Sinner vs Rublev

Break points could be annoying. Conversion rates were low, even when players worked on them constantly.

Jannik remembered the feeling in the juniors and throughout the early stages of his pro career.

Nervousness.

Anxiety.

He felt his heart rate go up while his mind stopped.

It felt as if the mind was like “What do we do now? Be aggressive? Be consistent?”

Now, win or lose, he was able to quiet his mind thanks to a new mindset.

The worry was gone, replaced by a sense of accountability.

And game planning.

It was so much easier to execute when he focused on acceptance of outcomes.

He could relax.

After losing the point, after watching the match afterward, the only thing that bothered him is if he didn’t execute the right combo for the situation.

He was getting better with that.

The shanks still popped up during the match.

But, they happened less and less.

The training was helping.

One particular drill worked well in which he would quickly move to a location inside the court, outside the court, to the left, or to the right while the coach fed a ball to another location and he’d have to adjust to that spot.

The coaches made it tough.

Occasionally, he’d get caught changing his grip.

But, his hands were finding an easier way to get through the ball.

He tended to “pop out” of the contact point.

“On serve, we want to attack his grip. The way he holds his racket with his left hand separated from his right hand causes problems. It adds a move on the return and it can be “picked on.”

What the coaches noticed was that players who did this tended to miss more returns on average and they also tended to get “caught” chipping more balls back into play.

“On return, we know he’s coming with a Power three.”

Rublev played with the old adage to win your service points under four shots.

As often as possible.

The problem with that is it caused service games to last longer than expected.

It also didn’t mesh with the return game.

It made a player streaky.

Too many (+1) and (+2) errors that deflated momentum.

No matter how hard players worked on the mental side, this style caused all kinds of problems for the brain.

“His mentality is what beats him. He is all in on developing these quick points,” Darren said. “Working with Andre helped me understand how to use the middle of the court.”

From childhood to his teens, it was amazing what the mind got fixated on. He remembered his youth and being so “dead set” on ideals that were later crushed by reality.

But, it was what got implanted in the head that was hard to get rid of.

“We should start out using the center of the court on service points.”

“Hit right at him.”

“Sort of,” he said and took a sip of water. “Start with the middle combos early in the game to keep him tight. And throw in load combo to box 3.”

“Or a three-ball switch pattern.”

“Right.”

“But establish the middleboxes early.”

Players like Rublev who tried to win points quickly tended to give away a game during each set. Especially if his opponents could extend the rallies.

But, that wasn’t enough.

For tournaments that were two out of three sets, that style could work…and it did. But for majors, that style ran itself out by the semis.

The first set ended.

6-4 Jannik.

Using the middle of the court and keeping Rublev in a tight box early in games had paid off. He had hit a few winners and got some cheap games, but, he had also gifted a game at 2-2 with three unforced errors. Two of which were (+1’s).

Up until the last twelve months, Jannik had looked at T serves as a longer pattern. Recently, he had been using them for what his coaches called, Switches. Move the guy to the center and blast him back to where he was…if he gets that back, take the cheapie in the other corner.

And the wide serves.

He had recently come to realize how effective you could be with establishing patterns by using the (+1’s) as a starting point for layering patterns that offered different values.

-tight box patterns designed to limit space and angles or switch the player’s grips from forehand to backhand.

-Mid patterns designed to keep the player just stretched enough to work them….

-and stretches designed to attack the legs.

Jannik was learning how to layer patterns.

Make them look like something else.

For now, the players other than Novak, Medvedev and Alcaraz, had no clue. They were conditioned to focus on hitting harder, serving bigger and hitting deeper.

Sometimes depth could be a problem when you were a little off and the ball was sailing a bit long.

Jannik had grown out of zone tennis.

The layering of patterns didn’t revolve all-around depth.

They were more about manipulation.

And using tactics that evolved.

That wasn’t limited.

Moments later, during the second set, Simone watched as Rublev was starting to heat up. Some players perked up after saving break points early in the set and ran away with the rest of the set.

Rublev was one of those players you had to be careful of.

It was like playing golf and scrambling for a couple of pars that should have been bogeys and then running “hot” for the next six holes.

Simone watched as the set was riding on the balance.

Jannik had gotten a little tentative on the break points early in the set and now Rublev was picking up his game.

In the past, he would watch as self-doubt crept into Jannik’s game.

Jannik would end up jumping from one thing to the next.

Too much aggression.

Too little.

There was no in-between.

Now Jannik was learning to calm his nerves and stick to designed patterns to take the pressure off him and put faith in the tactics.

Simone was getting worried. The ball was jumping off Jannik’s racket and he was making some loose errors from the baseline. At one point in the middle of the set, Jannik was grabbing at his stomach.

Usually, when unforced errors at this level were created by the mind.

The players at this level were in top shape.

But, the mind could wander.

“Too many mind,” Darren had said at one point. A line from the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai” in which the main character was overthinking during combat practice.

The second set played out to a tiebreaker.

After six points, the score was 5-1 Rublev. He was attacking with his usual style.

The forehand…and winning cheap points until he “woke up” and started playing not to lose.

He lost the next six points in a row.

Rublev waited until the set point to get back to being aggressive…

And missed a backhand in the ally.

The third set started out close but after the break at 2-2, the set went away quick, in Janniks favor.