Roger Federer and Andy Murray started the final of the Australian Open 2010 in a very controlled manner. There was of course a lot on stake for both players.

Roger Federer volleys at the Australian Open 2010 (Photo by PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)

Andy Murray was looking for his first Grand Slam title while Roger was looking to extend his record of Grand Slams to 16 and slowly but surely create a record that most likely won’t be broken for many years to come.

Here’s what happened in the match…

First set

Andy’s tactics was immediately obvious – play to Roger’s backhand over and over again and hope that Roger becomes frustrated with his inability to finish the point and get out of backhand-to-backhand exchanges. (more…)

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick started the first set of their Wimbledon 2009 semifinal playing their typical grass court tennis; Roddick relied on his big serve and controlling points with a forehand and Murray changed pace and rotation of the shots all the time; from fast flat forehands to slow backhand slices.

One of Murray’s tactics at the beginning was to lob a lot but none of the attempts was really good. If you read Brad Gilbert’s Winning Ugly, you may remember Brad suggesting that it’s good to lob early in the match in order to keep the attacking player from closing in on the net too much.

You need to instill some doubt in the player at the net by lobbing regularly and then it’s going to be easier later to pass with a short cross court for example since the attacking player will stand further back to cover the possible lobs.

Both players held serves, keeping the first serve percentage very high. Andy Roddick’s first serve percentage at 5:4 in the first set was 85% which is unbelievable for the speed with which he serves… (more…)

Photo by AFP

Andy Murray played a smart tactical game when winning the semi-final match at the 2008 US Open against Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-4.

Nadal’s aggressive baseline game has been an unsolvable problem for Federer and most other players in 2008 but Murray found a crack in it.

Here’s how most players play against Nadal:

1. They play to his backhand since his forehand is a stronger shot. While this stops Nadal from attacking for a few shots, it doesn’t really win points. Nadal’s backhand may be weaker than his forehand but it’s far from being a weak shot especially if he doesn’t have to move much!

2. They position themselves at the normal spot when returning his serves – 1m or so behind the baseline. Nadal’s serve cannot compare to Andy Roddick’s rockets but it’s still a very good shot and keeps the returner on defense.

3. They force the shots since they know that Nadal will bring every ball back. Forcing the shots means playing with more and more risk and this eventually doesn’t work since the long term probability of winning the point goes to Nadal. (more…)