Survival of Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic
The Grand Slam events are the highest rated. None can match their ‘prize money’. The professional bodies' insistence and prestige of history, the 4 Grand Slam events- Australian-Open, FrenchOpen, Wimbledon Championships and the US-Open- gets full attendance of the best players.
Tennis cannot be named an elite sport anymore. Elite sporting expressions included code of conduct to be self-imposed by the players unto themselves. This has been shaken. With so many controlling bodies and commercial interests, sport has become a tug of war of rights, continental supremacy, money, advertising appeal and official positions. These are showing their biting fangs on the public sports platform.
Sore issue
This year’s US- Open will echo bad sentiments for a long time. Tennis has come through time without being destroyed, to survive another 150 years people in it must change. Goodwill appeal of players after their careers, will pay a dividend only if name and fame are not destroyed during the career. As an umpire, Carlos Ramos has to act, if he notices something not allowed is manifesting, he cannot ignore it, and he did act. It is this that has become the sore point of the Women’s finals in the 2018 US- Open.
Coaching a player during a match is not that effective as claimed, because opponents adapt to what they face. Many players get destroyed by coaching during a match. Think and do is better than hear and do it on court.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka
Twenty-year- old Naomi Osaka [Oo- sa-ka] won the US- Open Women's Singles title. With this win and her performances in 2018, Osaka will enter the Top 10 club of Tennis. She is the first Japanese to win a Grand Slam event. The last woman player from Japan up to now was well known Kimiko Date. [Da-te]. She rubbed shoulders with skilful Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Mary Joe Fernandez, and Monica Seles featuring in the Top 10.
Osaka’s existence came to be noticed when she won the Indian-Wells this year. Osaka, of Haiti- Japanese parentage, started her career in 2013-'14 and has been seen in end rounds a good many times, in the past two years. The game has matured in her without any visible weaknesses. Her comfort zone on Hard Courts is very high. Throughout the US- Open, she lost her Service game only about 7 times. Most of her wins came from her ability to cover court and extend the rallies. Playing from closer to the baseline, engaging opponents and finding comfort in very small time spans makes her formidable. Her Service and Returns matched the quality of great players at their peak.
It is very difficult to explain why Singles players dominate the game’s image to this extent. In Tennis, Singles winners will have to represent the game till the end of their lives - a big responsibility. Osaka’s journey into this realm of responsibility has just begun. Not all champions have been able to perform well on this lifelong one.
Osaka’s record on Clay and Grass Courts was not impressive this year. Osaka will have to mature into them and mature at every level of competition. In the professional Women’s circuit, she is one of many with this issue. She has much to do to engrave her name in stone.
Comeback of Djokovic?
Djokovic was more of a tactical manipulator on court, not a killer with a big game like Federer, Nadal and Sampras. Djokovic is feared for his court coverage and the ability of not giving what opponents would like to have. In his final against Juan Martin Del Potro, Djokovic kept the ball low using slice, the underspin shots. The tall Del Potro, standing at 6'7", to operate at his ankle height was a disadvantage for good sighting and comfortable ground- stroke assaults. Del Potro’s ground- strokes are very strong and will finish any shot, if given the comfort zone.
Another strong segment of Djokovic is his ability to engage the opponent, taking a lot of punishment himself. This is a tactic of systematic destruction of opponents’ resistance. In the book of tactics in Tennis, this often forms the base of good players. No player plays well all the time. On days when the going is not good, good players resort to this approach. Djokovic has been having this bad spell for a considerable time due to physical breakdown. If one can recollect how he played to win Wimbledon and US- Open this year, it was more by engaging his opponents to a breakdown point, than with sizzling winners.
Dwindling Spanish challenge
When the going is good, Rafael Nadal is unbeatable. In the 2018 US-Open, Nadal had to call the Physio 16 times. Against Del Potro, he retired uncharacteristically. It is well known that he has been nursing himself for a few years. The situation for him now is that of used-cars in our country, repair and get much mileage as possible.
The effective Hard- Courts game is good 1st Serve, return from inside the court, deep middle of the court return, 5 physical attributes to support, inside- out forehands, good Drop- shot and considerable amount of Net game. This development is a tall order!
George Paldano, Former int. player; Accredited Coach of German Federation; National coach Sri Lanka & Brunei, DavisCup, Federation Cup captain/coach-- contact 94 77 544 8880 geodano2015@gmail.com -