First of all, I really enjoyed watching the World Teams Championship just completed.
Upon replaying, I focussed my attention on the first 5 balls and the technical beauty of the counterloop when executed perfectly:
- On serve, the typical setup being FH pendulum half long with slight sidespin; and then moving pre-emptively to counterloop a chiquita or:
- On receive, a tight half long short push to hopefully getting a weak open up. Throwing in chiquita to keep the opponent off balance.
For me, the game strategy has shifted ever so slightly away from the first-in overpowering pure attacker toward more reactive counterloopers emphasising strong short game coupled with footwork explosiveness to be able to quickly take one or two steps back to exchange topspin with enough quality (if it gets to the 5th ball).
This has created a no man’s land on the 3rd or 4th ball where if you are late, weight on the back foot or a step behind, you would be committed to a weak topspin open up that just gets absolutely crushed with the counterloop.
Is this the same thing other members here have noticed? Any other trends?
Upon replaying, I focussed my attention on the first 5 balls and the technical beauty of the counterloop when executed perfectly:
- On serve, the typical setup being FH pendulum half long with slight sidespin; and then moving pre-emptively to counterloop a chiquita or:
- On receive, a tight half long short push to hopefully getting a weak open up. Throwing in chiquita to keep the opponent off balance.
For me, the game strategy has shifted ever so slightly away from the first-in overpowering pure attacker toward more reactive counterloopers emphasising strong short game coupled with footwork explosiveness to be able to quickly take one or two steps back to exchange topspin with enough quality (if it gets to the 5th ball).
This has created a no man’s land on the 3rd or 4th ball where if you are late, weight on the back foot or a step behind, you would be committed to a weak topspin open up that just gets absolutely crushed with the counterloop.
Is this the same thing other members here have noticed? Any other trends?