Welcome to the next edition of the Coach’s Corner. After weeks of numerous tournaments around the world, both men and ladies converged in sunny Indian Wells, California for a World Tour Masters 1000 event. Here are the results from this tournament:

BNP Paribas Open:

Men’s Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) defeated Roger Federer (Switzerland)   3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).

Men’s Doubles: Bob Bryan (USA) and Mike Bryan (USA) defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) and Bruno Soares (Brazil)   6-4, 6-3.

Ladies’ Singles: Flavia Pennetta (Italy) defeated Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)   6-2, 6-1.

Ladies’ Doubles: Su-Wei Hsieh (Chinese Taipei) defeated Shuai Peng (China) defeated Cara Black (Zimbabwe) and Sania Mirza (India)   7-6(5), 6-2.

The tournament featured an incredible final between 2 of the greatest players ever: Federer and Djokovic. Today’s coaching tip is based on the highlight package from that extraordinary encounter.

Novak Djokovic Vs Roger Federer Indian Wells… by thetennishighlights
 

Please notice how both players attempt to attack the backhand of the opponent, which in majority of cases, is the weaker stroke. It appears that the only time, either Roger or Novak, hit to the forehand side of the opposing player is when that side is clearly open and their intention is to attack and finish the point. Bottom line: almost every player that you will face has a weaker backhand than the forehand. It’s considered very good strategy, to play as many shots as possible to your opponent’s backhand in order to gain an upper hand when constructing a winning point. When in doubt, hit the ball to the backhand side, and you will be rewarded with a weak return or an outright point in your favor.

Next week, I’ll bring you up to date with all the results from the Sony Open Tennis as both the men and the ladies travel to the east coast of USA to another sunny destination: Miami, Florida. As always, I welcome your comments and/or questions. Please feel free to contact me directly at (416) 821-5555 or via email: mctennisacademy@hotmail.com. Have a great week and let’s hope that some of the weather from California and Florida makes its way to us. Take care!

Kind regards,

Michael Czerwinski