The Old and The New: A Glimpse to The Future in Grand Slam Tennis
What a year of grand slam tennis 2014 has proved to be. It all started with Stanislas Warwinka’s win at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal. Now, some will argue that Nadal was injured but the fact remains that Nadal was being totally outplayed for a set and a half before injury set in. The situation was similar to the 2006 Australian Open final between Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin when Mauresmo was outplaying Henin. The difference here is that whereas Henin retired early in the 2nd set, Nadal decided to play through the pain and finish the match; even though he knew defeat was inevitable as long as Warwinka held his nerve. What so impressed me about Warwinka’s victory was the tactical deployment of big 2nd serves, deep into the corners around 110mph. This definitely caught Nadal by surprise and threw him off his game. It also proved that it is still possible to play an aggressive game against one of the world’s best cou...