Monday, 01 July 2024 / Published in Wimbledon

Wimbledon 2024: 7 Things To Copy From Struff vs Marozsan

G’day from Wimbledon! ????

It’s amazing to be back at The Championships!

Typically I am busy at my desk researching tournament data and patterns of play. Not this morning. I wanted to start Day 1 by consuming a lot of tennis, so I went to Court 8 to watch Jan Lennard Struff (GER) play Fabian Marozsan (HUN). Jan won a tight one 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3. It was an excellent first-round encounter that was played at an extremely high level. I sat with Jan’s coach, Carsten Arriens, and we continually talked about how well both players were constructing points.

I wish you were there to listen to our conversation so that you could copy and paste specific strategies for your own game. Here are seven mental notes I took during the match that you can weave into your own game to help take it to the next level.

1: FOREHAND BODY SERVES

Learn -> Webinar 37: 25 Underrated Tactics

It’s one of the least-used shots in tennis. We love to serve wide and bomb down the T, but serving at the forehand jam seems counterintuitive! It doesn’t need to be. Going at the forehand body location gets the ball in on the returner and compromises their spacing. The ball gets in, and it’s tough to even get it back over the net.

Jan and Fabian hit excellent forehand jam serves in pressure moments to win the point. When your opponent has two targets (wide and T) they are trying to cover, it’s clever to go to the third option.

This is one of the most straightforward strategies to copy and paste from Wimbledon to your club courts. Target the forehand jam serve with first and second serves and watch how tough it is to get back in the court.

2: HITTING THROUGH RETURNS

Learn -> Webinar 38: Aggressive Returns

I have worked with Carsten and Jan before and after COVID-19, and improving Jan’s return of serve has been a primary focus. At all levels of our sport, we tend to brush too steeply up the back of the ball to try and lift it over the net. The problem is that the racket does not get through the ball enough and the ball ends up in the net more often than not.

This was the best I have seen Jan hit “through” his return of serve. He had a short backswing and got the racket through the point of contact well.

This is a “must” at the club level. Don’t try to lift the ball on the return. Hit through it and use the server’s power right back at them. The result will be a solid return deep in the court.

3: SERVE & VOLLEY

Learn -> Webinar 21: Serve & Volley. Return & Volley

Serving and volleying is a magnificent strategy for a variety of different reasons. Today, it helped Jan get out of some sticky situations. Fabian would go through moments in the match when he was crushing returns and putting a lot of pressure on Jan’s serve +1 groundstrokes. To avoid that pressure, Jan served and volleyed 12 times in the match and won nine of those points. A couple of them that he won were behind his second serve.

Serve and volley can be a great tool to change the complexion of the point, especially when you are looking to avoid a baseline rally. It also changed the flavour of the game as Jan was now the aggressor at the net and not the defender at the baseline.

Serving and volleying typically win you two out of every three points. It’s a great tactic to throw a monkey wrench into the match at the club level. A lot of times, the returner freaks out and misses the return entirely.

4: BACKHAND SLICE

Learn -> Webinar 47: Backhand Slice Situations

Both players hit some scintillating backhand slices for the following reasons.

To lower the rally and get the ball down below the opponent’s knees to make it hard to drive.
To slow the rally down and not give the opponent power to use back against them.
To be stronger defensively. It is much easier to put the ball in with a slice than topspin when under extreme pressure.
To open up new, shorter angles in the rally.

All club players would benefit from having a serviceable backhand slice. It helps get you out of trouble and helps keep the ball out of the opponent’s strike zone.

5: WIDE SERVES IN THE DEUCE COURT

Learn -> Webinar 3: Serve Strategy, Patterns, Percentages & Drills

Below are Jan’s serve patterns in the Deuce Court.

