Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Serve and Volley: I'm intrigued by your comment, Razor, that the serve-and-volley technique is passe. I don't disagree, but I'm curious how this works out. If Sampras proved anything, he proved that his solid S&V could beat the best whizzing Western forehand (Agassi, I'd suggest) on most days. Yet Andre's game is the one everyone plays now, even the strapping kids like Roddick, who has a serve that screams for a run to the net. There are still some S&V players who can compete, as Federer showed with his quickness and touch at Wimby. And, before the injuries took them out, Rafter and Krajicek were always threats to anyone in the game.

I wonder if this is corallary to your thought that we remember the flashy players. Up-and-coming players took on the style of the players in the public eye, and that always meant Andre over Pete. Oddly, this wasn't the case with Connors, whose huge, flat swing all but disappeared as technology and racquet size allowed spin to heat up dramatically. At any rate, I can't remember a time when one style dominated so completely.

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