Learning at the U.S. Open

It’s the best time of year … U.S. Open time! It’s a time to appreciate the amazing talents on the courts in Flushing Meadows, but more importantly, a great time to improve your own game by observing the players, not just watching them.

When watching great players, observe the areas that will assist you best, realizing that many of those areas are intricate in detail. These details cannot be picked up as your neck rotates back and forth, following the ball if watching live, or with your eyes going back and forth on television. You must spend your time focusing on strictly one player. This will allow you to observe entire points through the eyes of that particular player, and you will get a better feeling of just how intense the points truly are.

Here are some areas to zero in on when observing players.

Footwork
First and foremost you will notice just how important footwork really is to improving your game. The footwork of a pro, when moving to a shot, is great, but the constant small steps between shots are key. The constant movement has them better-prepared to react to the next oncoming ball. A very smart college coach, Jack Barnaby of Harvard, once said, “Tennis is 40 percent feet, 40 percent mind and 20 percent hitting the ball.” I’m not sure if those percentages are exactly true, but they seem pretty close to me.

The split step
Another area that will improve your game is again in the footwork area with the spilt step. Observe how a player approaching the net will split step right before contact is made by the opponent. The split will leave the player balanced and able to go to either side to reach for a shot. The other split step to watch is on the return of serve. If you can incorporate this into your game, I promise you will break serve more often. Notice how the player will start about a foot back of where they want to return the ball from and will jump step forward, landing on the balls of both feet right before service impact. The player is now moving forward, taking the serve early with a shortened backswing. In your game, this maneuver will allow you to catch up to the serves of those opponents who have overpowered you.

Topspin
Having a difficult time generating the amount of topspin you want on your groundstrokes? Focus in on the player’s upward forward motion and wrist snap during a shot. There are different backswings, but they all basically end up at the same point—below the ball—which is why the focus should be the forward motion to contact.

Follow through
Are you sailing balls long? Zero in on the follow through. Tennis has a lot of opposites in the game and one primary one is the shorter the follow through, the higher the shot, and the longer the follow through, the lower the shot.

You know your own game and the errors that repeatedly creep into it. Take advantage of this opportunity to not just watch and enjoy the matches of the U.S. Open, but to also learn while doing so.