1st Serves Deuce Court

Wide = 20
Body = 2
T = 16

The wide slider worked well in this match. Fabian was returning brilliantly for almost the entirety of the game, sometimes ramming 1st serves back at Jan deep down the middle. Other times, he would chip the first serve return and float it deep, giving Jan no power to work with. To counter the high quality of returns, Jan often went to a 3/4 speed heavy slider out wide in the Deuce court, which he had a high percentage of making, and sliced away from Fabian. This helped Jan win several vital points that were key to victory.

2nd Serves Deuce Court

Wide = 13
Body = 6
T = 5

Fabian’s backhand return was on fire for almost the entire match. It was eye-opening how well he hit it. Jan was smart to surprise wide to the forehand to stop him stepping forward to punish the return. Fabian either had to slice the return or get it back in play.

Amateur players would be wise to mix more wide to the right-hander’s forehand return in the Deuce court. The surprise often leads to a return error.

6: BREAK POINTS

Learn -> Webinar 11: Tie-Breaks & Break Points

One of the best things you can do when facing a break point is to make your first serve. Both players did an outstanding job in this area.

Struff Break Points

Jan faced six break points.
He made five first serves (83%).
He hit three aces on first serves and hit a 2nd serve ace on another.

Marozsan Break Points

Fabian faced 14 break points.
He made 10 first serves (71%).
He hit one ace and one double fault.

Jan only made 55% of first serves in the match but made 83% on break point. Fabian only made 58% of first serves in the match but made 71% on break point.

These are excellent percentages for both players. When break point inevitably rolls around, do all you can to get your first serve in the court to relieve some pressure.

7: ALWAYS LOOK TO FINISH AT NET

Learn -> Webinar 30: Volley & Overhead Technique

Net Points Won

Struff = 24/32 (75%)
Marozsan = 8/12 (67%)

This tight match had some pivotal moments where the match hung in the balance. A big key for Jan was that he was more willing to go to the net when these moments arrived than Fabian was. Jan went to the net 32 times, which was almost three times that of Fabian at 12.

Going to the net to finish points brings pressure. It makes the player at the back of the court have to hit passing shots to win the match – which is no easy feat.

Be the player that goes to the net more than your opponent. Embrace the front of the court and constantly bring pressure by coming forward.

SUMMARY

Matches at all levels of our game always offer something to learn. It’s also very important to understand that amateur players can improve their game by studying the professionals.

Learn from Jan and Fabian and drip-feed your game with these crucial elements from Wimbledon. Enjoy the process and commit to getting a little bit better every day.

Best,

Craig

The practice court is clearly broken. Here’s the proof.

Points are "front loaded". By far the majority of the action, and the winning, takes place in THE FIRST 4 SHOTS. The practice court is full of long rallies. Matches are dominated by short rallies. There is a massive disconnect occurring.

We spend too much time grinding, banging balls up and down the middle of the court – that have no real benefit to winning tennis matches.

There are 3 specific rally lengths in tennis. Here is their percentage breakdown of total points.

0-4 Shots = 70%
5-8 Shots = 20%
9+ Shots = 10%

The First 4 Shots is specifically the serve, return, Serve +1 groundstroke and Return +1 groundstroke. Those are normally the shots that get practiced the least, but matter the most to winning tennis matches.

The net is an extremely high percentage place to be!

If you love playing tennis for fun, spend as much time at the baseline as you like. But if you compete – if the score matters – then you must turn your attention to the net to maximize your potential.

The “herd mentality” in tennis thinks it’s too tough to approach the net in today’s game. The conversation starts with improved string technology, more powerful rackets, and finishes with stronger, faster athletes. The herd think approaching is a relic of the past. The herd is WRONG!

AVERAGE WIN %
Baseline = 46%
Net = 66%

Data from ALL Grand Slams provides the facts about approach and volley, and the data is crystal clear – it’s immensely better than staying back at the baseline, grinding for a living.

The baseline is a tough place to create separation. Here's how to do it.

At the 2012 US Open, only 7 men and 14 women had a winning percentage from the baseline. At Wimbledon 2016, Andy Murray won the title only winning 52% of his baseline points - and he is one of the very best at it in the world!

