Welcome to another edition of the Coach’s Corner. Today’s topic deals with the importance of an effective serve in today’s game especially on the men’s tour. The following highlight film comes to you from the final match of Delray Beach International Tennis Championships held last week in Florida:  http://www.atpworldtour.com/Media/Video-Landing.aspx?q=Delray+Beach

Please notice the overwhelming difference in points won by the server as compared to the returner. In fact, the only points won by the returner were preceded by a weaker serve or a truly extraordinary shot off the return. If a player wishes to be successful in today’s game, the serve is, by far, the most important shot in anybody’s arsenal. Matches are very often decided by a single break of serve; therefore, its importance cannot be overemphasized. Bottom line: please work on your serve as much as you possibly can. No, the half dozen or so practice serves that you take before starting a set against your partner does NOT qualify as “working on your serve”. Please take a full basket (or a bag) of balls and practice at least 50 serves into both sides of the court minimum once a week. Here are results of the tournaments that took place last week.

 

Rio Open 500 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Final Rounds.

Men’s Singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain) defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine)   6-3, 7-6(3).

Men’s Doubles: J. Cabal (Colombia) and R. Farah (Colombia) defeated D. Marrero (Spain) and M. Melo (Brazil)   6-4, 6-2.

Open 13 in Marseille, France: Final Rounds.

Men’s Singles: Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)   7-6(5), 6-4.

Men’s Doubles: J. Benneteau (France) and E. Roger-Vasselin (France) defeated P. Hanley (Australia) and J. Marray (Great Britain)   4-6, 7-6(6), 13-11.

Delray Beach International Tennis Championships: Final rounds.

Men’s Singles: Marin Cilic (Croatia) defeated Kevin Anderson (South Africa)   7-6(6), 6-7(7), 6-4.

Men’s Doubles: B. Bryan (USA) and M. Bryan (USA) defeated F. Cermak (Czech Republic) and M. Elgin (Russia)   6-2, 6-3.

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Final rounds.

Ladies’ Singles: Venus Williams (USA) defeated Alize Cornet (France)   6-3, 6-0.

Ladies’ Doubles:  A. Kudryavtseva (Russia) and A. Rodionova (Australia) defeated R. Kops-Jones (USA) and A. Spears (USA) 6-2, 5-7, 10-8.

The tournament in Dubai featured an amazing performance by Venus Williams who earned her first title in over 4 years. Welcome back Venus (and her big serve)! As always, I welcome your questions and/or comments in regards to any of my articles. Please feel free to contact me directly at (416) 821-5555 or via email: mctennisacademy@hotmail.com. Have a great week!

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