after getting into a tiff with the police at a UC Santa Barbara basketball game \u2013 this happened, by the way, before the game had even started, Andy\u2019s new coach, Larry Stefanki, was figuring out what possible changes he could bring to a veteran\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
As you could guess by now, the number one priority is Roddick\u2019s return of serve. Tennis players today are vastly improved when it comes to return of serve. Federer is right at the top and Nadal is not far behind. And I remember watching Rik De Voest, who\u2019s now ranked number 154, return Andy\u2019s serve pretty handily at the Los Angeles ATP event and thinking that Andy was in trouble.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s not. He held serve 91% of the time this year and that\u2019s the best percentage on tour. In an interview with tennis writer Charlie Bricker, Stefanki didn\u2019t exactly talk about Andy improving his return of serve as much as changing his attitude:<\/p>\n
Confidence is built on the right mechanics and having the right philosophy in your head. Andy, especially on second serve returns, needs to get more aggressive. Not necessarily going for everything, but not just sitting back and returning the ball.<\/i><\/p>\n
And this too:<\/p>\n
He’s not a David Ferrer 5-foot-9 roadrunner. You’ve got to take more risks and unless you do you’re not going to create that presence you want on the court.<\/i><\/p>\n
First of all, if you\u2019re not a good returner, at least act like one. No standing way off in the hinterlands to return serve – as Roddick used to do awhile back. Players can smell fear a mile away and nothing buoys confidence like fear in an opponent. Bunting a second serve back into the court falls into the same category. It\u2019s not the same as backing up, but it\u2019s passive at the very least.<\/p>\n
And, if you\u2019re deficient in a particular skill, you have to take more chances. That should be easier for Andy than many other players as Stefanki also pointed out. If your serve is deficient and you take chances by going for winners, you could easily lose your serve. If your ground strokes are deficient and you aim for the lines, you\u2019ll run up unforced errors. But Andy will hold his serve 9 out of 10 times; he can afford to take a few whacks at second serves.<\/p>\n
Works for me. Andy ended the year at number 8 but he was number 6 when he went into the year-end championships. If he ends 2009 at number 6, that would be a major victory considering the emergence of Tsonga, Gilles Simon, and del Potro.<\/p>\n
Andy dropped out of the year-end championships with an ankle injury and he missed some tournaments this year with a shoulder problem. Athletes are like cars. Once they start having problems, it\u2019s often downhill from there. For his sake, I hope he\u2019s got a few more years on him because he\u2019s a guy who does as much with what he has as any other player out there, and I appreciate that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve recovered from my trip to Brazil, the flu, and an over-full stomach, and now I\u2019m ready to get back to my exhaustive obsession with the world of tennis. Starting with, of course, those terrifying year end lists. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m startled to see another year sneak up on me much, much faster […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}