Big Man Tennis

I have a lot of respect for players of similar stature to me that are successful at all levels of tennis, but that does not mean I want the athletes I coach to play that way. From personal experience, playing scrappy sideline to sideline counter puncher, consistent back board tennis is too taxing on the body. Does that mean I would implore players that are in the 5'9'' or shorter to try to overpower every opponent they see on the court? No, I want everyone that steps on the court to play smart controlled aggression tennis, where you dictate points with your strengths, and you have no holes in your footwork or movement. I love players that are looking for short balls and want to transition into the net, most players are very reluctant to move forward, but as everyone is starting to hit bigger and bigger groundstrokes and serves, the court gets very small, so you have to look to capitalize and move in before you get angled or hit off of the court. If you don't have the power, then learn how to use drop shots and angles, learn how to mix your game up to keep your opponent out of rhythm. Variety would be useful for all styles of play, especially the shorter player that lacks that power. Some examples for those tennis savvy readers of players that were successful mixing things up are Fabrice Santoro on the men's side, Martina Hingis and Justine Henin on the women's side, the rest of the smaller players just try to grind out points, looping groundstrokes back side to side. Some more relevant examples are John Isner(6'9") played against a player that was 5'7'', Isner was physically tired from his previous round but used his serve and big forehand to overpower the smaller player. He conserved his energy on returns and waited for that one break because he knew his serve wasn't going to be touched. The smaller guy actually won more points total in the match than Isner, but just couldn't win any of the big points to close out games, it is so frustrating to play against a player who has a huge serve and big strokes because you feel so helpless on the other side. Now Juan Martin Del Potro 6'6'' is playing against James Blake 6', and right now Del Po is in control of the first set using his big groundstrokes and serve to make the court look real small for Blake, who doesn't have much variety. Blake hits really flat and through the court and doesn't really mix it up or transition into the net, so he isn't a real threat to Del Po unless his groundstrokes are absolutely on fire. Earlier in the day, Nadal and Roddick won easily by staying in control of all the points and wearing their opponents down to deep heavy groundies. You never felt like either player was in trouble the whole match, and you felt like their opponents could not keep up the pace mentally or physically. Again notice how the seeded players know how to construct points and conserve energy playing efficient winning tennis, while the unseeded/lower ranked players just come out and try to survive. They hit the ball cleanly, and they move alright, but they don't move the ball around like the top players do. There was no teaching today at the club, so it leaves a lot of time for tennis coaches like myself to analyze Aussie Open play, and of course take a break from the sun. It hasn't rained in a few hours, perhaps we'll get a dry morning tomorrow.