Welcome to another edition of the Coach’s Corner. Last week’s ATP Tour events took us to Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Acapulco (Mexico) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Today’s highlight package comes to you from the final match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships between Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych. Aside from the usual Federer magic that we have witnessed numerous times over the last several years, please notice the use of the cross court shot by both players with the intent of opening up the court and turning the point in their favor.

In order to effectively construct points, please make use of the crosscourt shot in order to move your opponent off the court and create opportunities to win points by hitting the ball into the open area. Very often, a well angled crosscourt will win you the point outright or, at the very least, provide you with a clear opening for the following shot. Bottom Line: when rallying from the baseline, hit the ball crosscourt as often as possible until a sizable opening is created to attempt a down the line shot. Keep 2 things in mind when making a decision whether to hit the ball crosscourt or down the line: safety and situation. Crosscourt shots are much safer as the diagonal distance on the tennis court is longer than the distance along the sideline; secondly, the ball crosses the net at its lowest height (the centre); thirdly, only a crosscourt shot may allow you to force your opponent outside the perimeters of the sidelines. Down the line shots are more risky and, therefore, more difficult to execute. They should only be attempted when you are presented with a big opening and plenty of time to get set to hit the shot; i.e. hit down the line when you have lots of room and time to work with.

Here are the results of the final rounds of the 3 tournaments that took place on the ATP Tour last week:

Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Mexico: Final Rounds.

Men’s Singles: Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) defeated Kevin Anderson (South Africa)   7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(5).

Men’s Doubles: K. Anderson (South Africa) and M. Ebden (Australia) defeated F. Lopez (Spain) and M. Mirnyi (Belarus)   6-3, 6-3.

Brasil Open 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil: Final Rounds.

Men’s Singles: Federico Delbonis (Argentina) defeated Paolo Lorenzi (Italy)   4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Men’s Doubles: G. Garcia-Lopez (Spain) and P. Oswald (Austria) defeated J. Cabal (Colombia) and R. Farah (Colombia)   5-7, 6-4, 15-13.

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Men’s Singles: Roger Federer (Switzerland) defeated Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)   3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Men’s Doubles: R. Bopanna (India) and A. Qureshi (Pakistan) defeated D. Nestor (Canada) and N. Zimonjic (Serbia)   6-4, 6-3.

It was great to see Roger winning yet another tournament and Daniel Nestor had a great outing in Dubai just falling short in the finals with his old buddy Nenad Zimonjic. Next week, I’ll update the results from a 2-week long ATP/WTA World Tour event in Indian Wells, California. As is the case every week, I would like to encourage you to share your questions and/or comments. Please feel free to contact me directly at (416) 821-5555 or via email mctennisacademy@hotmail.com. Have an awesome week!

Kind regards,

Michael Czerwinski