Why We Play the Way We Play By Mike Williams I’ve seen it time and again. Players working on their open-stance forehand with their bent elbows and breaking wrists trying to hit the ball like Rafael Nadal. I get it, just like you, I’ve dreamt of hitting just one forehand as big as Rafa’s … and yet it’s never happened. But why? We both live in the same world, breath the same air…my tennis balls are yellow too! Maybe it’s because I started playing in the 1970s with wood rackets and was taught by an Australian who demanded that I learn the onehanded backhand and serve-and-volley game. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in the Northeastern United States where slap-shot indoor-tennis dominated the ranks. As it happened, my inability to hit the ball like these Western Grip-wielding legends got me thinking why I, or any amateur, should be trying to hit the ball like them. We don’t have to deal with the same pace as they do, and rarely if ever, do we face the same ferocious spin that they put on the ball. So then why do we try so vigorously to hit the ball like our heroes? It’s because we have a need to mimic them. I’m the first to admit that I’ve tried to 42
serve like Johnny Mac and volley like Martina. I’ve tried to rip a Wawrinka backhand up the line, and yes, I’ve played around with perhaps the most elegant stroke in the history of the game, the Bjorn Borg two-handed backhand. Does it make me a better player? I’m not so sure. I’ve taught thousands of hours and played more, and yet the thing that helps me the most as a player and as a coach is my understanding of the ‘classic’ game. The game I grew up playing. The game that was so prevalent for decades and has been over shadowed by the smash and crash, monster serve and gnarly forehands of the modern game, or as I prefer to call it, the “Professional Game.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m amazed by the dynamism of today’s tennis. These players have an almost unnatural ability to drop the ball on a dime from 85-feet away (the court is 78-feet long) in the biggest moments and though I marvel at their skills and how professional tennis has evolved, I also believe that, unfortunately, the modern game is, from the everyday player’s perspective, misunderstood. What’s different? The playing style changed to accommodate the heavier spins that began to take hold in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then, with the advent of the
New York Tennis Magazine • September/October 2020 • NYTennisMag.com
polyester strings the spins, and by consequence, the grips, became more extreme in order to hit the high ball with consistency and strength. Players had to be bigger, stronger, faster and hit with more racquet head speed than could be previously imagined in order to keep up with the new face of tennis. The point is that although we would like to play a “Professional Game,” the truth is that a huge majority of us would benefit from being trained in the “Classic Method.” As I lamented earlier, we simply don’t hit the ball that hard, nor do we spin the ball that much, but just as important, the players that we are facing do not hit the ball with the same pace of the pros. And although we were left behind, we have tried determinately to play as if we are on the pro tour. What we can take from t he Classic Method? The classic game is the basis and the structure for today’s “modern game.” The uninterrupted and rhythmic footwork, the focus on the contact point, the proper spacing and full extension at contact, the use of body weight for power and leverage, the follow through, the recovery and one’s ability to recreate it successfully. But again and again, I see players
