I’ve seen in many matches (Federer in particular) where his opponents are standing near the net and he still gets winners. Why can’t the person on the net just keep blocking the ball? Some of them just leaves it when they can clearly reach the ball.
It’s a waste of energy to put your racket out where the ball is coming towards? And if you let the opponent get a winner like that doesn’t that build momentum.
That’s kind of dumb to think that they are just giving up. Its not as easy as it looks standing at the net.
When a 90 mph ball is flying at your body, you can’t exactly prepare to hit a perfect winner.
Also, its not easy to hit winners at the net. Passing shots are usually low above the net and simply cannot be placed away with ease..(they can be drop volleyed though).
Also the width of the tennis court is very wide. I do not know anyone who can reach both sides. So when you use the example of Federer, one of the best tennis players, he can hit anywhere he wants out of the players reach.
September 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
You don’t know how hard it is to keep blocking every single 90 mph hit at you. It’s tough to get the racket in the right place to get good shots at that level, and even if they barely got it, the opponent at that level could easily just pop another winner off the crap shot you just hit so it’s a waste of energy, besides it’s something to do with the mental game. Instead of, "I’m always trying my hardest to reach those balls at the net and return them, but I just can’t get the right shots!"…..it’s, "He hit a ball I couldn’t reach and that’s that, nice shot, next point"
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September 27th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Most of the time the player coming to net is moving forward, and when the ball is hit by the opponent, he didn’t have time to change his direction. His body momentum will push him forward as well. That won’t allow him to reach the ball as quickly as say, standing with a ready stance for taking a ball. If you play tennis and you frequently go to the net, you will notice this.
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September 27th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
The perception of the game is quite different when you watch it on the tubes, versus watching it live courtside.
The camera is typically angled downward onto the court to give the viewers a more complete picture of the entire court. But at this angle, it will be a lot harder to tell the speed differentials between each shots. In other words, the player on the bottom of the screen firing a 85 mph shot toward the opponent on top of the screen and then rushing the net is going to have a harder time fending off the return shot at 90 mph because it came back to him faster and the distance between the returning ball and himself is now much shorter.
He has much less time to react both because the ball is returned to him a lot faster and the distance is now shorter.
A viewer with untrained eyes will not be able to distinguish the speed differentials. Not from watching it from the tube.
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September 27th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
That’s kind of dumb to think that they are just giving up. Its not as easy as it looks standing at the net.
When a 90 mph ball is flying at your body, you can’t exactly prepare to hit a perfect winner.
Also, its not easy to hit winners at the net. Passing shots are usually low above the net and simply cannot be placed away with ease..(they can be drop volleyed though).
Also the width of the tennis court is very wide. I do not know anyone who can reach both sides. So when you use the example of Federer, one of the best tennis players, he can hit anywhere he wants out of the players reach.
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September 27th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
maybe he hits it too hard for them to catch it.
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