Num3ers deeply explores the data that rules points, especially from the back of the court. Take a "deep dive" into all three rally lengths (0-4, 5-8, 9+), and winner and errors totals from the elite level of our game. The numbers will shock you!

All 4 Grand Slams

Forcing Errors = 41% Men / 37% Women
Winners = 32% Men / 29% Women
Unforced Errors = 27% Men / 34% Women

Num3ers is very much like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's about bringing together different data sets together to create the big picture.

Every recorded match from the 2015 Australian Open - Rd2 to the final.

There is a lot happening on a doubles court. Situations and strategies are constantly being adjusted to create mis-matches with court position. It's hard to keep track of - until now. Dou8les Num3ers is the most comprehensive analysis of doubles data in our sport. The focus is on how a point ends, and it's broken down eight ways to Sunday. Specifically, you find critical information on:

Winners rise to the #1 way a point ends (over forced & unforced errors)

- The last shot of the rally is overwhelmingly struck at the net.
- Center Window: the most important part of a doubles court to control.
- Stephen Huss: an in-depth interview on Wimbledon's Centre Court with the 2005 Wimbledon Doubles Champion.

Dou8les Num3ers leaves no stone unturned. Percentage breakdowns of how often the server or receiver hits the last shot highlight the dramatic influence of the serve. The last shot of the rally is significant, and is broken down into the following categories: volleys, overheads, passing shots, lobs and groundstrokes.

When you play a match, you actually play two matches.

When you walk out onto a tennis court, there are two matches that you are about to play. The first is during the point - a part of the match that you have spent a lot of time preparing for on the practice court. But there is a second match, that takes place in the 20 seconds between the points. This is where the mental and emotional aspects of our sport kick in.

Let's face it, there will be adversity in almost every tennis match that you play. The storm clouds are coming. How bug they are, and how long they last for, are up to you.

Between the points is very tennis specific. It provides a roadmap for the 20 seconds between the points, teaching how to handle the adversity that will surely come, and how to build on the successes that will also be present. Your mind is your biggest asset in a match, and Between the Points takes your hand off the self destruct button and stops you beating yourself.

You don't have to be good at everything, but you have got to be good at something.

You can break tennis down into four key elements - serving, returning, rallying and approaching. Each part has specific patterns of play that consistently deliver higher winning percentages than the others. No more guessing. No more opinions. All facets of our sport are covered in this exceptional product, clearly outlining what patterns to gravitate to, and how to best construct the practice court. Data comes primarily from the 2015 Australian Open.

Building Blocks

MEN = 70% errors / 30% winners
WOMEN = 74% errors / 26% winners

Forcing errors is the best way to construct a point.
You can simply break tennis down into primary and secondary patterns of play - and they are all covered here. Primary patterns include serve and return direction, forehands v backhands, and the best way to approach the net. Secondary patterns include drop shots, serve & volley and 1st volley options. If you play tournaments, this product will greatly help you simplify the singles court.

The conversation starts & ends with the Center Window.

The doubles court is like an hourglass. There are two big ends, but a small neck in the middle where all the action happens. Once you learn the power of the Center Window, where you stand to start the point will take on a lot more significance.

Doubles is a lot more about situations, with four people on the court all "dancing" with one another. Learn all the best doubles patterns, broken down for the server, returner, server's partner and the returner's partner.

Doubles Situations

The "J" - the most ideal movement for the returner's partner to attack the net.

The "V" - a better way of understanding where the server's partner should move to.

Volley Targets - there are four main areas to attack. Know which ones are higher percentage. Beach Volleyball - the idea of a "setter" and "spiker" is ideal for the doubles court.

There are certain parts of the court that the ball travels to a lot, and other low percentage areas that you really don't want to cover at all - like the alley! In general, the serving team wants to keep the ball in the middle of the court as much as possible (to help the server's partner), while the returning team benefits from hitting wider and creating more chaos in the point.