Written by: Oscar Wegner
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***World-renowned coach, author and educator, and a tour player in the 1960s, Oscar Wegner created Modern Tennis Methodology to contribute to the advancement and popularity of tennis worldwide. He modeled the strokes after the best examples of all time, encouraging applying the techniques in a simple, natural, and idiosyncratic way. Oscar is widely acclaimed for his critical impact to the sport of tennis in countries like Spain, Russia, and all of South America. In the past two decades China and Eastern Europe have converted to his coaching techniques. Over the past 40 years Oscar has played an instrumental role in educating and inspiring tens of thousands of tennis coaches and players at all levels, corroborating their success with thousands of testimonials, letters and e-mails. To learn more, visit www.tennisteacher.com***
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The new, lighter Babolat balls used at the French open, which originally caused problems to the top players, ceased to be a problem after the players got used to it. The lighter balls actually improved play, enabling spectacular performances like the Djokovic-Feder match, the Li Na level of play during the whole tournament and the Nadal-Federer final. Overall, this new ball diminishes the impact force and stress on the player’s arm.
The ball starts with more speed from the players racquets, but it slows down more pronouncedly during flight. It was also easier to return fast serves, putting less pressure on the returner’s racquet.
Roger Federer played the best he has in the last two years, and only sporadic unforced errors prevented him from leading one set to nothing against Nadal, which could have changed the final result.
Nadal, on the other hand, after tying 5-5 in the first set, played unbelievably calm, collected, and forcefully at the same time. He deserved this 6th French Open win with his focus, his dedication, exertion and a huge fighting spirit. He has no equal in his handling of adversary conditions and an unfavorable score.
Li Na showed great technical acumen and a clean attacking stroke production, technically pure. Being the first French Open champion from China seems surprising, but a group of coaches in China are very aware of Modern Tennis Methodology since the 1990s and use it at all levels. We’ll see more successes from Li Na and from other upcoming Chinese, which will surprise the world.
The new test is grass, back to the heavier ball.
To read another article on the ball for the French Open, “Ball Wreaking Havoc at the French” written by Oscar Wegner, please click here.
