I couldn't help reading "Taking away that crutch to any degree is a huge weapon against some of the biggest *tools* at the top of the men’s game right now" differently from how you intended 😝
Matthew, do you think court speed affects the value of a blocked return? Watching this match it seemed like the court speed tipped to the quicker side of the tour's surfaces, though a single online search called it "medium". It seems to me that blocked returns increase in effectiveness if the court is quicker such that if they're not super deep they're less likely to stand up, waiting for the +1 in a serve +1. And of course simply blocking the ball, being less complex than a more full swing, increases the number of serves one gets back in play, as you wrote.
Almost certainly yes. But also probably true that the difficulty of making a block return scales up relatively consistently with court speed, especially depending on bounce height, so both its effectiveness and difficulty would likely increase in tandem. Definitely true about the resulting ease of the +1 ball, which is actually something I'm working to quantify at the moment.
I absolutely love watching Bublik when he’s on like this. Such a talent. And a real change from the metronomic baseline drilling we do see a lot of. If only talent always went hand in hand with desire and discipline. Maybe that’s why I appreciate it more….
Looks to me like Bublik has been learning from Ash Barty, using more slices than is usual to force the opponent to generate their own pace, and to bring them to the net, out of their comfort zone.
Class article as always Matt 😍
I couldn't help reading "Taking away that crutch to any degree is a huge weapon against some of the biggest *tools* at the top of the men’s game right now" differently from how you intended 😝
lmao thanks Jack
Fascinating, thank you. The consistent quality of these articles is incredible.
Matthew, do you think court speed affects the value of a blocked return? Watching this match it seemed like the court speed tipped to the quicker side of the tour's surfaces, though a single online search called it "medium". It seems to me that blocked returns increase in effectiveness if the court is quicker such that if they're not super deep they're less likely to stand up, waiting for the +1 in a serve +1. And of course simply blocking the ball, being less complex than a more full swing, increases the number of serves one gets back in play, as you wrote.
Almost certainly yes. But also probably true that the difficulty of making a block return scales up relatively consistently with court speed, especially depending on bounce height, so both its effectiveness and difficulty would likely increase in tandem. Definitely true about the resulting ease of the +1 ball, which is actually something I'm working to quantify at the moment.
I absolutely love watching Bublik when he’s on like this. Such a talent. And a real change from the metronomic baseline drilling we do see a lot of. If only talent always went hand in hand with desire and discipline. Maybe that’s why I appreciate it more….
Wouldn't a serve and volley neutralize the chip return tactic? Interesting to see 'pushers' effective at the pro level
Looks to me like Bublik has been learning from Ash Barty, using more slices than is usual to force the opponent to generate their own pace, and to bring them to the net, out of their comfort zone.