Medvedev Sinner Final first set

Did you watch the first set?

Did you see that Medvedev played a heavy dose of crosscourt rallies?

Ya!

He threw in a few load combos early…but 85%, if not more, were dominated by crosscourt rallies in Medvedev’s side.

Hidden in that, is that Med is using Box 3 as a staging point to start the rallies early on. He’s establishing a “base” strategy to work off of.

In military terms, it’s setting a perimeter and laying the trap for the prey.

What it makes me think about is how I like to work on Serve and (+1’s) to four locations.

Box 1, 2, 3 and 4 and they all have different value depending on who you are playing and what you are attacking.

That’s just the beginning.

What if you had a different game you played depending on what Serve you hit and what Box you hit with your (+1)?

For instance…

-Let’s say you hit Box 3 with your (+1) out of the Deuce side service game. What if you were using that (+1) and only Boxes 1, 2, and 3 during the point? What if you were using that area to attack Box 1?

With a wide serve?

With a T serve?

With a body serve?

-Let’s say you use your (+1) to hit Box 1. For a double back. For a shift after a T serve. For a wheel combo (that can move from 1-2-3-4….or 1-4-3-2…that’s the funny thing about wheels. They can go either way…and if you are playing some box games to go along with it…it’s confusing.

-Let’s say you hit Box 4 with your (+1).

What do you want to do with that shot?

*You can still play, first to Box 1

*(+1) and follow

*(+1) and load…or a “Pin” game where you stay on the Ad side and pin the player deep.

What about a Box 2 (+1)?

*It can be a power (meaning, serve and crank Box 2, handcuffing the guy. You probably wouldn’t open with that…but…

*Use box 2 (+1) to stop momentum and make the player start up again.

*A wheel….2,3,4,1 or a 2,1,4,3.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT!

I thought everyone thought like this.

In game 3, during the third point, Med plays a rally with two triples. Three shots to the Duece, then three shots to the Ad…followed by a couple of alternating crosscourt shots to both sides.

Was this just a crosscourt gameplan or was it actually two triples?

Does it matter?

I could even say that during this game Med was “probing” his down-the-line return on the first Ad point because on the second Ad point, he does it again and pops the next shot crosscourt (for an error)…but, the intent was there.

I use a tactic like this quite a bit.

I call it “Sniping.”

Return almost entirely crosscourt early on games and Lie in wait for the “sneaker” down the line.

I hate when I waste it by missing the return down the line by inches. Generally, it doesn’t have to be that good. I’ll lose the first three return games and snag the break late in the set with these snipes.

Game 4.

Med’s probing the hit and follow. It works. But, we see later in the match he gets passed down the line on a few big points.

**Mental note…when probing a scenario, you should be up a few points…notably 30-0…or you should be “searching” for an alternative to get back into the match.

Why 30-0?

You win the point…its 40-0. You lose it, it’s 30-15.

If you do it at 0-0…15-0…0-15…you are wasting it. I call it separation of twos….you should be up two points.

Why not 40-15?

Game points are precious and shouldn’t be used for probing (Don’t’ “play with your food” on game points. Game points are used to “Sear” a pattern into your opponent’s head.

Listen!

When I talk strategy, it is for when you are playing at equal levels or above.

You can’t fool a fool.

When someone is below you…you keep it simple.

High first serve %

Don’t miss returns.

Don’t miss early balls in the rally (cuz they’ll be giving you a few on their end).

And so on.

**Interesting note in the first set. Med did odd returns to start the game. He went big. Or went to the corner and during the next points went back to crosscourt ect.

**Another note. This match made me think of the Novak-Sinner match at Wimbledon. Novak used a heavy dose of crosscourts patterns (Because the grass is fast and it’s harder to chase ball moving away on grass than ones moving straight).

$$ It’s liberating when you put your points together with a plan of attacking space. Outcomes are easier to control and easier to accept. When you have those plans set by point structure, it makes it easier also. But it can leave you predictable.

-You have to have a few predictable patterns to set it in and then deviate from.

When you are first working on this…do it during groundstroke games. TBO, I use groundstroke games to “steal” patterns.

-Funny story. There was a college player a few years back…maybe 6/7 UTR. He kept wanting to play me before he graduated. I kept telling him he’d kill me. I’m too old etc. I watered him down for some time…planting the seed…when we played finally…

“Do you want to play a groundstroke game?”

I let him make the choice.

“Sure,” I said.

“Do you want to play to 11?”

“Sure,” I said again and proceeded to play differing patterns that I may or may not use in the set.

I squeaked the groundstroke games out, which I didn’t care about.

Who cares about winning groundstroke games?

They have next to zero value.

Anyway.

I found something I could exploit in the set.

Box 1.

I found something else

A bagel!

It’s funny to me how much I sandbag at the club.

I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

I hide a lot of my game while I'm inside.

When I'm away from prying eyes, I bring out the real stuff.

For some reason, I’ve always been like that.

I will finish the rest of the match in the next piece.

I’m hoping to find something more than crosscourts and first-point manipulation.

I’m writing this week then going dark again until Indian Wells.