Tennis Tuesday: Sep 9, 2014

It’s a natural fact that some dog owners end up looking like their dogs. Maybe it’s true for tennis players and their coaches, too. You might have thought so, watching Marin Cilic today in the US Open final against Kei Nishikori, a match Cilic won in under two hours by the overpowering score of 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Cilic doesn’t just look more and more like his coach, fun-loving former Wimbledon champ Goran Ivanisevic. It sometimes seems he’s actually becoming Goran. Start with those beards, so lush that either man might soon give a Talmudic scholar a run for his money. Then there’s the serve. Like Ivanisevic before him, Cilic is capable of logging a couple of 45-second hold games in every match he plays now—something you couldn’t say about him two or three years ago. Moreover, did you notice how Cilic, two inches taller than his mentor at 6’6”, has adopted the lethal, ultra-quick service action that begins with a quick knee bend that Ivanisevic once had trademarked? It all happens so fast: One-Two-Kaboom!!! This talent for mimicry has done Cilic a world of good. He began his quest at the US Open seeded No. 14, and he was expected to vanish without much fanfare at about the time Labor Day picnics were in full swing—he had even booked a flight back for last Tuesday. But Cilic ended up knocking off the likes of No. 5 seed Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer, the No. 2 seed. On his way to winning the tournament, Cilic hit 98 aces, second only to Milos Raonic, who hit 103. But Cilic also was becoming Goran in another, critical way. He morphed from an introspective 25-year-old with a doleful tendency toward analysis paralysis into a relaxed, loose-wristed lad capable of resisting all the pressure that comes with reaching a Grand Slam final for the first time. His mentor, after all, was one of those rare free spirits who seemed to take everything his career threw at him in stride. That relaxed attitude has rubbed off. As Cilic said of Ivanisevic during the trophy presentation, “The most important thing he was bringing to me was joy—having fun in my tennis.” In Monday’s scenario, Ivanisevic’s assets were more useful. For nerves were destined to play a major role in this outcome, as Nishikori freely admitted when it was all over. “It was one of worst match I played today, but also he was very aggressive and very fast. I have to say, I was a little bit nervous. A little bit, you know? First final.” Understandably, both men twitched with anxiety in the early going. Nishikori had a break point in the very first game, but once Cilic held, he settled into a devastating routine during his ensuing service games. Watching Cilic these past few days, it was tempting to wonder, “Where has that serve been all these years?” Cilic also rolled through the second set, during which it seemed that Nishikori was showing increasing signs of fatigue. Nishikori is a game competitor, and he had a good chance to turn things around and get back into the third set after he was broken to fall behind 1-3. That chance came in the seventh game, in which Cilic, serving at 4-2, fell behind 0-40. Cilic would dispose of one break point with an ace, but Nishikori blew the other two with terrible forehand service return errors. “It was a bit tougher to just finish the point with a serve,” Cilic said. “The crowd got themselves going. They wanted to extend the match, for sure. It was very tense moment, and I was lucky that I got through those couple of break points.” One final detail, for any doubting Thomases out there: Ivanisevic won his Grand Slam title on a Monday, and now Cilic has emulated him in that regard, too. The message Cilic took from that was clear: “Now none of the Croatians can lose at the final on Monday.”

