Venus Williams:
The Nerve to Go for Her Shots

Jim McLennan

The turnaround is just about complete. In 1999 Venus unraveled in the crunch, unable to control herself or her game. Pompously (then) but accurately (now) she stated no one could beat her, her losses were simply Venus beating herself. I remain uncomfortable for her disdain for her opponents, and disdain for the traditions of the game and the champions that have come before. But it must be said, she goes for her shots, plays to win, and displays none of the hesitancy we saw from Hingis and Davenport in the semis and finals at the 2000 US Open. And darned if she wasn’t right, it appears no one can beat her. Her rivals lack the court coverage, the physical tenacity, and apparently the nerve.

All shots struck with offensive intent. No chips, no counters, just deep heavy drives to the corners.

Tom Stow, the maestro as quoted in the "All Court Forcing Game", ”The player of this All Court Forcing Game must always keep in mind the fact the he is playing another human being and that the pressure he is applying has a very definite effect on the mental attitude of his opponent. It takes nerve, determination, and strokes to play this type of game and only the strong will master it. However, from these few will emerge the future great players of the world.

So Tom would always be saying, go for your shots, hit out on your shots, can you swing a little slower yet hit it harder. Harder, harder, always harder. Budge had this. Hoad had it, and so did Conners. So in the attempt to hit harder and harder, then the task becomes perfecting balance, impeccable balance, weight against the ball, heavy shots. All shots struck with offensive intent. No chips, no counters, just deep heavy drives to the corners.

And if all you ever do is go for your shots, then one day they will begin to fall in, and in time you will learn to play the big game, hitting with the big club. Venus has been going for her shots, all the time, in nearly all situations, and now they are finding their mark. Yet in the crunch Hingis and Davenport, when the opportunity presented itself, did not go for their shots. Winners are known to make it happen, and losers are those who hope it happens, and certainly it appeared as though they were simply hoping Venus would miss and lose.

A big girl with a big racquet but does she know where it's going?

I was amazed at how many times Hingis did not attack the average shots from from Venus. On those situations Hingis just rallied, and applied absolutely no pressure, and then sure enough the next shot from Venus would be nearly impossible. Had only Hingis had the nerve to step up and attack the previous shot, but that was not to be (can she change this?). Unfortunately, Davenport lacks the physical resolve to hang with Venus, and it will take a life changing redirection, similar to the one Martina Navratilova embarked upon at the urgings of professional basketball star Nancy Lieberman. And once reconditioned, the rest they say was history for Martina.

A word on the serve. Visit the ProStrokes gallery (Sampras frontal view on serve and Williams frontal view on serve). Venus has a chink in the armor here. Note how her head pulls down away
from the ball as she hits, as though she examines the ball at contact from the extreme corner of her right eye. Compare this to Sampras head and eyes during the hit. When interviewed, Sampras said of Venus’ serve, “a big girl with a big racquet but I don’t think she knows where it is going.” Judging by the number of double faults, Sampras appears to be correct.

Wilson Hyper Hammer 4.3

But at the moment there is no one capable of applying continuous pressure against her serve. And were there continuous pressure on a suspect service delivery, a very real influence is exerted on the mind of the server. An interesting aside, Jimmy Connors received the highest percentage of double faults of any player in his era, why, because Connors attacked every second serve, all the time! And unless the delivery is perfect, the double faults come at inopportune moments. Even the great Sampras doubles faulted away the second set of the US Open final, why, because of Safins unrelenting returns.

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