In her quarterfinal match at the US Open, against Flavia Pennetta, Serena Williams got off to a very slow start, losing the first three games. She was determined not to let it happen again in her next round, and she didn’t; two days later she jumped all over Ekaterina Makarova in the semifinals and never let up. Yet even in that immaculate performance, Serena found a blemish. Her serve wasn’t up to snuff. Which, in a way, was OK; it gave her something to improve in the final. Going strictly by the statistics, it’s hard to say Serena improved that shot against Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Williams made just 53 percent of first serves, was broken twice, and threw in some shaky double faults in the first set. But the stats don’t tell the story of how much Serena’s biggest shot meant to her coming down the stretch. Knowing she had a chance to win her 18th Grand Slam and tie Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the all-time list, Serena was tight. It was her serve, which grew stronger with every game, that steadied her and kept her moving toward the finish line, which she crossed in 75 minutes, 6-3, 6-3. As Wozniacki said, after being asked to talk about what makes Serena unique, “When she needs to, she can pull out that big serve. She has the power. She can push us back on the court and take the initiative.” It was a little surprising to hear how much Serena was laboring, and had labored, under the burden of getting to her 18th Slam title. She typically downplays numbers, like her ranking or her major title goals, but it’s clear they matter to her. It’s also clear she knew exactly who she was chasing down. “It means a lot to me,” she said. “You know, I just could never have imagined that I would be mentioned with Chris Evert or with Martina Navratilova, because I was just a kid with a dream and a racquet. Living in Compton, you know, this never happened before.” On the other side of the net, Wozniacki admitted that she had trouble settling down against Serena, and in front of the Ashe crowd. “I was a little nervous going out there,” she said. “When you walk into the stadium and people are screaming so loud you can’t hear what you’re thinking yourself, it’s kind of overwhelming.” As for her own game, Serena the self-described perfectionist was as close to perfect over these two weeks as she’s ever been at a major. The win drew her even in the history books with Evert and Navratilova. Serena, near tears afterward, said it was a special pleasure to get her 18th back on the court where she won her first, at age 17, in 1999. It was a happy ending to a sometimes unhappy season for Williams. But was it enough? “I’m already looking at 19,” she said, before crossing her eyes at her own unrelenting drive. “Hasn’t even been three hours and I’m already..." Sometimes it’s hard being a perfectionist.

The toss is the most important part of having a strong, consistent serve. Keep in mind that you need to toss the ball to your swing, not swing to your toss. Placing the ball in the same position (around 1 o'clock) takes time and practice. Making sure you're not throwing the ball, and maintaining a steady wrist are just some of the big tips.

Control your arm as it goes over your head, and then release the ball slightly to your right (at 1 o'clock).

Keep your elbow nearly straight and make sure you feel tension in your shoulder.

Make sure your wrist is firm and start your serve in the same position every time to maximize precision.

One of the big selling points of Luxilon’s 4G string is that it’s designed to have better tension maintenance than typical monofilament polyesters. And while plenty firm, 4G also represents a more playable offering than most Luxilons. It does appear to be on the friendly side for the string maker, but still with plenty of spin potential and control. Power is there if you bring it, with that typically quasi-dead feel. Now along comes the 4G Rough ($22/set), a more textured version for enhanced spin. From a performance standpoint, power isn’t easy, but aggressive swings yielded plenty of pop. And as advertised, spin was borderline vicious. If you enjoy putting lots of topspin on the ball, 4G Rough is a ton of fun to play with. Control was good, but not pinpoint. The only area that’s hard to find a happy place with 4G Rough is on volleys. Whether it was the tension, or the inherent feel of the string, it just never felt completely comfortable. It could be something that would come over time with these strings. If not, using them as the mains in a hybrid with a more lively counterpart would probably do the trick. The 4G Rough seems to fall in the family of strings for people who prefer to play with a hammer, rather than a scalpel. And if you like to pound the ball with lots of spin, and favor firm strings with a little give in order to do it, then 4G Rough might just be the tool for you.

t this year’s US Open, CiCi Bellis and Aron Hiltzik were awarded for winning the inaugural US Open Junior Sportsmanship Awards. The winners were selected during the USTA National Championships earlier this summer. Tiffany trophies were presented during Arthur Ashe Kid’s

Photos courtesy of Andy Staples, USOpen.org.

Day by USTA President David Haggerty and former Top 10 player Chanda Rubin. The awards promote the development of a high degree of showmanship, and honor attitudes of fair play and mutual respect on and off the court. Bellis, 15, (ranked No. 2 in ITF juniors) won the USTA Girl’s 18’s Championships to win a wildcard into the US Open main draw, and then upset No. 12 seed Dominika Cibulkova in the first round. Hiltzik, 18, is ranked No. 3 in the nation and is going to play for the University of Illinois. The USTA also announced the US Open Sportsmanship Award winners for 2014 with Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki taking home the honors–a trophy and $5,000 donation to the charity of their choice. The winners were selected for excellence in sportsmanship throughout the US Open Series and US Open.

The shopping bag that disrupted play at Arthur Ashe during the quarterfinals was no match for this ball girl.

Milos Raonic has the serve, the hair and the sleeve working in his superhero favor, so he’s gone one step further.

Martina Navratilova showed nerves of steel once again by proposing to longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova at the Open.

Joining the elite 18 Grand Slam club with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Serena showed off her new bling after the final.